Executive car service for leaders, principals and VIP guests

An executive car service is a black car service with fewer margins for error. The passenger is a chief executive, a partner, a board member or a guest whose time is worth more than the car, and the person who books it is usually an executive assistant who will hear about anything that goes wrong. What matters is the right car at the right door before the passenger arrives, a chauffeur who is quiet unless spoken to, and nothing about the day leaking out of the vehicle.

Elly8.net books executive car service in 141 cities in North America and Europe, in the first-class tier of the fleet: Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 Series sedans, Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator SUVs in North America, Mercedes V-Class VIP and Range Rover in Europe. First Class Sedan airport fares run from US$160 at Lisbon and Warsaw and US$170 from Billy Bishop to downtown Toronto, to US$370 from JFK to Midtown on the main city routes, all-in, per vehicle.

What makes an executive car service different?

The vehicle is the visible part. The less visible part is preparation: the chauffeur knows the passenger's name and how they like to be addressed, the flight number, the first meeting and the building entrance that avoids the lobby crowd. If the passenger prefers not to have their name on an arrivals board, the board shows the company or a code word. If the itinerary is confidential, the desk can arrange an NDA with the chauffeur.

See prices and reserve

First-class vehicles

Two classes make up the executive tier. Both are four model years old or newer.

• First Class Sedan: Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series or similar, in every region. Up to 3 passengers and 2 bags. The rear seat is the office: room to work, quiet enough for a call.
• First Class SUV: Cadillac Escalade or Lincoln Navigator in North America; Mercedes-Benz V-Class VIP or Range Rover in Europe. Up to 6 passengers and 6 bags. The choice for a principal travelling with staff, for heavy luggage, or for winter roads in Aspen, Banff or Courchevel.

For a single arrival that must be remarkable, a Mercedes-Maybach or Rolls-Royce can be booked through the web booker; those cars are seven model years old or newer. For an executive team of up to six with captain's chairs, the Jet Sprinter is available in the booker, and the Executive Sprinter carries up to 12 with 12 bags. The fleet page shows each interior.

Executive car service prices

Published first-class fares from the city price lists, one way, per vehicle, all-in.

By the hour, a First Class Sedan is US$170 an hour in New York, Los Angeles and London, US$180 in Toronto and Canadian cities, and US$145 in Paris, with a 3-hour minimum. A full-day chauffeur in a First Class Sedan is US$1,255 in New York and London, and the corporate roadshow day, built for back-to-back meetings, is US$1,530 in those cities. Tolls and parking are billed at cost.

How assistants book an executive car

Most executive bookings are made by someone other than the passenger. The process is built around that.

1. Book with the passenger's details. Enter the pickup, the drop-off and the flight number, and give the passenger's mobile number for the chauffeur. Add the assistant as the booking contact so every confirmation and change goes to both.
2. Brief the desk. The notes field takes the things that make the difference: how the passenger likes to be greeted, whether to use a name or a company on the board, preferred temperature, water or no water, whether the passenger takes calls in the car.
3. Reserve and confirm. Reserve on the city price list or in the web booker. Confirmation arrives by email; the chauffeur's name and mobile follow before pickup.

When plans change, as they do, one message to the desk moves the car. Flight changes are picked up automatically from the flight number. With a corporate account, the ride carries the cost centre and lands on a monthly invoice rather than a personal card.

The standards we brief chauffeurs on

Every chauffeur on an executive booking is briefed on the same points, whether the ride is an Elly8 fleet car in Toronto or a partner car in Milan.

• Early, not on time. The chauffeur is in place before the pickup time, with the car ready, so the passenger never waits.
• Discretion. No discussion of passengers, destinations or conversations heard in the car, with anyone. NDAs are available on request.
• Quiet by default. No small talk unless the passenger starts it, no radio unless asked, phone calls taken by hands-free only when necessary.
• Appearance. Dark business attire, a clean car inside and out, the rear seat clear.
• The building, not just the address. Which entrance, which driveway, which side of the street, and where to wait without blocking it.
• No surprises. If anything changes, a road closure, a late flight, a security check at a venue, the assistant hears about it before the passenger does.

