The stretch limousine, in one paragraph
A stretch limousine in Toronto is a coachbuilt Lincoln or Cadillac sedan stretched 120 to 180 inches for 8 to 10 passengers, or a stretch SUV (an Escalade, a Navigator, a Suburban, a Hummer in a few fleets) for 14 to 20, with perimeter bench seating, a bar under a liquor licence (the stag and bachelorette article's rules), fibre-optic lighting, a sound system and a partition — plus the vintage Rolls-Royce and Bentley for two; it is booked on a four-hour minimum (the stretch limo page) for the bookings where the photograph at the curb is the point: the wedding, the prom, the quinceañera, the birthday, the night out. It lost the airport, the corporate day and the group of twelve to the Sprinter (the room, the forward seats, the price), it is rear-wheel drive with low clearance and a wide turning circle (no unplowed streets, no tight laneways), and a passenger should ask the vehicle's age and its coachbuilder's certification (Ford QVM, Cadillac CMC) before booking. The fleet page shows what the fleet runs.
The stretch is the vehicle the public means by "limo" and the vehicle the trade uses least: a Toronto fleet that ran ten stretches in 2005 runs two today and a dozen Sprinters, because the Sprinter does everything the stretch did for a group except one thing — and that one thing, the door opening at the curb with the photographer waiting, is enough to keep the stretch in every fleet and booked every Saturday from May to October. This guide is the honest case: the vehicles and the coachbuilders, the certification to ask about, the cabin and the crouch, the bar and the licence, the minimum, the bookings the stretch still owns and the ones it lost, the winter and the streets, the fleet's age, and a worked stretch booking.
The vehicles
The stretch sedan: a Lincoln (the Town Car until 2011, the MKT and the Continental after, the Navigator-based stretches now) or a Cadillac (the DTS, the XTS, the CT6, the Escalade-based) cut behind the B-pillar and extended 120 inches (8 passengers), 140 (10), 160 or 180 (12 to 14, rare now), with a J-seat or a perimeter bench, a bar along one side, a partition, a moonroof on some, and a fifth door on the longest. The stretch SUV: an Escalade ESV, a Navigator L, a Suburban or a Hummer H2 (a few fleets keep them) extended 140 to 200 inches for 14 to 20, with a wraparound bench, two bars, the lighting and the sound, and a rear that is a lounge. The vintage car: a 1960s Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud or Bentley S-series, a 1950s Cadillac, from the fleet's partners for the wedding limo page's and the elopement article's two. The fleet page shows the colours (white for weddings and quinceañeras, black for corporate and funerals — the funeral article) and the counts.
The coachbuilders and the certification
A stretch is built by a coachbuilder who cuts a factory vehicle, extends the frame and the driveline, and rebuilds the body and the interior; Ford's Qualified Vehicle Modifier (QVM) programme and Cadillac's Cadillac Master Coachbuilder (CMC) programme certify the coachbuilders whose extensions meet the manufacturers' structural, braking and electrical standards, and a stretch from a certified coachbuilder (Executive Coach Builders, Krystal, Tiffany, Royale, LCW, Springfield, Quality and the rest) carries a certification plate under the hood; a stretch from an uncertified shop may not — and the limo insurance and licensing article says to ask. Toronto's bylaw requires an annual inspection of every limousine (the Toronto limousine licensing article), the province's Commercial Vehicle Operator's Registration applies to the larger stretches, and the cheap limo service article describes the stretch bought at auction and run without either.
The cabin and the crouch
A stretch's ceiling is the donor car's — 1.1 to 1.2 metres — and a passenger enters in a crouch through the rear door and slides along the bench to a seat that faces sideways or inward; the bench is leather over a low frame, the legroom is the aisle, and ten passengers on a J-seat touch knees; the bridal party transport article says a bride in a gown enters last and sits nearest the door, and the Sprinter guide says the Sprinter's standing height and forward seats are why the group of twelve moved. The stretch's cabin is a lounge, not a seat, and a booking that wants a lounge — the night out, the prom's ride, the party between the church and the hall — wants the stretch.
The bar and the licence
A stretch's bar — the glassware, the ice well, the bottles the passengers bring or the operator supplies — is legal under a liquor licence the operator holds for the vehicle (Ontario's AGCO issues a limousine liquor sales licence or the operator relies on the passengers' own under the rules), and only for passengers of legal age; the stag and bachelorette article has the rules, the prom article says no alcohol for a prom group, licensed vehicle or not, and the stretch limo page says which vehicles carry the licence. No open alcohol in a sedan, an SUV or an unlicensed Sprinter.
The minimum
The stretch's hourly minimum is four hours (the hourly vs point-to-point article explains the minimums) — the coachbuilt vehicle's cost, its Saturday's demand, and the fact that no one books a stretch for a transfer — with the gratuity set at booking (the gratuity guide), the HST, and the occasion deposit (the deposits and payment article); the how much does a black car cost article works a six-hour Saturday stretch against a six-hour Sprinter (the Sprinter is less) and the engine quotes the date.
The bookings the stretch still owns
The wedding: the wedding limo guide — the bride's arrival, the door at the church, the photographs, the getaway; the South Asian weddings article's baraat. The prom: the prom article — the photograph at the first house and the arrival at the Liberty Grand. The quinceañera and the sweet sixteen: the quinceañera article — the white stretch at the parish. The birthday: the birthday article — the child's aquarium party, the fortieth's night. The night out: the stag and bachelorette article — the lounge between the bars. The concert and the game for a group who want the arrival: the concert article, the Leafs article. The funeral, in some communities: the black stretch behind the hearse. The vintage car for two: the elopement, the anniversary.
