The fleet
Ninety-nine vehicles, but only six things to choose between — and between them they cover one passenger with a briefcase and fourteen with festival luggage. Nothing is kept on the roster because it photographs well.
01 — The line-up
Passenger counts below are comfortable seated counts with luggage aboard — not the number of belts. If your group is at the edge of a class, book up rather than hope.
The one most people mean when they ask for a black car. Rear seats that recline, a cabin quiet enough to take a call from, and a boot that swallows two large cases without a conversation about it.
Higher, shorter, easier to place. This is the one we send to hillside addresses and canyon driveways where a long-wheelbase sedan spends five minutes turning round, and to any evening where four people are travelling light.
The extended body, which is the whole point: six seats that all belong to adults, and a luggage bay behind the third row instead of on top of it. The default for a family landing at LAX with real suitcases.
The same footprint as the Escalade with a quieter character — less arrival, more journey. Executives who would rather not pull up to a client office in something conspicuous tend to ask for this one by name.
Seven seats and a long load floor. Production crews, sports teams and anyone moving equipment as well as people end up here, because it takes the seventh passenger without turning the boot into a compromise.
Fourteen seated, standing headroom, and luggage that travels behind the last row rather than under someone's knees. One Sprinter replaces three SUVs and, in Los Angeles traffic, arrives as one party rather than three.
Swipe for all six
02 — Three in detail
Between them these three cover the overwhelming majority of what we are asked to drive: one passenger, a family with luggage, or a group of fourteen.
Almost everything about the S-Class rear compartment is designed around someone who did not drive there. Double-glazed glass keeps the freeway outside, the air system runs quietly enough that a conference call does not need repeating, and the seat adjusts far enough back that a two-hour run to San Diego is not something you feel afterwards.
It is the vehicle we send to hotel forecourts, to studio lots, and to any airport pickup where one or two people are travelling with normal luggage. If nobody specifies a class, this is what arrives.
The extended body adds roughly a foot of length behind the rear axle, and that foot is the reason we buy this version. Six passengers can travel with six cases and nothing has to ride on a lap or in the footwell — which sounds unremarkable until you have watched a family of five try to leave an airport in a standard SUV.
It is also the car most often asked for by name for arrivals, because it sits high, the door opening is generous, and stepping out of it does not require negotiation.
Fourteen seats, a centre aisle you can walk down, and enough headroom that nobody arrives with a stiff neck. For a wedding party, a roadshow, or a group heading out to the desert for a festival weekend, one Sprinter is simpler than three SUVs in every way that matters — one chauffeur to coordinate with, one vehicle to find in a car park, one conversation on the way.
Interiors vary between vans in this class; if a specific configuration matters to your booking, ask and we will tell you exactly which van is assigned.
03 — Inside
The reason we lean on the executive van for group work is not the seat count — plenty of vehicles seat fourteen. It is that everybody aboard can see out, talk to each other, put a drink down, and stand up to get off. Facing chairs, tables between them, a screen if it is wanted, and lighting that can be turned down on a late run home.
For weddings it does something else useful: the party arrives together, in one photograph, rather than trickling in over ten minutes as separate cars find the venue.
The photograph above is one of our executive vans. Trim, seating layout and amenities differ between vehicles in the class, so treat it as representative rather than as a guarantee of the exact interior assigned to your booking.
04 — Which one do I book?
Nine times out of ten the passenger count is not what decides this. Luggage is. Here is the shortcut we use on the phone.
Still unsure? Tell us the headcount, the number of cases and where you are going, and we will name the class — (323) 799-3190 or send it in writing. It takes a minute and it is the difference between a comfortable journey and a cramped one.
05 — Upkeep
A fleet this size only holds together if upkeep is a system rather than a habit. Every vehicle carries its own service record, every record sits in front of the person dispatching it, and a car with a fault comes off the schedule instead of going out marginal and hoped for.
Interiors are turned round between clients rather than at the end of a shift. Exteriors are washed before a job, not when there happens to be time. Neither of those is a slogan; they are what an operator that owns its own cars can commit to, and what a brokerage renting capacity from other people's yards cannot.
And because we are not a broker, the class named on your confirmation is the class that arrives. Nobody in the middle is quietly substituting something cheaper on the morning of your flight — because there is nobody in the middle.
06 — Fleet questions
Three in the S-Class, four in the BMW X5, six in the Escalade ESV or Yukon Denali, seven in the Suburban and fourteen in the Sprinter. Those are comfortable seated counts with luggage on board, not absolute maximums with bags on laps.
The class list above gives the seat and luggage figures side by side.
Yes. Name the vehicle on the reservation and we will confirm whether that exact car is free for your date. If it is not, we will tell you what is rather than substituting quietly.
Colour and trim are worth asking about too — put it in the notes field and dispatch will answer before the card is charged.
No. The fleet is sedans, SUVs and an executive Sprinter van. For a wedding party or a group that would once have taken a stretch, the Sprinter carries more people in more comfort and is far easier to move through Los Angeles.
See how that works in practice for wedding transportation and group bookings.
Two travellers with two cases are comfortable in the S-Class. Four or more people flying with full-size cases should book an Escalade ESV, Yukon Denali or Suburban, where the luggage bay is behind the third row rather than beside it.
Golf clubs, ski bags, camera cases and instrument flights are all fine — say so when you book and we will size the car for the cargo, not the headcount. More on LAX pickups.
Not sure which class you need? Describe the trip — people, bags, hours, where you are going — on the reservation form or by phone, and we will recommend a vehicle instead of selling you the largest one.
07 — Pick a car
Tell us the date, the pickup and how many are travelling. You will get a written quote naming the class of vehicle — and the class named is the class that turns up.
(323) 799-3190Or read on: set-price routes, hourly hire, why book direct.