Arriving internationally

Executives arriving into the United States often hold Global Entry, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection trusted traveller programme that speeds customs processing. That shortens the time between landing and the arrivals hall, and the chauffeur is already there because the desk tracks the landing rather than the schedule. Complimentary waiting after a tracked landing covers the time it takes the rest of the world to clear immigration.

Private flights are met at the FBO. Teterboro to Midtown is US$300 in a First Class Sedan; Paris-Le Bourget to the 8th arrondissement is US$240; Farnborough to Mayfair is US$590. See private jet and FBO car service and airport meet and greet for how those arrivals are run.

Hotels, offices and the last fifty metres

The airport is only the first pickup of an executive day. Most of the rest happens at hotel driveways and office towers, and those are where small things go wrong: a chauffeur waiting at the main entrance while the passenger comes out of the side door, a building that only allows cars in the loading bay, a hotel forecourt that is closed for an event.

Give the desk the hotel and the meeting addresses in advance and the chauffeur plans each stop: which door, which side of the street, where the car can legally wait and how long it takes to come round. In Manhattan and the City of London that often means holding a block away and arriving on a message. In Toronto the Elly8 fleet works the Bay Street towers and the Yorkville hotels every day; in Paris, the 8th arrondissement's avenues have their own stopping rules that partner chauffeurs know by heart.

For a passenger who moves between hotel, office and dinner with gaps between them, booking by the hour keeps the same car and chauffeur all day. That continuity is worth more to most principals than the small saving of separate point-to-point fares.

Executives on the move between cities

A week that runs New York, Boston and Washington, or London, Paris and Frankfurt, is booked as one itinerary with the desk. Each city has its own chauffeur, but the brief travels with the booking: the same greeting, the same preferences, the same contact for changes. At Heathrow, with several terminals and long walks between them, the desk confirms the terminal with the airline schedule before the day; at JFK, the chauffeur works to the airport's current pickup arrangements during its redevelopment.

When the next leg is a drive rather than a flight, such as New York to Philadelphia or Geneva to Courchevel, see city to city car service. Flights and hotels for the trip can be booked through our travel partner BookingWorldwide.net; Elly8.net books the car.

Executive car service vs an app premium tier

App premium tiers are fine for an unplanned ride across town. For a principal's day, the differences add up. The app driver does not know the passenger, cannot be briefed in advance, may be matched to another ride after drop-off, and the price at the end of a conference day can move with demand. A booked executive car has a named chauffeur, a fixed price, a confirmed vehicle class and a desk that answers the assistant's call. The Uber Black vs a pre-booked chauffeur page sets out the trade-offs honestly, including when the app is the better answer.

The business travel industry's own association, the Global Business Travel Association, treats ground transport as part of a travel programme rather than an afterthought; for companies that book executives regularly, a corporate account brings those rides into the same reporting as flights and hotels.

Executive, corporate and roadshow: which page you need

• Executive car service (this page): first-class vehicles and chauffeur standards for a principal or VIP guest.
• Corporate car service: accounts, invoicing and travel policy for a whole company's ground transport.
• Roadshow chauffeur: a car and chauffeur for a full day of back-to-back meetings, often across several cities.
• Black car service: the everyday business-class sedan and SUV.

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Who operates the cars

In Toronto and the GTA, executive bookings run on the Elly8 fleet with Elly8 chauffeurs. In every other city, rides are operated by licensed, commercially insured local chauffeur partners vetted through the Limousine Worldwide network; Elly8.net takes the booking, fixes the price and runs the 24/7 desk.

Cities where executive car service is booked most

• Executive car service in New York, Midtown and the financial district, with Teterboro for private flights.
• Washington, DC for Capitol Hill, K Street and embassy meetings.
• Los Angeles executive chauffeur, San Francisco and San Jose and Silicon Valley.
• Chicago, Boston and Dallas.
• Toronto executive car service for Bay Street, and Calgary.
• London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich and Geneva.