Hourly Chauffeur Hire and How the Time Is Counted

What you are actually booking

Hourly hire, sometimes called as-directed, reserves a chauffeur and a vehicle for a block of your day rather than for a route. Within that block you decide where to go and when, changing plans as the day requires without renegotiating each movement. It is the structure behind most shopping days, viewing tours, roadshows and evenings out.

Because you are booking time rather than a destination, the planner behaves differently. Select By the Hour and the destination field disappears, replaced by a starting location and a duration. The itinerary lives in your head and in the notes rather than in a route field.

The duration selector and what it implies

The planner offers durations that begin at four hours and step upward, with the four-hour option labelled as the minimum. That reflects the reality that holding a chauffeur and vehicle for a fraction of a day removes them from everything else that day, so short as-directed blocks are not generally how the service is structured.

The exact terms that apply to your booking, including how the booked hours are defined and what happens if the day runs beyond them, come from the quotation for your journey rather than from a number stated on this page.

When the hours start and stop

This is the question worth asking explicitly, because operators differ. Hourly hire can be measured from the agreed collection time, or from when the vehicle is released, and some arrangements account for the vehicle reaching the starting point at one end or returning at the other.

Rather than guess, ask on the WhatsApp thread how the hours are counted for your specific booking and get the answer in writing. It takes one message and it removes the only genuinely contentious part of as-directed hire.

• The point from which booked time is measured
• Whether positioning at either end is included
• How the day is handled if it runs over
• Whether the block can be extended on the day

When hourly hire beats a transfer

Choose hourly whenever the day has more than one movement, an uncertain finish, or a need to leave belongings in the car between stops. A property viewing tour across several postcodes, a day of client meetings, a wedding where the car is needed at intervals, or a shopping trip that generates bags all fit naturally.

Choose a transfer when there is a single defined route and no waiting. Booking hourly for a straight airport run adds structure you do not need, just as booking a transfer for a fluid day creates a series of separate journeys where one block would have served.

Making the day run well

Even though the point of as-directed hire is flexibility, a rough plan helps enormously. A note saying you expect to start in Knightsbridge, spend the middle of the day in the City and finish somewhere in Chelsea lets the day be positioned sensibly, particularly where parking near your stops is difficult.

Flag anything with a fixed time inside a flexible day, such as a lunch reservation or a train to catch. Those anchors are what a chauffeur builds the rest of the schedule around.

Plan your chauffeur journey

London Chauffeurs provides itinerary-led private travel for airport transfers, executive travel, private aviation, events and long-distance UK journeys. Availability and pricing are confirmed for the requested itinerary.

Frequently asked questions