Inside the vehicle, laid flat along the load area of a Mercedes-Benz V-Class or a Sprinter. Nothing goes on a roof. A saloon boot is simply the wrong shape and will not take a ski bag at all, so the vehicle has to be booked for the equipment rather than the passengers.
Category
The car and the journey
Contact
+44 7775 554848 or info@firstclass-chauffeurs.co.uk
01/The short answer
Inside the vehicle, laid flat along the load area of a Mercedes-Benz V-Class or a Sprinter. Nothing goes on a roof. A saloon boot is simply the wrong shape and will not take a ski bag at all, so the vehicle has to be booked for the equipment rather than the passengers.
Length is the whole problem. A ski bag is close to two metres and does not bend, which rules out every saloon on the card regardless of how much luggage it otherwise carries. Boards are shorter but bulkier, and behave much the same.
QA-01/What actually works
What actually works
The V-Class takes ski bags along the floor with the rear seats occupied, which is the arrangement most families need. Four passengers with four sets of equipment and their cases is comfortable rather than a squeeze.
The Sprinter takes considerably more and is the answer for a group. Where a party is six or more with full winter kit, it is a single vehicle rather than two, and the equipment does not have to be distributed across cars at a terminal.
V-Class: skis or boards inside, with passengers and cases
Luxury Sprinter: a full group with equipment
Range Rover and Defender: possible with seats folded, costing seats
Saloons: no, at any price, whatever the boot volume
Nothing travels on a roof
QA-02/Airport arrivals with equipment
Airport arrivals with equipment
Ski bags come off the oversize belt rather than the carousel, which adds real time to an arrival. It is worth knowing when planning an onward connection, and it is another reason a terminal meet works better than a kerbside pickup on a ski trip.
The chauffeur will bring a trolley suited to long items rather than a standard one. Wrestling a two metre bag onto a small trolley in an arrivals hall at ten at night is a specific kind of misery that ten seconds of planning avoids.
QA-03/Getting to and from the ski trains
Getting to and from the ski trains
A good deal of British ski travel goes by rail from St Pancras rather than by air, and station transfers with equipment follow the same rules as airport ones. The vehicle is chosen by the length of the bags rather than the number of people.
Drop-offs at a terminus with a heavy load want a little more time than a plain transfer. The chauffeur takes the equipment to the concourse rather than leaving it at a kerb, and that is a few minutes worth building into the plan.
QA-04/What it costs
What it costs
The vehicle rate, and nothing extra for the equipment. A V-Class carries a four hour minimum on as-directed work and is quoted as a fixed fare on an airport run; the Sprinter sits at the top of the fleet with a six hour minimum.
Compared with two saloons, one V-Class is cheaper and works. That is the useful comparison, because the alternative to the right vehicle is rarely a smaller one; it is two of them.
No. Nothing travels on the roof of a chauffeur car, so the equipment has to fit inside. That is why the vehicle is chosen around the longest item rather than around the passenger count, and why a saloon is never the answer.
Will boots and helmets fit as well as the skis?
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In a V-Class, yes, along with cases. Boot bags are bulky rather than long and stack reasonably well. Give the full inventory when booking, since it is the total volume rather than the skis alone that occasionally pushes a party into a Sprinter.
Do you cover ski transfers to regional airports?
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Yes, on the same basis as anywhere else. Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow all see winter sports traffic, and the vehicle rules are identical: length decides the car, and the meet inside the terminal is worth the car park fee.
Tell us the journey. We will send the price in writing.
Message us the date, the pick-up and where you are going. You will get a fixed written quotation with the vehicle, the chauffeur’s arrival time and what the figure includes — no form to fill in, and no estimate that moves later.
