50-50

Those are your odds of picking a limousine company with a Better Business Bureau rating of either A or B according to my informal survey of the bbb.org website I just concluded.

Grouped with other "Transportation Services" providers, I found 49 local limousine companies listed within a 10 mile radius of zip code 95864. Of those, 18 had a rating of A (including Luxury Limousines!), 8 had a B rating, 19 were listed but had failed to supply the BBB with information to rate them, and 4 (including some of the largest in terms of fleet size) received an F grade, largely due to their failure to respond to consumer complaints.

If you look further, 5 of the 49 limousine companies (including this one), had taken the extra steps to become an "Accredited Business". All 5 of us had A ratings. That means if you take these 5 out of the general population of limo companies, you have less than a 50% chance of getting a business with an A or B rating, and in fact have almost a 10% chance of choosing a company with an F rating.

The bottom line seems to be clear - checking out a potential limousine company can prevent a decision you may later regret.