The Walworthians: Carol Johnson
The Walworthians: Carol Johnson
A collection of telephone interviews published in the Wayne County STAR Newspaper and Wayne County MAIL Newspaper, 1994-209
by Kate Chamberlin
Carol Johnson
June 01, 1995, Wayne County STAR Newspaper
You have an 8:07 A.M. flight out of Rochester International, but your mother is sick, your kids don’t drive and the neighbor’s car is in the shop. What do you do?
Drivers Unlimited, founded by Walworthian Carol Johnson, is your answer. In 1983 Carol began offering a service to drive you in your own car to the airport or anywhere that’s drivable.
Carol was a School Food Manager in Shortsville while her two children, Dan and Nancy, were growing up. She enjoyed the school hours, but, as her teens developed lives of their own, she saw the need for a transport service.
There were only two drivers when she started the business from her Walworth home.
“It has been a hard concept to market,” Carol said. “Our biggest competitor is family and friends!”
Drivers Unlimited offers the convenience of your doing your packing up the night before, the comfort of your own car and the reliability that your car is taken back home. If your car has a ski rack on top, you may not feel comfortable leaving it in the airport car park. You’ll enjoy your vacation knowing your car and rack are safely in your own garage.
The rate for this airport service is about $14 one-way with Midnight to 7 A.M rates being slightly higher.
Drivers Unlimited is also available on an hourly or contract basis to take seniors to regular doctor’s appointments, dialysis, or re-habilitation sessions. Multi-purpose trips to take you shopping and run errands after your appointment can be arranged.
You can also contract with Drivers Unlimited to do regular courier work for you or your business. The rates would be individually based on frequency and mileage.
A limousine service is also available. There isn’t a big call for limos in our area, so it is done on a sub-contracting basis.
The Car Re-location service entails driving you and/or your car to a destination such as driving you in your car to Florida. They can then leave you with your car or drive your car back home.
“Occasionally we have taken a car to a sea port to be transported to Europe. People then have their own car to use for touring”.
All of the services offered by Drivers Unlimited are available on a contract basis or by making a reservation to have an hourly rate. Attractive discounts are part of the contractual deal.
Carol now has 20 drivers. Each driver is screened for a clean license, safe driving habits and the ability to drive both standard and shift.
“Our drivers are very important,” Carol emphasized. “They are competent people you can trust.”
Carol told me about one client who was in a wheel-chair and had her own wheel-chair assist van. The drivers would take her to dialysis three times a week.
“That lady was such an inspiration to us all,” Carol said. “She had such a positive attitude, it became a “driving Miss Daisy” kind of job. Our drivers couldn’t do enough for her. They’d even make minor repairs on the van and carry-in her groceries.”
It is not uncommon for our drivers to stop in for milk and eggs on their way home from picking up a client at the airport. All of our drivers are the kind that will go the extra mile for you.”
That extra mile was needed when they escorted a lady home after eye surgery. The lady was so glad to see her small dog that she bent down to pick him up. Her eye started to bleed all over. The driver made some phone calls and waited with the lady until medical help could come.
Carol will be a delegate for the Rochester Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners at the White House Conference on small businesses in Washington, D.C. on June 11 through 14. Two of the major issues the Rochester-Buffalo chapters will be raising for discussion are regulatory policies (reduce the paper work!) and income tax issues.
Carol would welcome your phone call concerning NABWO, her up-coming trip to Washington and, of course, to request a driver.
Drivers Unlimited is located at 3380 Monroe Avenue, suite 106, Rochester, 716-381-8750.
Thank you, Carol. You are a Walworthian with the accent on worth.
August 10, 2017 Up-Date: The are numerous “call on” outfits now-a-days, such as Uber, but none have the special services of Drivers Unlimited.