Car with a driver in Paris

Market prices for a car with a driver in Paris are mostly per trip: a private transfer between the city and Orly starts at €37, Charles de Gaulle runs €48–83, and Disneyland Paris costs €75–117. Hourly hire is booked for 2 to 24 hours, priced on request. Below: prices by format, how hours are counted, airport pickups, cars, extras and day trips.

What a driver costs per trip and per hour

Prices with a driver in Paris depend on the format first and the car second. The table sets the market prices side by side; the notes below explain the gaps.

Market prices by format

Why hourly rates are rarely fixed

Hourly rates for a driver in Paris are rarely a fixed figure: services calculate them in the booking form or give them on request. The price depends on the car class, the number of hours and the distance, because a booked hour can come with a kilometre allowance — 40 km per hour at one chauffeur service. Extra time is added in half-hour steps there, and an hour you do not use is not refunded. That is why two hourly quotes can only be compared on the same terms. Ask each service for three numbers in writing — the hourly rate, the kilometres included and the price of an extra half hour — and the cheapest headline rate may no longer be the cheapest booking.

The car-card prices on this page

The day prices on the car cards on this page are self-drive rates for the car alone, starting at €105 for a Mini Cooper 5-door. They are not the cost of a car with a driver. The cards still help with the choice of class: 11 Premium cars, 10 Luxury cars and 5 minivans. A Mercedes-Benz E-Class or S-Class, or similar, is what a chauffeur service puts in its business and first classes. So does the card price tell you what the chauffeured trip will cost? No — when you ask for a specific model with a driver, ask for the driver's time as a separate line, so the car and the chauffeur are never mixed into one daily figure.

Hourly hire and mise à disposition

Hourly hire — mise à disposition in French — keeps one car and one driver with you for a set block of time. A chauffeur service in Paris sells it by the hour with conditions like these.

Blocks, kilometres and extensions

• Length of booking: one chauffeur service books hourly hire online from 2 to 24 hours.
• Distance: each booked hour includes 40 km of driving there, together with taxes and road tolls.
• Extensions: extra time is charged in half-hour steps, if the driver agrees to stay longer.
• Unused hours: if you finish early, the shortened time is not refunded.
• Dedicated driver: packages built around a client's schedule start from 5 hours of service a day.
• End point: if the ride ends outside the city where it started, a charge for the driver's return is added.

When hours beat a flat-rate transfer

Hourly hire is the better fit as soon as the day has more than one stop. A flat-rate transfer covers one route from door to door, and one licensed private-hire (VTC) company cancels the flat price once you add an intermediate stop, even one that lies on the way. Picture an arrival day with a hotel drop-off, a lunch meeting and an evening dinner — three transfers, each with its own waiting time, against one booked block with the same driver. The two-hour minimum covers a short business errand, and a long working day fits easily inside the 24-hour ceiling. Count the kilometres before you choose the block length: a run out of the city can use up the 40 km allowed per hour faster than the clock does.

Airport pickups at Charles de Gaulle and Orly

Airport runs are the format with the most fixed prices in the city. Prices are fixed per trip, and the services differ mainly in how long the driver waits for you.

Transfer prices to and from the airports

A private transfer between central Paris and Orly starts at €37. Charles de Gaulle lies further out, so the trip costs from €48, while another service lists its private transfer from CDG to Paris from €83. The €37 and €48 fares are flat rates that do not change with traffic on the motorway. Transfers from Charles de Gaulle onward to Orly cost from €80, and to Gare Montparnasse from €70. Book the return leg together with the arrival: you see both flat rates at once and avoid searching for a car at the kerb with suitcases.

Free waiting, flight tracking and the meeting point

• Free waiting: services in Paris offer 20 minutes, one hour, or 90 minutes counted from the moment the flight lands, depending on the service.
• Flight tracking: with your flight number, the pickup time moves with an early or late landing.
• Meeting point: the driver waits in the arrivals hall with a sign showing your name.
• Paid waiting: after the free period, one private-hire company charges €0.35 per minute in a sedan and €0.46 in a business sedan or van.
• Practical step: give the flight number, not only the landing time, when you book.

Flat rate or app fare

A booked transfer and a ride-hailing app fare are priced in different ways. The transfer has a fixed price agreed before you travel, while app fares from central Paris to Charles de Gaulle average €41 for a standard car, €54 for a comfort car, €72 for an XL and €89 for a van — averages from past trips, not guaranteed prices. On a quiet day the app can be cheaper. A larger group with five or more passengers and three or more bags is pointed to the XL or van class by app guidance anyway. If your arrival time is fixed and the budget matters, the flat rate removes the one unknown in the trip.

Sedan, first class or van: matching the car to the group

The right class follows from two numbers: how many people travel and how many suitcases come with them. Seat count alone does not tell you whether the bags fit.

Passengers and luggage by vehicle class

Travelling with children

A child seat is requested when you book, not at the kerb. Three types are offered: an infant seat for babies up to 10 kg, a seat for children of 9–18 kg and a booster for 15–36 kg. One chauffeur service asks you to book the business van class when you need a child seat and to write the required seat in the notes for the chauffeur. Give each child's weight rather than age when you order, since the seat type follows the weight bands above, and ask for the seat to be confirmed in the booking message.

What the price includes and what costs extra

A flat price or an hourly rate is only comparable once you know what sits inside it. These are the items that change the final amount.

Included and extra charges

• Taxes and tolls: at one chauffeur service, all prices include VAT, fees and road tolls.
• Traffic: a flat-rate transfer stays the same however long the traffic holds you up.
• Waiting beyond the free period: one private-hire company charges from €0.35 per minute in a sedan.
• Extra stops: at one private-hire company, an intermediate stop cancels the flat rate.
• Return of the driver: an hourly booking that ends outside the starting city adds a charge for the driver's return.
• Night and holiday surcharges: none is stated in advance, so ask for them before you confirm a late pickup.

Disneyland, Versailles and the rail stations

Outside the airports, transfers are priced per route. These are market starting prices, mostly from Charles de Gaulle.

Route prices

A one-way transfer or a few hours with the driver

A one-way transfer suits a move from the airport to a hotel near Disneyland Paris; hours with the driver suit a return day trip with stops. The transfer from Charles de Gaulle to the park starts at €75, and a private transfer from Paris starts at €117. For Versailles, the direct transfer from Charles de Gaulle costs from €85. A day at the palace that starts and ends in the city is a different case: two one-way transfers, or one hourly booking that keeps the car waiting. The hourly route works when the ride returns to Paris, because ending in another city adds the driver's return charge. Ask for both quotes before a day trip and compare them on the same number of hours.

Booking terms and a checklist before you confirm

Change and cancellation rules differ from one service to another. These are the terms worth reading first, followed by five checks for any quote.

Changes, refunds and cancellation

• Cancellation: one transfer service lets you cancel free of charge up to 24 hours before pickup.
• Shorter bookings: on hourly hire, cutting the booked hours does not bring a refund.
• Longer bookings: extra time is added in half-hour steps, subject to the driver's availability.

Five checks before you confirm

• Format and unit: confirm whether the price is per trip, per hour or per day.
• Distance: on hourly hire, ask how many kilometres each hour includes.
• Passengers and bags: count suitcases as well as people before choosing a sedan or a van.
• Waiting and stops: note the free waiting time and what an extra stop does to the price.
• Extras: ask whether tolls, VAT and late-night pickups are inside the quote.