No gratuity in fixed fares (Heathrow £80/£115, Gatwick/Stansted £150, Luton £140, London City £65/£90). £5–£10 suits a transfer; £10–£20 suits hourly (£55/h) or full-day (£400) hire.
Tipping is optional in London chauffeur hire. If you choose to, £5–£10 suits a single airport transfer and £10–£20 suits hourly or full-day hire, with more for exceptional help such as carrying bags or tracking a delayed flight.
Journey times are typical, not guaranteed. We plan departure times around live traffic on the day.
| Option | Best for | Main tradeoff | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow transfer, within ~12 miles | Short hops near the airport | Fixed £80 already includes waiting; tip only for extra help | £80 + £0–£10 optional tip |
| Heathrow transfer, beyond ~12 miles | Central London and further boroughs | Fixed £115 covers the longer run, same inclusions | £115 + £0–£10 optional tip |
| Gatwick or Stansted | Longer airport runs | Fixed £150 each, 60 minutes' waiting included | £150 + £0–£10 optional tip |
| London City | Shortest airport transfer | £65 within ~12 miles or £90 otherwise | £65–£90 + £0–£5 optional tip |
| Hourly hire, 3-hour minimum | Multiple stops or waiting between meetings | £55/h with no meter running | From £165 + £10–£20 optional tip |
| Half-day (£250) or full-day (£400) hire | Full itineraries or events | Longest time with one driver | £250–£400 + £10–£20 optional tip |
No fixed price includes a gratuity. Heathrow is £80 within roughly 12 miles of the airport and £115 beyond that, Gatwick and Stansted are £150 each, and Luton is £140 — every figure covers the car, flight tracking and 60 minutes' waiting, not a tip for the driver.
Every price is agreed in writing before the journey starts, so there's no meter running and no surprise waiting charge at the other end — and that figure is the whole fare, not a fare plus a service charge. Airport pickups already include meet and greet, flight tracking and 60 minutes' free waiting, which is often where a tipping habit forms elsewhere. Here it's built into the price, not added afterwards.
The contrast between the two Heathrow bands — £80 for a short hop versus £115 for a longer run — shows the price already reflects the length of the job, so there's no need to scale a tip to mileage either; whatever you add on top is a separate, voluntary gesture.
For a single airport transfer, £5–£10 is reasonable if the driver helped with luggage or tracked a delayed flight without fuss. For hourly hire at £55 an hour or a full day at £400, £10–£20 is more typical, reflecting the longer time together rather than harder work.
A single airport transfer is a one-off job, so £5–£10 suits it if the driver made an early start or a late landing easier than it felt at the time. Hourly and full-day hire put the driver on hand for much longer, which is where £10–£20 becomes more typical — not because the work is harder, but because it spans several hours and often several stops rather than one address to another.
As a rough comparison: a single Heathrow transfer at £80 might earn a £5–£10 tip at the end, while a full day's hire at £400 covering multiple stops more commonly attracts £10–£20. Hourly hire starts at £55 an hour with a 3-hour minimum, so even the shortest booking runs to £165 before any tip; half-day hire at £250 sits between the two. None of this is a formula — it's simply what tends to feel proportionate to the length of the job, and nothing is owed either way.
Journeys between 23:00 and 06:00 already carry a 20% surcharge, so tipping isn't expected to compensate for the unsociable hour, though it's never turned down. An £80 Heathrow transfer becomes £96 overnight under that surcharge.
Night fares are increased precisely because they ask more of a driver — an £80 Heathrow transfer becomes £96 overnight, and a £150 Gatwick run becomes £180. That increase is built into the fare specifically to reflect unsociable hours, so a passenger stepping off a late flight doesn't need to feel they should tip on top to make the pickup worthwhile.
That said, nothing stops you adding something if the pickup went particularly smoothly — a 2am landing met without fuss, bags handled quietly while the rest of the terminal is half asleep, that sort of thing. It's simply not expected the way it might be if the fare carried no night adjustment at all. If you're paying by card, it's worth knowing in advance whether you intend to add anything, since a bigger total at an odd hour is one more thing to sort out quickly before heading home.
The card machine in the car takes Visa, Mastercard and American Express — contactless, chip and PIN, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Payment is taken once the journey ends; no deposit is taken at booking and no card is held on file in between.
The one practical limit is the standard UK contactless cap of £100 per tap. A £115 Heathrow fare, or an £80 fare with £20 added on top, both sit above that limit, so the machine will ask for a PIN or a phone payment instead of a simple tap. It's worth knowing this before reaching for a card at the kerb, particularly for Gatwick or Stansted runs at £150 where a contactless tap was never going to cover the fare anyway.
If you'd rather tip in cash, that works just as well — simply have it ready at the end of the trip. Because booking runs over WhatsApp with every journey confirmed in writing beforehand, it's easy to mention a tipping preference at the same time as confirming the pickup, rather than working it out at the roadside.
A driver can't come inside Terminal 5, so the wait is outside the arrivals exit, by the Pret a Manger that most drivers use as the landmark — with up to 60 minutes of that waiting already covered in the £80 or £115 fare. A short, ordinary delay isn't a reason to tip more.
Carrying bags from arrivals to the car, or tracking a flight that's running late so the car is already outside when you land, is service that's priced in rather than an extra. Both are part of what the fixed fare already covers, alongside flight tracking and 60 minutes' free waiting at every airport pickup.
Where a tip tends to feel earned is less about the clock and more about the kind of help given without being asked — managing a trolley through a busy arrivals hall, or simply being easy to find when a weekday morning into London is slow and a passenger is tired after a long flight. None of that changes the fixed price, and none of it is expected. It's simply the point at which a passenger often decides a tip reflects the experience rather than just the ride.
More guides: Car and Driver Hire for a Week in London | Crest Chauffeurs · Private Driver vs Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus in London · Chauffeur for Elderly Parents in London | Crest Chauffeurs
Where a driver actually waits at Terminal 5. A driver cannot go inside the terminal, so the wait is outside the arrivals exit, by the Pret a Manger that drivers use as the meeting landmark rather than a gate number.
The card machine takes Visa, Mastercard and Amex, but a UK contactless tap caps at £100, so a fare plus tip that crosses that line needs a PIN or a phone payment instead.
Source: Crest rate cardPayment, including any tip, is settled once the trip is finished — no deposit at booking and no card kept on file in between.
Source: Crest rate cardMore than 3 passengers. The electric Mercedes-Benz EQE seats up to three, so larger groups need a different kind of vehicle entirely.
Tipping is optional, never required. If you choose to, £5–£10 suits a single airport transfer and £10–£20 suits hourly or full-day hire, more for exceptional service such as help with luggage or a delayed flight.
No. The £80, £115 or £150 fixed price already covers the car, flight tracking and 60 minutes' waiting. A tip is a separate, voluntary extra, not part of the fare.
£10–£20 is typical for half-day (£250) or full-day (£400) hire, reflecting several hours with one driver rather than a single journey, though it's entirely at your discretion.
Yes. The card machine takes Visa, Mastercard and Amex by contactless, chip and PIN, Apple Pay or Google Pay. A UK contactless tap caps at £100, so a fare plus tip above that needs a PIN or a phone payment.
Not necessarily. Flight tracking and 60 minutes' free waiting are already included in the airport price, so an ordinary delay is covered. A tip is more about how the help felt than how long the wait ran.
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