Many seniors have given up their cars and they miss the convenience.
Many seniors live in condo buildings or senior residences.
Many seniors have some money and yearn for some activities, i.e. go to the theatre, concert, shows, spent time at the casino,at the races or take a day trip --whatever.
I suggest that we create a "time share" for Limo service.It is simple math: We need a nice Lincoln Town car or a Cadillac, two full time reponsible drivers, a desk person (part time) to keep the books, take requests and look after the management.
Let's say, we break the year into 52 (weeks) time slots.Up to 4 seniors can buy a 1-week time share complete. That is an incredibly low cost break down to 208 units (52 x 4). Let's assume we spent $40.000 on car, assecories, insurance etc. that translates into only $200.00 per participating person.
Let's say our operating costs for car. gas, wages are $52.000 per year (very generous) that translates into 250.00 per person per year. Like in a real time share, the "management" is using the limo on a per need, per request and per day "rental" basis for our time share owners.
Is this not fantastic? Now you have a Limo service on daily call for our seniors (time share partners), both affordable and top of the line . Who thinks like me? May be a few of us can put together a "national" franchise or business model. Let's hear from you. Gordon Max
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I have a limo for sell if your interested. bonniebrownis@yahoo.com
The idea is good, but your math is off. To legally operate such a business, you'd need to carry full insurance on the car (~$150 per month) and the business (~$250 per month), need at LEAST two Class A licensed drivers (~$30K per annum x = $60K). Now, let's start to add in gas and maintenance. If the car is being used heavily, you'll need to fill it up 2 or more times per week (I'm being conservative with that estimate). Gas, as we all know, isn't cheap, and luxury cars aren't known for their superb fuel efficiency. I'm going to place a low estimate of $100 per week for gas ($100 x 52 = $5,200). Throw in another $10K for maintenance and detailing throughout the year. Now your looking at the following equation:
Car = $40,000Insurance = $4,800Driver salaries = $60,000Gas = $5,200Maintenance = $10,000
Total = $120,000 per year, or roughly $600 per year per person
Of course, that estimate is still far too low. I'm not counting additional costs that would be incurred for a receptionist / dispatcher, office costs, office lease, applicable taxes, etc.. It's a good idea, but you'd need to perform several cost saving maneuvers to make it break even.
I think it is a great idea, we are actually setting up this concept in a business in the NYC area. We are looking to expand and wanted to see if you had interest in working on this for a share of the company profits.
We have the web developers, a 7 X 24 call center to do the booking and dispatch and have worked out a sound business model that has options as low as $1.50 per day cost for the share owners for a small share $10 + Opex per day for the large share owners (30 hours a month). We are looking at stretch limos and total cost under $30 per hour of operation.
We will eventually franchise this out, making use of our infrastructure.
Let me know if you have interest Treilly@comcast.net