Moving between meetings
Three or four short hops across central London in a day, where the car spends more of its time waiting at kerbs than driving and its length is the thing that decides whether it can wait at all.
SALOON · W214 · BUSINESS
Mercedes E-Class, with a chauffeur, in London
The W214 in macchiato beige: the car the fleet does most of its actual work in, and the one that costs the least to keep moving.
PASSENGERS3
LUGGAGE2
LENGTH4,949 mm (340 mm shorter than the S-Class)
REAR SEATBench, heated; does not recline
BOOT540 litres, narrow aperture
INTERIORMacchiato beige with dark open-pore trim
GLAZINGAcoustic front screen only
Most chauffeur journeys in London are one person going four miles across town, and the E-Class is the car built for exactly that. At 4,949mm it is a third of a metre shorter than the S-Class, which stops mattering on a motorway and starts mattering the moment the car has to wait on a single yellow outside a Soho address with a cycle lane running past it.
It is a bench in the back rather than two individual seats, and nothing about it reclines. That is the honest difference between this car and the S-Class, and it is the whole of the difference, the chauffeur, the vetting, the flight tracking, the controller who answers the telephone and the fifteen minutes early are identical on both. What you are not paying for here is a seat to sleep in.
The interior is macchiato beige rather than the black the rest of the fleet runs, which is a deliberate choice and not a shortage: a light cabin reads as considerably less severe on a first booking, and the accounts that put a visiting client in one of our cars rather than travelling themselves overwhelmingly ask for this one. The boot is 540 litres, within ten of the S-Class, though the aperture is narrower and a hard case with fixed wheels occasionally has to go in on its side.
One passenger to an airport
A single traveller with a case and a laptop bag. The cheapest way we will put somebody in the back of a chauffeured car to Heathrow, on a journey that arrives at the same minute the S-Class would.
Accounts where the journey is a line item
Work that gets reconciled at the end of the month by somebody who did not take the trip. This is the car that survives that conversation.
BY THE HOUR, FROM, EX VAT£45Three-hour minimum, 20 miles included per hour
HEATHROW → MAYFAIR, EX VAT£111The reference journey, 17.4 miles, meet and greet included
ANY MOVEMENT, FROM, EX VAT£75However short the journey
Fares are quoted on the route, not off a table. Price your own journey and the figure you are shown is the figure you pay.
Fares shown are the Heathrow → Mayfair reference journey of 17.4 miles, and the hourly rate is a from-rate with a three-hour minimum. Both are quoted before VAT. Your own route is priced on its measured distance before you confirm.
What every booking includes
- A fixed fare quoted on your actual route before you confirm, with the congestion charge already inside it
- An SIA-vetted chauffeur, named to you the evening before with his photograph and registration
- Flights tracked from take-off, with 60 minutes of complimentary waiting at the airport
- Meet and greet inside the terminal, at the arrivals name board
- Free cancellation up to four hours before the pick-up
How it works
I
Price the route
Put the two addresses into the booking form. The fare comes back on the measured distance, not off a table, and it is the fare you pay.
II
Confirm the car
Choose the vehicle and the booking type, give us the flight number if there is one, and pay or put it on the account.
III
Meet your chauffeur
His name, photograph and registration reach you the evening before. His live position reaches you on the morning.
IV
The name board in arrivals
On an airport pick-up he is inside the terminal at the barrier, not in a car park. Delays are absorbed by us, not billed to you.
The reclining rear seat, about 110mm of rear legroom, acoustic glazing on the side windows, and the option of partition glass. You are not giving up anything about the service: same vetting standard, same flight tracking, same fifteen minutes early, same controller. If nobody is going to sleep in the back, the E-Class does the same job for roughly twenty per cent less.
Two, comfortably. The centre rear position sits over the transmission tunnel and is a perch rather than a seat, usable for a short hop across town, not for a run to Gatwick. For three adults going any real distance, the S-Class is better and the V-Class is better still.
Two full-size cases, yes. The boot is 540 litres but the opening is narrower than the S-Class's, so a rigid case with fixed corner wheels sometimes has to be laid on its side. If you are travelling with three or with anything oversized, book the V-Class and avoid the kerbside rearrangement.
Often, yes. The E-Classes turn over faster because they cover more miles, so the average age of this part of the fleet is lower than the average age of the fleet overall. A cheaper car per journey is not an older one here.
SALOON · W223 · LONG WHEELBASE
Mercedes S-Class
The standing choice for airport and executive work. Rear seats recline, the cabin is quiet at speed, and the partition glass is available on request.
3 PASSENGERS · 3 BAGS · FROM, EX VAT £55/HR
PEOPLE CARRIER · W447 · EXTRA LONG
Mercedes V-Class
Conference seating, a folding table and full standing luggage capacity. The car we send when a party travels together and wants to keep talking.
7 PASSENGERS · 7 BAGS · FROM, EX VAT £55/HR
SUV · L460 · LONG WHEELBASE
Range Rover
A raised, long-wheelbase SUV for country work and poor weather, with the rear cabin of a saloon. The car to send when the road at the far end is not a London street.
4 PASSENGERS · 4 BAGS · FROM, EX VAT £85/HR