Hourly Chauffeur Service: Car and Driver by the Hour

An hourly chauffeur service gives you a car and a driver for a block of time rather than a single trip. You decide where to go, how long to stay and when to move on, and the vehicle waits at every stop. LimousineCanada.ca books hourly chauffeurs in Toronto, Vancouver, Montréal, Calgary, Ottawa and the other cities on the site, and the price is a range you can see before you commit.

This is the right booking when your day has more than one stop. A single transfer from the airport to a hotel is cheaper by distance; a morning of meetings, a shopping afternoon, a wedding photo circuit or a day among wineries is cheaper and calmer by the hour. The sections below show the rates, the arithmetic for a half day and a full day, and the situations where a different booking is the smarter one.

What does an hourly chauffeur service include?

"As directed" is the industry phrase for this service, and it means the passenger directs the route. Your chauffeur does not follow a fixed itinerary that was printed in advance. You can give the first three stops at booking and decide the rest after lunch.

What the hourly rate covers is simple: the car stays with you, the chauffeur stays with the car, and the meter is the clock, not the odometer. Unlike a taxi, no one starts a new fare at each stop, and unlike a rental there is nobody to refuel, park or return the vehicle.

Hourly chauffeur rates and minimums

The rates below are in Canadian dollars before tax. Each vehicle has its own minimum, which is the shortest block we will book.

Tolls such as the 407 ETR are added at cost, and gratuity is left to you. The full rate card lists every vehicle, and the online booker converts your date, pickup and block length into an exact all-in fare.

What a half day, a full day and a long day cost

Most clients book either a half day or a full day. The figures below multiply the published hourly range by the hours booked.

For an eight-hour day shared by three executives, the sedan works out to roughly $360 to $440 each. For a family of six in an SUV, the same day is about $235 to $280 each, which is often less than a day of separate rideshares, taxis and parking.

Treat those numbers as a guide, not a quotation. A long day with a tight schedule, an out-of-town start or a late finish can change the fare, and the booker shows the final amount before you pay.

Get an instant fare

How the clock runs

Time is counted from the scheduled pickup, in the same way the cancellation window is measured. If you ask for a 9 a.m. start, the block begins at nine, whether you walk out at 9:00 or 9:10. Build a little slack into the first stop and the day will run smoothly.

The easiest way to think about the block is as a seat in a car that you control. Short pauses for a coffee, a photograph or a quick errand are part of the day. Longer waits, for example during a two-hour dinner, are also part of the day, because you are paying for the car's availability, and the chauffeur stays within reach.

If you expect to run over, mention it when the day begins. Time beyond the booked block is billed at the hourly rate shown in the booker, and a chauffeur who knows your plan can sometimes rearrange the stops so the extra hour is not needed.

Who books an hourly chauffeur

The same service suits quite different days, and the planning questions differ with each.

• Business meetings and roadshows: Several offices in one day, a lunch in between and a flight at the end. The chauffeur handles timing and parking. See the corporate car service page for accounts and invoicing.
• Shopping and city days: Yorkdale, the Eaton Centre, Yorkville, Metropolis or Pacific Centre with bags that stay in the car. The Boxing Day shopping guide shows how that day is planned.
• Weddings and photo circuits: Hotel, ceremony, photographs, reception, with the vehicle on stand-by. The wedding limo page sets out the timeline.
• Celebrations and nights out: Dinner, theatre and a ride home without a designated driver. Stretch limousines are billed at $225 to $300 an hour.
• Sightseeing and visiting family: A first-time visitor who wants the CN Tower, Casa Loma and the waterfront without wrestling with a map.
• Production and event teams: Crew moves, talent pickups and equipment runs where timing matters more than the cheapest option.

Three sample itineraries

Concrete plans show where the hours go. Fares are for the hours stated and assume no overtime.

Toronto landmarks, 6 hours in an Executive Sedan ($810 to $990). A morning at the waterfront and the CN Tower, lunch in Yorkville, then Casa Loma and a return to the hotel. The Casa Loma and Midtown guide and the CN Tower and waterfront guide cover the venues.

Vancouver North Shore, 5 hours in a Luxury SUV ($875 to $1,050). Granville Island Market in the morning, then across the Lions Gate Bridge to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park and Grouse Mountain. The Granville Island guide and the Capilano guide describe what each stop involves.

Niagara-on-the-Lake wine day, 8 hours in a Luxury SUV ($1,400 to $1,680). A pickup from Toronto, three winery stops, a long lunch and a return to the city. The drive to Niagara is part of the time, which is why this day is better planned on the Niagara-on-the-Lake wine tour guide before you book.

