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Prevost Director of Pre-Owned Coach Sales Mitch Guralnick
Greensboro, N.C. — Prevost is pleased to announce Mitch Guralnick as director of pre-owned coach sales. Guralnick joins the Prevost family with more than 40 years of experience in the transportation industry.
His professional experience includes a year at CCW as director of business development and a stint at MCI as vice president of pre-owned coach sales from 1999 until his retirement. Guralnick was also the president of White Bus Company—a tour, charter and contract operator—until 1998 when he sold the company.
As director of pre-owned coach sales, Guralnick will provide a high level of expertise in his new role at Prevost and will be responsible for leading and supporting the pre-owned sales force while exploring new business avenues to further the Prevost brand.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mitch to the Prevost family,” says Director of Pre-Owned Business Guillaume Charron Sr. “This is well in line with the plan we put in place a year ago to ensure Prevost can offer our customers a host of quality pre-owned products in every region and deliver on their specific requests.”
Guralnick not only brings a wealth of industry knowledge to the Prevost organization, but will also be a great motivator to the sales team. With his extensive background, the company anticipates that he will help exceed customer expectations for Prevost, a manufacturer of premium intercity touring coaches and leader in the production of conversion coaches.
“I am thrilled to start this new chapter with Prevost and am excited to join this prestigious sales team,” says Guralnick. “My goal as director of pre-owned coach sales is to help assist the sales team in reaching our highest potential and to deepen relationships with our customers, whether they are first-time buyers or standing customers.”
Visit prevostcar.com for more information.
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Members of the PRLA board include (L to R): President Johnny Donohoe of Sterling Limousine, Vendor Director John Arrone of Transportation Insurance Brokers, PRLA Treasurer Bob Euler Jr. of King Transportation, PRLA Secretary Tracy Salinger of Unique Limousine, and Vice President Tony Viscusi of Global Limousine
King of Prussia, Pa. —Nearly 50 attendees made the November 13 meeting of the Philadelphia Regional Limousine Association (PRLA) a packed-house event, and Chauffeur Driven’s Business Development Manager Jeff Rafkin and Editor Madeleine Maccar were among those present for an evening event that attracted first-time guests, longtime members, and association representatives from six different states.
The meeting was sponsored by Philadelphia insurance and kicked off with good news from PRLA Treasurer Bob Euler Jr. of King Transportation, who was pleased to report that the association’s coffers have seen “a significant increase” since the beginning of the year.
NLA First Vice President and LITA President Doug Schwartz of Executive Transportation
President Johnny Donohoe of Sterling Limousine then addressed the meeting’s range of general business: a now-definite East Coast holiday party hosted by the PRLA and the neighboring Limousine Association of New Jersey (LANJ) and Long Island Transportation Association (LITA) scheduled for December 9 in Newark, N.J.; how the PRLA partnership with Chosen Payments has yielded a $2,500 rebate check to the association; and another call for nominations to the board of directors.
Ryan Shaer of Ace Limousine & Airport Service, a second-generation operator, was nominated to fill one of the vacant seats, which he accepted with a brief speech.
Euler returned to the mice to reported on the ongoing construction at Philadelphia International Airport. He emphasized that the airport is “cracking down on illegal operator soliciting passengers at baggage claim,” and added that commercial cars are still not allowed to sit idle in the cell phone lots.
L to R: NLA Associate Executive Director Sarah Mercer, Chauffeur Driven Editor Madeleine Maccar, and Katie Martinez of Chosen Payments
Two of the evening’s featured speakers made out-of-state trips to join the PRLA: NLA First Vice President and LITA President Doug Schwartz of Executive Transportation traveled from Long Island while Tom Holden of Bus Advisors flew up from North Carolina.
PRLA Secretary Tracy Salinger of Unique Limousine introduced Schwartz before the longtime NLA board member took to the podium. Schwartz discussed the benefits of the NLA/CD partnership as well as the NLA’s numerous current initiatives, such as its show scholarship for small and new operators, the No Operator Left Behind program spearheaded in conjunction with Limo University, and membership discounts on everything from PAX chauffeur training to the upcoming CD/NLA Show in Las Vegas February 23-26, 2020, about which he also offered additional details.
