Chauffeur and executive car booking software

Chauffeur and executive work runs differently from town bookings. The jobs are booked days ahead, often by a PA rather than the passenger, priced by quote or by the hour, and judged on presentation as much as punctuality. This guide covers what chauffeur booking software needs to do, how to price and record the work, and the licensing rules that still apply to a car without a roof sign.

What is chauffeur booking software?

Chauffeur booking software is a booking and dispatch system set up for pre-booked executive work. Underneath, the job is the same as any private hire dispatch software: take the booking, price it, record it, give it to a driver and confirm it to the customer.

The difference is in what each booking carries. An executive car booking usually has a booker and a separate passenger, an account to bill, a vehicle class, a name for the board, a dress code, and sometimes a day of stops with no fixed end time. A system built only for "pickup, destination, time" pushes all of that into a notes field, and that's where mistakes start.

Do chauffeur cars need a private hire licence?

Yes. In England, a chauffeur car carrying passengers for hire is a private hire vehicle, and the firm taking the bookings needs a private hire operator licence. The Department for Transport's Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards say private hire vehicles include "executive cars, chauffeur services, limousines", and that every private hire journey must be pre-booked through a licensed operator.

Some owners still believe contract work is exempt. It isn't any more. The 1976 Act used to exempt a vehicle hired under a contract of not less than seven days. That exemption, section 75(1)(b) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, was taken out from 28 January 2008 by the Road Safety Act 2006.

Two exemptions are still in section 75: a vehicle being used in connection with a funeral, and a vehicle being used in connection with a wedding. Those cover the wedding car on the day, not a chauffeur firm's everyday work.

London has its own law. Section 2 of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 says nobody in London may accept private hire bookings without a London operator's licence. TfL lists "one person operations offering a chauffeur service" among the operators it licenses. Its fee for an operator with 0 to 10 vehicles is £2,000 for five years (£400 to apply and £1,600 on grant), and the licence lasts five years.

Outside London, the fee is set by your council, so check its fees page. Our guide to the private hire operator licence covers how to apply.

Can executive cars run without licence plates?

Sometimes, if your council agrees. Section 75(3) of the 1976 Act lets a council give the owner of a licensed private hire vehicle a written notice exempting it from displaying the plate. The Act also says a plate, disc or notice doesn't have to be displayed while the car is used under a contract of hire of not less than 24 hours.

The Department for Transport's best practice guidance tells councils to exempt plate display only "in exceptional circumstances". It says executive hire services are licensed as private hire vehicles, and councils should be sure there's a way to stop an exempt car doing ordinary private hire work.

Councils set their own tests. Bristol City Council, for example, considers an exemption if you mainly do executive work, and says at least 75% of the work should be executive. It also expects the vehicle to be "of a high standard" and drivers to keep an appropriate dress code.

So your booking system should be able to show which jobs each exempt car did. If the council asks how you keep an exempt car to executive work, your booking records are the answer.

What should a chauffeur booking record hold?

A chauffeur booking needs the legal minimum plus the details that make the job go right. The legal part comes from section 56 of the 1976 Act, which says operators must record the particulars of every booking before the journey, and from the statutory standards, which expect the passenger's name, the time of the request, the pickup and destination, the driver and vehicle, and who took and dispatched the booking, and suggest keeping it for at least 6 months.

The booker and the passenger being different people matters more than it sounds. The confirmation, the driver's details and the receipt can each need to go to someone different.

How do you price chauffeur work?

Price chauffeur work by quote or by the hour, and put the agreed price in writing before the job. The Department for Transport's best practice guidance notes that councils have no power to set private hire fares, so the price is a matter between you and your client.

A quote for as-directed hire works best in this order:

1. Agree the start time, the pickup and the vehicle class.
2. Set a minimum number of hours, and the hourly rate after it.
3. Say how mileage is handled on long days, if at all.
4. List what's extra: parking, tolls, congestion charges, airport fees, waiting past the agreed finish.
5. Send the quote, and save the accepted version against the booking.

For regular routes, such as an office to an airport, fixed prices are easier for everyone. Our guide to taxi zone pricing shows how to build them. Whatever you charge, show the client the total, not a low headline with fees added afterwards.

How do you run account customers?

A lot of executive work comes through accounts, so set them up properly before the first job. Each account needs a named contact for payment, a list of people allowed to book, any purchase order rules, and agreed payment terms.

Get the terms in writing. GOV.UK explains that if you don't agree a payment date with another business, the law treats payment as late 30 days after the customer gets the invoice or the service is provided, whichever is later. If you do agree a date, it must usually be within 60 days for business transactions. Our guide to business accounts in your booking system goes through set-up, authorised bookers and monthly statements, and winning corporate taxi accounts covers getting them in the first place.

Where does Dispatch AI fit?

Dispatch AI is booking and dispatch software for taxi and private hire firms. It answers your phone, WhatsApp, texts and emails, books the jobs at your prices and sends them to your drivers on your own app. It has accounts for your business customers, and fixed prices by zone, set by you. You can ring the demo line to hear how it takes a booking.