The bookings the stretch lost
The airport: the Pearson page's runs went to sedans and SUVs (the bags, the Door A lanes, the price) and the groups to the Sprinter (the group transfers article). The corporate day: the corporate car service page's executives ride in sedans, the teams in Sprinters — no one takes a client to a meeting in a stretch (the what makes a car a black car article). The group of twelve: the Sprinter guide's room and forward seats. The wine tour and the day trip: the Niagara wine tour article's Sprinter. The hotel: the Toronto luxury hotels guide's guests arrive in S-Classes. The winter: below.
The winter and the streets
A stretch is rear-wheel drive with a long wheelbase, low ground clearance (12 to 15 centimetres), a turning circle of 15 metres or more, and a body that bottoms out on a driveway's lip — it does not take an unplowed street, a snowbank, a steep laneway, a tight cul-de-sac, the Toronto Islands' ferry ramp, or half of Yorkville's side streets without a three-point turn; the winter driving article says a January wedding's stretch stays on plowed streets and the party's Sprinter handles the rest, and the bridal party transport article's winter note says the same. Dispatch plans a stretch's route to avoid the streets it cannot take and tells the booker which door at the venue.
The fleet's age
A stretch is expensive to build and cheap to keep — which is why the trade's oldest vehicles are stretches, and why the fleet maintenance article's five-year rule is the question to ask: a stretch older than eight years on a Town Car chassis is a vehicle whose air suspension, electrics and coachwork are past the point at which a professional fleet keeps it, and a stretch bought at auction and run by an unlicensed operator (the cheap limo service article) is the prom-season hazard the prom article warns parents about. Ask the year, the coachbuilder, the certification, the inspection date and the insurance certificate; the vehicle cleaning article covers what a Saturday's three bookings do to a bar and a bench.
The honest case
Book a stretch when the arrival is the point and the ride is short — a wedding's church door, a prom's venue, a quinceañera's parish, a night out's lounge between the bars — and book a Sprinter when the ride is the point and the group is the passenger: the airport, the wine tour, the roadshow, the party that wants to sit up and talk. A booker who wants both books both (the wedding limo guide's bride in the stretch and the party in the Sprinter), and the stretch limo page and the hourly chauffeur page price each.
A worked stretch booking
A Vaughan wedding, a Saturday in September, the white 140-inch stretch on a four-hour minimum plus two. 1:00 p.m.: the stretch at the bride's home, decorated with the florist's ribbon on the mirrors; the bride and four bridesmaids in the lounge (the mother in the parents' sedan). 1:40: the church's Woodbridge curb (a plowed, wide street — dispatch had checked the turning); the door, the photograph. 2:00–3:00: the ceremony; the stretch on the side street. 3:00–4:30: the photographs at a Kleinburg garden (the lot's entrance measured for the clearance). 4:45: the hall's porte-cochère in Vaughan; the couple's entrance from the stretch's door. 6:00: the stretch released; the party's Sprinter held on the hourly for the 1 a.m. sequence. Five hours of stretch, one photograph that no Sprinter could have given, and a Sprinter for everything else.
Stretch limousine quick reference
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Vehicles | Lincoln / Cadillac stretch sedans (120–180 in, 8–14); stretch SUVs (Escalade ESV, Navigator L, Suburban, Hummer; 14–20); vintage Rolls-Royce / Bentley for two |
| Certification | Ford QVM / Cadillac CMC coachbuilders (a plate under the hood); Toronto's annual inspection; CVOR for the larger ones — ask |
| Cabin | 1.1–1.2 m ceiling; a crouch and a slide; perimeter bench / J-seat; a lounge, not a seat |
| Bar | Under the operator's liquor licence, for passengers of age only; none for a prom; none in a sedan, SUV or unlicensed Sprinter |
| Minimum | 4 hours on the hourly; occasion deposit; the Sprinter is less for the same hours |
| Still owns | The wedding, the prom, the quinceañera, the birthday, the night out, the arrival at a concert or a game, the funeral in some communities, the vintage car for two |
| Lost | The airport, the corporate day, the group of 12, the wine tour, the hotel, the winter |
| Winter / streets | Rear-wheel drive; 12–15 cm clearance; 15 m turning circle; no unplowed streets, snowbanks, steep laneways, tight cul-de-sacs, ferry ramps |
| Age | Ask the year, the coachbuilder, the certification, the inspection and the insurance; older than 8 years on a Town Car chassis is past a professional fleet's rule |
Booking a stretch
The stretch limo page books the stretch sedans, the stretch SUVs and the vintage cars with the four-hour minimum; the wedding limo page the wedding package; the engine quotes the date; dispatch checks the route's streets and the venue's door. Book a June or September Saturday three months ahead.
The stretch's day on a Saturday
A fleet's white stretch on a June Saturday runs three bookings — a morning wedding's church-and-photographs (the wedding day timeline article's four hours), an afternoon quinceañera's parish-and-park, and an evening prom's first-house-and-venue — with a detail between each (the vehicle cleaning article's forty minutes: the bar's glassware, the bench, the floor, the exterior), a chauffeur change if the day runs past twelve hours, and dispatch's schedule that leaves an hour's buffer between the wedding's hall and the quinceañera's parish because a wedding runs late and a mass does not wait. A booker who wants the stretch for an evening on a wedding Saturday books it first, and the cancellation policies article's seven-day occasion terms hold the date.
