Starting at $200 a lap...

Pictured here is probably the world's only true racing limo. Designed and built by Michael Pettipas, the vehicle is a Formula 1-style car that can carry six passengers at white knuckle speeds.

According to the company's web site, laps start at only $200 (I sure hope helmets are included!). If you are crazy enough to want to try this for yourself, here is a link to the company's website.

The newest Navigator in town!

We are pleased to announce that our friends over at API Limousine have agreed to allow us to book their brand new 2009 Lincoln Navigator.

Custom made for API by Krystal (one of only two manufacturers that we buy from), the limo seats 13 and comes with all of the goodies that we have in our own cars including a direct ipod connection, satellite radio and an incredible four flat screen TVs.

This is the first we have ever promoted a vehicle belonging to another company, but having worked with API for well over two years, and we know that they operate under the same principles and standards as we do.

Super Bowl

If you are like me, I intend to have a few adult beverages this coming Sunday (I may have more than a few if the Cardinals pull it off!).

Because of this, I will be leaving the driving to someone else. If you don't have a someone else, or if you are the designated driver, and don't want to be, then why not call us? We have cars and special deals available!

Just got back from the Limo show

Not surprisingly, this year's annual Limousine & Chauffeured Transportation Show in Las Vegas was a little bit smaller than last year. Nevertheless, it was still very informative and although we didn't buy any new vehicles, the show did provide a great networking opportunity. I was able to meet the owners of several of the limo companies we refer out to across the country, as well as two of our local affiliates.

At the show. we also learned that we are going to be the recipients of an award for Reduced Emissions from Green Ride Global, the Company that administers our environmental reporting. In the accompany picture, I am with Ian Lipton, COO of Green Ride, Lynette Ashwood, our Account Director at green Ride and Lisa Campodonico, our Director of Marketing.

Off to the Limo Show!

Along with my entire management team, I am off to the annual International Limousine and Chauffeured Transportation Show. Each year over 3,500 of the top limousine companies and vendors converge on Las Vegas to share the latest in limousine design, technology and business practices.

The show also gives us an opportunity to renew our relationships face to face with our affiliates across the country. This networking helps us to ensure that we are only referring out to companies that have the same business philosophy as we do - i.e. customer service comes and environmentally sound practices come first.

Last year we came home with a new party bus - while I am not expecting to buy anything this year, who knows?

Make a Wish Winter Wine & Food Festival is a week from tonight!

Make a Wish's Annual Winter Wine & Food Festival is being a week from tonight at the Sacramento Convention Center. Sample from wines from over Northern California 60 wineries, 7 local microbreweries and 60 of the best restaurants in the Sacramento Area.

General Admission tickets are only $85. In addition there will be both a silent auction and a live auction. The live auction will feature four items donated by Luxury Limousines. These include dinner for eight at Hawks with wines provided by Frank Family and Crocker & Star, a ladies night out including a make up and photography session, and an Italian Tapas dinner prepared by Doug Carson. Of course we will be providing transportation services for all of these great items.

Hope you can join us for a fun evening which benefits this wonderful organization!

Bring out the Barrel!

21 El Dorado County wineries (including our favorite David Girard) will be participating in the annual barrel tasting this weekend. If you have never attended a barrel tasting it is a great way to learn about how a wine evolves while being aged. It also provides an opportunity to buy "futures" - basically pre-ordering a wine while it is still in the barrel for later delivery. This gives the winery some cash flow, and the buyer a discount from the "future" price of the wine.

Be prepared however, as the wine you are tasting now will be very young, and may not be fully representative of what the wine will become. This is what I find fascinating, especially in instances where the winery is using more than one type of oak in its barreling process.

For more information about barrel tasting, check out Chris Macias article in today's Sacramento Bee, and for more information on the event itself check out this link to the El Dorado Winery Association. Of course, as with anytime alcohol is involved, I suggest a designated driver, or even better yet, one of our limos!

More stars in our cars!

I am not going to disclose exactly which ones, but I will say that we have been chosen to provide transportation services for three of the celebrities who will be playing in the $100,000 Celebrity Blackjack Tournament that is being held as part of Red Hawk Casino's Grand Opening Celebration this Thursday.

