The initial term is for 3 years and the agreement can be renewed for a further 3 years.

Yes. There is an initial fee, this covers our costs in terms of assisting new Licensees with their business, accommodating the area within the existing network and some profit!

Perhaps. However we would asking why and you should be doing the same. If there there appears to be a lack of commitment or confidence, we would probably not take matters any further. This would be in your interests as well as our own and of course, our customers.

Probably not enough. We would cover this aspect if both parties decided to take matters further, but suffice to say, it is not a significant cost and therefore you should not consider it as material at this stage.

It is your business, so it is up to you. However, we do not consider that you would receive sufficient return on your investment with a 'chauffeur cars only' Licence Agreement, therefore, we would no take matters further. That notwithstanding, all is not lost, if you are looking to set up a professional, licensed chauffeur car hire business, with top of the range, late model cars, we would be prepared to discuss opportunities where we sub-contract hires to you. This only applies to chauffeur cars, we never sub-contract limousine hires.

Yes. It is based on postcodes and on the collection address of the hirer. Each area has a minimum population of 400,000 people, enough to feed most limousine companies.

You can collect your customers anywhere within your designated area and take them to any UK destination. However, you are not permitted to accept booking or quote hires from outside you area. This works both ways of course, other Licensees are not permitted to operate in your area either.

Simply because you haven't paid for it, therefore you are not entitled to gain any revenue from it, surely that is fair? Where an area is vacant, we will process the enquiries centrally and where bookings are gained, we would normally, whilst not obliged to, offer them to the nearest cars for Stars branch at a rate of 75% of the hire value. This is good incremental business for the Licensee without a great deal of effort.

That would be a breach of your Licence Agreement and perhaps worst still, a breach of trust. You would be breaking one of our cardinal rules and if you get caught once, you may get a wrap over the knuckles, if it happens a second time, there is a good chance that the relationship will not last.

Yes. We are always reluctant to terminate Licence Agreements, but where there is a persistent or deliberate breach of the terms, this amounts to a significant breach of trust and we would terminate the agreement. The solution is simple, if you don't like the terms, then don't sign the agreement. If you make an honest mistake tell us, don't let us find out and if you are just a 'chancer' then don't sign the agreement.

If it is for a breach, then no and you may even end up owing us money, so if you don't trust yourself to keep to the terms, which are not particularly onerous, then the best advice is to go somewhere else, or become an independent.

Theoretically yes. However, you cannot apply for a second area for at least 6 months and we would expect this to coincide with the purchase of at least one additional limousine.

Yes. You will need to check with your local authority to ensure that they permit limousines, around 230 out of the 400 or so local authorities actively encourage the licensing of limousines. Failing which, it may be possible to apply for an 'O Licence' from VOSA. We will assist you where we can on this particular aspect of your business.

The private hire regulations restrict the number of passengers to eight. We will allow Cars for Stars licensees to carry more that 8 passengers, provided they have an appropriate VOSA licence, the vehicles have a certificate of initial fitness and the chauffeurs have an appropriate licence.

In order that the limousine can be licensed with the local authority it will require an SVA. Our upper age limit on limousines is 5 years old, but in any event, we will not accept any limousines that are older than 2004, that is to say, in the case of the Lincoln Town car, they must be the very latest shape. This is not negotiable. We normally recommend a white limousine to start, particularly if you want to accept wedding bookings, but we are willing to discuss this aspect.

No. We operate a strict policy of not permitting any Cars for Stars hires to be outsourced to third parties. This is primarily because every limousine is different, some are also plastered with the operators name and Cars for Stars customers simply do not want a crap limousine. This is one of our golden rules, so if you think it is an unfair restriction, we suggest you consider going independent.

The mark 'Cars for Stars' is registered in the UK and all 27 European countries, as is our logo. We jealously protect our identity and will have no hesitation in pursuing any third party that attempts to use our name. In an average year, we will initiate legal action in up to 20 cases of trademark infringement and perhaps 2 or 3 instances of copyright infringement.