Hourly chauffeur vs the alternatives

A chauffeur by the hour is not always the cheapest or the simplest way to move around a city. This table is an honest comparison.

Public transit and a single rideshare win for one short journey. An hourly chauffeur wins when you would otherwise make three or more separate trips, carry anything bulky or need the car to be where you are at a fixed time. The rideshare comparison covers pricing, vehicle choice and airport pickups in more detail.

Which vehicle for an hourly booking

Choose the smallest vehicle that is comfortable for everyone plus the bags. An Executive Sedan seats three passengers and carries two large bags and two carry-ons. A Luxury SUV seats six with five or six large bags. For anything larger, the Sprinter van rental seats 12 to 14, and stretch limousines and mini-coaches are available for celebrations. The fleet page lists them all.

Remember that hourly use usually involves more bags than a transfer, since shopping, gifts and equipment accumulate during the day. If the group is three adults, the sedan works for sightseeing but not for a day of shopping; the SUV costs about $40 to $45 an hour more and leaves room for everything.

Day trips by the hour

An hourly booking is a flexible way to see a place outside the city, because the chauffeur doubles as a local guide to timing. Common day trips include Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake from Toronto, Muskoka from Pearson, Whistler from Vancouver, Mont-Tremblant from Montréal and Banff from Calgary.

Plan the hours honestly. A day to Banff from Calgary is about 130 km each way, roughly 90 minutes of driving, so a nine-hour day leaves around six hours in the park. Anyone stopping in Banff National Park needs a park pass, and Parks Canada lists the admission categories on its fee page. For a day in the Niagara Parks area, the Niagara Parks WEGO bus is a cheaper alternative if you arrive by train and plan to move only between the main sights.

Where the destination is a single place and you will be there for hours, a one-way transfer each way can cost less than leaving a chauffeur on the clock. We will tell you which is better when you describe the day.

Hourly chauffeur by city

The hourly rate card is national, but the character of the day changes from city to city, and so does the best way to plan it.

In Toronto, the hours go on downtown congestion and the short hops between Yorkville, the financial district and the waterfront; start the clock after the morning peak when you can. For local detail, start with the Toronto limo page. In Vancouver, bridges and the North Shore add time, so a Lions Gate crossing at five o'clock is worth avoiding; the Vancouver limo page has the city detail.

In Montréal, narrow streets in Old Montréal and event closures can change a drop-off point at short notice, so check the Montréal limo page and tell the chauffeur your venue early. In Calgary, the hourly booking is most often the first or last leg of a mountain day, and the Calgary limo page is the place to begin.

Wherever you book, tell us the part of town you will spend most of the day in. A chauffeur who knows the loading zone outside the third meeting will save you ten minutes at every stop, and ten minutes at six stops is an hour of the block.

When a transfer is the better booking

The hourly service is a poor fit for some situations, and we will say so. If the car would sit empty for most of the block, as when you attend a half-day conference with a single drop-off and a single pickup, two one-way transfers usually cost less than a block of hours. If you need only an airport run, the per-kilometre transfer at $4.65 to $5.55 per km for a sedan is the cheaper way to go.

Likewise, if your day has fixed events that other people organise, such as a ceremony with a shuttle or a conference with a coach, an hourly chauffeur is an extra you may not need. Describe the plan to the booking team and we will recommend the combination that costs least and runs most smoothly.

Licensing and who is driving

Vehicle-for-hire rules differ by city. In Toronto, the City requires a licence for anyone who owns or drives a limousine, and the vehicles-for-hire bylaw covers limousines, taxicabs and private transportation companies. Other cities have their own regimes, and our city pages describe the local picture for each.

Your chauffeur introduces themselves at the pickup and confirms the plan for the day. For a more formal occasion, say so when you book. If you have a preferred route or an access issue at a venue, the booking notes are the place to put it.

Get an instant fare

Booking an hourly chauffeur

Choose your city, vehicle, start time and number of hours in the online booker. Enter the pickup address and, if you know them, the first two or three stops. The booker shows the total, and the confirmation names your chauffeur and vehicle.

Give the day's shape when you book. A note such as "business lunch at noon, pickup of a guest at the airport at 3 p.m., dinner at 7" tells the dispatcher where the day is tight. For airport pickups within an hourly block, the same flight-tracking and waiting rules apply as for transfers.

If you are unsure how many hours you need, book the minimum plus one. A short extension is easier to manage than a truncated day. For a visit that spans several days, the travel desk can plan a sequence of bookings.