Chauffeur-driven car rental

Our fleet on this page for chauffeur-driven car rental in London holds 37 cars, from the Volkswagen Sharan at £44 a day to the Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII at £2,000 a day. We deliver the car to any address in the city and to Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City and Southend airports, with the delivery address, date and time agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed.

What chauffeur-driven car rental in London includes

Chauffeur-driven car rental in London pairs a car from our fleet with a driver for an agreed period, and the vehicle arrives at your address rather than waiting in a rank. This section sets out what the service covers, how it differs from a black cab, private hire and self-drive, and which trips it suits.

Chauffeur-driven car rental in London explained

Rent-Trip chauffeur-driven car rental means a car and a driver, booked through a manager, with the car brought to your address. The delivery address, the date and the time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed — the same rule covers a hotel in Mayfair, a flat in Canary Wharf or a terminal at London Heathrow Airport (LHR). Our fleet on this page holds 37 cars across three classes, so the vehicle is chosen by seats and luggage rather than by what happens to be standing outside. Fuel works full-to-full: the car comes clean with a full tank and is returned with a full tank, with any missing fuel and the refuelling service fee set out in the rental agreement. In our practice the format pays off when the day is packed — three meetings and a dinner across zones leave no room for hunting a parking space between them.

How it differs from a black cab, private hire and self-drive

• Black cab: hailed on the street or from a rank for a single journey, with the meter running and the route decided as you go.
• Private hire: pre-booked point-to-point trip with a fixed pick-up and drop-off, usually one leg at a time.
• Self-drive rental: you take the wheel yourself and park the car, and who pays the Congestion Charge and ULEZ where they apply is agreed when booking.
• Chauffeur-driven rental: booked in advance for a set period, with the car and driver at your disposal for the whole booking window.
• Left-hand traffic: cars here are right-hand drive and traffic keeps left, so a driver used to the Highway Code removes the first-hour adjustment.

When a chauffeur-driven booking makes sense

We take the booking when the day needs a driver throughout — an airport arrival with luggage, a business meeting, a group trip with a fixed schedule. A family of six arriving at London Gatwick Airport (LGW) with four suitcases is the case we see most: a seven-seat minivan and a driver who knows the route beat splitting the party across two cars. On short point-to-point hops the format is not the right fit — there the agreed period is what you are paying for, and a single leg wastes it. Tell the manager the shape of the day when you book, and the period is set around it.

Choosing a class for chauffeur-driven car rental in London

Rent-Trip keeps 37 cars on this page for chauffeur-driven hire across three classes — Premium, Luxury and Minivans — from 12 brands and with 4, 5 and 7 seats. The class you pick decides how much room the passengers get in the back, how much luggage goes in the boot, and what the day costs.

Premium, Luxury and Minivans side by side

Executive sedans and luxury SUVs in the fleet

Luxury begins with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class at £294 a day and runs to the Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII at £2,000 — the most expensive car on this page. In between sit the Bentley Bentayga at £920, the Mercedes-Benz Maybach S-Class at £1,000, the Rolls-Royce Ghost at £1,090 and the Rolls-Royce Cullinan at £1,400. Sedans such as the S-Class and the Phantom VIII are rear-wheel drive with a long, flat rear cabin; SUVs such as the Bentayga, the Cullinan and the Land Rover Range Rover Vogue at £427 add all-wheel drive and a higher seating position. In our experience at Rent-Trip the sedan reads better for a formal arrival in Mayfair, while the SUV earns its keep on a day trip out to the Cotswolds or Bath, where the road surface and the weather change by the hour.

Minivans and 7-seat cars for groups

• Volkswagen Sharan: the cheapest car on the page at £44 per day, an MPV with 7 seats, a 2.0 L diesel engine and a manual gearbox.
• Volkswagen Touran and Ford Galaxy: two more 7-seat MPVs with automatic transmission, at £65 and £79 per day.
• Mercedes-Benz V-Class: a passenger van with 7 seats and a 2.0 L diesel at £176 a day — the roomiest body in the Minivans class.
• Volvo XC90 and Mercedes-Benz GLS: 7-seat Premium and Luxury SUVs at £102 and £424 a day, for groups who want all-wheel drive as well as the third row.
• Seat count on this page: 27 cars have 5 seats, 8 have 7 and 2 have 4, so a group of six has eight cars to choose from.

