Deposits, cards and payment methods for black car bookings in Toronto

Payment, in one paragraph

The payment side of a black car booking is designed to be unremarkable, and most of the time it is: the card, the authorisation, the charge after the trip, the receipt. The questions arise at the edges — the wedding that needs a deposit, the company that wants an invoice, the visitor booking from Singapore, the bachelor party splitting a bus eight ways, the passenger who wants to tip on the card, the refund of a deposit for a cancelled occasion. This article covers all of it: which bookings take a deposit and why, how much and when it comes back, the cards and the other methods, the corporate invoice, foreign currency, splitting, gratuity, the receipt's contents, the authorisation hold and what it looks like on a statement, and the guarantee that nothing appears on a card that was not on the quote.

Transfers and hourly bookings: authorise, then charge

An airport transfer, a point-to-point trip or an hourly booking in a sedan, SUV or Sprinter takes a card at booking, places an authorisation hold for the quoted fare (the hold appears on the card as a pending amount and is not a charge), and charges the card after the trip for the fare plus any extras that actually occurred — waiting beyond the allowance, the 407 if used, meet and greet, an extra stop, a gratuity the passenger added. The receipt arrives by email within an hour of the drop. A cancelled booking releases the hold (the card issuer's timing, usually a few days); a cancellation inside the cutoff charges the cancellation policy's amount.

Occasion vehicles: the deposit

A stretch limousine, a stretch SUV or a limo bus is booked for a wedding, a prom, a birthday or a corporate night — occasions committed weeks ahead, prepared for and impossible to resell at short notice — and a deposit of a stated percentage of the fare (shown in the engine; typically a quarter to a half) is charged at booking, with the balance charged after the event. The deposit is refunded in full for a cancellation more than seven days before; forfeited inside that; and the cancellation policies article has the schedule. The wedding limo guide and the prom guide explain why the deposit protects the couple and the students as much as the operator.

Long-distance, cross-border and multi-day: the deposit

A run to Niagara, Muskoka, Kingston, Montreal or Buffalo's airport, or a multi-day chauffeur hire, is a chauffeur's whole day or several, and a deposit applies on the same terms — refundable to 24 hours before (72 for multi-day), the balance after. The long distance vs flying article covers the fares and the Buffalo article the border allowance that appears on the same quote.

Cards

Visa, Mastercard and American Express, and Visa Debit and Debit Mastercard, in the engine and by phone to dispatch; the card details are handled by a payment processor under the PCI standards and are not stored by us in readable form — the privacy and discretion article covers the data. Corporate cards work as any card; a card in a company's name with a traveller as the passenger is common and the receipt goes to the traveller's email and the account if there is one.

Corporate invoicing

A corporate account may be invoiced monthly on net-30 terms rather than charged per trip: the statement with every trip itemised (the corporate account billing article shows it), the invoice with our HST registration number, a purchase order number where the company requires one, and payment by EFT, cheque or a card on file. New or smaller accounts start on a card on file charged per trip or monthly and move to invoicing as the relationship is established.

Interac e-Transfer and EFT

Interac e-Transfer is accepted for deposits and for fares by arrangement with dispatch — a passenger without a card, or a family paying a wedding deposit from a joint account — and EFT is the usual method for corporate invoices. Cash is accepted for a fare at the curb by arrangement (the card is still authorised at booking as security) and for gratuity always.

Booking from abroad: currency and cards

The engine quotes in Canadian dollars and charges the card in Canadian dollars; the card's issuer converts at its rate and may add its own foreign-transaction fee, which is the issuer's and not ours — there is no foreign-card surcharge on our side. A passenger who wants to know the fare in their currency can check the day's rate; the visitor guide mentions it among the things to know before arriving. Foreign corporate cards and invoicing to a foreign parent company work the same way, with the invoice in Canadian dollars.

Splitting a fare among a group

A group — a bachelor party sharing a limo bus, colleagues sharing a Sprinter, a wedding's guests sharing a shuttle — pays as one booking: one card for the deposit and the balance, or the leader's card with the group settling among themselves. The engine does not split a fare across several cards, because a fare split eight ways with one card declined at midnight is not a situation anyone wants; the leader collects, and the group transfers article notes that a Sprinter's fare divided by ten is the arithmetic that makes the group booking worth it.

