Anyone have experiences with these limo companies?

Hi,

I'm hoping to book my limos by the end of the summer and I was wondering if anyone had any good or bad experiences with the following companies:

Royalty
Cruise Control
All Star
M & V

Thanks,
Karen

limo tips to check when you book:
from bridaltips.com and i strongly agree.

Visit the limousine company and view their cars.
You must make sure the cars are kept in good condition. If the are in bad shape, you can bet that they'll break down on the way to your wedding. If you plan to use a Rolls Royce, Excalibur, or other unique car, make an appointment with the limousine company at a time when you can see the car. This is usually early on Saturday and Sunday mornings before they leave for a wedding. You want to make sure the car you are going to pay top dollar for is in good condition. Believe it or not, many old fashioned Rolls Royce limousines are in sad shape, because they are too old. The average life of a limo is only about 3 years due to mileage. Some of the fancier old fashioned limousines can no longer be repaired for rips in the seating, or have other parts replaced, so you want to ensure you are paying for a car that is in good shape. If you just want plain Lincoln type limousines, they all look the same. But also ask to see the premium cars listed in their ad and see if they really own it and is it all they touted it to be. One company advertised what I call a 'gimmick limousine' with an extra wide 'Bridal Door', to allow the bride with a wide dress to easily pass through the door. But a friend checked it out and reported that the car was in terrible shape. So don't just get sucked in by gimmick limousines with the beds and tubs in the back, check them out first. Don't sign the contract for a premium limo unless you have seen it, and sat in it first. This is why you must visit the limousine service to inspect their cars.


Rolls Royce Limousines
While shopping around you'll notice many companies in the yellow pages that claim they have have Rolls Royce or Excalibur limos. We discovered that many do NOT own the limousine, they contract it out from another source. In fact, most companies only have standard Lincolns and contract out the Rolls or Excalibur, while claiming in their ad that they have the car. They are just acting as brokers. If you want a Rolls or Excalibur, do like us and avoid dealing with these people. If they don't own the car, they have no control over whether it will show up or not. This is a major root cause of limousines not showing up. Avoid the middleman and go right to the source. Suppose you sign a contract for a Rolls Royce. The day of your wedding Elton John flies into town for a concert and needs that Rolls Royce. Who do you think will get it? You think you will, because you signed a contract? Don't be so naive!
How many cars are in their fleet? Some services only have a few cars, but book several weddings, and contract out cars from other agencies. Our limousine service did 17 weddings the day we got married and had to contract out extra cars! But we had a contract stating the owner was our driver, and that we got their cars, so we were pretty much guaranteed he would show up. Usually the owners will be more reliable as their reputation is at stake.

Ask them how much deposit they require.

Ask for a flyer that shows prices in writing. You don't want them making up inflated prices on the fly. You want a rate that is fair. Do they have a flyer with photos of their cars? If they don't have it written down on a flyer, chances are they are unscrupulous, you should scratch them off your list, and move on to the next limousine company.

Can you bring your own champagne? The champagne they give you is barely useful for cleaning your toilet. You'll want to bring your own maybe water for your ride, you will be thirsty after the ceremony. They provide the glasses.

Have them describe the worst wedding situations they have been in, and how they handled it.

How much is the overtime rate? Some weddings could run longer than expected, and you want to know how much the overtime rate is per vehicle that you use. You want no surprises. This is a huge source of problems for many newlyweds.

Who will be your driver? We found the owner to be a very nice gentleman and his name went on the contract to drive our Rolls. His son's name went on the contract to drive the Excalibur. Try to get the owner or their family members to be your driver. Family members have a reputation. Always try to get the owner!

If you cancel, can you get your deposit back? Most companies will not refund deposits, so choose one with a low deposit, and be certain before you sign that this is the company you want. Don't be a moron, give a deposit, then research the company you want. The correct order is Research, Choose, Deposit. Avoid limousine companies that charge high deposits. The company we chose however, will allow you to apply the deposit toward their services within one year. Luckily, they only require a $20 deposit. There is no reason for any limousine company to require 50% deposit.


More Limo Companies should use these 'rules'


Good Luck

We are using Royalty, their fleet of cars are awesome they came recommended by our hall

Happy planning

We are using M&V also. That is the one planning job my FH did on his own, he said he was satisfied with them after looking around, so I will take his word for it!!

I went to a bachelorette party last night and we used M&V. They were great! The driver was a half hour early (but of course didn't count the time until the time we gave him). He let us bring a HUGE cooler in the limo with tons of drinks and he even stopped for bathroom breaks along the way. He was great! The limo was in perfect condition.
My friend used the same service for her wedding and she had a great experience too.

We used Royalty, and they were just great. I've already left lots of posts regarding them here. I would highly recommend them to anyone. I even booked them as part of a surprise for my husband's birthday, and once again had no troubles. We've also known many couples who have used them with success.

In our search for limos, we didn't feel comfortable with All Star, who came highly recommended to us. The guy we met with at All Star kept giving us the run-around. We had made several appointments to see their Rolls Royce, and it was always 'in the shop.' No one ever bothered to call and reschedule the appointments, they let us show up for nothing. We had gone a couple of Mondays in a row. After that, we didn't make an appointment, and simply said we might be back the following Monday, but when we didn't go back, the guy called us trying to schedule another appointment. We just didn't think he was considerate and didn't like that he let us go there for nothing, knowing we specifically wanted to see the Rolls. Also, not feeling comfortable about all the 'shop' time it had just had, we asked what would happen if it broke down the week of our wedding, and were told they would either contract out a Rolls from somewhere else, or send a Lincoln. I didn't like that .. if I'm booking a Rolls, I want a Rolls. (Royalty has a handful of Rolls to pick from).

We also went to M&V and had a similar problem. Before we went, we called about 'viewing' their Rolls Royce and other cars, and were told about there weekly showcases, so we went that week .. and guess what .. no Rolls! It was out for the winter being repainted. It appeared as if they had just moved to this new location, and it didn't appear to us that they had a garage, which we also felt was another negative.