There are now laws governing the sale and consumption of alcohol in limousines. David Preece discovers how you can benefit from the rules…

Many clients who hire limousines for an occasion, whether it be an 80th birthday or party night out with friends, it is generally expected that alcohol will be provided with the vehicle.

Done in the right way, booze can turn a good experience into a great one – so to ensure everything goes smoothly, here are a few ideas and tips about selling alcohol to your clients.

Firstly, if you are intending to sell alcohol, you’ll need a personal liquor license for the person overseeing the majority of the alcohol-related business, and also a license for the premises. These are obtained by attending courses, usually over the space of a day, which culminate in multiple-choice examinations. Once these have been successfully completed, your license applications will go on to be processed by your local council.

As part of the process, you will have to specify the premises from which the alcohol will be sold and be able to prove that it is a safe and secure location. Following standard checks, you will receive your license and will be allowed to legally sell or give away alcohol.

Now that everything is legal and above board, you can start to plan how you’re going to go about providing alcohol to your clients. One way is to simply have a list of all your individual drinks and allow people pick and choose as they wish on the day of the hire. This can be a good option if it is a relatively small booking, or if the client has not specified any preference in advance.

Alternatively, a great idea is to prepare a menu of drink bundles or packages, which can be advertised in your brochures or website. Combinations of certain types of alcohol, such as cans of beer, multiple bottles of champagne, wine or spirits can be grouped together. For example, “Option A” might consist of five cans of beer and a bottle of champagne, “Option B” may be made up of three bottles of champagne, and so on. This is often a convenient way for your clients to choose what they want when making the booking, and can be made even more appealing by offering special deals or discounts.

Another way is to offer drinks packages tailored to certain events. For weddings, it’s a nice idea to offer one or two complimentary bottles of champagne for the journey to or from the service; sipping on a glass of bubbly after one of the happiest moments of your life can add that extra-special touch to proceedings, making it truly memorable.

For the big weekend hires on Friday and Saturday evenings, providing your clients with a list of cocktails (or bottles of spirits with which to mix their own) will be sure to get people in a good mood. Another possibility for these kinds of events is themed drinks promotions to match the party, such as Hawaiian, Spanish, etc. depending on what the client wishes. Vodka Martinis are sure to be a hit if a James Bond-themed party are on board!

It must be mentioned that in all hires, regular licensing laws in regards to age still apply. As such, care must be taken to avoid selling alcohol to those who are under 18. Particular attention should be paid to prom nights where youthful spirits can run high – just be sure they’re the non-alcoholic kind. Usually, the threat of immediate termination of the hire is enough to deter underage drinking in the limousine.

Of course, some limousine companies prohibit alcohol in all of their hires, as they are well within their rights to. The dangers of over-indulging can lead to unwanted incidents and legal complications, and for some it is more trouble than it’s worth. However, for the vast majority of bookings such trouble is unwanted by both parties, and is ultimately down to a judgement call by the operator.

With the advent of the 24 hour licensing allowing greater freedom of choice for you and your clients, there really has never been a better time to get into this exciting area of chauffeuring.

David Preece