Gratuity on the card

A gratuity can be added in the engine at booking as a percentage or an amount, added by text to dispatch after the trip, handed to the chauffeur in cash, or set as a percentage on a corporate account's terms; it appears on the receipt as its own line and reaches the chauffeur in full. It is never added without the passenger's instruction. The gratuity guide covers the custom and the etiquette article the questions.

The receipt

Emailed within an hour of the trip: the date, the route or the hours, the vehicle class, the chauffeur's first name, the fare, the HST as its own line with our registration number, each extra as its own line (407 at cost, waiting in increments, meet and greet, stops, gratuity), the total, the card's last four digits, and the booking reference. It is the document the expense reports article describes as the one finance departments accept without questions, and the what is included article explains every line that can appear.

The authorisation hold, explained

The hold at booking appears on the card as a pending amount for the quoted fare and reduces the card's available credit until the charge posts or the hold releases; on a debit card it may appear as a temporary debit. It is not a charge and it is not a deposit; it is the card network's way of confirming the card will cover the fare. After the trip the charge posts for the actual amount and the hold falls away; after a cancellation the hold releases within the issuer's few days. A passenger who sees two amounts — the hold and the charge — for a day or two is seeing the mechanism, not a double charge.

What is never charged

Nothing that was not on the quote or agreed by text during the trip. No fuel surcharge, airport fee, booking fee, card fee, late-night or holiday fee. No gratuity without instruction. No 407 without approval. No waiting inside the allowance. No charge for a cancelled flight. No charge for an upgrade we make. A line on a receipt that the passenger does not recognise is a text to dispatch the same day, and the cheap limo service article lists the fees other headlines grow that ours does not.

Payment quick reference

Booking and paying

The engine takes the card, shows whether a deposit applies and how much, and emails the confirmation with the payment terms; the receipt follows the trip. The FAQ has the short answers.

Third-party payers: parents, companies and hosts

A booking is often paid by someone who is not the passenger — a parent abroad paying for a student's pickup, a company paying for a candidate's, a host paying for a guest's — and the card belongs to the payer, the texts go to the passenger (or a companion), and the receipt goes to the payer's email; the notes field takes "passenger is my daughter, payer is me" and dispatch keeps the two straight. The unaccompanied minors guide covers the parent's version and the visiting clients itinerary article the company's.

Refunds, credits and disputes

A refund — a deposit for a timely cancellation, a fare for a trip we could not make — is returned to the card within five business days (the issuer's timing); a credit on a corporate account appears on the next statement; a dispute about a line is a text or email to dispatch, who has the log and answers within a business day. A card chargeback is never necessary with an operator who answers the phone, and we would rather hear about a problem than see a chargeback.

Booking notes on payment

Three small things. Use the card you want the receipt to show — the last four digits are on it. Add the gratuity in the engine if you want the question settled. And if a pending amount confuses you, it is the authorisation hold; it falls away when the charge posts.

A worked pair: a transfer and a wedding

A Rosedale passenger books a Pearson transfer on Tuesday for Friday: the card is authorised for the quoted fare on Tuesday; on Friday the chauffeur takes the 401 (no 407), the passenger is at the door on time (no waiting), and the card is charged the fare plus HST plus the 15 per cent gratuity the passenger added in the engine; the receipt arrives at 7:40 a.m. A couple books a stretch limousine in March for a September wedding: the deposit (the stated percentage) is charged in March; the balance is charged the Sunday after the wedding with the HST and the gratuity the couple set; the receipt shows both charges and the total. Had the couple cancelled in July, the deposit would have come back in five days; in the last week, it would not.

Currency for the long-distance and cross-border runs

A Buffalo airport run or a Detroit run is quoted and charged in Canadian dollars like any other; the US bridge tolls and any US-side costs are converted at cost and shown as lines. A US passenger paying with a US card sees the Canadian amount converted by their issuer, and the Buffalo article and the Toronto to Detroit article cover the runs.

Book with the card authorised, not charged