Some journeys aren't journeys at all. They're a day: four meetings across the City, a shopping trip with bags to keep in the boot, a wedding morning with three pickups, a film crew that needs a car on standby between locations. Booking those as separate point-to-point trips is the wrong shape — you end up paying for a car to come back four times, and waiting each time for one to arrive.
Hourly taxi hire solves that. You book a car and driver for a block of time, keep the vehicle for the whole block, and go wherever you need within it. The trade is straightforward: you pay for time rather than distance.
We now offer hourly hire inside London, and this guide covers how it works, what it costs, and when it's genuinely the better option. All prices are estimates and may vary; we confirm the final price when you book.
What "hourly hire" actually means
The industry calls it as-directed hire, which describes it better than "hourly taxi" does. There's no destination on the booking. You give a start time and an end time, and the driver goes where you direct during that window.
That makes it a different product from a normal minicab booking in three ways:
- No route is priced. A point-to-point fare is built from distance and time between two addresses. An hourly hire is a flat rate per hour, whatever the mileage inside London.
- The car stays with you. Between stops it waits. You're not re-booking, not re-queuing, and not moving your bags in and out of a boot each time.
- The plan can change. An extra stop, a reordered afternoon, a meeting that overruns — none of it needs a new booking, because you've booked the time, not the trip.
What hourly taxi hire costs in London
Five vehicle categories, each at a flat rate per hour:
| Vehicle | Capacity | Estimated rate | | :--- | :--- | ---: | | Saloon | 4 seats · 2 bags | £35 / hour | | Executive Car | 4 seats · 3 bags | £45 / hour | | People Carrier | 6 seats · 5 bags | £45 / hour | | Minibus | 8 seats · 8 bags | £55 / hour | | Executive Minibus | 8 seats · 8 bags | £65 / hour |
Two things worth knowing about how the clock is billed:
- Minimum one hour, maximum 24. Anything longer than a day is a different conversation — tell us and we'll plan it properly.
- Billed in half-hour steps, rounded up. A hire that runs three hours and ten minutes bills as three and a half. There's no per-minute meter ticking while you're in a meeting.
These are estimates rather than fixed quotes, and the final price is confirmed with your booking. For how point-to-point pricing works by comparison, see how much a London taxi costs.
The one-hour minimum is the unusual part
Most London hourly services aren't really aimed at short bookings. Chauffeur firms in the capital commonly set a four- or five-hour minimum, and hourly rates across the London chauffeur market typically run from around £45 to well over £100 an hour depending on the vehicle and operator.
That's fine if you need a car for a full day. It's no use at all if you need one for ninety minutes.
Our minimum is one hour, which makes short as-directed bookings practical: a couple of hospital appointments, a school run with a wait in between, two client calls in Mayfair, a viewing round three flats. Those are real jobs that a four-hour minimum simply prices out.
When hourly beats booking separate journeys
The rough rule: if you'd otherwise book more than two trips in a day, or any trip with real waiting in the middle, price the hourly option too.
Cases where it usually wins:
- Multiple stops in one outing. Three or four addresses in an afternoon is where separate bookings get expensive and slow, because you pay for the car to reach you each time.
- Anything with a wait. A medical appointment of unknown length, a viewing, a meeting that might run over. Our guide to hospital and medical appointment taxis covers why the return leg is the awkward one — hourly removes that problem entirely.
- Business days with several calls. Keeping the same car and driver across a day of meetings means your bags and coat stay in the boot. Business travel and taxi expenses covers the receipt side.
- Weddings, funerals and family events. Multiple pickups, a ceremony to wait through, a departure whose time nobody actually knows. See the wedding and event taxi guide.
- Sightseeing and visitor days. A private city tour at your own pace, with somewhere to leave shopping and coats between stops.
- Production, media and photography. Crews needing a vehicle on standby between locations rather than on call from across town.
- Group days out. A minibus held for the day beats coordinating eight people through several separate bookings — group taxi hire covers the capacity side.
Cases where a normal booking is still better: a single airport transfer, a one-way trip with no waiting, or anything leaving London — hourly hire is a London-only service.
Hourly hire vs chauffeur hire
People search for "hourly chauffeur hire London" and "taxi by the hour" expecting different things, and the honest answer is that they overlap.
The difference is mostly the vehicle and the presentation. If what you want is a premium car for a client pickup or a formal occasion, that's the Executive Car or Executive Minibus category, and our guide to executive and chauffeur transfers covers when the upgrade earns its place. If you simply need a car and driver at your disposal for a few hours and don't need it to be a Mercedes, the Saloon at £35 an hour does exactly the same job.
Both are the same underlying service: a licensed driver and vehicle, held for your time block, going where you direct.
Where it's available
Hourly hire is available inside London only. That's a deliberate limit rather than an oversight — an as-directed booking assumes the driver stays within a defined area for the duration, and London is where that works.
Journeys that start or end outside London are still priced the normal way, per route. If you're not sure which applies, get an estimate for both and compare — it takes a couple of minutes. Our London city page covers the areas we serve.
How to book an hourly taxi in London
- Choose Hourly on the booking form rather than a one-way or return journey.
- Give your start date and time, and your end date and time. The estimate is built from the elapsed time between them.
- Pick a vehicle category — size it on passengers and luggage. Five people with cases need a People Carrier, not a saloon. How much luggage fits in a taxi has the realistic capacities.
- Add your plan in the notes if it's useful — "three stops around Kensington, then Heathrow drop at the end" helps us assign the right vehicle and driver.
- You'll see an estimated total before you commit, and we confirm the final price with your booking.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Can you book a taxi by the hour in London? A: Yes. Hourly hire lets you keep a car and driver for a block of time rather than booking a single route — you give a start and end time and direct the driver where you need within that window. It's available inside London only.
Q: How much does hourly taxi hire cost in London? A: Estimated rates are £35 per hour for a saloon, £45 for an executive car or people carrier, £55 for a minibus and £65 for an executive minibus. Prices are estimates and the final price is confirmed when you book.
Q: What is the minimum booking for hourly taxi hire? A: One hour. Time is billed in half-hour steps rounded up after that, so three hours and ten minutes bills as three and a half. Many London chauffeur services set a four- or five-hour minimum, which is what makes short as-directed bookings difficult to arrange elsewhere.
Q: What does "as-directed" mean for a taxi booking? A: It means the booking has no fixed destination. The driver takes you wherever you direct during your booked hours, waiting between stops, rather than driving one set route from A to B.
Q: Is hourly hire cheaper than booking several separate taxis? A: It depends on the day. As a rule of thumb, if you would otherwise book more than two trips, or any trip involving a real wait, it is worth pricing the hourly option — with separate bookings you pay for a car to reach you each time, and you wait for it.
Q: Can I hire a car and driver by the hour outside London? A: Not currently — hourly hire is a London-only service. Journeys beyond London are priced per route in the normal way, and you can get an estimate for those on the standard booking form.
In short
Book by the hour when you need the car more than you need a particular destination: multiple stops, real waiting time, or a day whose plan will change. One-hour minimum, five vehicle sizes, London only.
Get an hourly hire estimate — choose Hourly, give your start and end times, and you'll see the price before you commit.