Take a ride with Ray Derani on New Year’s Eve, cruising the streets of Denver in a white 22-foot Lincoln Town Car with a cracked front windshield and a damaged right rear door.
Those are the hits he took piloting his land yacht through two weeks of snowstormed streets. The upside? Passengers willing to pay up to $150 an hour to ride in style.
“It’s been a long few days,” Derani said, “but it does pay off.”
On Sunday night, he parked near Invesco Field, waiting to pick up a customer watching the end of the Broncos game. In the back of the limo he described as “his office,” Derani said he’d be working into the wee hours on what is traditionally the busiest night of the year for limos and cabs.
Derani, 30, said he expected to make $1,000 – on top of the big money he made during the back-to-back snowstorms that socked Denver.
Derani, head of Morrison- based SouthWest Limousine, said he increased his hourly rate from $65 to $150 following the storms. Unlike taxi companies whose fares are regulated by the Public Utilities Commission, limo services set their own rates.
“The price gouging has been unbelievable,” said Derani, referring to the fares charged by his and other companies. “The gasoline had been hard to come by, so that forced us to raise prices. People were willing to pay.”
In some cases, Derani gave rides for the price of a gratuity, picking up fares from downtown hotels he favors in the hopes of getting more business later.
There were hardships, too. A sedan slid into the back of his limo during the pre-Christmas blizzard. Three of his company’s six limos had to be towed out of bad conditions.
Derani said the holiday season – other than New Year’s Eve – can be mixed for town-car and limo companies.
That’s because corporate travel is almost nonexistent, and people are more willing to go to the airport themselves to pick up friends and family arriving home for the holidays. But some travelers hire limos or cabs rather than pay to park at the airport.
Everything changed after the pair of snowstorms dumped dozens of inches of snow on the Mile High City – crippling air travel at times and spooking many motorists off the roads.
Derani said that even some taxicab drivers were unwilling to navigate the slippery roads, leaving his drivers with a glut of customers.
Starting Dec. 21, Derani said, his fleet of six drivers each averaged as high as $700 a day in fares. Normally during this time, each driver averages between $200 and $400 in fares per day.
Part of the increase came as scores of travelers were stranded at Denver International Airport during the days preceding Christmas. That prompted some people to seek transportation to nearby hotels or back to the city.
“This has been the best thing to happen for us this year,” said Derani. “For these snowstorms to happen, it has just been awesome.”
After growing up in Morrison, Derani graduated from Bear Creek High School. He began working as a cabdriver to help pay for college, where he was studying to become an engineer.
After six months of driving a cab and attending school, Derani left college to start his limousine company in 1996.
Derani said growing up in Colorado provides an advantage over his competitors, as he knows the streets and is comfortable driving in the snow. He said some cabdrivers, especially ones from warmer climates, are unwilling to work in heavy snow.
He snaps on two sets of snow chains when needed, yet his limo has gotten stuck in the snow “numerous times,” including at 2 a.m. one recent morning, requiring a tow truck to set him free.
“The cars did get beat up,” said Derani, who then returned behind the wheel of his office.
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-954-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.
