Two numbers decide which vehicle you need: how many people are traveling, and how many bags they are bringing. Most people only think about the first one, and that is why parties end up standing in a parking garage watching a chauffeur try to fit six suitcases into a trunk built for three.
Here is how choosing the right vehicle works the first time, including the cases where the obvious answer is the wrong one.
Seats run out slower than luggage does
This is the single most useful thing to know. Across almost every vehicle class, the passenger count and the luggage count do not run out together — and on shorter trips it is usually the bags that decide.
The working figures for our fleet:
- Sedan (Cadillac XTS) — up to 2 passengers, 2–3 suitcases
- Luxury Sedan (Mercedes-Benz S-Class) — up to 2 passengers, 2–3 suitcases
- Luxury SUV (Cadillac Escalade) — up to 5 passengers, 5–6 suitcases
- Jet Sprinter (Mercedes-Benz Sprinter) — up to 9 passengers, 9 suitcases
- Executive Sprinter (Mercedes-Benz Sprinter) — up to 13 passengers, 13 suitcases
- Mini-Coach — up to 24 passengers, with under-coach luggage bays
Notice what happens at the Escalade. Five seats, five to six suitcases — fine for a family of four with a bag each. But a party of five arriving from a week abroad with eight cases between them does not fit, even though the seat count says it should. That party needs a Jet Sprinter, and finding out at the curb is an expensive way to learn it.
Count the bags before you book. Then count them again, including the carry-ons that will not stay on laps.
Sedan or Luxury Sedan?
They carry the same load: two passengers, two to three cases. The choice is not about capacity, it is about what the arrival needs to say.
The Cadillac XTS is the everyday executive sedan — comfortable, discreet, and the right call for the majority of airport transfers, corporate travel and point-to-point city rides. It is not a lesser vehicle. It is the correct vehicle most of the time.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class earns its premium in two situations: when the ride is long enough that rear legroom and quiet genuinely matter, and when the person stepping out of it is being watched. A client pickup, a first meeting, a wedding, an anniversary. If nobody is watching and the trip is twenty minutes, the XTS does the same job.
When the Escalade is right — and when it isn’t
The Cadillac Escalade is the most-requested vehicle in South Florida ground transportation, and usually for good reason. Five seats, real cargo space, and it handles a family with luggage, a small executive group, or an airport run with golf clubs.
It is the wrong choice in three cases. When you have five passengers and more than six bags. When the party is five adults on a forty-minute-plus drive and the third row is going to be a long ride for whoever draws it. And when the group is going to want to talk to each other — a Sprinter with captain’s chairs is a conversation, an SUV is a car.
Two Sprinters, and how to choose
People are often surprised there is more than one. Both are Mercedes-Benz Sprinters with captain’s chairs, Wi-Fi, USB charging and the same executive feel.
The Jet Sprinter seats up to 9 with 9 suitcases. It is configured for comfort and space to spread out, which makes it the better pick for a group that will be working, or on a longer run where everyone wants elbow room.
The Executive Sprinter seats up to 13 with 13 suitcases. Same experience, more of it.
The honest rule: if your group is nine or fewer, the Jet Sprinter is the more comfortable vehicle, not just the smaller one. Do not book the 13 simply because it is bigger — book it because you have the people.
When you need the Mini-Coach
Above thirteen, the arithmetic changes. Two Sprinters can carry twenty-six people, but that is two chauffeurs, two arrival times and two groups who cannot talk to each other. The Mini-Coach carries up to 24 with under-coach luggage bays, which keeps a wedding party, a conference group or a crew move as one unit.
Where a coach gets complicated is the destination. Many venues, beach hotels and residential addresses cannot physically take a coach, or restrict where it may stand. Worth confirming before you commit to one vehicle instead of two.
Picking by scenario
- Airport arrival, one or two travelers: Sedan. Luxury Sedan if it is a client or the trip is long.
- Family of four with a week’s luggage: Escalade — but count the bags first.
- Corporate roadshow, four to six executives: Jet Sprinter. They can work en route, and one vehicle keeps the schedule together.
- Private jet arrival: depends entirely on the party. Solo principals take a sedan; families take the Escalade; crew rotations and larger parties take a Sprinter. See our FBO transfers page.
- Wedding party: Executive Sprinter for the bridal party, Mini-Coach for guests. Formalwear takes more room than street clothes — size up.
- Night out or an event: Sprinter. One vehicle beats coordinating four on-demand pickups at 11:30 p.m., and it is waiting where you left it.
- Conference or crew shuttle: Mini-Coach, confirmed against the venue’s access rules.
Five things that quietly change the answer
- Golf clubs. A set of clubs takes roughly the space of a large suitcase. Four golfers is an Escalade at minimum, often a Sprinter.
- Car seats. Tell us the number and the child’s age when booking, not on the day.
- Formalwear. Gowns and garment bags need room and need not to be crushed. The practical seat count drops.
- The return leg. People fly out with more than they flew in with. If you are booking both directions, size the return.
- Mobility needs. Step height varies a lot between a sedan, an SUV and a Sprinter. Tell us in advance and we will put the right vehicle on it.
Choosing the right vehicle: when in doubt, size up
The gap in cost between one class and the next is almost always smaller than the cost of getting it wrong — a second vehicle dispatched at the last minute, a delayed departure, or a group split across two cars on what was supposed to be a shared ride.
Choosing the right vehicle isn’t always obvious. If you are genuinely between two options, tell us the passenger count, the bag count and the trip, and we will tell you which one we would send. We would rather talk you into the right vehicle than sell you the bigger one.
Book it
Rodlymo Luxury Transportation is a veteran-owned operator based in Miramar, Florida, and a member of the National Limousine Association. We serve Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, and reservations are answered by a person twenty-four hours a day.
Send the passenger count, the luggage count, the pickup and the destination, and you will get back a fixed, all-in price with the vehicle named.
Call (855) 915-5466 any hour, or Get My Quote.
Full specifications and photographs for every vehicle are on the fleet page. You can also read about corporate transportation, airport car service and hourly and as-directed service.