Chase Car at your service

Mike Lutz and Rich Harpel know the resort-area bar scene, and they enjoy what area restaurants have to offer. They enjoy it so much they started a business to assist both customers and businesses.

Chase Car Designated Driver Services opened for business in March and has been growing its stable of regular customers ever since, picking customers up at bars and restaurants and taking them safely home. How is this different from a taxi service, you ask? The service will also take your car home.

"It's a two-man operation, so we can pick up the customer and the car and get both safely home," said Harpel, 26, of Lewes. "It saves the customer from worrying about getting a taxi or having the car towed from the bar."

Harpel and Lutz pick up customers in the Cape Region, from Lewes to Dewey Beach, and have even given rides down to Bethany Beach. They are developing a following, and several Rehoboth-area restaurants now recommend the service to those who may have had one too many.

"Summer House and Rehoboth Ale House are big pick-up spots for us," said Lutz. "We have business cards out there, but mostly people are hearing about us through word of mouth."

This is the first year of the business, so the two men are using their own cars, but they hope to expand next year and purchase a business-only vehicle.

Besides getting people and cars safely home, the pair also will take boats home for customers. They pride themselves on great customer service.

"When we get a call, we are in constant contact with the customer," Lutz said. "We are always letting the customer know where we are, so we have a lot of customers that come back to us."

The car service operates on a flat-rate price, not a meter. For a ride from Rehoboth to Dewey, costs start at $10. A trip to Bethany Beach would run around $40, Lutz said. Tips are optional.

The service runs through Labor Day but will be available for special events and a longer season in 2012.

"There really is a need here because so many people drive to the bars and don't want to leave their cars overnight," said Harpel. "The businesses like it because they know the customer will get home and be able to come back to the business in the future."

For more information on the car service, call 302-258-3464 or visit Chase Car Designated Driver Service on Facebook.