The Limos.com Forum Has Moved!!!

Question:
Do you put decals on your vehicle to advertise your company?

Choices:
Yes.
No.

 

Like I said in other Post, in the Eyes of the regulators, they don't care if you are a Limo operator or a Cow Manure Hauler. The Law applies to all Commercial vehicles. Too many Guys in this business loose site of the fact that they are first a transportation operation (trucking Company) and secondly in the hospitality industry.

Ole: what is your take on this Air port deal?

We dont have a choice in Michigan

MCL 257.723 states in part:
(1) All commercial vehicles with a single or combination gross weight rating or total gross
weight of more than 5,000 pounds in operation upon the public highways of this state shall have
the name, city, and state or the registered logo or emblem of the registered owner of the vehicle,
and lessee of the vehicle if the vehicle is being operated under lease, painted or permanently
attached on each side of the vehicle in letters of not less than 3 inches in height, not lower than
the bottom edge of the door. This information shall be in sharp color contrast to the background.
(2) The identification requirements of subsection (1) may be met through the use of removable
devices which meet the requirements of subsection (1). The removable devices shall be attached
so that the identification is in a horizontal position.
(3) A vehicle in compliance with the identification requirements of the federal motor carrier
safety regulations, 49 CFR parts 390-399, is considered to be in compliance with this section.
(5) A person who violates this section is responsible for a civil infraction.
What are the driver requirements?

VERY NICE!

Here is the "Airplane shot"

Jim,
Our newspaper ads are very simple, mosly image and very little text. For example, when we first got started we assumed we would want to be in the "Airport" business. We took our car out to the tarmac at Hollister Airport and parked it along side a small business jet (there are no gates to prevent anyone from accessing the planes... did I mention this is a small town?). Theresa was taking some digital photos, when the pilot/owner walked up and said "get down low, make the car look as big as the plane, you're selling a fantasy here". Needless to say he turned out to be a great guy and was a real help with the idea we were trying to convey. I edited out the tailnumbers on his plane for him.

Anyway, we used this image and a little text about beginning Airport service to San Jose and San Francisco. I don't recall having pricing in the ad, but the phone rang for days, everytime we ran the ad. We have since learned that to make any money on these Airport runs, we have to insult our customer base, over the next two years we had comments such as "I just want to rent the limo, not buy it", etc... With all the late nights and very, very early mornings, we have since pulled out of the Airport business, except for some very special clients of ours.

My favorite ad was three images, the Airport shot, a wedding shot (myself assisting my neice out of the vehicle in my wifes wedding gown - yeah, that was a real mind-bender), and then a "Night out shot (interior vehicle). Each time, at the bottom right corner of the ad was our logo (you can see the logo and our first car in my avatar on the left). Again, simple, not much verbage, and a great big logo and phone number. We ran it every week for about 3 months (changing it occasionally), then avery other week for a while, and now only about once a month. It got the phone ringing and put us in front of all of Hollister.

We also joined the local Chamber of Commerce and we were pleased to hear all the other local businesses mention seeing our ad. I'm very proud of my logo and I had in embroidered on about 30 nice polo shirts, and a few crisp dress shirts, also very large on the back of about 6 jackets. Most of these were gifts to friends and associates.

Oddly, I never did anything on the car, but as I said, that will change.

Here is an example (using Wine Tours, our specialty, and a different wedding shot, still my Neice):

Jim: I am not disputing your reasoning here and I agree with it fully but lets remember in the Eyes of the USDOT and state DOT, we have no higher esteem than a Trucking company hauling Cow manure. (a little farm lingo from the home of "Cow Pie High" the school dist. I work for) If they say we have to have the name and number on the side or face an $11,000.00 fine, I guess we will just have to do it or built the fine into our base price.

In California, you are NOT required to display DOT (or even have DOT for that matter) unless the vehicles seats MORE than 10 people and/or you cross state lines.

With the glitz and glamour of California in beautiful Hollywood, Los Angeles, Palm Springs and San Diego, I could never imagine the name or anything else being placed on the side of the car.

Excellent stuff in this thread. Having your name on your car would not be good for doing farm-in work and you certainly would not want your farm-out companies displaying THEIR name while driving YOUR client and supposedly representing your company. Another reason to have no name on the car.

