A car and chauffeur by the hour
The car and the chauffeur stay with you for the hours you book. Three hours is the minimum, where most of London asks for four and some for five.
- Three-hour minimum
- Fifteen miles for every hour
- Overrun billed by the quarter hour
- No night or Sunday uplift
Price your hours
Five classes of car, each with one fixed price that already includes the charges for the route. You choose a car before you pay.
The published terms
Four rules, all of them on the rate card rather than in a conversation at the end of the booking.
- Three-hour minimum
- The car and the chauffeur are yours for the block, and the hours run from the time on the booking rather than from the first pickup. For a single journey with a known destination, the fixed price from the grid is the simpler booking.
- Fifteen miles an hour
- Fifteen miles are included for every hour booked. Miles past that are charged at a published rate per mile, which appears in the price before you pay.
- Overrun by the quarter hour
- Time past the booked hours is billed at a quarter of the hourly rate for each fifteen minutes. Nobody is charged an hour for running ten minutes late.
- Waiting is the booking
- Waiting inside the booked hours is not an extra. A chauffeur sitting outside a meeting is the service rather than a surcharge.
A worked example
A morning of meetings in the City, booked in Business class, with the last one running over.
- You book four hours from 09:00. Four is above the three-hour minimum, so four is what you pay for.
- Sixty miles are included: fifteen for each of the four hours. A morning between meetings in central London rarely comes close.
- The car waits outside each meeting. None of that waiting is charged, because it is inside the hours you booked.
- The last meeting runs on and you are back in the car at 13:10. The ten minutes past the booked hours are one quarter hour, billed at a quarter of the Business hourly rate, not as another hour.
Every class, by the hour
The hourly rate for each class is not in the published tables yet. The form at the top of the page prices your hours in all five classes before you pay, and that price is the amount charged for the hours booked.
What people book it for
A day of meetings across London where the car waits between them. A roadshow. A wedding or a funeral, where the timing is not ours to predict. An evening out where the return is not at a fixed hour.
For a single journey with a known destination, a fixed price is cheaper and simpler. The published tables cover seven airports and six parts of London.
What is inside the hourly price
- The congestion charge, where the hours involve driving in the zone.
- Any tolls on the routes driven.
- Waiting, throughout, because that is the point of the booking.
- Child seats, up to two, and assistance dogs and wheelchairs, always.
There is no night uplift and no Sunday uplift on hourly work either. A car from 05:00 costs the hourly rate. The five classes shows what each one carries.
What people ask
What is the minimum booking?
Three hours. Many London firms ask for four or five, so the shorter minimum is stated here rather than discovered at the quote.
Are the miles included?
Fifteen miles for every hour you book. Miles past that are charged at a published rate per mile, and it is in the price before you pay rather than on an invoice afterwards.
What if I run over?
Time past the booked hours is billed at a quarter of the hourly rate per fifteen minutes, so a ten-minute delay costs ten minutes. Nobody is charged a full hour for running twelve minutes late.
Do I pay extra while the car waits?
No. Waiting inside the hours you have booked is what you have booked. A chauffeur sitting outside a meeting is the service, not a surcharge.
How do I cancel or change a booking?
Cancel in your account. The refund is worked out from the version of the cancellation policy your booking was made under and shown to you before you confirm anything. To change a booking, use the "Request a change" link on it and we will reply.