Donohoe then introduced Holden, saying that the guest speaker’s experience with buses comes from both an operator and advisory standpoint and explaining the need for a DOT expert since “lots of people are getting into buses and coaches but not everyone is doing it right.”
CD’s Business Development Manager Jeff Rafkin (left) with two of the meeting’s attendees
Holden then explained that even though “it takes a lot of meetings to understand the rules” of operating larger vehicles, there are bus experts here to help navigate those murky waters. He gave a brief overview of the most relevant updates, violations, and regulations for the luxury chauffeured ground transportation industry to be aware of, as well as the numerous rebates in fuel and school work available to operators before taking questions from the audience and raffling off a Motor Carrier Safety Regulation manual, which was won by Shaer.
The meeting closed with Donohoe thanking the current board for their hard work “making some really great strides this year” and a 50/50 raffle. Pete Corelli of Lakeview Custom Coach was the lucky winner, which he donated back to the association.
The PRLA’s next meeting will be in 2020; however, it will be a joint host of the East Coast Holiday party with both LANJ and LITA December 9.
Visit prlainc.com for more information.
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Smart Cars President & CEO Stuart Rothstein
Schiller Park, Ill. — Smart Cars President & CEO Stuart Rothstein is celebrating the company’s 25th anniversary by thanking the industry and his clients for their role in the firm’s success.
“I can’t thank our clients and the industry enough for their continued support,” says Rothstein.
Founded in 1994, Smart Cars was the first livery-only sedan service in Chicago. When he learned that there was no Chicago equivalent to the black car services that he utilized on Wall Street while working as a derivatives fund manager, Rothstein saw an opportunity when the city of Chicago opened up an additional 1,250 livery licenses.
“At that time, most livery plates in Chicago were held exclusively by ‘limousine companies’ who dealt in the retail markets. I was looking for new business opportunities and considered buying a few taxi medallions. After some due diligence, I learned that there were no black car services in Chicago, so I decided to take a chance,” says Rothstein.
He and his partner at the time purchased three used police cars, and repainted and restored them for passenger use. The initial challenge was informing prospective clients about their service, but they got their first riders by staking out luxury apartment buildings.
As an industry novice, Rothstein was inundated with forewarnings from seasoned veterans. “They told me that I would be out of business within a year—as an athlete, that’s all I needed to hear to motivate me to succeed.”
Having come from the finance industry where he competed on the floors of the CBOE, CBT, and CME as both a broker and trader, Rothstein was well equipped for handling both the ultra-competitiveness of the industry as well as the myriad of challenges and unknowns that face staring a new business.
It took several years of making mistakes, testing, learning from others—most notably as a long-time member of the Illinois Limousine Association, the National Limousine Association, and The 20 Group—and reliance on theory acquired from his MBA to create a corporate framework and culture that supported Smart Cars’ success. Rothstein states that this framework has evolved as a result of three tenets: “1) Your staff and chauffeurs are experts at what they do—listen to them and give them what they need; 2) approach each failure as an opportunity to learn (thus, a robust and accurate policy and procedure structure evolved); and 3) base all of your interactions and decisions with staff, chauffeurs and clients on honesty, transparency, respect, mutual support, and integrity.”
To ensure Smart Cars clients receive consistent high-end service, Rothstein has created a proprietary orientation system for onboarding new chauffeurs, which includes a 110-page manual and a 240-question review. Prospective chauffeurs are required to get a 70 percent correct to move on. The process for maintaining a positive culture has been successful for Smart Cars, as Rothstein says the average tenure for chauffeurs is 10 years, while some office staff have more than 20 years with the company.
Rothstein admits that the economic downturns around 9/11 and 2008 tested his and the company’s resolve and patience.
“After 9/11, we went from over 260 services per day to 20. When considering the outlook, we realized that we could either fold up shop and give up or hang tough. We decided on the latter, and actually sent out over 100 letters offering to buy competitors. None acquiesced, but this helped to mold the staff into the tough and thriving group they are today.”
Smart Cars continues to provide luxury ground transportation to the Chicago area and beyond, and is looking forward to future growth and surmounting whatever challenges come their way in the next 25 years.
Visit smartcarsinc.com for more information.
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