Limo Companies Often Lack License

County Study Says Many Operate Illegally

Montgomery County's Office of Consumer Protection has found that many limousine companies operating in the county are unlicensed, and the office advises residents to check with a state licensing agency before hiring limousines for special events.

In a recently released report, the office found that nearly 52 percent of the 136 limousine companies listed in a January 2006 county edition of Verizon Yellow Pages were unlicensed by the proper state authorities. About 88 percent lacked the required Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission authorization to operate within Montgomery, as well as in Prince George's, Arlington and Fairfax counties, and the District.

In addition, the Consumer Protection Office determined that 75 percent of the 16 limousine firms that advertised "airport" service did not have a permit from the Maryland Aviation Administration to pick up passengers from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

"A lot of consumers probably pick a limousine company once in a lifetime, for a prom or a wedding," said Eric Friedman, director of the Office of Consumer Protection. "They're going to go to the Yellow Pages and see a lot of different names in there. The average consumer assumes they're licensed."

The Consumer Protection Office started its investigation earlier this year after receiving a complaint from Silver Spring resident Michele Kreiss. For her eldest son's wedding last June, Kreiss scoured the Yellow Pages until she found a 47-passenger bus.

On the wedding day, she walked out of the reception at about 10:30 p.m. expecting to see a large bus ready to take the first round of guests back to a hotel in Rockville. Instead, Kreiss said, there was a small passenger shuttle from the company she had hired. After calls to the 24-hour emergency line, the company sent "a cargo van with bench seats," she said. Kreiss crammed as many guests as she could into the shuttle and dispatched the van, which she said was unfit for her black-tie wedding guests. She put the remaining guests in taxis.

The Office of Consumer Protection tried unsuccessfully to help Kreiss recover $525, half of what she had paid for the bus that she said took some guests to the wedding but never returned to pick them up.

The office advises residents to check whether a company is properly licensed by the Maryland Public Service Commission. A list of licensed carriers is available on the agency's Web site, http://www.psc.state.md.us/psc.

Through licensing by the commission, vehicles are regularly inspected and officials check proof of insurance, as well as driver's licenses and backgrounds, said commission spokeswoman LaWanda Edwards.

She said the commission will contact the companies reported by the Montgomery Office of Consumer Protection. If they do not comply, she said, the commission can ask the state Motor Vehicle Administration to suspend the company's car tags.

To find out if a limousine company has the required license, go to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission Web site, http://www.wmatc.gov. Call 410-859-7298 to determine if a limousine carrier is licensed to pick up passengers at BWI.

In its report, issued last month, the Office of Consumer Protection warned that many limousine companies that advertise with pictures of flashy vehicles may not actually have those in stock but would have to contract for them.

"It's a safety thing. If you're dealing with an unlicensed company, you're not getting any quality assurance," said Megha Bansal, a Consumer Protection Office intern who helped with the investigation. "You don't want to deal with someone who is going to mess up your special day."

Kreiss said she spent a lot of time during her son's reception at Indian Spring Country Club in Silver Spring ushering guests into cabs after the emergency line for the limousine company stopped taking her phone calls.

She spent weeks trying to get her money back, but the America Limousine and Bus Service's best offer was $170. Kreiss declined it.

"I said no, not going to happen," she said. "The point is, I contracted the bus, that's what I was told I was paying for, I was charged for it and I didn't get it. That's what I call a bait-and-switch."

In a September 2006 letter to the Office of Consumer Protection, the Arlington-based company wrote that it was not willing to offer a credit of more than $170 to Kreiss because she had already used the service. The letter said the driver encountered a mechanical failure and sent a 32-passenger mini-coach and a 15-passenger luxury van, both of which arrived at the scheduled times and ended up transporting only a few people to the hotel.