I need a limo to take 3 people from the airport to a hotel on the Upper East Side.Could you recommend a service?

Do you actually want a "limo" or do you just want a car service? The most popular car services are Dial 7 and Carmel. In most cases, a real limo costs 3 or 4 times what a regular town car will cost. But either of these companies can do the job for you. However, if your party are flying into LGA, it's going to be considerably cheaper for them to take a regular taxi.

Either way, be aware that you can't generally pre-pay for a car service in NYC. Whoever takes the car has to present the credit card to be swiped.

I would take the time to double check the information you've received from Doug. It doesn't 'gel' with my own experience which was a car from Dial 7 was exactly the same cost as a taxi going from JFK to midtown and again from midtown to LGA. I booked both rides at the same time. Good luck!

It depends where in Manhattan you are going, Carmel and Dial7 charge the same rate for anywhere in Manhattan, A taxi to or from JFK is also a set rate. But the taxis to/from LGA are on the meter and can vary a lot based on location and traffic.

I've found the car services generally match the cab cost - give or take a few $ to the airport. I take a cab home (no searching for the useless drivers) unless it's a company trip - since they supply corporate meet & greet - no options.

And you do want a car service (fairly new and tidy lincoln town car) not a limo (stretch whatever with uniformed driver, TV in the back, free beverages but at least twice the price).

I live on the Upper East Side, and a car service from LGA costs as much as $8 or $9 more than a regular taxi, but it really depends on where you're coming from, as nyer says, and also the amount of traffic (clicks go by very quickly when you're stuck i heavy traffic). I've paid more than $15 just to go across Manhattan by taxi on the way to LGA on a heavy-traffic afternoon.

From JFK, it's definitely about the same for the car service since taxis have a set rate, which is almost always the same as the cost of a taxi (i.e., $52 base fare before tolls and tip right now).

From EWR, it's always cheaper to take a car service as opposed to a regular taxi, which would be very very expensive from EWR to the Upper East Side (I'd guess it could be as much as $20 more for a regular taxi over a car service.)

So,Doug, in fact, it is not considerably cheaper to take a regular taxi if your party are flying into LGA as you stated in your first post.

Thanks y'all. We are flying into LGA. I want to surprise our son with a limo ride.

This is the car service that I use for my trips to the airport (both JFk and LaG); they can probbly hook you up with one of those long, white limos.

http://www.allencarlimo.com/

Yes, but do check the price in advance- and realize you pay bridget toll and 20% tip on top of the quoted price.

Or, you could ask the driver to take the free 59th Street aka Queenborough Bridge (aka Ed Koch Bridge but no one calls it that!) if this is at feasible from your point of departure. That is always my preferred crossing.

Thank you so much for all your help.