Most UK chauffeur quotes are estimates. The driver runs a meter, traffic adds time, and the number at the end is whatever the meter says. We've built Fare 1 differently — the price you see at quote is the price you pay.
This article walks through how that works.
The maths
Every quote starts from one of two paths.
Per-mile route. For any pickup–dropoff combination we don't have a fixed-fare rule for, the system calculates: per-mile rate (set per vehicle category) × route distance, plus any surcharges that apply. Returns get a 5% discount; fares over £250 get a further 15% discount.
Fixed-fare route. For 16 popular routes — Southampton to the major airports, Southampton to St Pancras International, St Pancras to each of the five Southampton cruise terminals, Heathrow to Basingstoke — we publish a flat price. These override the per-mile calculation when the pickup and dropoff match.
That's the whole quote formula. No time-of-day overrides. No day-of re-quote. No driver-side meter that ticks up while you sit in traffic.
What's included
The quoted price covers the journey from pickup to dropoff with the vehicle category you booked. That includes:
- The driver and the vehicle.
- 60 minutes of free waiting on airport pickups (from your flight's actual landing time, not the scheduled one).
- 15 minutes of free waiting on other pickups (from your booked time).
- Meet & greet at airport arrivals and station concourses, where applicable.
What's not included — and we quote as separate lines on the booking form so you see them — are things like airport drop-off charges (where the airport bills the driver to enter the drop-off zone) and the London congestion charge if your route passes through.
What changes
The price changes if the trip changes. That means:
- Adding a stop mid-journey — quoted at the published extra-stop rate.
- Waiting beyond the included window — £20 per hour, pro-rated.
- Re-routing requested by the passenger — re-quoted at the per-mile rate for the new distance.
These add as line items on the final invoice. You see what changed and why.
What doesn't change
The base fare you booked. Even if our published rates go up between when you booked and when the trip runs, your fare is held at the original number. Same is true for fixed-fare routes — if we adjust a route's flat price (we review the 16 every fortnight), the new number applies to new bookings only.
Why we built it this way
Two reasons.
The first is conversion-from-trust. Customers who've had a metered taxi bill a third more than expected don't come back. We'd rather quote a slightly higher upfront number that's accurate than a low estimate that drifts.
The second is operational. Fixed pricing means dispatch doesn't have to argue with passengers about meter readings, drivers don't have to time-stamp every detour, and admin doesn't have to reconcile estimates against actuals. The savings show up in the rates we publish.
See it for yourself
Get a quote for the trip you have in mind. The number you see is the number you'd pay. If you want to compare against a per-mile rate first, our pricing page publishes every rate by vehicle category, plus the 16 fixed routes.
Any questions about a specific quote? Email hello@fare1.co.uk — we'll explain the breakdown line by line.