A-1 Carma Limousine

Please do yourself a favor and do not use this service. This company was the service for a hotel I stayed at and not once out of the three days I used them were they on time. Not only were they NOT on time but they were over 20 minutes late and caused me to be late for a meeting. Shame on them.

Please whatever you do… don’t use A-​1 Carma. As nice as the dispatch is on the phone, the actual drivers are just pure grumps. Yes, they have wonderfully clean and new cars but the service itself is probably worse than a caffeine addict who has just woken up to understand they’re out of coffee beans.
I booked one week ahead of time to arrive into Laguardia. Even though I did tell them when I was arrive and the terminal info, they arrived at the wrong terminal. I waited for 30 minutes for that mess up to clean itself up and get picked up. Then there was a mix up about the whole payment… that was unpleasantly delivered with the rough and abrupt instructions of «GO CALL … GO CALL OFFICE.»
I understand the driver may not have the best command of the English language but a simple please would go along way. Yes, I understand you’re frustrated but I’m equally frustrated as well since I did explain to the dispatcher that I am paying by credit card. It wasn’t a problem when I booked and I don’t understand why he demanded I pay in cash or have to pay more using my credit card.
All in all, don’t use them. After a long day at the airport and a wonderfully pleasant airport service from my house to the airport, this trek with the most inhospitable driver made me exhausted even more.

There are a lot of simply bad car services in the NYC area. I would say that if most of them average 2 stars, that’s probably high. Let me first say that A1 Carma is not one of those… they are a good, reliable business that I’ve used consistently for the past three years. They have some room for improvement, but, at the end of the day, I trust them for my business and personal use.
I should first share that I travel up to 200 days each year and I often use A1 Carma for airport transfers/​pickup to/​from Hoboken and EWR. I sometimes also use them to/​from Newark Penn Station and New York City Penn Station. I would say, on average, I have used A1 over 50 times a year in the past three years.
You should first know what you’re getting: Most of the cars you’ll get are older Town Cars that are not in the newest of condition, but reliable and clean. From time to time, you will get a brand new Town Car or Lincoln Navigator, if they are available. For airport pickups, they generally meet you outside of the international departure terminal doors after you call them when you step off your flight. I’m not sure if they offer a «waiting service» with a little sign to greet you in the airport, but their current method seems to work just fine, most of the time.
There are some areas for improvement. First, I’d say that they are often late for their pickup times at my home — usually 5 to 10 minutes. They often blame this on traffic, but since driving is their business, one would suspect that they would take this into considerations. I live in far downtown west Hoboken, so I am literally 2 minutes from the Tunnel/​Turnpike intersection. The solution to this has been to book them 15 mins earlier than needed — if I make them wait, they don’t seem to mind. On the airport pickups, there is often a 10 mins or so wait, but this is the nature of the outside pickup service, versus having them park or wait for you which, presumably, would cost more. Finally, I typically use my corporate AMEX to pay for my ride and they tack on a $ 5 AMEX surcharge each time. This is excessive (their processing fees on the ride equate to about $ 2.50 for this size transaction) and, technically, is against AMEX processing regulations. For someone like me, this adds up over the course of a year.
However, the goods outweigh the bads. First, I should note that they have NEVER missed a pickup and are very reliable. I have never had an issue locating a driving, nor have I had any issues with lost/​bad/​rude drivers. Their drivers are typically nice guys and I’ve gotten to know a few of them over the years. They recognize and value their repeat customers. Their booking agents on the phone are polite and always get your details right. Finally, most importantly, is price: $ 28 for a pickup or delivery to EWR from Hoboken is cheap compared to most other companies, and almost half of the book rate from EWR-​based taxis.
Altogether, I would recommend A1 Carma for casual business or personal use.

Reliable service and go out of their way to accommodate