"Earth to 007 Crazy Sniper Guy... Please answer your cell phone. You have a limo job." - Your Limo Employer

Be ready for the million dollar call.

It’s 2:30PM, your sitting home playing Call of Duty Black Ops on your Xbox 360.  In the middle of sniping an enemy sharp shooter from across the map, your cell phone rings.  What do you do?  You shoot the guy as fast as you can and then you answer your cell because you are a chauffeur, on stand-by for your local limousine service.  Let’s get to the point.  You can’t be on standby if your cell phone is off, or you are not close to it.  So rule #1, if you’re on stand-by, be on stand-by!  The limousine industry is not busy enough to employee all drivers full time.  Most of the time, drivers are “on call”, also known as “stand-by”.  When I was a chauffeur, I would wake up in the morning, take a shower, put on black pants, black socks, black shoes and a white t-shirt.  And then I would go about my morning.  When the million dollar call would come through, it was a simple as walking to my bedroom closet door where my uniform was on a hanger.  I would take the whole hanger and walk to my car.  Get in it and head north.  Within one minute I was gone!  Bye Bye.  Kisses.  See ya.  Gone in 60 seconds.  When I talk to chauffeurs these days, they tell me, “Well, I can be out of my house in about 45 minutes.  I got to eat some cereal, I got to get undressed, get in the shower, bite my toenails, finish my TV show, put deodorant on, brush my teeth, tie my shoes…”  If you want to become a chauffeur certified by CELEBRITY CHAUFFEUR, the very first thing you are going to do “Pre-Trip” is be on stand-by, next to your cell phone, ready to roll out of your house or girlfriends house or wherever you are “within 60 seconds”.  If you do not want to be on standby then tell your company to take you off standby!  If you’re going to be on standby, be on stand-by.  The maximum time it should take you to get the hell out of your little house is 5 minutes. I hope this point is clear.  Let’s move on.

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Say hello to Ray. Ray is the CEO of New England Bounces. Ray knows how to dress like a professional chauffeur.

Look like a million dollars.

You are a chauffeur, a servant.  Act like it.  Ask your employer what his dress code is and follow it.  Most of the time chauffeurs are required to wear a black suit with a white shirt and tie.  As of winter 2011, here at Celebrity Limousine, our is jet black.  Black pants, shirt, suit jacket, socks, shoes, coat, scarf, gloves, sunglasses…..  Everything, jet black.  Whatever your dress code is of your employer, follow it and pay close attention to a few things.  Iron your pants and shirt.  Look presentable!  Shine your damn shoes!  Look good!  Feel good about yourself.  Don’t just follow the dress code and still come in looking like a bum.  You’re a chauffeur.  It’s in upscale job.  Act the role.  Take a little pride in yourself.  I’m saying this because over the years, I have seen some drivers “look good” and others look like complete bums! They look like their clothes are always in a little ball on the floor of their bedroom.  Their shoes look like they are as old as The Age of the Dinosaurs.  If you’re given a dress code, follow it.  Wash your hair more than once a week, shave your face, brush those yellow things in your mouth and get ready to sit behind the wheel of a luxury limousine.

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Website like Google Earth allow you to zoom in and see actual photos of the places listed on your reservation. www.googleearth.com

Review your itinerary carefully.

Review your itinerary carefully! Very carefully actually. Someone else’s special event is depending on guess who? You! Mr. Call of Duty, Prestige 50 X, World's Most Respected Sharp Shooter. When you are given a run to a restaurant, a road trip to Yankees Stadium or something as simple as a drop off at a Church, "review your itinerary" and make sure you know exactly where you are going. Some of my best chauffeurs have one thing in common.  They carefully review their itinerary before they get to the pick-up. Some places, like the Capitol Grill in Providence, RI, have a private parking lot in front of their restaurant that will not fit a 42 passenger entertainment coach. In a situation like this, you don't drop off in front of the restaurant.  You drop off in back of it, on West Exchange Street. At this location, there are steps that take you down almost straight to the front door. You need to know these things as a professional chauffeur. Some streets are one ways. Some streets will be blocked off when you get there. That’s why you need to know your destinations and stops and review them before you arrive at the pick-up. Sometimes, I think the main portion of your work as a chauffeur is before you arrive your pick up and when you’re with your clients, that’s the easy part.

Here at Celebrity Limousine, we train our chauffeurs to call our clients immediately when they leave our office to review the itinerary one more time with the client and introduce themselves to the client. I think that is the very professional and also shows excellent customer service!!!  By speaking to the client, you will also help avoid major errors.  Sometimes when the client books their limo 6 months in advance they give us their itinerary but change it several times after that.  Don’t always expect them to call in and update their info.  Communicate with your client.  Speak to them.  Use some skills.  Your mom will even be very proud of you.

