By The WNY Black Car Team | Reviewed by the WNY Black Car Dispatch Team | Buffalo, NY | Questions? Call 716-331-6708
Everyone in this industry photographs well. Clean sedan, sharp suit, city skyline at dusk. None of it tells you whether the person driving your kid to prom was background-checked, whether the vehicle is insured beyond the state minimum, or whether anyone answers the phone at midnight when the plan changes.
So here are the seven questions that actually separate operators, the answers you should expect, and the answers that should end the call. We are one of the companies you might be vetting, so we have put our own answers next to each one. Hold us to them. For the wider context on what you are buying, start with our guide to what a chauffeur does.
1. Are your chauffeurs background-checked and certified?
What you want to hear: a specific standard, named, without hesitation.
Our answer: every WNY Black Car chauffeur is PAX-certified, background-checked, and fully licensed. PAX certification is a professional standard for the passenger transportation industry, not a badge we printed. The detail is on our PAX certified chauffeur page.
The answer that should worry you: all our drivers are experienced professionals. That is a sentence with no content. Experienced is not a credential and professional is not a check. Ask again, and if the second answer is also a mood rather than a standard, move on.
2. What insurance does the vehicle carry?
What you want to hear: a clear statement about commercial liability coverage.
Our answer: every vehicle carries commercial liability insurance well above state minimums, and the coverage detail is on our safety and licensing page.
The answer that should worry you: we are fully insured. Everyone driving legally is fully insured. The question is what kind and how much. If a company gets vague here, that is not shyness about paperwork, that is the answer.
3. Is the price final, or does it move?
What you want to hear: the quote is the price, plus a clear list of what sits outside it.
Our answer: flat rate by route and vehicle, published openly on our flat-rate pricing page. No per-mile meter, no surge during Bills games, concerts, or snow. A local Buffalo transfer is $92.63 in a sedan on a quiet Tuesday and $92.63 during a lake-effect event. Listed rates are all-inclusive base pricing, and taxes, gratuity, parking, and tolls are billed separately.
The answer that should worry you: anything involving the words depends or approximately, or a quote that arrives without a list of exclusions. A company that will not tell you what is outside the number before you book will tell you afterward.
Test us with these seven. Call 716-331-6708 and ask any of them. You will get a straight answer or a reason, not a brochure. Or reserve online.
4. Who answers the phone at midnight?
What you want to hear: a staffed dispatch line with a real number.
Our answer: 716-331-6708, 24/7, staffed. That is not a hold queue and it is not a form.
Why it matters more than anything else on this list: every question here is really about the day something goes wrong. A flight moves. Weather turns. A ceremony runs forty minutes long. On the days nothing breaks, this is worth nothing at all. On the one day it does, this is the entire product you bought, and you will not care about the paint on the hood.
5. Is the vehicle assigned or is my trip auctioned?
What you want to hear: assigned in advance, known to dispatch.
Our answer: your chauffeur is assigned to your booking ahead of time and known to our team by name. Your trip is never offered to a pool. That is the structural difference behind everything else, and we break it down in our guide to chauffeur vs driver.
The answer that should worry you: we will have someone available. Available is not assigned. Some operators are effectively a dispatch layer over whoever is free that morning, which is a rideshare with better business cards.
6. What is the fleet, and how old is it?
What you want to hear: specific vehicles and a maintenance standard.
Our answer: Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans, Chevrolet Suburbans, Lexus mid-size SUVs, and Mercedes Sprinter Vans. Every vehicle is late-model, non-smoking, fully insured, and inspected on a regular maintenance schedule. The lineup is on our fleet page and our black car service page.
| Vehicle | Seats | Typical Use |
| Luxury Sedan | 1 to 3 | Business travel, point-to-point, airport runs |
| Mid-Size SUV | Up to 4 | Couples and small families with checked bags |
| Full-Size SUV | Up to 6 | Groups, golf bags, ski gear, extra luggage |
| Executive SUV | Up to 6 | Long distance, Toronto and Rochester, VIP comfort |
| Sprinter / Group | 7 or more | Corporate teams, wedding parties, large groups |
The answer that should worry you: luxury vehicles. Which ones? A company proud of its fleet names it.
