Fixed, always. There is no meter in a chauffeur car. A transfer is priced against the route before you travel, and an as-directed day is priced in hours agreed in advance. Ordinary traffic is absorbed by us, so a slow motorway does not turn into a larger invoice.
Category
Booking and pricing
Contact
+44 7775 554848 or info@firstclass-chauffeurs.co.uk
01/The short answer
Fixed, always. There is no meter in a chauffeur car. A transfer is priced against the route before you travel, and an as-directed day is priced in hours agreed in advance. Ordinary traffic is absorbed by us, so a slow motorway does not turn into a larger invoice.
The difference matters most on the days you would least like a surprise. A closed tunnel, a protest march through Westminster, an hour lost on the A3: none of that reaches your total on a fixed transfer, because the risk was priced into the number when it was written.
QA-01/The two shapes a fixed price takes
The two shapes a fixed price takes
A transfer price answers one question: what does it cost to move you from A to B. It is built from the route, the expected duration and the vehicle, and it holds regardless of what the road does on the day. A quoted Heathrow run in an S-Class costs the same whether it takes forty minutes or ninety.
An as-directed price answers a different question: what does it cost to have a car for the afternoon. That is priced in hours at the vehicle's rate, agreed before you start. It only grows if you use more hours than you booked, and then only at the rate you already know.
QA-02/What can still move the total
What can still move the total
Three things, and all three are visible in advance. Additional hours on an as-directed booking. Pass-through costs like tolls, congestion charges and airport car parks, which are billed at cost. And a genuine change of scope, an extra pickup fifty miles away, which is quoted before it happens rather than after.
Nothing else. A slower route does not, a diversion does not, a chauffeur choosing the A40 over the M4 does not. If the number on the confirmation changes, there is a reason on the invoice explaining which of those three it was.
Traffic, weather and diversions: absorbed, never charged
Extra hours you actually use: at the vehicle's hourly rate
Tolls, congestion and clean air charges: at cost, itemised
Airport car park fees where a terminal meet applies: at cost
A changed route or extra stop: requoted before it is driven
QA-03/Why fixed pricing suits ground travel
Why fixed pricing suits ground travel
The ground half of a journey is the part with the most variance and the least control. A meter puts all of that variance on the passenger, at the exact moment they can do nothing about it. Fixed pricing puts it on the operator, who at least chooses the route and the departure time.
It also changes the incentives. Nobody driving on a fixed price has a reason to sit in traffic, so the route taken is the fastest one available rather than the longest one defensible. That single fact is why fixed pricing became the norm in this trade.
QA-04/Getting a fixed price on an unusual journey
Getting a fixed price on an unusual journey
Even an odd route can be quoted flat. Three pickups across two counties, a run to a rural address with no postcode, a drop at a private airfield gate: all of these get a fixed figure once the addresses are known, because they can be driven on a map before they are driven on a road.
What cannot sensibly be fixed is a day nobody can describe. If the itinerary genuinely does not exist yet, hourly hire is the honest format. You are told which one applies before you commit, and often given both figures so you can choose.
If the journey is faster than expected, do I pay less?
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On a fixed transfer, no, in the same way that a slow run does not cost more. The figure was set against the route, not the clock. On an hourly booking, finishing early does not reduce the minimum block, though the remaining time is yours to use for something else.
Is the price affected by which route the chauffeur takes?
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Not at all. Route choice is a matter of getting you there, and the chauffeur will change it mid-journey if the traffic reports say so. Since the price does not follow the mileage on a transfer, taking the long way round to avoid a jam costs you nothing.
How is a fixed price worked out for a route you have not driven before?
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From the actual roads rather than a rate per mile. The route is planned, the realistic duration estimated, then priced against the vehicle. Rural and cross-country runs get more scrutiny than a motorway job, because averages hide the awkward last ten miles.
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.
