It used to be that you see a straight limousine car and happily wonder who is inside – maybe a business executive or a celebrity or some other kind of status, strange. Now, you see the limo, and you know that he is not a fancy person. Think about it…when was the last time you saw a limo at all?
Traditionally, limousines have gone from “oooh” to “ick,” and they’re dying the right way.
They have fallen from grace. Maybe sometimes a bachelorette party or a few people have chosen them, but their options are limited because the limo companies have limited their fleet of limos. For-hire businesses would rather sell them in an SUV or party bus, where passengers don’t have to crawl around in their formal attire.
“None of us owns land, we’re in the black car business, we’re in the van business, we’re in the bus business, we’re in the car business. We can be in the business of trolley,” said Joe Reinhardt, owner and CEO of Carolina Limousine & Coach, which operates out of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. He is expanding his business to provide buses and cars and changing its name to CLC Worldwide to take the “limousine” out of it. It still allows him to tell an origin story, while avoiding sounding like a “gaudy limousine company.”
Limousines have gone from ‘oooh’ to ‘ick,’ and they’re dying the right way.
The limo industry is not dead; it just leaves the old black version behind.
“It’s really transportation these days,” said Brett Barenholtz, president of the industry trade group National Limousine Association who also runs several transportation companies out of Maine and Boston. “Cars can change. We’re just selling premium service, and people want premium service.”
In the popular imagination, a limo conjures up a certain image – Michael Douglas in “Wall Street,” Richard Gere in “Pretty Woman,” or crowds of young people flocking to one of them before a school dance. None of that is, you know, modern or modern. The beauty of the limo is firmly in the past.
There are many reasons why the limo became extinct. Consumers have moved on – to many people, a 30-meter-long car seems gauche and tacky, not cool and classic. The industry has moved on, too. A Mercedes-Benz Sprinter (basically a nice, roomy van), SUV, or black sedan is versatile and easier to make money than an attention-grabbing car you drive just for of special events.
“No one rides in a limo anymore,” said Scott Michael, CEO of the United Motorcoach Association. “They’re in black cars, town cars. They’re still called limo companies, but they don’t use limos for the most part.”
Ultimately, the financial crisis of 2008 was a key factor in the limo’s decline, said Robert Alexander, CEO of RMA Worldwide, a transportation services company in Washington, DC. In an environment where the American public was struggling financially and very angry with many CEOs, it was not pleasant to see them jumping into expensive limousines. It’s better for high-paid business leaders to walk away quietly – even if they’re making more money than their employees.
“People didn’t want to show off their wealth,” Alexander said. “That was the beginning of the end.”
As the CEOs went, so did everyone else, eventually – celebrities, brides and grooms, supporters, funeral attendees. If Gen Z is allowed to take private transportation to the dance these days (which many don’t), they’ll likely choose a party bus or other non-limo option, although a limo may be available. especially small markets. The rise of “silent vision” came for rental cars as people downgraded the appearance of their cars.
“The old joke was the only time people used limos was when you were married and when you died, like at a funeral and a wedding, after the funerals,” Alexander said. “Prom season used to be a big part of a few months’ worth of money, it’s not anymore. Even funerals have changed.”
Other horrific, high-profile accidents have also plagued some aspiring limo nurses. In 2013, a limo fire in California killed five members of a bachelorette party. In 2018, a limo accident in New York killed 20 people.
Prom and wedding seasons are still around, and some parties are opting for traditional clothes, but not to the same extent as they used to. Barenholtz says many weddings use regular buses, the purpose of which is to get people from the ceremony to the reception. He also noted that some school districts no longer allow students to go to school events in limos or other private transportation. The taxi and limousine service industry is expected to bring in about $42.8 billion in revenue by 2024, according to IBISWorld. That number has been falling for the past few years due to the pandemic, and is recovering as business travel returns.
Many in the industry have been good at leaving traditional limousines behind. A decade or two ago, a transportation company with 50 vehicles in its fleet would have many limos. Now, they may have a couple, because the car is probably paid off, doesn’t have many miles on it, and is sometimes still registered. Trade shows and promotions for limousines and luxury vehicles no longer have many, if any, vintage limos on the floor.
