The Limos.com Forum Has Moved!!!

I received and email the other day with a lady inquiring about our rates for an airport run in Daytona Beach to the Daytona Beach airport in our 120” Lincoln Limo Stretch. I sent her our standard airport response which listed the rates and says that they may not be available on weekends and specials events, I did this because she did not give me her travel dates. Our website also clearly lists our airport rates along with terms and conditions.

I received a return email that the price seemed go and she was ready to book, except she want to be picked up at her house and dropped off along with 8 of her friends at a local night club, not the airport. This strange request was for a Saturday night at 10:30pm on one of the largest prom nights in our area. I politely sent her a return email indicating that airport rates are only good for going to the airport and that we do not offer any airport run in our stretches after 5:00pm on Fridays or Saturday. I then offered her our 6 hour package.

I laughed so hard when I received the return email, it was a nasty hate filled emailed that said it was ridiculous that I would not honor my airport rate and if that was the case it should clearly say it’s airport rates are only good for going to the airport on our website (Gee I think the term airport rate should sum it up) The lady then offered to purchase our round trip airport package if we would honor the rate and pick her group up at 3:30am from the same bar. She said she thought this was a fair compromise, since may rates where so misleading.

Needless to say I didn’t even bother responding to this email. I have only been in the limo business since 10/07 but already it amazes me the amount of stupid people who get angry that you won’t give away your limos.

Wade, I will clarify a few things:

Almost all of my "airport" runs are to LAX which is 2.5 hours away. 2.5 Hours to get home = 5.0 hours.

On hourly charters, I do have a five hour minimum and we are firm on it. However, I have numerous "packages" that include dinner for 2, birthday parties etc. that are less than 5 hours and are available any day of the week you want to book them.

As for local airport transfers, we will do them any night of the week as well and I always hold one older limo back when we "sell out" in case I have a VIP, an airport trip or a breakdown that we need to take care of. I think it is just prudent to have that extra car if you can afford it. It is a black 8 pax that is a 2002 in great shape. I don't have a lot of sedan business on Fri/Sat so there is never a problem to roll one of those to the airport. Ditto for vans.

Concerning our Fleet size, we own the 2008 Escalade and the 120” Lincoln. The Hummer and the Lincoln sedan our some of our affiliate’s vehicles. We do a lot of farm out work with these companies and thus they return the favor by booking our vehicles as well.

I agree that we should not miss lead our clients, thus the pictures shown on our website are the real vehicles we send out, we do not play bait and switch. I have had nights where I farmed the Hummer out while my Escalade sat in the garage, I could have sent the Escalade out and claimed I gave them a free upgrade, however I know if the client wanted our Escalade they would have booked it, so while this does sometimes negatively affect our bottom line, it is well worth it to ensure the clients gets the vehicle they requested.

What I do for my regular clients that really want a limo on a Friday or Saturday night to the airport is to suggest an alternative car. Like a suv or a van. They know that if I can't get them a limo no one lese can.

The price and minimums should be based on economics. The more demand the higher the minimuns. Nothing wrong with pricing accordingly. The airlines and hotels do it all the time.

Luff I thought you said you have a 5-hour minimun on limousine rentals on Saturday nights???

I heard the best response yesterday in a seminar:

A man stands up and says when he meets people here and they ask how many cars in his fleet and he says 8 they seem put out, turned off and disinterested. How do you overcome that?

Never missing a beat, the speaker replied:

When you need to farm a regular job in my area, call the big guys. When you have a very special client requiring high maintenance, personal attention, call me. Being small, I can provide much better service on a personalized basis!

Loved it!

When I had just a few cars the big outfits would get mad when I landed the large event work. They would claim that the work should go to those who had the fleets. I always maintained that the work should go to those who had the skill.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave M:
If he doesn't inflate his claimed fleet size, how is he going to make it into the LCT Top 100 next year?

quote:

Originally posted by limo bill:
I'm just wondering how many cars you have ? You clearly state in the blog above that you don't want to do airports on weekends because you only have two limos and you want rent rent them for the big $$$. However you web site says you have Escalade, Hummer & lincoln 120'. Its obvious you take a lot of pride in the Escalade, and I think the 120' is yours too. It doesn't appear the hummer is yours and I don't recomend trying to sell something that isn't yours. It makes you look fake. Say your a small company and be proud of it. Many people prefer to do business with a small honest company. Just my 2 cents.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dean Schuler,

Not to change the topic, but why gauge success on fleet size anyway, isn't the important thing DOLLARS EARNED????

quote:

Originally posted by Dave M:
If he doesn't inflate his claimed fleet size, how is he going to make it into the LCT Top 100 next year?

Response Of the Month!

