Re: Car rental (in Boston)

["Theodore R. Harlan" <trharlan@one.net>]

Rob Winchell wrote:

> >Boston Coach. I use a competitor, Airport Express, and queried the driver
> >last time I took a ride. Turns out that BC wanted FWD cars, rather than the
> >big RWD Lincolns, and had some weird situation with their previous
> >supplier, who stopped making large FWD cars...or they didn't like the new
> >model...
> >
> >The driver commented that BC is getting its butt kicked as a result. The
> >FWD Volvos aren't quite as big as the big Lincolns, and the ride is
> >traditional European stiff rather than American Living Room soft. Customers
> >are running away in droves. Oops.
>
> Boston Coach is owned by Fidelity Investments (which you may have already
> known). Rumor has it that Fidelity is having Volvo custom-make them some
> bigger cars. Apparently the drivers, not usually the picture of fitness,
> aren't too much into the "tiny" Volvo driver's seat either.

I work for Fidelity, and it is held, among those of us in the rank and file,
that fidelity provides Boston Coach with over 3/4 of its business. The company
is privately held, and everytime the owner (supposedly) thinks something costs
too much, he just buys or starts a company in the same business. To wit:
Fidelity owns a hotel right by the airport in Boston. Fidelity people usually
occupy at least 50% of the rooms. I can add that every Boston Coach vehicle that
I have seen in Cincinnati has been a Lincoln. A Black Lincoln.

FWIW.

Ted Harlan.