Fare 1 quotes in two modes: per-mile transfer and hourly chauffeur. Both run the same drivers and the same vehicles. What differs is how we count.
This article explains when each is cheaper.
Per-mile transfer
Per-mile is point-to-point. You give us a pickup, a dropoff, optionally some intermediate stops, and the quote = per-mile rate × distance + surcharges.
The included extras are short: 15 minutes free waiting from booked pickup time on standard pickups, 60 minutes on airport pickups, and meet & greet where applicable. Any additional waiting bills at £20 an hour.
Use per-mile when:
- You have a defined origin and a defined destination.
- You're not asking the driver to wait for you between stops.
- The trip happens once and you go your separate way at the end.
Airport runs, station transfers, and weddings where the venue is the destination — these are per-mile shapes.
Hourly chauffeur
Hourly buys the driver and vehicle for a block of time, with 15 included miles per booked hour. You can go anywhere within that mileage budget, in any order, and the driver waits between stops.
Three rules:
- Minimum hire is 3 hours, even if you ask for 1 hour. We bill the full 3.
- Each booked hour includes 15 miles. So a 4-hour hire = 60 included miles.
- Beyond the included miles, extras bill at half the per-mile rate.
Use hourly when:
- You have multiple stops and want the driver to wait.
- The schedule is loose — meetings, weddings, sightseeing.
- You want the same vehicle and driver across the whole day.
Corporate roadshows, sightseeing tours, full-day weddings, and shopping/spa trips — these are hourly shapes.
The crossover point
The rough crossover is around 30 miles of point-to-point distance, but with a twist: if you ask the driver to wait, hourly almost always beats per-mile + waiting time.
Example: a 4-hour shopping trip in Bath (30 miles each way from Southampton, plus 3 hours of waiting).
- Per-mile: 60 miles × £1.67 + 3 hours waiting × £20 = ~£160 (standard saloon).
- Hourly: 4 hours × £45 = £180, includes 60 miles, no extra mile charge.
Per-mile wins on price by £20 here, but hourly buys you the same driver across the whole window and removes the worry about hitting the included-wait limit. Customers who care about predictability over the last £20 usually pick hourly.
Now flip the trip: a 30-mile each-way return with no waiting (driver drops you off, you come home later in a different vehicle).
- Per-mile: 60 miles × £1.67 × 2 trips = ~£200.
- Hourly: 3 hours minimum × £45 = £135, but you've only used 1-2 hours of it.
Per-mile is the obvious pick — you're not asking for waiting, so paying for it makes no sense.
How to tell at booking time
Two checks:
- Will the driver wait between stops? Yes → hourly. No → per-mile.
- Is the loose-schedule premium worth £20-40? Yes → hourly. No → per-mile.
You don't need to optimise this perfectly. The quote shows you the number for both modes — pick the one that feels right and book it.
Full rate sheets
Per-mile rates and hourly rates for every vehicle category live on the pricing page. For deeper reading on hourly, the hourly chauffeur explainer walks through the included-miles math and the 3-hour minimum-hire rule.
Got a trip that sits awkwardly between the two? Email us the rough shape and we'll quote both modes side by side so you can pick.