Black Cars

[m j b]

I don't travel much, but when I do, I like to enjoy myself and experience a good time in a nice environment. So instead of camping in the Serengeti waiting for a pack of hyenas to rip my throat out, I'll get a room at the Four Seasons and enjoy the indoor plumbing.

Most of here are probably of a similar mindset.

So, instead of using Uber or Lyft or a traditional taxi, I will often schedule a "black car" service. I suspect that name this started in NYC, where it can be difficult to get a taxi, and so these ubiquitous black town cars started popping up in the previous century.

Just last year we went to San Francisco for a business/vacation trip, and I scheduled black cars for the airport trips. We used an Uber once or twice while there for short journeys, but that's such a crap-shoot these days as to the quality and cleanliness of the car and driver, I try not to use them too often.

Anyway... my pickup at the airport was in a Mercedes S-class, which I felt was appropriate to my needs and for what it cost. On the return trip, we had a (black) Tesla Model S, which is not, in any regards, a luxury car. It's better than a Model 3 I guess, but these are not comfortable, not particularly quiet and are difficult to get in and out of the back seat. I was not a happy camper (although for sure, I've had worse) and so I wonder...

When you book through a car service, it's going to be a crap shoot as to what you get. Any ideas on how to mitigate the surprises? Especially in a big city where a typical company is going to have a big fleet, and one does not travel there often enough to know a specific driver to request.