I want to get ideas from you guys on what you do when chauffeurs leave the cars dirty. Please tell me what has worked for you and what has not worked. This is an ongoing problem here.

Steve,

GREAT idea for me with the rotation system in place! Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Dave, you better start packing! Adventure, if they puke, they pay $300. $100 goes to a professional detailer for a professional shampoo, $100 goes to the chauffeur who initially cleaned it and $100 goes to the company for the aggravation/loss of use etc. The chauffeurs tiup does not play in to my calculation. Even if they gave him and extra $100 for cleaning it, now he gets $200. Not bad for a disgusting job! I actually puked myself one night while cleaning puke (pineapple based!).-

I dont think having the drivers bring the trash and any leftover drinks out of the limo is too much to ask. If they do this little bit to help it makes clean-up so much easier.
Have you ever had someone get sick in the car and have the driver tell you what a great tip he got ? So where does that leave the company, should you charge the customer a cleaning fee or collect it from the driver that got extra that did nothing for it. I was uneasy about contacting the client afterwards to collect additional cleaning fee. If extra was given to the driver to cleanup now there is a conflict between driver and customer. what would you do in this situation ?

quote:

We discussed the "fine/penalty" aspect and predicted accordingly Steve that if the situation was posted here, someone would have that idea and you would point out to them the legal problem with "charging" your EMPLOYEE which we all know is against the law.

Ah so I am getting predictable you say!!

> I have a "Steve" who checks every glass, every counter,
> window, nook, cranny and door jamb
I think there is a complement in there somewhere, so thank you or HOW DARE YOU!! Which ever applies!

> Where is Porsche when I need her? She was always so
> perfect and had the answer for everything!
Silly Jim of course she does not have this problem her cars never get dirty to begin with!!

But as Dean mentioned the assignment of vehicles is a good system if you can swing it. I was talking to one driver and he has a car assigned to him and he has to bring it in every Monday for an inspection from the boss. When they send over a part timer to his house to do some runs he cant do this one employee lets the other employee know "you will bring this car back in the same shape it is right now" because he knows he will have to clean it anyway because the car is assigned to him. He has even told his boss that certain drivers cannot drive "his" vehicle any longer. So the sense of ownership that comes with an assigned vehicle is just that a sense of ownership. But I fully realize this situation is not possible with every company.

But Jim you already have in place a tool that can penalize the slacking drivers and that is your rotation system. Simply put for a minor violation the next time they are to be at the top of the rotation they get knocked to the bottom if it for that day. If a more major or blatant violation they get taken off of it completely (not fired just taken off) for like 3 days. Your rotation system is there to promote fairness and what could be more fair than rewarding the driver that are doing a good job with more hours while reducing the hours of the poorly performing employees.


Predictable, HOW DARE YOU!!!

Well I guess one answer is take the Chauffeur out of the picture altogether and have a 24/7 detail service on site. (See my post for setting up an Independent Contractor type of service.) Let the Guy running the business in your building run around the clock doing private work but make it a stipulation of your contract with him that your cars have priority. Make your problem his problem. If he is a hustler, he will have staff ready when you need it most even if it is 3:00 A.M. Saturday morning and you have to clean up a Puker by 6:00 A.M..

I am just a little two car operation as many of you know and I clean my own but I have some ideas of how to run a big company. I know it will cost you money but it's pay the Chauffeur or pay the detail man/woman or in California what ever they may be.

Jim: You say yo pay your Chauffeurs $12.00 to $18.00 per hour and 1.5 hours pre/post trip. That is $27.00 you pay to have a Chauffeur set up and clean up a car. Rent me space in your building (at a good rate) and I will clean your cars 24/7 for $27.00 per Car for a basic set up and clean up any time. Special jobs like pukers and fine detail at market rates. This is an IC that the IRS will bless.

Now we're seeing some good ideas. The concept is the same as the fine. Financially punish the offending party through assignments. I admit that I feel like a management failure in this area. Where is Porsche when I need her? She was always so perfect and had the answer for everything!

