Corporate black car service in NYC: a checklist for travel teams

In short

• A New York black car base dispatches only prearranged trips and takes more than 90 percent of its business other than in cash
• Base, vehicle and driver licenses can each be checked against TLC lists on NYC Open Data
• A Manhattan invoice can add a $2.75 state surcharge, a $0.75 per-trip zone charge and a Black Car Fund surcharge to the fare

What a black car base is in New York

Every prearranged car in New York City works through a base licensed by the TLC. The TLC has four kinds of for-hire service. They are community cars (also called liveries), black cars, luxury limousines and high-volume services like the ride apps. For all of them, the trip must be booked through a TLC-licensed base, with a TLC-licensed driver in a TLC-licensed vehicle.

A black car base books every trip ahead, and more than 90 percent of its business is paid other than in cash. That usually means accounts and cards. A luxury limousine base meets the same two rules and runs vehicles with 20 seats or fewer. It charges garage to garage, by flat rate, time or mileage. You'll see the difference on an hourly invoice. Garage to garage billing can start the clock when the car leaves its garage, before your first pickup. Ask a vendor which license it holds and when its clock starts.

Both are covered by the Black Car Fund. New York law created it in 1999 to give workers' compensation coverage to drivers at its member bases. A passenger surcharge on top of the fare pays for it. A company must join if more than 90 percent of its for-hire business is non-cash and it owns less than half of the vehicles it dispatches. That includes companies based outside the state that work in New York.

Four checks before signing

You can do each of these from your desk in an afternoon, without taking the vendor's word for anything.

1. Licenses. Look up the base by the legal name on the contract, then a sample vehicle and driver, in the TLC lists on NYC Open Data. Our guide on how to check a New York car service before you book walks through all three. For any trip that starts in New York City, the vehicle and driver must be TLC licensed. That's true even if the vendor is based in New Jersey or Connecticut.
2. Black Car Fund membership. The Fund lists its member bases in alphabetical order at nybcf.org. Membership gives the drivers of that base the Fund's workers' compensation coverage while they work for it.
3. Prices and waiting rules in writing. Ask for the airport rates, the hourly rates by vehicle class, the minimum length of an hourly booking, and exactly what each figure excludes. Ask how much free waiting you get on domestic arrivals, on international arrivals and on ordinary pickups. Also ask when waiting charges begin, and whether prices change at busy times.
4. A sample confirmation. It should show the pickup time and address, the vehicle class and the flight number for arrivals. It should also show how the price is worked out, a phone number that answers at 5:00 AM, and the cancellation terms. Ask where an arriving passenger meets the chauffeur, at the curb or inside the terminal with a name sign, and what meeting inside costs.

Also ask about insurance. Keep a certificate of insurance naming your company in the vendor file, next to the base number. Add a written plan for what happens after an incident on a trip.

Line items on a New York invoice

A New York black car invoice includes public charges that the base collects and passes on, on top of the fare. It helps your finance team to know them in advance.

• New York State congestion surcharge: $2.75 on each for-hire trip that begins, ends or passes through Manhattan south of 96th Street, for trips that begin and end in the state. The law requires it to be shown separately on the receipt.
• MTA Congestion Relief Zone charge: $0.75 per black car trip to, from, within or through Manhattan at and below 60th Street, as of September 2026, paid by the passenger.
• Black Car Fund surcharge: a small percentage of the fare, calculated without tips, bridge and tunnel tolls, congestion surcharges, central business district tolls or airport access fees.
• Tolls on the bridges and tunnels along the route, such as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel between Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
• Gratuity, waiting past the free waiting time, and extras such as a meet inside the terminal and airport parking.

Per-trip charges add up with the number of trips. Four separate black car rides inside the zone carry $14 in the two congestion charges before any fare. That's one reason to book a meeting day as one hourly booking. Ask the vendor how it shows those charges on an hourly booking before the first invoice arrives.

Try a vendor for a month before you sign. Write down the booked pickup time and the actual one, and count the calls your coordinator had to make to get a car moving. Check every invoice line against its confirmation.

Setting up an account

Our corporate accounts get monthly billing and priority scheduling, with a month of rides on one invoice and each trip listed. Before the first ride, we may ask new clients for a card authorization. It protects against fraud, and you only do it once.

Check our written confirmation against these published terms. Airport rides have a flat rate by class from any New York City address to JFK, LaGuardia, Newark and Teterboro. We price hourly bookings by vehicle class, with a 3-hour minimum. You get 45 minutes of free waiting after a domestic landing, 60 minutes after an international landing, and 15 minutes at any other pickup. At airports, we meet you at the curb or the car service pickup area and call or message you. Meet and greet inside the terminal with a name sign is an extra charge, plus any airport parking. Airport transfer prices include tolls, airport fees and taxes. Hourly rates and rates by distance and time are before NYC sales tax, the Black Car Fund, tolls and parking, and the gratuity is optional.

Book online at least 1 hour before pickup. We answer calls and messages 24 hours a day, every day. For a group, start with our fleet list. It shows seats and bags for each car.