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Review your reservation for accuracy and errors.

There is nothing worse than when a chauffeur has a pick-up, doesn’t read his reservation thoroughly and overlooks a major point like, “This job is a surprise.  Do not call client!!!!!”  Are we getting somewhere yet?  You could straight ruin someone’s special event if you do not pay attention to detail and review your reservation.  Look at the pick-up time.  Look at your vehicle #.  Look at your pick up address.  Look at your destination.  Look at your financial status.  Make sure things look like they make sense!  Sometimes a sales person will create a reservation and put down that the vehicle must be cleared by 7PM.  Yet it states they are paid in full until 8PM.  Well, what is it?  Are they paid in full until 8PM?  If they are, then why does it say thy must be cleared by 7PM.  Something is wrong.  Find out immediately.  Don’t just show up to your pick up like a fool and have the customer question “you”.  People are not born with confidence.  Confidence is gained through knowledge and security.  Knowledge is the secret to success.  Become knowledgeable with what you are doing.  Where you are going.  Know your itinerary.  Know your limo.  Know exactly what is on your reservation.  And enjoy your trip.

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Know every little thing about the limo that you will be driving for the next 10 hours.

Be familiar with your limousine.

Recently I had a chauffeur scheduled for a New York run on a Sunday morning. When I saw his name I realized the dispatch team made a mistake.  This driver, who I cannot mention due to privacy, had never driven this specific bus before.  When I called him up, I said “Nelson, have you ever driven B1?”  He said, “No”.  Then I asked him if he was scheduled for training in B1.  He told me he missed his training appointment.  I ended up putting a different driver on the bus job and moved onto the next thing.  “Guys, Girls, be familiar with your Limo. When I die, nobody is going to refer to me as a wizard or some wise scholar because I wrote the course The Art of Chauffeuring.  This is just some simple elementary stuff here.  When a client asks you how to change the stereo on manual mode versus auto search, you need to know how to do that.  When the front of your cabin is freezing because you like it like that, but the rear of the car wants it hot, you need to know how to do that.  You need to know how to open your hood and check your fluids, you need to know where your jack in case you get a flat.  Know your car.  Some of you will be given 18 hour New Jersey runs, overnight trips etc…  Even if your job is simple Logan Airport run, know your vehicle well.  When management states that you are taking Bus#6, ask them how the bus has been running lately.  Sometimes the management team is the first to hear about complaints about vehicle operations before the mechanic team even knows they exists.  Once management says everything seems fine to us, ask the mechanical team if there is anything that you may need to know about the Bus during your trip!  Wait till you see the response you get from the mechanical team!!!  These guys work on our vehicles 6 days a week.   They even dream about working on our vehicles!

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Time Management

Ok Smarty, let’s see if you can hang KEEPING UP on this scenario.  We give you a pick up at Mohegan Sun on a Friday for 6PM.  What time should you arrive Mohegan Sun for?  6PM?  No.   545PM.  Chauffeurs should always show up on location at the door exactly 15 minutes early.  Not 10.  Not 35.  15.  Got it?  OK, let’s keep going.  If you should arrive your pick up 15 minutes early.  What time should you arrive the area for?  545PM?  No.  About 530PM.  You should always arrive the area 10-15 minutes earlier than your arrival time.  Leave a little grace period here.  Remember, this is somebodies special event!!!!!  Don’t screw it up like you did your last marriage!  So, what time should you leave the limo office if the limo office is an hour away and you want to arrive the area around 530PM?  430PM?  No.  Its Friday night, Meathead.  Did you forget about Friday night traffic?  You need to leave the office about a half hour earlier to compensate for traffic.  Think about it.  Next question.  What time should you arrive the parking lot?  About 15 minutes early?  Yes.  About 345PM.  Next question.  You live a half hour away from the lot.  What time should you leave your house to head in?  315PM?  Your being a Meathead again!!  Friday night traffic!!!!  300PM.  What if you’re not at home because you’re at Game Stop buying the new Barbie Xbox360 game?  What time do you need to leave Game Stop taking into consideration when you get home, you need to allow enough time to walk up the stairs, open the door, get undressed, then redressed, then shower, shave, eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then brush your 2 teeth.  The problem I’m pointing out to you is most men plainly suck at TIME MANAGEMENT.  Most chauffeurs don’t have a #####’n clue how to manage their time.  I know because I have fired more chauffeurs for being late then the number of girls I have dated.  And that’s a lot!!  You are so slow you need to leave Game Stop at 2PM.  Not all limousine services run an ON TIME OR FREE company.  I do because my company is the biggest and the best up here in the North East.  And the reason why you’re going to get fired for not managing your time properly is because as Ive said before, “You” will ruin somebodies special event if you don’t take all those thing into consideration that I just typed out.  Don’t be self-centered.  Think about others.  If your taking someone to an airport, a wedding, a meeting, an interview, a concert, a baseball game…  BE EARLY.  Your stupidity of improperly managing your time starting at the time of day when you were at GameStop will completely ruin someone’s night.  One time, I had a chauffeur who was late, and I’m not going to mention his name because he would be mad at me, but I was like “Tom, you being late, caused them to miss their party cruise!!”  Do you have any idea how angry these people were?  Sadly, I’m writing this course because problems like this have happened so many times, I have been left with no other choice but to write courses on the importance and liabilities of chauffeuring!  Chauffeuring is an art.  It takes brains, talent, attitude, character and will to go the extra mile, humble yourself and serve. By the way, sorry for saying your name Tom.