Fuel, gearbox and drivetrain across the fleet

Of the 37 cars, 35 have an automatic gearbox and only 2 are manual, so a chauffeur-driven booking rarely needs a special request on that front. Fuel splits 18 petrol, 16 diesel and 3 hybrid; all-wheel drive appears on the larger SUVs, from the Volvo XC60 at £91 up to the Rolls-Royce Cullinan. The two manual cars are the Volkswagen Sharan and the Peugeot 5008 — worth naming when you book if the driver is to take either. One practical note from our side: a hybrid such as the Volvo XC60 or the Mercedes-Benz S-Class spends the slow central stretches on electric power, which matters on a day of stop-start work, though a hybrid still pays the Congestion Charge in its hours of 07:00–18:00 Monday to Friday. Tell the manager the seat count and the luggage first, then the class — the reverse order usually ends in a bigger car than the trip needs.

Booking chauffeur-driven car rental in London with a manager

Every booking for chauffeur-driven car rental in London goes through a manager: the delivery address, the date and the time are agreed before the booking is fixed. Nothing is confirmed until those three points are settled, and the rental agreement sits alongside them with the deposit, the insurance excess and any delivery fee set out inside it. We work this way because a chauffeur-driven car is a scheduled commitment, not a shelf item — a wrong address or a wrong hour costs the whole day.

What is agreed before the booking is fixed

• Delivery address: the street address where the car and driver should be waiting, plus a contact number for the day itself.
• Date and time: the start of the period, and the finish — the car is booked for a set stretch, not for a single run.
• Rental agreement: deposit, insurance excess and any delivery fee are set out here, so read it before you confirm.
• Car and class: the model you want from the 37 cars on this page, or the class if you are flexible.
• Return point: where the period ends — the same address, a hotel, or one of the six airports we deliver to.

Delivery across the city and to the airports

The same applies to the places we have a page for — St Pancras & King’s Cross, Euston, Paddington, Victoria, Waterloo, Canary Wharf, Wembley, ExCeL London and Mayfair — all of them inside the delivery area. Anything outside these points is arranged case by case and is not promised on the site, so ask the manager rather than assume. In our practice, airport pick-ups are the bookings that need the most lead time: a flight number and a landing time help the manager plan the hand-over.

Fuel, documents and driving in the city

The car comes clean with a full tank and must be returned with a full tank — full-to-full. If it comes back short, the missing fuel and a refuelling service fee are charged as set out in the rental agreement; no other fuel option is offered. On documents, a full valid foreign licence can be used for 12 months from your last entry into Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland). The car is right-hand drive and traffic keeps left, so the Highway Code applies: give way to traffic approaching from the right at roundabouts (rule 185) and keep to the left unless signs say otherwise (rule 160). Speed limits are 30 mph in built-up areas, 60 mph on single carriageways, 70 mph on dual carriageways and motorways — and many zones are signed at 20 mph, so read the signs.

What to check before you confirm

The Congestion Charge is £18 a day when paid on the day of travel or in advance, and £21 if paid by midnight on the third day after the trip; it runs 07:00–18:00 Monday to Friday and 12:00–18:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, and is not charged from 25 December to the New Year bank holiday inclusive. ULEZ is £12.50 a day for non-compliant vehicles, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except 25 December. Who pays road charges, tolls and penalty notices on a rental car is agreed when booking — the rental agreement is where that sits, so settle it with the manager before the date.

Airport pickups with chauffeur-driven car rental in London

Airport pickups are the part of chauffeur-driven car rental where the details matter most: the flight lands late, the terminal exit is crowded, and the driver needs to be at the right door rather than somewhere in the short-stay car park. We cover six airports, and the pickup address, date and time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed.