7. What is your policy on discretion?
What you want to hear: an actual policy, not a personality trait.
Our answer: discretion is a professional standard on every trip, and for corporate and VIP clients we run accounts with NDA-level privacy standards and monthly invoicing. See our corporate accounts page, and our guide to discreet chauffeur service for what it means in practice.
Most people skip this question, and then it turns out to have been the important one. A chauffeur hears your phone calls, your colleagues talking as if the front seat is furniture, and occasionally your family at its worst. Ask what the company’s standard is. If they have never thought about it, you have learned something.
Where to Actually Verify the Answers
Asking is step one. A company can say anything on a phone call, which is why the answers should be checkable somewhere other than the mouth of the person selling to you.
Look for it in writing on the site. Credentials that exist tend to have a page. Ours are on our PAX certified chauffeur and safety and licensing pages, and the rates are published openly rather than quoted privately. A company whose standards only exist verbally has standards that only exist verbally.
Check that the price on the page matches the price on the phone. This is a fast, brutal test. If the published rate and the quoted rate diverge, everything else on the site is decorative.
Call at an inconvenient hour. Not to be difficult, but because that is the exact scenario you are buying insurance against. Ring at 10 p.m. on a Sunday and see who picks up. It is a thirty-second test of the single most important claim any operator makes.
Ask for the answer twice, worded differently. Vague answers are consistent about being vague. Specific ones are consistent about the specifics.
Three Things That Look Like Vetting But Are Not
- The photo gallery. Stock imagery is free. So are wide-angle interior shots of a car that may not be in the fleet anymore.
- The cheapest quote. On this list, price is question three of seven, and it is the only one where being the lowest is a warning rather than a win. Somebody is absorbing that gap, and it is either the insurance or the chauffeur.
- A five-star average. Read what the reviews are about. Ratings for a clean car tell you nothing about what happens when a flight is cancelled at 11 p.m.
The Vetting Shortcut
If you only have time for one question, use this: what happens if my flight is delayed two hours?
It is a single question that tests everything at once. It tests whether they track flights, whether they charge wait fees, whether dispatch is staffed, and whether they think in terms of your outcome or their meter. Our answer is that we monitor all inbound flights in real time and automatically adjust your pickup at no extra charge, and you are never charged a wait fee for a delay outside your control. Details are on our airport limo service page.
A company that answers that question crisply has thought about the day things go wrong. A company that has to check will be checking on the day too. Once you have picked someone, our guides to chauffeur etiquette and tipping a chauffeur cover the rest, and our personal chauffeur service guide covers standing arrangements.
Frequently Asked Questions About Vetting a Chauffeur Service
How do I know if a chauffeur service is legitimate?
Ask whether the chauffeurs are background-checked and certified to a named standard, what commercial liability insurance the vehicles carry, whether the quoted price is final, and who answers the phone at midnight. A legitimate operator answers all four without checking.
Are your chauffeurs background-checked?
Yes. Every WNY Black Car chauffeur is PAX-certified, background-checked, and fully licensed. Every vehicle carries commercial liability insurance well above state minimums and is late-model, non-smoking, and inspected on a regular maintenance schedule.
What is the single best question to ask a chauffeur company?
Ask what happens if your flight is delayed two hours. It tests flight tracking, wait fees, dispatch staffing, and whether the company thinks about your outcome or its meter, all in one question.
Should I pick the cheapest chauffeur quote?
Be careful. Someone is absorbing the difference, and it is usually the insurance coverage or the chauffeur’s vetting. Price is one factor among several, and being the lowest quote on the list is more often a warning than a win.
Is my trip assigned to a specific chauffeur?
Yes. Your chauffeur is assigned to your booking in advance and known to our dispatch team by name. Your trip is never auctioned to a pool of available drivers.
Ask Us the Seven
We answer all seven on the phone, in about two minutes. See full details on our Buffalo chauffeur service page, explore WNY Black Car, then call 716-331-6708, email reservations@wnyblackcar.com, or reserve online.
