The Best Coachbuilders

[TPLS]

I just bought a used 2000 DaBryan 10 passenger. I am very happy with the vehicle and really did my homework before buying my first stretch. After speaking with countless people and viewing serveral different vehicles, I came to the conclusion that Dabryan and Executive are at the top of the list when it comes to quality built limousines. Would most of you agree? Or are there other companies that are on their level? I think I have seen most of them, while there are many nicely built limos out there, the two aforementioned seem to have a little something extra

[TxLimoGuy]

What objective evidence led you to that conclusion?
I would love to work with some folks here in getting a true coachbuilder Report Card project going.

[Wade Randolph]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by TPLS:
I just bought a used 2000 DaBryan 10 passenger. I am very happy with the vehicle and really did my homework before buying my first stretch. After speaking with countless people and viewing serveral different vehicles, I came to the conclusion that Dabryan and Executive are at the top of the list when it comes to quality built limousines. Would most of you agree? Or are there other companies that are on their level? I think I have seen most of them, while there are many nicely built limos out there, the two aforementioned seem to have a little something extra <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I noticed that the quality of some of the DaBryan coaches seemed not up to par in the late 90's and early 2000 but the new ones seem to have that "old" DaBryan quality look to them. Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But its hard to beat the new interiors of the DaBryan coaches with all that solid walnut cabinetry, it seems to warm up the inside of a limousine. I bought DaBryan's exclusively in the 80's and early 90's and had great experience with them. I am currently looking at their coaches again since I'm in the process of switching coachbuilers.

[TPLS]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by TxLimoGuy:
What objective evidence led you to that conclusion?
I would love to work with some folks here in getting a true coachbuilder Report Card project going. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good idea, because there really isn't a measuring stick in place between operators when it comes to which coachbuilders are the most efficient and well-built.

[Michael-Admin]

I've been a strong proponent of this "Manufacturer Report Card" since TXLIMOGUY suggested it about 1 year ago.

The magazines have a conflict of interest and never will spearhead such a report.

If done, each "report" submitted would need a VIN# to verify that the operator actually owned the limo and has experiental data to recount.

I think this is a great idea -- unfortunatly, time is my most scare resource at the moment and I cannot oversee it .... however, I can participate and assist in any effort.

Michael

[TxLimoGuy]

Actually, the Manufacturer's Report Card will be a template put together to grade each coachbuilder on the various aspects of their manufacturing process. The Report Card is very comprehensive (some who have things to hide may even see it as intrusive) and it is designed such that a Best of Breed manufacturer would get a 95% or higher score. Manufacturers who use substandard processes or materials, lack adequate quality control, lack quality audits, lack employee training programs etc will fall into the lower score brackets. With a standardized report card it is very easy to compare apples to apples against coachbuilders. The challenge is coming up with the right criteria in the template. I am not a car manufaturing expert so I will need some help from anyone here who is. But I have spent the past 5 years traveling the world grading manufacturing processes of major companies in this way and I will gladly do so for this industry as well. It will require a 1-2 day factory visit and sit down meeting with each of the coachbuilders. More on that later...I am still putting the template together.

The other piece would be to have a Customer Report Card as you mentioned, where those of us who buy cars from coachbuilders could track defects at delivery and report back every 6 - 12 months with an update as long as they own the car. That way you get a trail over time which can be used as a comparison across vendors. I have less experience here, so I will not start out on this piece until the Manufacturer's Report Card is implemented.