According to a recent survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp, hidden fees added to bills ranked highest as the most annoying to consumers. The use of hidden fees also exists within the passenger ground transportation industry. Compared to taxi-cabs, shuttles and charter bus operators, this abuse is most common among limousine service providers.
According to research conducted by Transportation Reviews, the great majority of limousine operators who provide limousine services do not communicate or display their limousine rates on their website. This lack of transparency or openness encourages many limousine companies to employ the use of hidden fees when billing the customer for providing limousine services.
Before you book or reserve limousine services, make sure to ask the limousine company to provide you with written details via an email regarding their limousine service rates, especially if their limousine rates are not clearly stated on their company website.
In addition to hourly and airport transfer rates, limousine companies may require additional surcharges for the following: wait-time, additional stops, time of day, number of passengers, holidays, fuel surcharges, tolls, parking, phone usage, airport fees, regulatory fees and required driver gratuity. Understanding these additional charges issued by limousine companies will help you determine the approximate total cost of reserving limousine service and will discourage the limousine company from issuing any hidden fees.