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You arrive a parking lot of limousines. It's cold outside. All the engines are ice cold and your limo hasn't been turned on in 2 days. What’s next?

The first thing you should do is walk up to you vehicle and walk around the exterior and do a Pre-Trip Damage Inspection. Do not move the vehicle. Do not start it up. Walk around your limo and inspect it for damage before you do a single thing. If it's dark out or dusk out, pull out your LED Mag Flashlight and look for the damage that the previous chauffeur did to your limo! If you do not, when you bring your car back, guess who is going to be blamed for another person’s damage? You. So be smart. Walk around your limo, bend over a little bit so you can see close and look for new scratches, dings, dent and /or good size damage. No excuses. I don’t care how late you are or how pressed for time you are. This one procedure will secure your employment. I don't care what company you’re working for.

Once you have done your Pre Trip Damage Inspection, unlock the doors, start up your limousine, put your headlights on and move her up about 25 feet. It’s time to do a safety Inspection.

*If you are starting up a bus, in the winter time, and your bus or limo has a diesel engine, make sure to unplug the block warmer. All diesel engines are plugged in during the winter time to keep the block warm. Do not forget to unplug the block before you take off.

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Always do your Pre-Trip Safety DOT Inspection. Your clients lives are depending on it. __________________ Safety First.

PRE TRIP SAFETY DOT INSPECTION

A Pre-Trip Safety DOT Inspection is supposed to be done on all commercial vehicles.

Start out by check your tires, brake pads, fluids and under carriage.  Turn on the vehicle headlamps and activate the four-way flashers.

(Large Commercial Vehicles over 10,000 lbs. Only) Release hood if the vehicle has a release lever inside. Inspect all aspects of the units steering. This should include the steering linkage and gearbox, the tie rod and cotter pin. Check all for loose or missing, cracked or broken nuts and bolts and that nothing is leaking.

Look at the front brakes. These components include the slack adjusters, pins, drums, hoses or lines, chambers and brake linings. They should not be cracked, broken, loose or have any parts missing. Adjusters cannot have more than one inch of free play when hand pulled and the brake lining should not be less than 1/4 of an inch. Hoses or lines should not be in a position to be rubbing any surfaces or frayed in any way.

See that the front wheel and tire and their components are in good shape with no broken or cracked pieces, and inflation of the tire is correct using a tire gauge. Tires need to have at least 4/32 tread remaining, and cannot be a recapped tire or have any bulges or cracks. The hub must not be leaking and all lug nuts must be present and tight.

(All vehicles with Bus Plates) Open the door and check for the existence of all required safety equipment. These items include a fire extinguisher with a meter that shows proper charge, three emergency triangles, cones or flares. Carry spare fuses according to the requirements. None of these safely items may be missing or broken.

Check all doors.   The doors must also close tightly and securely.

Match the license plates with the vehicles registration, and confirm that they are not expired.

Find the marker lights, taillights, brake lights and turn signals and assure that all properly light up or flash.
Close the hood and secure it with the hood straps, making sure they are undamaged and secure.

See that all lights are properly working, and look at the exterior body parts to see that no parts are loose or missing.

Ensure that the windshield has no cracks or damage.

Enter cab and check that all lights on dash are operating properly including signal indicators.

Start the engine and watch for proper gauge operation, including the oil pressure, water temperature, air pressure and voltmeter.

Honk the horn to check good operation, as well as the wipers and heater and defroster. All must be in proper working order. Aim mirrors and check that they are not cracked or broken.

Perform all required brake checks.

If you notice anything wrong, broken or not in proper working condition, call management immediately.

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Preparing for departure. This is the meat and potatoes of your night out. It starts right here.

PREPARING FOR DEPARTURE

Preparing For Departure. The meat and potatoes of this business and, my favorite part. Don’t ask me why this is my favorite part. Maybe, it’s because I was a limo in my past life. Anyways, your limo is running, the engine is warming up, our Pre Trip Inspections are both done and it's time to prep up your limo for departure. Let's go.