Yes. That said, you would need to consider why you want to join Cars for Stars, because if it is simply for additional leads, we would not consider that as sufficient commitment to our values. Existing operators would have to be prepared to change their trading name and restrict their activities to the operating area or areas they have been licensed for by Cars for Stars.  Similarly, the same rules would apply in terms of the age of the limousines, local authority licensing, number of passengers and so on.

No. We would consider this to be a competing interest and it would be difficult for us to monitor what enquiries were generated by Cars for Stars and those independently. therefore it is far simpler to say no.

None. That's right, whilst we receive between 200 and 300 internet enquiries everyday, you should not expect any. Why? Because if you expect them, you will become completely reliant on our efforts rather than you own and that is not a good way of building a business. We want our Licensees to develop the business in their local area as they would if they were an independent. That is to say, local marketing, Yellow Pages, wedding events etc. Using enquiries generated by Cars for Stars as incremental. This would be by far and away the most successful way of developing a successful business. 

We expect our Licensees to develop their business not to leave it to us to do it all for them. We will provide a strong brand name, advice and support and a bespoke software programme that provides assistance with many of the repetitive back office functions, releasing you to build the business. Provided you keep your end of the agreement up by marketing your business locally, supported by enquiries generated by us, there is every chance that you will have a successful and profitable business.

It may be possible to build a successful business based entirely on the enquiries generated by our websites, but, whilst we will allocate all enquiries received for your area to you, we are not obliged under the terms of the licence to generate any enquiries on your behalf. We may be very very good at it, but we will never offer guarantees, not least because we want you to build the business locally with local initiatives.

We promise to keep to our part of the Licence Agreement. However, we offer no guarantees in terms of enquiries, income, margins or anything else. We will provide you with some 'assumptions' to aid you to build your own business plan and to pass this through your business advisors, accountant etc., but that is the extent to which we will assist you.

Our view is that you will already have completed your own sums before you reached us. Therefore, you need to decide whether you have a better opportunity of success as part of a larger network, with an established brand, 'live' websites, generating real enquiries from day one, or saving a little money and becoming an independent operator.

We can't make that decision for you, even if we already know the answer. We will at the appropriate time cover what we offer, the initial fee and the initial Licence Fee, you will then be able to make an informed judgement.

The best analogy we can provide is that of  the rail operator and train operators. We operate the track, providing a set of rules, advice and support. You are the train operator develop your own business, using our infrastructure, but your own resources, effort and investment.

Once we have set the rules and you have agreed to them, we will not tell you how to run your business, we are there to provide advice and support if required, but we are not there to tell you what you should do, when you should do it and how much you should spend. This is because we want independent minded people who  want to remain part of a team, fully understand how to operate as part of that team and believe in working to a common goal.

Yes of course, some with more merit than other, we will let you draw your own conclusions.

The first and most obvious option is to set up as an independent. You could then do as much or as little on the internet as your budget would allow. For example, there are many specialist directories on the internet that advertise limousine hire, chauffeur cars, wedding cars or all three. Some of these are very high traffic sites and the cost of an annual membership is around £50. Yell.com is also another option, a busy site and the costs average around £300. You can expect to pay up to £1000 for a decent website and maybe another £1000 over a period of a few months for optimisation of that site.

In addition to, or independent of, your own marketing efforts, you could elect to join one of the websites offering 'leads' containing people looking to hire a limousine, wedding car or chauffeur car. The number of leads are not guaranteed and the quality can be poor, this is simply because the less information you ask an enquirer for, the more likely they are to complete the form, but it is a double-edged sword. The other thing to remember, is that the enquiry you are receiving is not just passed to you (as would be the case with Cars for Stars), it may be passed to 10 or even 20 other limousine operators in your area, who are also members. The membership cost is not extortionate however, ranging up to £1200 per annum (not a million miles from our own annual fees). The number and quality of the leads received however, vary enormously from one company to another.

