Frequently Asked Questions

You must be at least eighteen and able to enter into a contract. We need your full name, a contact telephone number and an email address. Without those three we cannot quote or confirm, because the chauffeur needs a way to reach you on the day and we need somewhere to send your confirmation.

Every journey must be booked in advance through the website, by telephone or through the app. An arrangement made directly with a chauffeur is not a booking with us, is not covered by these Terms, and should be refused.

Online bookings should be made at least four hours ahead, during office hours. We will do our best with shorter notice but cannot promise availability, particularly at peak arrival times or in the small hours.

If you need something sooner than that window allows, call +44 (0203) 826 4125 rather than submitting the form and hoping. A voice on the phone can check what is genuinely free right now.

When you submit a request you are making an offer. The contract exists only when we send you a written confirmation by email. Until that arrives, nothing is reserved, so please check your inbox and your spam folder.

We can decline a request, and in rare cases cancel a confirmed booking, on grounds of availability or operational judgement. If we cancel and you have done nothing wrong, everything you have paid comes back in full.

Yes, and a great many of our bookings are made that way, by assistants, travel agents, hotel concierges and family members. Give us the passenger's name and mobile number rather than only your own, so the chauffeur can reach the right person on arrival.

If you are booking for someone else, please tell them their details have been passed to us, and that our Privacy Policy explains what we do with them.

No. London is our base, but quoted prices apply to travel anywhere within the United Kingdom. We cover ten airports, six cruise ports, six London rail termini and more than thirty city connections, from Bath and Oxford to Manchester and Edinburgh.

For journeys into continental Europe, contact us rather than using the online form, because those need to be quoted individually.

Credit card, debit card, PayPal and bank transfer. Cheques and cash are not accepted. All bookings are paid in advance, which is why your chauffeur never asks you for money at the door and never handles a card machine.

Approved business account holders are the exception and are invoiced instead. Chauffeurs are not permitted to collect fares except in specific circumstances we have approved and told you about beforehand.

No. There is no surcharge or handling fee on any accepted payment method, whether you use a credit card, a debit card, PayPal or a bank transfer. The figure you are quoted is the figure that leaves your account.

If you have seen an older version of this page saying otherwise, it was out of date. Surcharging consumer cards has been prohibited in the United Kingdom since January 2018, and we do not apply one to business cards either.

The question does not arise. Chauffeurz Premium Services Ltd is not currently registered for Value Added Tax, so no VAT is added to your price. The consequence for business travellers is that we cannot issue a VAT invoice, and there is no VAT for your company to reclaim.

All prices are quoted in pounds sterling.

Bookings between 22:00 and 06:00 carry a ten per cent surcharge. The same ten per cent applies during rush hours on train and bus strike days, from 07:30 to 09:30 and from 16:30 to 18:30. Easter, Christmas and New Year carry an additional one hundred per cent, and online prices are not shown for public and bank holidays at all.

Journey specific charges include an extra stop at ten pounds each, out of area mileage at one pound per mile, and mileage beyond the hourly hire allowance at two pounds fifty per mile. Anything calculable in advance is shown before you pay.

A journey through the Central London Congestion Charge Zone carries eighteen pounds per day, at the rate set by Transport for London, and that figure moves whenever TfL moves it.

Depending on the route, a journey may also incur the Ultra Low Emission Zone charge, the Dartford Crossing, the Blackwall or Silvertown tunnel charges, motorway and bridge tolls, and parking. These are passed on at exactly what we paid, with nothing added. Airport pick up parking runs from seven pounds fifty to twenty five pounds, and the airport drop off fee is five pounds.

Waiting time, extra stops, extended hours and itinerary changes can only be known once the journey is done. Those may be charged automatically to the card used for the booking, and an updated invoice is emailed to you afterwards.

On a booking spanning consecutive days, everything is consolidated into one email with a single payment link after the final trip. Payment is due within twelve hours of that notification, and invoices are settled within seven working days.

No. Tipping in the United Kingdom is not what it is in the United States. There is no expected percentage, nothing is added automatically, and the fare you agreed is the entire amount. Nobody will be waiting expectantly at the kerb.

If a chauffeur has genuinely gone out of their way you are welcome to recognise it, and it will be appreciated. It will never be assumed.

Yes, provided you give us the flight number when you book. We monitor the arrival and move the collection time to match, at no extra charge. You do not need to email us when your flight is running late, and you do not need to do anything from the aircraft.

The same applies to a train or a cruise arrival where you give us the reference.

Inside the terminal, in the arrivals area, holding a board with your name on it. You do not need to find a car park, work out an exit, or telephone anyone from a country whose dialling code you do not know.

