Twelve months, one rate, one team.

What changes when the term is a year.

A monthly block is flexible by design. A yearly contract is built for clients who already know they will need a chauffeur for the whole year and would rather not think about it again. The vehicle class, the block of hours and the hourly rate are fixed on the day you sign and held for twelve months, so a price change elsewhere in the market does not reach your invoice. Finance teams like it because the forecast is one number repeated twelve times; principals like it because nothing about the car or the person driving it changes in March or October.

The commitment also changes how we staff your account. A year gives us reason to build a small, stable team around you: a primary chauffeur who drives most days and a second chauffeur, already briefed and introduced, who covers holidays, long days and the occasional double booking. Over twelve months that team learns things no booking form captures, such as which entrance a building uses after 7pm or how early a particular executive likes to leave for JFK on a Friday.

The yearly price, in plain numbers.

The monthly price on a yearly contract is calculated exactly as it is on a monthly block: the published hourly rate multiplied by the hours you reserve. A 40-hour Business Sedan block is $6,200 a month, or $74,400 across the year. An 80-hour SUV First block is $18,800 a month. A full-time 220-hour First-Class Sedan arrangement is $62,700 a month. There is no annual discount and no premium; the value of the year is that the rate cannot move.

Each day of service includes 93 miles, with extra miles at $3 in a Business Sedan, $4 in either SUV and $8 in a First-Class Sedan. Hours and miles do not roll over from one month to the next. Tolls, parking and onboard Wi-Fi are passed on at actual cost. Trips out of town are billed at the hourly rate plus 50%, plus the chauffeur’s hotel and a flat $100 travel allowance.

Blocks are the hourly rate multiplied by the hours you reserve: there is no discount and no surcharge for committing. Unused hours and unused miles do not roll over to the next month. On a yearly contract the same block and the same rate hold for all twelve months. Taxes and a 20% gratuity are included.

Who signs for a year.

Chief executives and their offices are the most common clients, often because a board or an insurer has asked for a consistent, vetted driver rather than app-based travel. Heads of diplomatic missions and consular posts sign for a year because their postings are measured in years and their budgets are approved annually; our diplomatic and consular transportation page covers protocol in more detail. Family offices use a yearly contract for principals and their children, and public figures use it because a stable team is the simplest privacy measure there is.

Hotels, private clubs and residential buildings sign for a year to provide a house car to residents and guests. Production companies sometimes take a yearly arrangement during a long series shoot, and law firms do the same for partners who split the week between two cities.

Running the contract through the year.

Your account has one named contact for scheduling, billing and changes. Every month you receive a statement of the trips, hours and miles used, so the block can be judged against reality rather than impressions. Each quarter we look at the pattern with you. If you are consistently using fewer hours than you reserved, we will say so; if you are consistently over, we will show you what a larger block would have cost. How a change of block is made during the term is written into your agreement.

Vehicles on yearly contracts are no more than four model years old for the whole term. When a car reaches that limit it is replaced with the current equivalent in the same class, not downgraded. You can see the models we use in each class on the fleet page and in the vehicle cards further down this one.

Compared with leasing a car and hiring a driver.

Some clients weigh a yearly chauffeur contract against leasing a vehicle and employing a driver directly. Employing someone yourself means payroll, benefits, a commercial insurance policy, cover for holidays and illness, vehicle maintenance, parking and the time spent managing all of it. A contract with BlackRyde folds those into one monthly figure, with the gratuity included and nothing to administer beyond the schedule. If you already own a car you prefer, a chauffeur-only contract at $95 an hour is another route; see a chauffeur for your own car.

For a wider view of business-travel budgeting, the Global Business Travel Association publishes annual cost research, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has practical guidance for companies setting travel and duty-of-care policies.

A year in practice.

Most yearly accounts settle into a rhythm within the first month. The primary chauffeur collects the principal at the same hour on weekdays, waits through the working day or returns at agreed times, and covers evening engagements as they arise. The second chauffeur takes over on scheduled days off and during holidays, having already driven the principal several times so the handover is invisible. When the principal travels, the account can follow: an airport drop in New York, a car waiting at Pearson or O’Hare on arrival, and the same billing reference on every trip.

Seasonal patterns are planned rather than discovered. Summer weekends at a lake house, a winter of early ski departures, the run of year-end client dinners in December: your account contact asks about the year ahead at the start and books the long trips early, so the right vehicle and chauffeur are held when demand in the city is highest.

Budgeting and reporting.

Because the hourly rate cannot move for twelve months, the only variables in a yearly budget are the hours used beyond the block, miles beyond 93 a day, out-of-town supplements and pass-through costs such as tolls and parking. Each of those is itemised on the monthly statement with dates and receipts, so an assistant or a finance team can reconcile the account in minutes. Invoices can carry a cost-centre or matter reference, and principals who prefer it can appear on records by reference rather than by name.

Signing a yearly contract.

We start with a short call about the city or cities, the hours you expect, the vehicle class and any security, privacy or protocol requirements. You then receive a written proposal and a draft agreement. Deposits, payment timing, how cover is arranged and what happens if circumstances change are all set in that agreement and nowhere else, so there are no surprises in a brochure. Call (877) 403-1177 or use the buttons below to begin.