Content area
Full Text
A. Gregory Eaton heard the talk at cocktail parties and receptions: Metro Cars isn't what it used to be.
"It hurt," said Eaton, who founded the luxury car transport service with partner Cullan Meathe in 1990. But they couldn't make changes after they sold the company to Houstonbased Coach USA in 1997.
Now Metro Cars, which has the exclusive limousine contract at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, is back in their hands.
The partners are spending $4.5 million to buy new cars, in-car payment machines and computerized dispatch equipment. The company plans to move to a 20,000-square-foot headquarters in Taylor.
Metro Cars has bought 45 cars since the deal closed Dec. 11. That brings its sedan fleet to 110, said Daniel Ret, the company's new COO. The company also has a shuttle van operation.
Meathe and Eaton said none of this was possible until they bought the company back from Coach USA, which is primarily a bus and taxi company. Coach USA never took Metro Cars national, which is what the partners sold it for.