For more information on this event (and for a list of all the celebrities who will be in attendance), check out this link to the Red Hawk website.

Valentine Days Special

Looking for that perfect gift for Valentine's Day? Look no further as we have partnered with Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa to bring it to you.

We will pick you and a guest up on Saturday afternoon in one of our limousines, and whisk you away to Arden Hills. There you will enjoy a couples message, dinner for two and a night in their wonderful bed and breakfast.

We will then return you to your home on Sunday morning. Call today, as space is limited!

Obamamobile Part IV

Here is the first official picture of the new Presidential Limousine. Not sure if would float as well as an US Airways plane, but its it would probably stop everything short of a asteroid hitting hit.

Of course, the official line from the manufacturer on its specifications sounds like it is borrowed from "Fight Club" - "One of the specifications is that we don't talk about the specifications". However, since the Secret Service has nicknamed it "The Beast", one can be assured that its armor plating is at least five inches thick, its glass is bulletproof, and the tires will never go flat.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the car may also be designed to withstand a chemical attack, and even carries a vile of the President's blood type (sure hope that is never necessary).

We passed our Annual CHP Inspection!

Congratulations to our General Manager Ozzie and our Manager Shad for once again successfully guiding us to a "satisfactory" terminal rating from the CHP. This rating is the highest possible on the required annual inspection.

This annual inspection is very detailed and included a physical inspection of our three largest vehicles and reviews of our maintenance records, driver log books, and insurance coverages. In addition, the CHP reviewed our alcohol and controlled substance testing procedures as well as our hours of service records.

This is our third such inspection, and we have received the satisfactory rating each time.

Obamamobile Part III

We still haven't seen pictures of the new Presidential Limousine without a lot of disguises, but thanks to the UK's Daily Mail here here is a great illustration of the car's features (click on the image to enlarge).

Notice the defensive accessories which include night vision cameras, pump-action shot guns and tear gas cannons and is designed to withstand both rocket and chemical attacks. The car also reportedly carries bottles of the President's blood in case he needs an emergency transfusion (hopefully none of these will ever be needed!).

New York to test out Drive Cams - Hint - they work!

New York City's Taxi & Limousine Commissioner recently intuited a pilot program that will test whether the notoriously bad driving behavior of taxi drivers would be effected by the installation of "Drive Cams" in their vehicles. Since we have them in all of our cars, I can tell the Commissioner first hand that they work. Since their installation , we have had zero incidents (hope I didn't just jinx us!).

For more information about Drive Cams,visit our website description here. For more on NYC's program, check out the Daily News article here.

Luxx Limo chosen as Preferred Provider for the Sterling Hotel

We are pleased to announce that we have been chosen as the preferred limousine service for the Sterling Hotel. Located in a Victorian Mansion at 1300 H Street, this boutique hotel offers some of the finest accommodations in Sacramento. It also features a Ballroom that can accommodate up to 400 guests making it perfect for weddings and corporate events.

Best of all, the wonderful Chanterelle Restaurant is on site. Their Veal Chanterelle is to die for, as is their Duck Wellington. Best of all, with entrees starting at 16 and topping out at $34 for the Filet, you don't have to go broke dining there.

Dine Downtown!

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership has come up with a great promotion - Dine Downtown. For seven days beginning on January 10th, you can have a three course dinner for only $30 person at any one of 26 Downtown Restaurants. Participating restaurants include the new Grange at The Citizen (see the review from Sunday's Bee), McCormick & Schmick's and The Firehouse in Old Sac.

I know personally I am going to be taking advantage of this great offer and since I will probably have a glass or two of vino to go along with the Chief's selections, I will take one of our cars. I would suggest that you consider this two, especially since we are having our own January promotion with 15% all rides over three hours. In fact, mention this post, when you book and you will receive an additional 5% discount.

Yelp reviews

Every so often I check out the links on my blog and website just to make sure they are still working. Much to my surprise, I found that the three reviews that we had received on Yelp had been deleted.