The six airports we deliver to

• Heathrow Airport (LHR): 84,481,178 passengers a year, 23.4 km from the centre in a straight line and 30.3 km by road, about 45 minutes without traffic.
• Gatwick Airport (LGW): 42,775,241 passengers, 39.5 km direct and 48.6 km by road, roughly 70 minutes in clear conditions.
• Stansted Airport (STN): 29,758,490 passengers, 49.4 km direct and 57.9 km by road, about 63 minutes.
• Luton Airport (LTN): 17,770,247 passengers, 44.4 km direct and 56.9 km by road, also around 63 minutes.
• City Airport (LCY): 3,737,888 passengers and the closest of the six — 12.6 km direct, 14.5 km by road, 33 minutes without traffic.
• Southend Airport (SEN): 719,513 passengers, 57.4 km direct and 67.4 km by road, about 74 minutes.

The road distances are the ones that decide the pickup window, not the straight-line figures. A car sent to Stansted or Southend crosses a good deal more tarmac than the map suggests, and the return leg on a Friday afternoon can add half an hour to any of these times. Tell the manager your flight number and scheduled landing time when you book, and build the agreed pickup time around the road distance rather than the arrival board.

Landing at Heathrow or Gatwick with a driver waiting

Heathrow is the busiest of the six by a wide margin, and its 30.3 km road run into the centre is the route most of our airport bookings use. Gatwick is further out at 48.6 km and 70 minutes, which makes it the better choice for a pickup aimed at a meeting in the City or Canary Wharf later the same morning — the driver has a longer, straighter run and fewer turns through inner suburbs. For both airports we agree the terminal and the meeting point with you in advance; nothing is left to a phone call on the day.

Group arrivals and the 7-seat options

A family or a small delegation arriving together does not fit comfortably into a five-seat saloon once the luggage is loaded. Eight of the 37 cars on this page have seven seats: the Volkswagen Sharan at £44 a day, the Volkswagen Touran at £65, the Peugeot 5008 at £65, the Volkswagen Multivan at £77, the Ford Galaxy at £79, the Volvo XC90 at £102, the Mercedes-Benz V-Class at £176 and the Mercedes-Benz GLS at £424. The two passenger vans — the Multivan and the V-Class — carry people and cases better than the MPVs, and the V-Class is rear-wheel drive with a 2.0 L 190 hp diesel.

What to confirm before an airport pickup

• Terminal and door: the exact arrival point is agreed with a manager, not assumed from the flight number alone.
• Landing time versus pickup time: the gap between the two is set when booking, using the road distance for that airport.
• Luggage count: seven seats do not automatically mean seven large cases — say how many bags travel.
• Return leg: an airport drop-off at the end of the booking is agreed at the same time as the pickup.
• Charges on the route: the Congestion Charge (£18 a day, £21 if paid by midnight of the third day after the trip) applies 07:00–18:00 Monday to Friday and 12:00–18:00 at weekends and on bank holidays, and is not charged from 25 December to the New Year bank holiday inclusive; the ULEZ charge is £12.50 a day for non-compliant vehicles, 24 hours a day except 25 December. Who pays road charges and tolls is agreed when booking.

The Dartford Crossing on the M25, at £3.50 per crossing for cars (class B) or £2.80 prepaid, only matters if your route uses it — worth flagging at booking if the trip runs east of the city. In our experience the pickup that goes wrong is almost always the one where the landing time was given but the terminal was not, so put both in the request.

Chauffeur-driven car rental in London for city trips and out-of-town days

A day with a chauffeur is usually built around two things: the congestion charge zone and the motorway that rings it. Both change what a route costs and how long it takes, so the plan for the day is set before the car arrives rather than improvised on the kerb.

Driving inside the Congestion Charge zone

The Congestion Charge runs 07:00–18:00 Monday to Friday and 12:00–18:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, at £18 a day when paid on the day of travel or in advance and £21 if paid by midnight on the third day after. The zone sits inside the Inner Ring Road — Pentonville Road, City Road, Old Street, Commercial Street, Mansell Street, Tower Bridge Road, New Kent Road, Elephant & Castle, Kennington Lane, Vauxhall Bridge Road, Park Lane, Edgware Road, Marylebone Road and Euston Road run along its edge, so a route that skirts those roads stays outside it. It is not charged from 25 December through to the New Year bank holiday inclusive. A PCN is £180, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days and rising to £270 after a charge certificate, with 28 days to pay. Who covers road charges and penalty notices is agreed when booking — ask the manager to confirm it for your dates before the car is delivered.

