A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or a limousine.
Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to specialist chauffeur service companies or individual drivers that provide both driver and vehicle for hire. Some service companies merely provide the driver.
The term chauffeur comes from the French term for stoker because the earliest automobiles, [1] like their railroad and sea vessel counterparts, were steam-powered and required the driver to stoke the engine. The chauffeur also maintained the car, including routine maintenance and cleaning, and had to be a skilled mechanic to deal with breakdowns and tyre punctures en route, which were very common in the earliest years of the automobile.[ citation needed ]
Only the very wealthy could afford the first automobiles, and they generally employed chauffeurs rather than driving themselves. A 1906 article in The New York Times reported that "the chauffeur problem to-day is one of the most serious that the automobilist has to deal with", and complained that "young men of no particular ability, who have been earning from $10 to $12 a week, are suddenly elevated to salaried positions paying from $25 to $50" and recommended the re-training of existing coach drivers. [2]
While the term may refer to anybody who drives for a living, it usually implies a driver of an elegant passenger vehicle such as a horse-drawn carriage, luxury sedan, motor coach, or especially a limousine; those who operate buses or non-passenger vehicles are generally referred to as "drivers". In some countries, particularly developing nations where a ready supply of labor ensures that even the middle classes can afford domestic staff and among the wealthy, [3] the chauffeur may simply be called the "driver".
Some people may employ chauffeurs full-time to drive them in their vehicles, while professional services offer on-request limousines or rental cars that include chauffeurs. [4] This is similar to but much more luxurious than taking a taxicab. A variety of benefits are cited for using chauffeurs, including convenience, productivity, and time savings, [5] and driving safety for business people [6] and seniors. [7] Insurance costs for luxury vehicles are often lower if the designated driver is a chauffeur. [3]
The legal requirements to be a chauffeur vary depending on the local jurisdiction and class of vehicle. In some cases, a simple permit is all that is required, but in others, an additional professional license is needed with specific minimum standards in areas such as age, health, driving experience, criminal record, local geographic knowledge, or training. [8] [9]
In addition to the minimum legal requirements, limousine companies often require their chauffeurs to undergo specific extra training. [10] These courses may involve evasive driving or defensive driving techniques, the proper methods to ensure safety in the most extreme conditions such as inclement weather, a flat tire at high speeds, or other exterior influences for loss of vehicular control, etc.
Most companies also have courses on what they expect from their chauffeurs. Chauffeurs may be taught proper etiquette when they are in the presence of their clientele. They may also be trained for services to the client beyond the car itself, such as for a personal valet or bodyguard.
Many companies and local licensing agencies currently require random drug screening [11] – in the United States, this was especially the case after professional ice hockey player Vladimir Konstantinov's career-ending injuries when his recently hired chauffeur, Richard Gnida, lost control of their limousine and crashed. [12] [13]
A luxury car is a car that provides above-average to high-end levels of comfort, features, and equipment. Often more expensive materials and surface finishes are used, and buyers expect better build quality. The usually higher pricing and more upscale appearance is often associated with higher social status of the users, compared to low and mid-market segment cars.
Marmon Motor Car Company was an American automobile manufacturer founded by Howard Carpenter Marmon and owned by Nordyke Marmon & Company of Indianapolis, Indiana, US. It produced luxury automobiles from 1902 to 1933.
Governments and private organizations have developed car classification schemes that are used for various purposes including regulation, description, and categorization of cars.
The Lincoln Town Car is a model line of full-size luxury sedans that was marketed by the Lincoln division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. Deriving its name from a limousine body style, Lincoln marketed the Town Car from 1981 to 2011, with the nameplate previously serving as the flagship trim of the Lincoln Continental. Produced across three generations for thirty model years, the Town Car was marketed directly against luxury sedans from Cadillac and Chrysler.
Coupé de ville — also known as town car or sedanca de ville — is a car body style produced from 1908 to 1939 with an external or open-topped driver's position and an enclosed compartment for passengers. Although the different terms may have once had specific meanings for certain car manufacturers or countries, the terms are often used interchangeably.
There are many types of car body styles. They vary depending on intended use, market position, location, and the era they were made.
The Chrysler Imperial, introduced in 1926, was Chrysler's top-of-the-line vehicle for much of its history. Models were produced with the Chrysler name until 1954, after which it became a standalone brand; and again from 1990 to 1993. The company positioned the cars as a prestige marque to rival Cadillac, Continental, Lincoln, Duesenberg, Pierce Arrow, Cord, and Packard. According to Antique Automobile, "The adjective 'imperial' according to Webster's Dictionary means sovereign, supreme, superior or of unusual size or excellence. The word imperial thus justly befits Chrysler's highest priced model."