They were not safe. It was a bad trip. They were difficult to care for.
New limos are also difficult to make: Most are made by cutting the car in half, then expanding it with steel and fiberglass and throwing it all together. It’s not the safest method – the structural integrity of Franken’s vehicles is questionable. (It’s also not very pleasant for the passengers – pumping air into modified cars is not easy and can translate into a sweaty experience.) Because of these problems, limos that less and less. For example, the last Hummer limo was manufactured in 2010. Cadillac and Lincoln have stopped their safety inspections on cars that have been converted into limos.
“It was almost arts and crafts in the way the cars were put together,” Reinhardt said. “They weren’t safe. It was a bad trip. It was hard to take care of you.”
On the Internet, on sites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, you can find many used lawn mowers for sale. In the New York area, for example, prices run the gamut — generally, they’re priced between $5,000 and $20,000, but some are in the $40,000 to $50,000 range. Some are very cheap, and some are even advertised for free.
Businesses in this sector had to do that others work to pick up customers from the limo to the party bus. As Chris Weiss, president and publisher of Chauffeur Driven, a business magazine focused on ground transportation, said, “the best electric mouse” was built with the Mercedes Sprinter, but that wasn’t always the case. convenience for customers. Just as a limo doesn’t scream “class” anymore, a van really doesn’t.
“You get in the car, and you don’t have to bend over; you don’t crawl around. It’s just easier,” Weiss said. “Until the customer got it right, it was up to these companies to say, ‘Hey, well, we don’t have limos. We have Sprinters.’ And once they got into them, they were like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is great.’
As consumers smarten up to more practical — and often luxurious — options, businesses in the sector are moving away from the limo image. So is the rest of the industry, to some extent.
Everybody was ABC Limo, XYZ Limo forever, and then they started using the word ‘transportation,’ and then they started using the word ‘global’ or ‘global,’ they just take the word ‘land’ out of their name,” said Weiss. “Even many organizations that represent this area have changed or are planning to change their name and get the word ‘land’ out of it.” And the National Association of Limousine has adopted a new name, although he notes that people know him as NLA anyway.
“It’s not a dead business. It’s here,” said Barenholtz. “Car transportation has become just shuttles and high-end services.”
Reinhardt’s Carolina Limousine & Coach continues to be motorcoaches (think, like, a big luxury bus). He is less concerned about the threat of ride-hailing companies, such as Uber and Lyft, to his traditional business. He described them as “glorified car rentals,” though he acknowledged that they have changed customer expectations about things like wait times. Barenholtz acknowledged that ride-hailing outfits can sometimes be competitive, but compared it to a “box of chocolates,” where you never know what you’re going to find. Alexander’s RMA has a large fleet of vehicles, from sedans to luxury vans to coaches. He said they keep the limo rolling around more for nostalgia than anything else.
Nostalgia, indeed, is a hell of a drug. Often, when something from the past ends, we tend to feel bad about it. It’s sad to see trends come and go, especially when everything is moving so fast. I remember my one limo experience fondly, from my high school prom.
Even your rock stars will ride in an SUV. That’s all they want.
But the more I reported on this story, the more I was surprised by my reaction to the limo crash, which amounted to… The bending and swinging of a real limo is a sad thing. There are many better options that similar companies offer. The safety features are scary.
“You can tighten it as much as you can, but they’re not safe,” Weiss said.
When the market removes something – because businesses stop selling it, because consumers no longer want it, because it starts to look bad to use – sometimes it has a point. The CEO is driving around in his fancy limousine i gross. Picking up a more obscure SUV doesn’t solve the problem of income inequality, but at least it means that the winners of this situation are less proud of it. Regulars can also book an SUV to take them to the airport, which will ensure they get there on time but also have plenty of luggage space.
“Even your rock stars, if you will, will ride in an SUV. That’s what they want. It’s easy to get in and out,” Alexander said. “They’re safe. They can be fairly nondescript.”
Buyers who insist on renting a limo can, of course, buy one too. But if you’d rather take a party bus or an SUV, that makes sense — and so does everyone else.
Emily Stewart is a senior reporter for Business Insider, covering business and economics.