Your chauffeur will help with luggage to the vehicle. If you cannot see the board, call the number on your confirmation before leaving the arrivals hall.

Your chauffeur waits, at no additional charge, because the booking follows the actual landing time rather than the time printed on your ticket. Your sixty minutes of complimentary waiting begin when the wheels touch the ground, not when you were originally due.

This matters on a long haul arrival, where a two hour delay under the old style of arrangement could otherwise consume your entire free waiting allowance before you had even reached passport control.

Contact us as soon as you reasonably can. A delay is handled automatically, but a diversion sends you to a different airport and a cancellation moves you to a different day, and neither can be solved by a car waiting patiently at the wrong terminal.

Where the journey can no longer be performed as booked, a new booking may be needed and the cancellation terms apply. Tell us early and there is far more we can do.

Then we are tracking somebody else's aeroplane, and the collection will be built around the wrong time. We are not liable for a failed collection caused by incorrect or incomplete arrival details, so please check the number and the terminal on your confirmation email when it arrives.

If you spot a mistake, tell us. Correcting it beforehand costs nothing.

Sixty minutes at any United Kingdom airport, and fifteen minutes for a collection anywhere else, such as a hotel or a private address.

At an airport, where you have given us a flight number, that hour runs from the actual landing time recorded by our flight monitoring, not from the scheduled arrival. An hour is enough for immigration and baggage on a normal day, which is precisely why it is set at an hour.

At one hundred pounds per hour for every vehicle category, billed in fifteen minute increments to the card used for the booking. Fifteen minutes or less counts as one increment, thirty minutes as two, and so on.

In practice this rarely applies, because the free hour at an airport starts from landing. It exists for the situation where a passenger is significantly later than the whole party expected, and the vehicle and chauffeur are held out of service.

If you are not ready for collection within ninety minutes of the arranged time at an airport, or within forty five minutes at any other address, and you have not told us there is a delay, the booking is treated as a no show. All fees become non refundable and accrued waiting time is charged in full.

The words that matter are "and you have not told us". One message, at any point, changes the outcome entirely.

Cancel more than twelve hours before the scheduled pick up and you receive a full refund. Cancel between four and twelve hours before, and fifty per cent is retained. Cancel less than four hours before, and no refund is due, because the vehicle and chauffeur have already been committed to you and cannot be reallocated.

Hourly hire: full refund beyond twenty four hours, fifty per cent retained between twelve and twenty four hours, no refund inside twelve hours.

Multi day hire, meaning two or more consecutive days: full refund beyond forty eight hours, fifty per cent retained between twenty four and forty eight hours, no refund inside twenty four hours. The windows are longer because a multi day booking takes a vehicle and a chauffeur out of circulation for that whole period.

No, and this is worth knowing before you assume otherwise. Contracts for passenger transport services are expressly exempt from the fourteen day cooling off right that applies to most things bought at a distance, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013.

The cancellation windows set out above apply instead. They are the whole of your cancellation right, and they are more generous than most operators in this sector publish.

Through the online booking platform, by email, or by contacting customer service. If you cannot cancel yourself and cannot reach us by telephone, send an email inside the free cancellation window, because that email is the only proof of cancellation we can accept.

Refunds on valid free cancellations are returned to your account within fourteen working days.

Usually, yes. A one way service must be rescheduled at least four hours before the original time, and hourly hire at least twelve hours before. Events and multi day bookings cannot be moved inside twenty four hours.

You can move a booking into a free cancellation period once, and the new date must fall within seven days of the original. If you then cancel, the charges are calculated on the original booking conditions, not the new ones, so moving a date is not a way to reset the clock.

Changes made less than thirty minutes before the scheduled time, which push the pick up past the fifteen minute grace period, attract additional charges. A delay of more than two hours is treated as a no show or cancellation, and a new booking is needed unless you would rather keep the original and pay for the extra waiting.

Adding a stop mid journey is ten pounds. Extending the hours or changing the route is quoted at the time.

Twelve categories across four tiers. Budget covers Saloon, Estate, MPV and Eight Seater. Executive covers Saloon, MPV and Eight Seater, typically a Mercedes E Class or V Class. First Class covers Saloon and MPV, typically a Mercedes S Class or BMW 7 Series. Luxury covers Saloon, SUV and the Mercedes Benz Senzati Jet Class.

First Class and Luxury bookings carry a surcharge according to the class chosen. No vehicle in the network is older than seven years.

We work through a curated network of licensed chauffeur partners rather than a small owned fleet. That is what lets us cover a four in the morning collection in December across twelve vehicle categories.

