Limo Hire Blog

With the dates of the most popular horse racing event of the year announced, many people will now start to think about setting the dates aside in their diaries, deciding on who will accompany them to the event and booking a limousine. The dates for Royal Ascot 2009 are Monday 16th June through until Friday 2oth June, Ladies Day is on Wednesday 18th June.

Of course few racing events can match Royal Ascot's rich history, with a racecourse which was founded by Queen Anne back in 1711 and will reach its tercentenary in 2011, now that should be an event to remember. During Royal Ascot week some 300,000 people will attend the event making it Europe's most popular racing event. The Ascot Authority, formed by an act of Parliament in 1913 has commissioned an upgrade of the racecourse facilities, costing an estimated £185m and was completed after just 20 months. The funding was provided by the Horserace Betting Levy Board, commercial lenders and Ascot's own reserves. As owner of the Ascot estate, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth reopened the racecourse on Tuesday 20th June 2006. The first four day Royal Meeting was held in June 1768 and it was subsequently extended to five days in 2002, The Queen's Golden Jubilee year.

The new Grandstand was finished in May 2006 includes some 265 private boxes which can seat anything from 6 to 40 people, there are also 7 restaurants. In addition, there is an 8,000 viewing capacity parade ring, located behind the stand and at the heart of the racecourse. The Grandstand was designed to curve in an arc to provide the best views of the track, bends, mile start winning post, and of course, Windsor Great Park. As part of their Founding Partner programme, Royal Ascot have also announced that the renovated Grandstand will include 1,000 indoor and outdoor high definition TV from Sony, which amongst other things will include betting information.

The Pavilion has also been refurbished, providing bars, betting facilities, a public library and a meeting hall. Ascot employs some 140 full time staff, but this rises to 6,000 during Royal Ascot week to cater for the 300,000 visitors. Royal Ascot Village is ideally positioned in the centre of the course opposite the new Grandstand, just yards from the finishing post. Because the Royal Ascot Village has a private viewing area on the rails it is an ideal location to view the Royal Procession and the finish of each race.

Royal Ascot is renowned as a sporting and social occasion and every year welcomes many people who may only attend this one race meeting each year, betting perhaps at Royal Ascot and the Grand National. There is a strong tradition at Royal Ascot of pageantry, fashion and style and this is equally true of transportation to and from the event. Visitors frequently choose to be chauffeured to Royal Ascot is a top of the range chauffeur driven cars, such as a Rolls Royce Phantom, Bentley Arnage, or Maybach. Plus the tradition of selecting the best stretched limousines available remains strong. Visitors frequently retain their chauffeur cars or limousines and park in the Silver Ring, with the chauffeur services companies providing open sided marquees, tables and chairs for their guests.

Cars for Stars is an award winning company offering a wide range of chauffeur driven cars and the very latest stretched limousines. The chauffeur cars available for Royal Ascot include the Rolls Royce Phantom, Maybach 62, Bentley Arnage, the all new Jaguar XJ (LWB) , latest Mercedes S Class (LWB) , as well as Mercedes people carriers. Stretched limousine for hire area available in different shapes and sizes, in white, black, silver, metallic blue, vanilla white and candy apple red.

Cars for Stars is a franchised business, with offices in major locations throughout the UK and, all Cars for Stars businesses are licensed for private hire by the relevant local authority, in London this is the Public Carriage Office (PCO). This means that all Cars for Stars franchisees are registered for private hire, the limousines are licensed as private hire vehicles and the chauffeurs are licensed to drive the cars and limousines. The chauffeur cars and limousines do not have a private hire plate attached because of a successful application for exemption.

From the 1st January 2008, all limousine companies, that were not previously licensed to offer limousines for hire or reward, will have to be licensed. As with all licensed limousine hire operators, Cars for Stars is open to regular checks and scrutiny by the local authorities, the chauffeur driven cars and limousines offered for hire are also subjected to stringent and regular checks. All chauffeur's have to pass a medical and criminal records bureau check before they can be Licensed. Cars for Stars offers a package for Royal Ascot which includes an open sided marquee, tables and chairs.

The word cheap means different things to different people, but when it is mentioned in tandem with something that you would normally expect to be a high value service or product, what message do you receive? For example, cheap jewellery, cheap clothes, cheap service and to come back to the issue in question, cheap limo hire. The dictionary describes the word cheap as, of poor quality, inferior, worthy of no respect, vulgar or contemptible. So, ask yourself this, why would any business working in a service industry want to use the word cheap? With new stretched limousines typically costing £65,000, how could any serious business, that has invested this amount of money use the term cheap limo hire? Do they know something the that we don't? Is it a question of ordering a diamond and receiving cut glass?

The chances are, that if you offer to take your partner out to a "cheap restaurant", the only reason it would be cheap, is because you would have to dine alone. Surely people are really looking for value for money, can anyone truly want a cheap service or a cheap limo? In the limousine business, it is interesting to note, that the vast majority of limousine companies do not use the word cheap, some do, most don't. In fact, the term tends to be used by third parties, agents or brokers seeking to entice you to use 'their' cheap limo service. Given the third party, agency or broker has to make a living, should we assume that they only sub-contract their hires to "cheap" limo companies? Maybe we should also pose the question, how do these companies feel about having their service, efforts or investment described as cheap, or do they even realise? Perhaps the customer is getting less for their money, so that it can be cheap, or maybe these third parties only deal with cheap companies? After all, the only way you can offer a cheap limo, if you are an agent or broker, is if it is a cheap limo in the first place. Although it probably won't be that cheap by the time the third party have taken their slice of the pie. So hands up, be honest, who wants cheap limo hire?

Ask any serious limousine company if it is possible to offer cheap limo hire. Basic economics dictate that, with limousines costing as much as £100k each, vehicle insurance, public liability insurance, chauffeurs, licensing, servicing, fuel and all of the back office functions, unless you are prepared to cut corners, limo hire is not cheap. Nor should it be, it is a service. It is invariably provided for a special occasion or function and the customer is entitled to feel special, otherwise what is the point? But, it must offer value for money and the customer must feel that they received value for what they were charged. If everyone wanted cheap, then they would buy all of their vegetables from the market, their clothes from the charity shop and their cars from an auction. If someone had to do that, the chances are, they would have better things to do with their money than hiring a limo, even a cheap limo!

Cars for Stars do not offer cheap limo hire. They are an award winning company providing late model, high value chauffeur driven cars and stretched limousines, with a service to match. Cars for Stars do not accept hires from anyone that would dare to describe their service or limousines as 'cheap'. In fact, Cars for Stars do not accept any sub-contracted limousine hires. Cars for Stars offer limousines and chauffeur cars through a network of franchised offices. All of which accept and operate to the same exacting standards, providing a quality service, with first class limousines at a fair and representative price. If you are not looking for cheap limo hire, but you want service, reliability and a quality limousine with real value for money, then call your local Cars for Stars branch.