The Peerless Motor Car Company was an American automobile manufacturer that produced the Peerless brand of motorcars in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1900 to 1931. One of the "Three Ps" – Packard, Peerless, and Pierce-Arrow – the company was known for building high-quality luxury automobiles. Peerless popularized a number of vehicle innovations that later became standard equipment, including drum brakes and the first enclosed-body production cars.
In New York City, taxicabs come in two varieties: yellow and green; they are widely recognizable symbols of the city. Taxis painted yellow are able to pick up passengers anywhere in the five boroughs. Those painted apple green, which began to appear in August 2013, are allowed to pick up passengers in Upper Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Both types have the same fare structure. Taxicabs are operated by private companies and licensed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). It also oversees over 40,000 other for-hire vehicles, including "black cars", commuter vans, and ambulettes.
Graduated driver licensing systems (GDLS) are designed to provide new drivers of motor vehicles with driving experience and skills gradually over time in low-risk environments. There are typically three steps or stages through which new drivers pass. They begin by acquiring a learner's permit, progress to a restricted, probationary or provisional license, followed by receipt of a full driver's license. Graduated drivers' licensing generally restricts nighttime, expressway, and unsupervised driving during initial stages, but lifts these restrictions with time and further testing of the individual, eventually concluding with the individual attaining a full driver's license.
A bus driver, bus operator, or bus captain is a person who drives buses for a living.
Heine-Velox was a large, expensive luxury car made by Gustav Heine. Heine Piano Company was originally Bruenn Piano Company before Heine became owner. All were based in San Francisco.
Roosevelt Smith Zanders (1912–1995) was the owner of New York City limousine service Zanders Auto Rental Service. Starting out with a US$3000 Cadillac, his fleet grew to sixteen cars, including three Rolls-Royces. After establishing the company in Harlem in 1946, he kept the offices and garage in the same neighborhood, even as his client roster began to represent the elite of Fifth Avenue.
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission is an agency of the New York City government that licenses and regulates the medallion taxis and for-hire vehicle industries, including app-based companies such as Uber and Lyft. The TLC's regulatory landscape includes medallion (yellow) taxicabs, green or Boro taxicabs, black cars, community-based livery cars, commuter vans, paratransit vehicles (ambulettes), and some luxury limousines.
In the United States, driver's licenses are issued by each individual state, territory, and the District of Columbia rather than by the federal government due to federalism. Drivers are normally required to obtain a license from their state of residence. All states of the United States and provinces and territories of Canada recognize each other's licenses for non-resident age requirements. There are also licenses for motorcycle use. Generally, a minimum age of 15 is required to apply for a non-commercial driver license, and 25 for commercial licenses which drivers must have to operate vehicles that are too heavy for a non-commercial licensed driver or vehicles with at least 16 passengers or containing hazardous materials that require placards. A state may also suspend an individual's driving privilege within its borders for traffic violations. Many states share a common system of license classes, with some exceptions, e.g. commercial license classes are standardized by federal regulation at 49 CFR 383. Many driving permits and ID cards display small digits next to each data field. This is required by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators' design standard and has been adopted by many US states. According to the United States Department of Transportation, as of 2018, there are approximately 227 million licensed drivers in the United States.
A brougham was originally a car body style where the driver sat outside and passengers seated within an enclosed cabin, — deriving the configuration from the earlier brougham horse-drawn carriage. Similar in style to the later town car, the brougham style was used on chauffeur-driven petrol and electric cars.
The Lexus LS (XF40) is full-size luxury sedan produced by Toyota under their luxury division, Lexus. Replacing the XF30 series, the XF40 represented the fourth generation of the Lexus LS, produced from 2006 to 2017.
A limousine, or limo for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxury sedan with a very long wheelbase and driven by a professional driver is called a stretch limousine.
Taxicabs and other vehicles-for-hire in Canada are regulated by local municipalities and provinces, and are owned & operated by private companies and individuals. Unlicensed cabs in some cities are referred to as bandit taxis/cabs.
A driver's license, driving licence, or driving permit is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public road. Such licenses are often plastic and the size of a credit card.
...but it simply means what we call "fireman", or what the English call "stoker"...
Thirty-two laws took effect in 1999 amid mounting evidence that thousands of people with suspended or revoked licenses were driving, despite numerous alcohol-related convictions and serious traffic violations.
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