Before anyone carries a passenger for us we verify the private hire driver licence against the licensing authority record, confirm the vehicle licence and insurance, and confirm identity and right to work. Where no partner is free we may pass the work to another licensed operator of equal standing, and these Terms still apply to your journey.

You can ask, and we will try. What we will not do is promise something we cannot guarantee, because a specific vehicle or a specific person can be delayed, ill or on another job. We may substitute a vehicle or chauffeur of equivalent standard where necessary.

If you have travelled with someone you liked, tell us when booking and we will make the request. Repeat requests are common and are often met.

A saloon, SUV or Luxury MPV takes four cabin cases, or two medium plus one cabin, or one large plus two cabin, or one extra large plus one cabin. An Executive or First Class MPV takes twelve cabin cases, or six medium plus four cabin, or five large plus three cabin, or four extra large plus two cabin.

Tell us the real count when booking. Arriving with more luggage than the vehicle can take may mean extra charges or a cancelled trip, and neither is a good start to a holiday.

Some vehicles carry dash cameras approved by Transport for London, fitted for the safety of passengers and chauffeurs and for dealing with incidents and insurance claims. They record picture only. The microphone is disabled, so conversations inside the vehicle are not recorded.

If you would prefer not to be recorded, tell us before your journey and we will try to assign a vehicle without one. Footage is overwritten automatically unless it relates to a reported incident.

Tell us at the time of booking, giving the age and height of each child, and we will confirm what can be provided and whether a charge applies. Do not assume a seat will simply be there, because the right seat depends on the child and on the vehicle.

United Kingdom child restraint law applies to children up to 135 centimetres in height or twelve years of age. Failure to comply can mean refusal of service and cancellation charges. The accompanying parent or guardian remains responsible for the child's safety throughout.

Service animals are carried without any prior arrangement, as they should be. Other animals may be accommodated by prior agreement and may carry an additional charge, because the vehicle usually needs cleaning afterwards.

Ask when you book rather than at the kerb. A chauffeur who has not been told is entitled to decline.

Tell us at the time of booking. Wheelchairs, sports equipment, musical instruments, golf bags and skis all need a specific vehicle, and the right one can be assigned easily with notice and not at all without it.

Give us the dimensions if the item is genuinely large. It takes a moment and prevents the one situation nobody wants, which is a vehicle arriving that physically cannot take what you have.

Yes. Daily hire is a minimum of eight hours per day. Multi day hire places one vehicle and one chauffeur at your disposal across consecutive days at a fixed daily rate, and is the usual choice for families and for anyone with a full diary and several appointments across London.

It is also the arrangement people are gladdest about by day three, when the driver already knows the hotel, the routine and the school run.

Smoking is prohibited by law in all vehicles, including vaping. A breach carries a charge of two hundred and fifty pounds, inclusive of tax, which covers taking the vehicle off the road to be cleaned.

Alcohol may not be consumed in the vehicle without our express permission, and a chauffeur may decline to carry a passenger who is under the influence. That is a safety judgement, not a moral one, and it is the chauffeur's to make.

Customers are liable for damage they cause and are invoiced for it, with legal proceedings possible if an invoice is ignored. Soiling that requires professional valeting carries a fifty pound cleaning fee, and further charges may apply for repairs and for the time the vehicle is off the road.

One small practical point. Let the chauffeur open and close the doors. If a passenger does it themselves and the door is damaged, the liability moves to the passenger.

We tell you, we offer an alternative, or we refund within fourteen working days. Where the inconvenience has been significant we also offer a compensation voucher of up to one hundred pounds, which does not affect your statutory rights.

We are not accountable for delays outside our control, including severe weather, strikes, accidents, road closures and public emergencies. We will always try to find another way through, but punctuality cannot be guaranteed after a puncture on the M25.

Contact us as soon as you notice. We keep records of lost property and make real efforts to reunite items with owners, and the odds are much better within the first day than within the first week.

Give us as much detail as you can: what it is, roughly where in the vehicle it was, and the date and time of the journey. Belongings are carried at your own risk and we cannot accept responsibility for a loss, but that has never stopped us looking.

Raise it with the chauffeur or with us straight away if you can. A formal complaint should be in writing to contact@chauffeurz.london within fourteen days of the journey, and we respond within twenty eight days. If we cannot resolve it, you can go to Transport for London as our licensing authority, or to Citizens Advice.

On data: we share the minimum needed with the chauffeur performing your journey, we never sell it, and we do not store card details. The full picture is in our Privacy Policy and our Data Protection Policy.