In search of a reason for this, I found that Yelp removes reviews for one of three reasons - the poster ask for the review to be removed, Yelp itself will manually remove a review that it feels violates its Terms of Service (in which case the business is supposed to be notified) or lastly, Yelp has a system which automatically determines which reviews are shown.

I checked with the customers that had posted the reviews (which were in fact all legit), and not surprisingly, none of them had requested their reviews be removed. Since I hadn't gotten a notification of any violations from Yelp, I tried to contact Yelp. However, Yelp simply states that if you contact them about missing reviews, you will only receive the same information that is on their website, and missing reviews will not be restored for any reason. Not exactly customer friendly!

So if you have used our limo service in the past, and wouldn't mind writing a review of it on Yelp, I would really appreciate it. Here is a link to our page.

Wedding Show Wrap Up

I just had to post this picture of Ozzie our General Manager at Sunday's wedding show. Since he rarely gets any "wheel time" anymore, we never get to see him dressed up anymore!

Also here is a link to our friends at Dynamite Weddings blog post regarding the show as well as an announcement of their upcoming show in March. Hope to see you there!

Another reason why we don't buy used limos!

Four years ago the Feds seized a Hummer Limo belonging to members of the so called "Black Mafia Family" (aka "BMF") of Atlanta. The vehicle was subsequently sold and has been in regular use by a couple of different Atlanta based limo companies.

Only one problem - the feds failed to properly search the limo before releasing it for sale. While preparing for trial, other members of the BMF told investigators that hidden inside the limo were cash and weapons. Sure enough, once the feds tracked down the vehicle now in the possession of Comfort Limousine, they found $875,000 in cash and SEVEN semi-automatic weapons.

Congratulations Monique M of Folsom!

Monique was the winner of our prize drawing at yesterday's Premier Wedding Show at Arden Hills. As the winner, Monique will receive four hours of free limousine service to use in connection with her upcoming wedding.

For your chance to win this same package, simply visit our booth at the upcoming bridal shows at the Radisson on February 8th or Cal Expo on March 1st.

Premier Wedding Show

I just got home from the Premier Wedding Show at Arden Hills. As its name implies, this was one of the premier events leading up to the wedding season. We were pleased to be invited back as one of only two limousine companies at the show.

We also pleased to provide transportation services to the brides to be and their families and friends. Pictured here is our white five door limousine awaiting passengers from the show at Arden Hills. Brides who I talked to were very impressed with the extra wide fifth door which makes for ease of entry and exit, especially while wearing a wedding dress.

Check back here tomorrow when I announce the winner of our Silver Wedding Package which will be awarded to one of the brides who registered with us during the show. If you missed is at this show, be sure to visit us at the upcoming Bridal Expo sponsored by the Association of Wedding Professionals Show February 8th at the Radisson and the Dream Wedding Show at Cal Expo on March 1st.

Looking for something to do next weekend?

How about checking out the 11th Annual Wine & Food Affair in the Alexander, Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys. Over 70 wineries will feature not only their finest wines, but also will treat you to a specially selected food dish to go with their wines. Total cost is only $50 per person for both Saturday and Sunday, or $40 for Sunday only. In addition, you will receive a cookbook featuring all of the recipes and a commemorative glass.

Featured wineries and their dishes include Kendall Jackson which will be preparing Albondigas in a spicy Chopolte Broth (trivia - "Albondigas" was actually the very first word I learned in Spanish 1 back in high school - Mrs. Ferneilli would be proud that I remembered this!), Korbel Champagne Cellars will be featuring risotto cakes with fresh thyme (my former fiancee who doesn't drink might want to go just for the risotto cakes) and La Crema which will be preparing a hoislin glazed pork belly sliders.

January Specials!

January is traditionally a slow month for limo companies (am I being a little to honest?). People are recovering from the holidays, and lets face it, other than the Playoffs and the Super Bowl, nothing much is happening the entire month.

So what do companies do during slow times? They offer discounts!

So here is the deal - book a January limousine trip and you will receive 15% off any ride of three hours or more, AND if you book a ride of six hours or more, you also get a free extra hour. In addition, mention that you saw this offer on our blog, and you will receive an additional bonus!