some sect's elders do make decisions like that depending on where they live and how they sustain themselves, but for the most part, it's true that they don't use phones or cars themselves.
a lot of amish around here pay regular people to drive them to and from work. there are also branches off of anabaptist like mennonites who do use electricity freely and sometimes go to college.
there are also amish who don't even sit in cars at all, and just use buggies, which we see a lot of where i live.
And some are on the fire department like my Neighbors. They get the call and the man up the road takes them or they ask us if he's not home.
The community here is pretty relax but I have heard that a few towns over they are very strict.
The not having phone isn't totally true. Here in pa they have a land line in a little shed near the road. They use the older phones that don't need power besides the phone line. They can also brake some rules for work like using bobcats and what not. My home town is small but the community is a big part of it. Btw good story.