If he doesn't inflate his claimed fleet size, how is he going to make it into the LCT Top 100 next year?

quote:

Originally posted by limo bill:
I'm just wondering how many cars you have ? You clearly state in the blog above that you don't want to do airports on weekends because you only have two limos and you want rent rent them for the big $$$. However you web site says you have Escalade, Hummer & lincoln 120'. Its obvious you take a lot of pride in the Escalade, and I think the 120' is yours too. It doesn't appear the hummer is yours and I don't recomend trying to sell something that isn't yours. It makes you look fake. Say your a small company and be proud of it. Many people prefer to do business with a small honest company. Just my 2 cents.

Airport huh.. Flyin somewhere?

Yes.

I saw the baggage... then the plane tickets... so I put 2 and 2 together

Perhaps he meant that he only has two vehicles "available" becasue he only has two drivers on his insurance, so he could have 4 actual vehicles, but only two are drivable at a time.

-Greg

I'm just wondering how many cars you have ? You clearly state in the blog above that you don't want to do airports on weekends because you only have two limos and you want rent rent them for the big $$$. However you web site says you have Escalade, Hummer & lincoln 120'. Its obvious you take a lot of pride in the Escalade, and I think the 120' is yours too. It doesn't appear the hummer is yours and I don't recomend trying to sell something that isn't yours. It makes you look fake. Say your a small company and be proud of it. Many people prefer to do business with a small honest company. Just my 2 cents.

Greg K is SO right about cutting deals to get trips. Those customers will expect that rate from then on.

It is easier just to state and stick to your rates up front, than to explain why you can't give that discounted rate you charged last time to a would-be repeat customer.

When they don't get it, they may well bail out, whereas if they are coming back to you because of great service, at a rate that was equitable to you in the first place, you will be in a much better position to get and keep the client.

Ever-changing rates appear like bait-and-switch to the average client.

The problem is, you have people who are unfamiliar with way of the industry (and this applies to many, not just Limos), who see on TV and read in the rag mags (the magazines by the checkouts), stories from "experts on how to save money" who tell you "Everything is negotiable"

Many places this is the case. Myself, I don't like it, I'll be the first to admit i completely suck at haggling a price. I know there are times I am paying more than I should just becasue a price is probably inflated to allow room for them to "mark it down" for those who do want to haggle.

The worst part is, once you do give a break, I'd say about 90% are the type who instead of being grateful you did cut them the break, they are now proud of themselves and will expect a break every time. (My cousin is like this, and I can't stand it!)

IMO, cutting a deal after you told them a set price not only hurts you, but anyone else that customer may deal with later, becasue even if someone else sticks to their prices, the customer will think less of the true professional who will not budge after giving a final price.

-Greg

Byron, I completely understand now. If you have two cars - totally different situation and I failed to look at it from that angle. You must be picky about your runs as a matter of survival.

I agree on the aspect of making the client happy, if I have a regular client I will do almost anything to help them out. However we cannot please our clients if we cannot pay the bills. I run two limos and they have both been booked for every Prom so far. I would be cheating myself if I was to do a run for $99 on a Saturday night, when in a few weeks a prom kid will call me and book for 6 hours, on the same night that I would have tied up with an airport run.

I got into the business to satisfy clients yes, however we also got into the business to make money. The large and small companies you mentioned have a fleet of sedan to do airport runs, and I am sure many times all of their limos are not on the road, so one doing an airport out of 50 cars is not a big deal. However half of my fleet being booked for an airport run vs. having 100% of my fleet doing proms just doesn’t work for me.

I thank you for your feedback, and some day when I have a fleet of sedans this will not be a problem but for now this is how I conduct my business. I also respect my affiliates and would not dream of asking them to do a 1 hour run on a Saturday night, when I know that would keep them from a 6 hour run.

No, I didn't miss the point. I got that too! I am puzzled about the selectivity of the types of runs based on the day of the week or even the fact that prom is going on.

I guarantee you Dean would take an airport run whether prom was going on or not and so would I. As far as "business model" - here's mine:

You have money and need a ride? I am your guy.
I don't care if you are going to a wedding, a funeral, the airport, a business meeting, a night on the town. Any day of the week you are ready to roll, I am ready to roll.

I tell my employees to take every single reservation that comes in. If we are sold out, I will farm it out and keep control of the client.

As far as this scam........the answer was sufficient. If it is an airport run, it is presumable that the trip would include going to the airport.

Limo Scene,

I thin your missing the point here. The point is these people are trying to scam him into a lower price by requesting an airport price and not going to the airport and not ever have planned to. Its like requesting a 1 hour airport price then all of a sudden the date and occasion changes and its for a wedding on a peak day in the summer where you have 4-5 hour minimums. They surely knew they were going to the bars and NOT the airport, they knew what they were doing all along.