Another option is to accept sub-contracted hires, from an agent or broker. These people typically advertise themselves as being a big limousine operator, using images of other peoples cars, to encourage people to complete their online form. They then aggressively target the customer to secure a booking using a 'generic' description of the limousine. This booking is then sub-contracted to a local operator.

In one respect this is "easy" business, but there are other aspects to consider. Hires are typically, though not necessarily secured using a generic description of the limousine and this often means that the hire has been secured based on price. As a consequence there is less to go around, the agent or broker will also have to deduct their own booking fee and/or commission from the fee charged, reducing the value still further. Then of course, there is the risk that the "booking" will either be touted around for the best price or offered to whoever the agent or broker thinks will offer the best price, that way, they get to maximise their own margins.

You will not be able to deal direct with the customer and generally speaking, you will only get paid at the commencement of the hire. These low margin bookings can also prevent you from accepting more lucrative hires that come in after you have agreed to complete a hire on behalf of an agent or broker. The reality is, we believe that no business could be viable if all of their enquiries came from agents or brokers, given the limited margins.

There have been pretenders to the throne, but that is all they have been and probably all they will ever be. Some may offer a free website and leads if you buy a limo off them, others will call themselves a franchise, when all they are doing is providing a website and the enquiries generated from that site, no other support whatsoever.  When another organisation comes up with the same comprehensive support programme as that offered to our Licensees, then we will happily place their name here, so you have a direct comparison. Until that happens, we can only refer to them as the 'great pretenders'.

We have completed a dedicated section on this website which outlines the benefits received by Cars for Stars Licensees. You can find out more by following the next link. Cars for Stars Benefits.

We have our own blog, this offers a wealth of information on licensing, the law and links to Government sites that may be worth visiting. You can locate our blog here: Cars for Stars Blog

Yes you could, but not with Cars for Stars! Our view is the self-drive hire limousine operation exploits a loophole in the law and whilst it may not necessarily be illegal, no self-respecting limousine company should use this model to build a new business. We understand why some existing operators have opted to go down this route and the Government must accept their share of responsibility, but there is really no reason why a new operator should follow this model. This is just our view and their will be many people that would not agree.

There is an excellent UK based website that is worth visiting if you are looking to buy a limousine. It offers a comprehensive list of limousines for sale, both in the United States and more importantly, here in the UK. The only downside of the site, is that there are many limousines that are still advertised, in spite of the fact that they have been sold, so be prepared to be disappointed if you find your preferred limo is no longer available. You can visit the website by following this link: Limousines for Sale

This is always an option and you can save money, however, by the time you take into account the cost of sourcing, transporting, insurance, duties, VAT, conversion work and obtaining an SVA, any savings may well be marginal.

The simple answer is to buy the very best you can afford. Even if you are in a position to pay for an older one in cash, consider the option of borrowing a little more money and buying a later model. Why?

The public have become much wiser about the type of limousines that are available and they tend to know what they want. If you intend to build your business by offering cheap hires, then of course, there is always a market for people that just want a 'people mover', but it would be difficult to sustain much of a business targeting this niche. In addition, more often than not, business users will simply pass you by.

Many pre-owned limousines from the USA may have travelled 300k miles or more, of course the speedometer may not reflect this, but that is the risk you must take on a pre-owned imported model. The other risk relates to an SVA. if you buy a limousine without an SVA, you will be obliged to put it through this test before you can licence it with your local authority or VOSA. If the vehicle was not originally built by an 'approved' coachbuilder, then the chances of obtaining a retrospective SVA is virtually non-existent.

Best buys are likely to be a limousine that was imported into the UK as new, has been used by a local operator that is updating the vehicle and already has an SVA. Don't be tempted to buy a limousine that does not have an SVA, even if it is already registered and operating in the UK because you will end up having to obtain a retrospective SVA, with all the pitfalls that come with that objective.