This is a leadership issue that must be handled from the top.
For someone who pays straight salaries it is even harder to address and enforce. The larger the fleet the harder to control. Reason why Bill from Clique controlled growth with pricing & farmed out much work.
Operators who pay by the job + grat, the solution is a little simpler. There are the crap APs & the fat ADs. The fat jobs are rewards that are offered to those who perform. One driver leaves a vehicle trashed for another to clean, reward the victim with the fat jobs and penalize the slob with crap ones. For those who spent time in the military, we know the power of peer pressure. Institute and enforce strict procedures and let it be known to all that the new games is in response to the few who have ruined it for all. In the military as in the civilian world we could not exact punishment or fines without taking it through the command. We (small unit leaders) could always hold training classes after normal working hours to correct deficiencies & to ensure that it was not assumed a punishment, all were invited to attend not just the problem child. Anyone ever hear of blanket parties? Finally, no one is irreplaceable.

We have assigned cars and lot cars. We are currently running 26 vehicles. The assigned vehicles are very rarely a problem. The lot vehicles require consistent monitoring. During busy convention time I am washing cars & buses at 1 in the morning. Our fleet size during city wide events doubles or triples with rental sedans, vans, suv's, and minibuses. Our business cycle is different-we are either super busy or steady. When we are just steady, we downsize the fleet. The answer to the question is CONSISTENT MONITORING. Dirty vehicles indicate amateur status in our profession.

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

Wade & I recently discussed this situation by phone. We discussed the "fine/penalty" aspect and predicted accordingly Steve that if the situation was posted here, someone would have that idea and you would point out to them the legal problem with "charging" your EMPLOYEE which we all know is against the law.

Unfortunately, the program I instituted which was linked here only worked for about 6 months and then people began to just accept that as mentioned here, one employee's idea of "clean" is not another. I have a "Steve" who checks every glass, every counter, window, nook, cranny and door jamb. No one ever complains when taking over a car from him. Then I have more slackers than I can count who do the best they can. People got tired of calling their co-workers. They accepted mediocracy. It is a constant battle.

I suggested Wade throw it out here on the board for advice. The problem is I don't think we are comparing apples to apples.

Dave, it is easy for you to armchair quarterback the problem and say, just pay them to do it and it will get done. That's not the world Wade and I live in by sheer volume and size.

I am operating 28 vehicles. We rarely shut down. For instance, there has been not a single minute since Tuesday of last week that we didn't have at least three cars out on the road at any given moment. Chauffeurs come and go at all hours of the night and morning. It is 6:43am as I write this and my first runs today began at 3:30am, 5:00am and 6:00am. Those employees took over cars brought in last night at 11:00pm, 1:00am and 2:00am. There is no one around to inspect the cars when they are returned.

The fresh chauffuers may have received dirty cars or not quite up to specs. They don't call their co-workers and wake them up out of consideration. Yet, they stew on it. They tell me about it in the late morning. I call the offending driver who cannot simply come clean the car because the car is already out and gone again and sitting 100 miles away. The problem repeats over and over and only the players change in the game.

I honestly have no solution. If I was to fire every single one of them that offends from time to time, I would end up with about 8 chauffeurs and that won't work when you have 28 vehicles.

I have very low turn over which means new employees eventually pickup the bad habits. The average employment term at present is 8 to 10 years with me and by and large these are good people who deliver good service. I should mention I do have a full time 48 hour a week employee who washes the cars by hand and performs detail cleaning but that doesn't include standard cleanup at the end of a shift. Weak areas are things like smudges on interior windows, not lifting the runner and vacuuming under it, leaving soda cans in the ice buckets or bottle caps in ice buckets or not vacuuming at all cause it "really didn't need it" in one man's opinion. That's not what my policy manual says! It says "vacuum after every trip".

Let's try to find practical, legal solutions to a real problem for large size limo companies. When we had 4 cars and 10 chauffuers it was much easier to manage but that isn't reality anymore. There is no one to inspect cars between 10pm and 6am.

More ideas please......keep them coming.

Wade you talking specifically interior or exterior cleanliness, or just over all. What sort of standards do you have in place right now, cause as we all know one persons idea of clean is not always someone else's.

And Nitetoremember wrote:
"What I have done is charge the chauffeur $20.00 if I have to clean out trash,"

Have you checked the labor laws or your state to make sure you can do that legally? Just with the damage issue, fines fall under the same category.

Also Wade do you keep any sort of log in the car where one driver can see who had the car before him? Peer pressure sometimes does wonders.

