Legislation and regulations affect us all in ways that we probably don’t even realize. For the limo business often these regulations are primarily to protect the consumer. There are rules that govern issues concerning safety of course, which we all agree with. No one wants to hire a driver that has been charged with drunken driving in the recent past. Nobody will want to ride in a limo that doesn’t have properly working headlights or the brake lights are out.
Some regulations though it seems are set in place to make the industry more amenable to particular companies. For example in the lovely city of Nashville the Metropolitan city council passed legislation that they tried to disguise as being for consumer protection. In June of 2010 they decided that they would raise the rates of the minimum charge for limo and sedan rentals. And that was not the only thing that they changed.
New regulations stated that limo companies could not use leased limos. They also added that limo’s were not allowed to park and wait for customers if they were in front of a hotel or a bar. The newest laws that were to be put into place in January of 2012 made it against the law to use a SUV or sedan that was more than 7 years old and a limo that was more than 10 years old. Any vehicle that had hit the five year mark was deemed too old to even be put into service.
For the consumer this means higher prices. While some people might have a preference about whether they have a five year old limo compared to a factory fresh limo, for the most part we all want to be in something that is nice, possibly luxurious, comfortable, and safe.
For those that live or visit Nashville it means that a ride from downtown to the airport will cost nearly twice as much in a limo. Even more important than the price going up, is the way that this legislation has pushed out the independent and small companies in favor of large existing limo car companies.
These new regulations are not just going on in Nashville. The same thing has been happening with both state and local governments in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and Oregon. While they might want it to look like a consumer protection move, the fact is that it is putting people out of jobs while driving up the prices for those of us that hire limos.