Like the idea of leaving business cards on the windshield for brief periods you are gone such as a restroom break. My chauffeurs are required by company policy to remain with the vehicle at all times while standing by for the express purpose of marketing the company, passing out flyers, answering rate questions etc. I figure as long as I am paying them, their going to be working in some manner. If they are not doing that, they are asked to perform detail cleaning services such as cleaning overhead mirrors, vanity mirrors, nooks and crannies etc. all for the purpose of having the doors to the car open for by-passers to look in. At some times, this isn't appropriate if the client has a lot of personal belongings in the back but for the average dinner out, it works for me.

I am curious about the newspaper ads. Traditionally, it is the absolute worst method to advertise a limo company simply because we don't have a "now" product or a "sale" product. In other words, people don't see an ad for a limousine company and say, "Oh, let's get a limo this weekend" just because they saw the ad. On the other hand, an ad which repeats over and over ingrains the brain with the company name so if and when the need arises for a limousines, your name should come to "top of mind awareness" because of repeat branding advertising. So what do you say in your newspaper ads that makes them effective? I am truly curious.

Let's not forget all those permit stickers that you are required to have pasted in your windows, to comply with all the regulatory parasites that this industry loves to embrace. When you mix in the DOT requirements, your limos are going to look like a rolling billboard for spam. Whatever happened to the elegant image this industry promoted? More important, how is our customer base going to respond? Picture how tacky this image is to a potiential client who spends big money on a wedding affair, only to have the much anticipated limousine arrive to the chorus of "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!" Sorry to say folks, we did this to ourselves.

The USDOT requires your name on both sides and the rear as well. As many of you know , they are supposed to be taking over in 2007 and unifying all the irregularities. So , you may want to start getting compliant now with DOT regs and avoid the headache and confusion in the future. I'm sure once they take over , the fees will increase as will the BS , so better to be grand-fathered in.

For the first 2 years in business I thought it would be best to not put our name on the car (I'm sure that sounds strange). Mostly because we wanted to be able to "become" any limo company we needed to be for farm-ins and outs. But quickly we found that we were more likely to ask another limo company to represent us, as our business was growing quickly.

We have always had vanity plates (NITE OUT, NYTE OUT and CONXION), but never any phone numbers or names.

But that might change...

We have established some great "Branding" in our market, our logo is well known (heavy newspaper and local advertising) and I'd like to take advantage of this. Recently a local limo company did some work with us and they had their name placed in the pinstriping on the car. Very subtle, very classy. I think I'd like to do the same. No phone number, just name branding.

Besides, there's not many Movie Stars or Royalty that comes through Hollister.

I do have Vanity Plates and a License plate cover with my Phone and company name but thats about the extent of it.

What I really hate to see is companies who purchase those Individual letters and plaster the back of their Linousines with Name and advertising. A local company with a Beautiful looking 180 Hummer has the back window plastered and it was not even a professional Job.

When I am stopped and parking for extended periods of time I also leave Business cards on my window driver side and passenger side for folks to grab if I am not in the Car.

A lot of companies use vanity plates on the front of vehicle and/or license plate frames.
The license plate frame should have the name of the company and local phone number in teext large enough for passing cars to jot your info down. Have gotten lots of bookings this way.

When I first started 3 years ago, I too felt that it was tacky to put my name on the car. Many people who saw my cars at weddings commented that they did not know what company was doing the wedding. I had many people tell me to put my name on the cars so others would know who we were. I also noticed that people would not want to interrupt me at the wedding but would have pen and paper writing down our name from the window. When they called for reservations, they would comment that they got our name from so and so wedding. I still think it takes away from the car, but in this rural area, folks don't mind and want to know who you are.
Just another way to
Keep Those Big Cars Rolling
Chuck

The Only time I use Decals is when I am simply crusing around town doing business I never have signs on my Cars. Makes them look Tacky at Best. I had some Magnetic signs made up for my Commercial clients in the Funeral Industry to Highlight their company when I am doing business for them and i use them only then.

My personal Magnetic signs are only used when Banking or conducting business other than with Clients.

I have seen lots of companies Trash their Beautiful Limousines with Decals of their company and such and it just looks Bad and Unprofessional in my Opinion

Cliff

Problem is if the Fed. takes over like some say, it may be required along with the USDOT number.

Kevin,

I imagine the decision to do this would require some thought as to who you want your clients to be and who your clients are.

I provide service for people such as Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood, Tom Hanks, Dwight Yokum, Elton John, Prince and similar who absolutely would be horrified for their vehicle to look like a "rental".

Likewise, I provide service for executives of Frito-Lay, Dreyers Ice Cream, Chevron, Dole and others who also would deplore advertising of any kind on the car.

Simply put, with my clients, it would be considered T-A-C-K-Y !