Sorry Wade I don't have much to offer in this area as our company has the same problem. I am the only driver paid for clean up time so of course I regularly get filthy cars. I have made it an advantage for me in that I have told my boss I get paid double time to clean up after other drivers, so at least I am making some money. When ever my boss questions the time it takes for me to get the vehicle up to my standards I just bring him a couple of glasses with residue of who knows what left in them from the night before and I tell him why don't you and Joe driver sit down and have a drink together with these glasses. I usually never hear from back from him on those.

Mr. Luff has a system he uses that he says has been good for him:
Limo Scene Ideas

Although I gave him some grief on it!

If clean up is specified as part of the deal the Chauffeur is getting paid for and the Chauffeur is getting paid at least minimum wage for every hour worked then he/she should be expected to clean the car or as Dean sid they don't work any more. If they are just paid to do the run as like in flat rate or contract hour, you may have a problem with your state wage/hour office. I think they call it Slavery?

They must come back and clean it up if they want to work.

Like so many you can never get anyone to do it as perhaps you would BUT I require mine to come in an Hour early just to make sure that the lImo is Tip Top and also require them to stay an hour after the run to clean the trash out, wash the glass ware and Vacume. I do the fine detail work myself or I have a part timer who works 20 hours a week to do it.

what I usually find is that they miss the door Jams, every one has a sore spot thats mine. I do not want to see an open door and find greese or dirt on the inside of the door. Its the first thing they see when you open the doors and they will remember it no matetr how spotless the rest of the car is.

I went to a wedding show a few months back and set up a booth. I walkewd over to the competation they has a 6 year old car on display at the show but it was in good shape and the exterior looked great. I opened the door and they had not cleaned the interior of the Jam in years!!! The Greese and crude just stood out like a sore thumb. It was a 2000 Lincoln 180 stretch White on white but the inner door jams were Black on white and very noticable. I dont have to tell you they did not get any booking that show!

Mine was out front as the customers entered and I did a whole months worth of bookings.

I always tell my guys that I am going to pay them for Three hours time even if it is a 30 Minute run point to point. They know to get it clean or I have shown them how fast I can cut a final pay check!

jcr@executivetouchlimo.com

My chauffeurs (employees) are responsible for cleaning the interior only. We have a detail company we have contracted to do the rest. They come 7 days a week. We have 14 sedans, 2 SUVs, 1 Van, 1 Bus and 1 Limo. Cost: $1600.00 per month.

Like Michael said, PAY THEM to do it. If you were paid for three hours contract (a very common practice in Detroit) time but you had 6 or 7 hours into the run, would you really want to clean the Car? I don't think so.

This business is really no different than any other business. Employees (if they are Employees) get paid from the time they walk in the door until the time they walk out. If they are slackers then show the the Door and tell them not to let it hit them in the "six" on the way out because there are 20 Guys in line who want their job.

Michael: You can make a detail company an Independent Contractor operation very easy. Just rent them space in your garage, let them do other cars in your shop and just pay them a flat rate per car to get the end result. You can't tell them how to do the job or they will be Employees. Be sure to run it by the IRS first though. I got my private letter ruling, I was an Employee. Private message me with your fax and I will send you a copy.

Wade , are your guys paid per hour , or per job ? Do you have IC's or employees ?

My chauffeurs are told that is part of the job , the 45 minutes they get after a job on the clock is to clean it out , and gas it up.

You must remind them that is critical that they clean the car in case there is something left in it from the client. If your client calls and asks for their ipod , and you don't know what they are talking about , you look rag tag.

We have trip incident reports that all chauffeurs fill out detailing any unusual activity , car problems , broken glass, excessive spills , lost items or any thing that needs attention asap.

On another note , how do you pay detailers ? I am getting pounded by these costs as my fleet grows and wonder what the solution is. especially now that we are switching to an all black fleet. Is there a rough number based on a percentage of budget ?

Also , are you coming to Philly in July ? I will be there.

I feel your pain I have had the same problems with my chauffeurs, All they are asked to do is clean out any mess and empty any glasses that may have liquid in them, We dont make them wipe down the inside and sweep the rugs we have a detailer for that (myself). What I have done is charge the chauffeur $20.00 if I have to clean out trash, This has worked well for me and the chauffeurs don't like getting charged so end of problem !
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