ULEZ, fuel and the Dartford Crossing

The Ultra Low Emission Zone covers all 32 boroughs and runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except 25 December, at £12.50 a day for vehicles that do not meet the standards: petrol cars and vans from Euro 4, diesel from Euro 6. The M25 itself is outside the zone. Fuel on the day of writing sits at £1.75 a litre for petrol and £1.99 for diesel, and the car leaves us with a full tank and comes back full — the full-to-full rule, with any missing fuel and a refuelling service fee set out in the rental agreement. South-east of the city, the Dartford Crossing on the M25 is £3.50 per crossing for cars (class B) on pay as you go and £2.80 when prepaid, chargeable usually between 6:00 and 22:00 every day including weekends and holidays, and payable by midnight the following day; a PCN there is £70, £35 if paid within 14 days and £105 if unpaid.

A full day out of town

• Oxford and Cambridge: both sit beyond the M25, so the day is planned around the motorway ring rather than the charge zone, and the Dartford Crossing, charged usually 06:00–22:00, matters only if the route uses it.
• Stonehenge, Bath and The Cotswolds: among the longest of our out-of-town days, where the agreed period matters more than the distance — the car and driver are yours for the stretch fixed at booking, not per stop.
• Windsor, Brighton and Canterbury: shorter runs that fit comfortably around a morning departure and an evening return.
• A cross-Channel day via Eurotunnel: the one trip on our list that leaves the country, and the only one where the paperwork needs checking with the manager well ahead of the date.

Out-of-town trips are arranged case by case and are not promised on the site, so the destination, the date and the time are settled with a manager before the booking is fixed. In our experience the days that run smoothly are the ones where the return time was agreed with a margin, not to the minute — traffic on the M25 rarely respects a tight schedule.

Seats and luggage for a day in the city

The fleet on this page holds 37 cars across three classes, and the choice for a city day comes down to seats and boot space rather than badge. Eight of the cars have seven seats, spread across Minivans, Premium and Luxury, and the passenger vans — the Volkswagen Multivan and the Mercedes-Benz V-Class — carry six passengers and the driver with more room for luggage than an MPV does. The Volkswagen Sharan is the cheapest car on the page at £44 a day, while the Mercedes-Benz V-Class is £176. A 4-seat Rolls-Royce Wraith or Dawn suits two passengers with light bags and nothing more, so a family arriving with hold luggage is better served by a seven-seater. Tell the manager how many cases you are bringing when you book — that single detail decides the class more often than the number of passengers does.

Weekly chauffeur-driven car rental in London for longer stays

A longer stay changes the arithmetic of chauffeur-driven car rental: the booking stops being a day out and becomes a working arrangement that runs for a week or a month. We price it on the multipliers in the rental agreement — weekly at daily x 6, monthly at daily x 21 — so the shape of the booking is agreed with a manager before the car is delivered.

How weekly and monthly periods are calculated

• Weekly: the daily rate multiplied by 6, which covers seven consecutive days of the booking period.
• Monthly: the daily rate multiplied by 21, which covers thirty consecutive days of the booking period.
• No other multiplier: those two are the only longer-period rates we quote, and no other formula is offered on the site.
• What the period covers: the car and driver at your disposal for the whole agreed stretch, not a fixed number of journeys.
• Where the rest sits: the deposit, the insurance excess and any delivery fee are set out in the rental agreement, not on this page.

What a long booking suits

A month of meetings across Canary Wharf and the City, a family stay over a school break, a production crew moving between Wembley and ExCeL London — the pattern is the same: the day has several stops and the car waits between them. On a booking of that length the seat count and the boot matter more than the badge, because the same car carries the same people for weeks. Eight of the 37 cars here have seven seats, and the two passenger vans — the Volkswagen Multivan at £77 a day and the Mercedes-Benz V-Class at £176 — take six passengers and the driver with more luggage room than an MPV. In our practice the long bookings that go smoothly are the ones where the return point was fixed at the start, not renegotiated in the final week.

