Starting a limo company

Hey All,

So I've been thinking lately about purchasing a used limo off ebay and starting off really small, but starting a limo company in my area. I've checked the yellow pages and it's not very heavily saturated around my 30 mile radius.

Does anyone have experience with starting a limo company or can give me pointers/ideas/etc.?

Do I need a business plan?

Will I have to setup as a company or could I wait to see if I grow bigger than just one or two limos?

I figure if I pay $20,000 a limo. This will be around $500 a month in payments and I have no idea about insurance but I'm sure it can't cost more than $500-$1000? It seems like paying these monthly payments, driver fees (would probably be myself or a friend at first), maintnance, detailing (I detailed for 6 years so this would be myselft at first as well) would only take 2 or 3 bookings a month and the rest would be profit? Does this make sense?

Any help or ideas would be welcome. This is just and idea (maybe a daydream) I've been having recently.

Thanks!
Alex J.

 

Business plan, marketing plan, incorporation, insurance, NLA membership, suite, gasoline, garage, car detailing and cleaning, graphic design, advertising, etc are all things to think about.

http://www.limo.org/vnla/ScriptContent/t_inside.cfm?action=1029 has some great information.

 

I think if you buy a taxi you could make more $$$$$

 

Driving taxi is hard work.........
Limo is more fun, I guess

 

more high end customers..

 

By "more" do you mean "tailors to" or more as in quantity?

 

if you are in the USA, it would depend on your city. every major city has some sort of limousin/chauffer commission setup i am pretty sure. you would have to get the car insured by them, and inspected by them.

in nyc its the Taxi & Limousine Commission. in nyc also if you own a limo you could sign up with a 'base' and they give you jobs. you could start off that way to build your customer base

 

Yes you want to start with a business plan - even if it is a small plan - kind of like what you have told us but more specific.

We have a number of driver / owner limo services around here and they all do it on the side since it is usually evenings only that they are needed (no stars, milionaires, etc... come here.) They all seem to do ok with it until the car starts getting to old, then they just don't get as much business and seem to get out of it after that.

I don't think we have on "trick" limo here - you know something like a h2 or excursion, so I have thought that might be the ticket here to get something rolling.

 

Thanks for the replies guys....Yeah I live in a section of Philadelphia that I haven't seen any limo's displayed around. I was looking at picking just one up with a buddy of mine and seeing how well we can do. He's more of the business guy where I'm more of a techy. Just wanted to get some ideas on the limo business. Does anyone know the limo commission in my area?

 

http://www.philapark.org/taxi_limo/taxi_limo_regulations.aspx

 

A friend of mine in the army bought a limo and "partnered" with an adult entertainment establishment. Fridays and Saturdays he parks his limo at the club and the "employees" inside sell the customers on adult limo rides with them. Nothing illegal, just your regular adult establishment fare.

He makes a killing (a few trips around the block = $20-50 for his cut, sometimes 10 times a night), and he LOVES his clientèle. He keeps his 9-5 day job and pulls in an extra $30-40k a year from that. Of course, he is single so nobody minds who he hangs out with on the weekends

 

thats new

 

I stopped reading at the point where you asked if you needed a business plan.. jeez its going to be a business, so YES you need a business plan. By establishing a good business plan, you will get a feel for what and how your going to go about things, plus you feel much more confortable making decisions later on.

Just to through this out, did you know that 74% of all businesses that fail, fail because they're business plan wasn't throughly planned and written?

 

I won't say too much as I don't have much experience in this field, and am located outside the US, however just make their's sufficient demand for a limo service before diving right in.

Good luck!

 

I guess it would depend where you live? A limo business in LA is probably huge but i'm sure there are hundreds of limo companies there. A limo business in BFE, Idaho might not be the greatest idea.

Where i live they charge $65-$90 an hour for a regular 10 people limo. The thing is you have to advertise a lot to get customers.

 

You should also try local listings such as Craigslist to find a cheap limo. When starting up, try and cut all extra expenses as much as possible so you can break even faster.

 

Thanks guys for all the wonderful comments!

 

What, the place doesn't have backrooms for the dancers to have sex with the customers like most strip clubs?

Nobody is paying for a few trips around the block in a limo because they enjoy the company of the strippers, they're paying for "other" services.

 

I looked into it once. ::I would buy a limo-hummer. (; :: . But seriously, I think it is a great business idea. It has a great potential, especially if you have a large high school near-by.

 

It is more like a 24Hr job.
You get calls all the time, if you ask more than the Taxi price some people just don't take the service.

But is a good business.

If you have a airport around, you need to contact them first and contact the city and ask for the limo age etc.

Some air ports do not allow vehicle with 5 year or older.
should be under some miles to start and once you register with them you can drive the same for a long time.

You need to get 1 mil insurance so, no one will sue you.

Get a nice web site and drive safe.

If you have speific questions PM me.

Thanks