Here’s something most people don’t know about renting a limo in Texas, and it’s the whole reason the industry exists.
According to state law, it is illegal to have an open container of alcohol in the passenger area of a vehicle on a public road. However, there is a specific exception and limousines fall under it. The rule does not apply to the passenger area of a limousine, bus or taxi. So the leather and the lighting is not exactly what one has to pay for. This is a legal agreement between you and someone else who agrees to drive, and you and your group don’t have to worry about any of it.
That reframes how you should shop. A Limo hire is not like a rental car, where you are looking after the vehicle yourself, but a service that has a licence and an operator, and a professional company knows the difference. The ones that think of it as a rental car will be the ones that keep you waiting.
What is here is one of the reasons Plano has a good field to select from. The Toyota Campus, the JPMorgan Campus, and Plano ISD prof prom and a heavily scheduled wedding circuit continue to keep the stretch limos transporting executives to and from the event domains until the end of March. Please keep in mind it is late spring, so you have to book late and you’ll have to choose from what remains.
Five companies you should know, and what they do well.
1. A.Limo
The one to start with if the booking has to hold a clock.
Coverage first, because in Collin County that decides your price. A.Limo works Plano alongside Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving, Frisco, Grand Prairie, McKinney and Garland, so a car isn’t crossing the Metroplex empty before it reaches you. Anyone who’s been quoted for an hour of dead mileage knows why that matters.
The fleet spans the range rather than one slice of it. Sedans when two people are traveling light, SUVs once luggage appears, Sprinters for a team, stretch limousines for the nights that call for one. Useful, because the right vehicle usually gets decided by headcount and bags rather than by what looks best in a photo, and a company with all four can give you a straight answer.
Then the scheduling, which is where limo bookings normally come apart. Airport pickups run against the inbound flight rather than the time somebody typed in, corporate days can sit on hourly standby so the chauffeur waits instead of being redispatched, and the rate gets settled before anybody moves. None of it’s exotic. It’s just all run properly.
Good fit for airport runs, multi-stop corporate days and events where a late car causes real problems.
2. Tara’s Limo
This ranks the largest fleet in this list far and away.
Tara’s back is facing 1996 as the listings beginning from sedans and SUVs extend all the way through stretch limos, limo buses, vans, shuttle buses and coach buses holding anywhere from 1 passenger to 56. It has 12 reviews and 11 photos on Yelp, and has a Nextdoor presence as well.
The point is that’s their breadth. If your group just can’t fit in a stretch, most limo companies will be hiring subcontractors, you won’t be able to determine who shows up. An operator already has the answer in-house when operating buses.
A great idea for a large wedding party, a corporate moving party, or any party with fluctuating numbers.
3. Legacy One Limo & Black Car Service
Based on Legacy Circle, which puts it in the middle of Plano’s corporate district.
Legacy One is listed on Yelp, MapQuest and Yellow Pages as part of the same Legacy Circle suite address; has its own booking site; and Legacy has a business history dating back to 2010. The vehicles include Cadillacs and Mercedes sedans ranging from the black Cadillacs used for airport transfers, corporate travel, wedding flights, and proms, as well as SUVs, Sprinter vans, party buses and the fleet is split between these categories.
The only good that that location offers you is brief positioning time for anything around Legacy West, Granite Park, or tollway office parks. If a company is already in that corridor, they get an advantage when it comes to an executive pickup.
Ideal for corporate projects and also for weddings in which both a sedan as well as a party bus are required by the exact same operator.
4. Advantage Limousine
Listed by Plano’s own visitor bureau, which is a quieter kind of endorsement.
Advantage appears in the Visit Plano transportation directory alongside a WeddingWire profile. Being carried by the city’s destination marketing organization matters more than it looks, because that’s where conference planners and visiting event organisers go first, and a company that isn’t there tends not to be doing that work.
Expect an event and visitor focus rather than daily commuter runs. Think conference groups, visiting executives and wedding parties. They’re easy to miss otherwise.
Reasonable addition to a shortlist when your booking is tied to an event rather than a flight.
5. LimoLux
Smaller, and squarely in the wedding market.
LimoLux is on The Knot with a profile and they also have a listing in WeddingWire, so you know where the work is from. The companies in the bridal directories operate around Saturdays, official schedules and the sort order of booking where they have to seem just right in photographs.
As usual smaller operators trade differently. You’ll typically find the owner and a better price, but also have to endure a popular May Saturday. Ask early.
Suitable for wedding day, anniversary or formal occasions. Not so obviously the decision for a run at 6am in the airport.
Rated Seats and Seats You’d Actually Use
The capacity number on a limo is a legal maximum, not a comfort rating.
A stretch rated for fourteen will physically seat fourteen, and roughly ten of them will be comfortable for an hour. The reason is the seating layout. Stretch limousines use perimeter benches, so passengers sit sideways facing each other across the cabin, which is sociable and not especially restful once you’re past about forty minutes.
Party buses and limo buses solve that differently with more headroom and standing space. Sprinters give you forward-facing seats, which is what you want for a long run or a corporate group that plans to work. You’ll feel the difference on the way home.
So decide what the ride is for. A short hop to a reception rewards the stretch. An hour each way to a venue in another county rewards forward-facing seats and a bigger vehicle.
What the Chauffeur Actually Changes
Back to that open container exemption, because it has practical edges worth knowing.
The exemption covers the passenger area. It doesn’t cover the driver, obviously, and it doesn’t make the vehicle a bar. Whether alcohol gets supplied, or whether you’re bringing your own, is a separate question governed by the operator’s own policy and state alcohol rules, so ask rather than assume. Plenty of companies are happy for you to bring bottles and provide ice and glassware, and plenty aren’t.
Worth remembering the penalty exists for a reason. Standing alone, an open container offense in Texas is a Class C misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $500, and it gets considerably worse alongside a DWI charge. A chauffeured vehicle removes that whole category of risk from the evening, which is a far better argument for booking one than the mood lighting.
The Extras That Reach the Invoice
The three things people forget and they’re all normal.
Everywhere here in the Metroplex, tolls are first. The Dallas North Tollway and Sam Rayburn are the quickest ways nearly anywhere from here and a toll is transferred on through them so a trip to Plano can cost more than a Dallas one. One question to ask is whether the tolls are cost or markup charged?
Then there is the gratuity, which is frequently calculated at 18 or 20 per cent, and not optional. Ask whether the quote includes it, because the difference on a four hour booking is real money.
Lastly, waiting time and overtime. Events overrun. Before arriving in the night rather than at 1 a.m. find out how much each additional hour costs.
The Bottom Line (Book the Seats You’ll Actually Use)
It is important to begin with the number of people and the duration of their travel, since these two factors determine which vehicle will be utilized first before any companies are even mentioned. Ten for a short hop is a stretch. Twenty for an hour each way is a bus. Four with luggage is an SUV.
Then match the operator with the job. A large group with a moving headcount desires Business that possesses buses. A wedding desires someone that lives in the bridal calendar. And for flights that change or on any company flights that still need to run, A.Limo serves the cities of Plano and 8 additional cities under an up-front pricing agreement.