Fuel, mileage and the agreement over a month

The full-to-full rule does not change with the length of the booking: the car comes clean with a full tank and goes back full, and any missing fuel plus a refuelling service fee are charged as set out in the rental agreement. Fuel on the day of writing sits at £1.75 a litre for petrol and £1.99 for diesel, so a month of city work is worth budgeting for before you confirm. Charges that recur — the Congestion Charge at £18 a day, £21 if paid by midnight of the third day after, and ULEZ at £12.50 a day for non-compliant vehicles — are the ones to settle with the manager at booking rather than discover mid-stay. Who covers road charges, tolls and penalty notices is agreed when booking, and the rental agreement is where that sits.

What to check in the rental agreement for chauffeur-driven car rental in London

The rental agreement is the document that carries the numbers this page does not: the deposit, the insurance excess, any delivery fee and the charges that apply on the route. Reading it before the booking is fixed takes ten minutes and settles most of the questions that otherwise surface on the day.

The clauses worth reading twice

• Deposit and insurance excess: both are set out in the rental agreement, and neither is a figure we quote on this page.
• Delivery fee: the cost of bringing the car to your address sits in the agreement, and it depends on the address you give the manager.
• Fuel: the car is supplied with a full tank and returned with a full tank; missing fuel and a refuelling service fee are charged as set out in the agreement.
• Road charges: who pays the Congestion Charge, ULEZ, the Dartford Crossing and any penalty notice is agreed when booking — settle it before the date, not after.
• The period: the start and the finish of the booking, in writing, because the car is booked for a stretch rather than a single run.

Documents and driving rules that apply to the booking

Holding and using a phone, satnav or tablet at the wheel is prohibited even at a red light — £200 and 6 penalty points, and a driver who passed their test less than 2 years ago loses the licence. Seat belts are compulsory where fitted, and children travel in a child seat until they reach 135 cm or turn 12, whichever comes first, with a fine of up to £500. The drink-drive limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 80 mg per 100 ml of blood, 35 µg per 100 ml of breath and 107 mg per 100 ml of urine.

Questions to put to the manager before you confirm

The delivery address, the date and the time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed, and that conversation is the right place for everything the agreement does not spell out. Ask which car from the 37 on this page fits your seat count and luggage, and whether a seven-seater is needed at all. Ask what the delivery fee comes to for your address, and where the period ends — the same address, a hotel, or one of the six airports we deliver to. Anything outside the delivery area of London is arranged case by case and is not promised on the site, so raise it early rather than assume. In our experience the bookings that run without friction are the ones where the manager heard the whole shape of the trip at the start.

Common mistakes with chauffeur-driven car rental in London

Most of the friction we see around chauffeur-driven car rental in London comes from three habits: booking a single journey when the format is built for a period, leaving the terminal or the address vague, and treating the road charges as somebody else's problem until a notice arrives.

Booking a period for a single run

The format is priced as a stretch of time with the car and driver at your disposal, so a single point-to-point leg wastes most of what you have paid for. A Wembley event or an ExCeL London exhibition is the opposite case — the car waits through the evening rather than being released after drop-off, and that waiting is the point. If the day is genuinely one hop, say so when you book and the manager will tell you whether the format fits at all.

Leaving the address, the terminal or the hour vague

A missing detail is what turns a smooth pickup into a phone call from a kerb. Name the street and the number, not just the building; give the flight number and the landing time together, not one without the other. The hour matters as much as the place: a period that starts at 07:00 and one that starts at 11:00 are different bookings, and the driver is planned around the earlier of the two.

Assuming the charges are included

Road charges are where the surprises live, and the amounts are not small. The Congestion Charge applies for a day settled on the day itself or ahead of it, and at a higher rate where the payment lands by midnight of the third day afterwards; the zone operates 07:00–18:00 Monday to Friday and 12:00–18:00 at weekends and on bank holidays, with no charge between 25 December and the New Year bank holiday inclusive. ULEZ adds a daily charge for a vehicle that does not meet the standard, around the clock apart from 25 December. Whether those sums fall to you or to us is not a default — it sits in the rental agreement, and the manager will walk you through it before the date. Ask once, at booking, and the question does not come back later.