Mercedes-Benz S-Class
The modern benchmark for a town car: long, quiet and comfortable for three in the back on a long run to the airport.
A set price, not a meter
New York Town Car Service
High Society Limousine runs New York town car service the way it was always meant to work: an executive sedan with a chauffeur, booked ahead at a set price that includes the tolls. No meter, no surge, no surprises at the airport or the city line, from Manhattan and the boroughs to Westchester and beyond.
One set price, tolls inExecutive sedans and SUVsAirports and WestchesterDispatch 24 hours a day
Price your trip
Get a Set Price for a Town Car
Give us the pickup, the destination, the time and the number of passengers. You get one set price for the journey before you book, and it does not change if the traffic does.
The price covers the sedan, the chauffeur, tolls and parking where it applies, and fifteen minutes of waiting at the pickup. Gratuity is not included. Regular trips can run on an account with one monthly statement.
Set price before you travelTolls includedNo surge at any hourMet inside at airports
What a cab charges
The Cab's Formula, by the Numbers
USD 70JFK flat farea yellow cab between Manhattan and JFK, before surcharges, tolls and tip
USD 79.75at rush hourthe same cab fare once the TLC's surcharges are added, still before tolls and tip
USD 20Newarkadded to the meter on a cab to Newark, with the driver's return tolls on top
2xthe meterthe rate from the city line to Westchester or Nassau in a yellow cab
Fares and surcharges from the TLC's taxi fare page; the rush hour figure is simple addition of the TLC's own numbers for a weekday trip from Manhattan between four and eight. A town car turns all of it into one number.
Set price or formula
Why a Town Car Beats the Meter Beyond Manhattan
A town car is a set price. A cab is a formula. On the trips people book town cars for, the airports and the suburbs, the difference between the two is wider than anywhere else in the city.
Yellow cab, Midtown to JFK, 5pm weekday
JFK flat fare from ManhattanUSD 70.00
Rush hour surcharge, 4pm to 8pm weekdaysUSD 5.00
State congestion surchargeUSD 2.50
Improvement surchargeUSD 1.00
MTA congestion tollUSD 0.75
MTA state surchargeUSD 0.50
Before tolls and tipUSD 79.75
From the TLC fare page.
Town car service in New York began as one promise: a big sedan, booked by phone, at a price agreed before you got in. The neighborhood car services that grew up across the boroughs still work that way; the TLC describes a livery base as one that charges by flat rate, mileage or zone. The name came from the car most of them drove, the Lincoln Town Car, which carried New York's executives for decades until the last one was built in August 2011 at Ford's plant in St. Thomas, Ontario. The car is gone. The promise is what you are booking.
A yellow cab works on a formula instead. From Manhattan to JFK a cab charges a flat USD 70, then adds 50 cents for the MTA, USD 1.00 for the improvement surcharge, USD 2.50 for the state congestion surcharge, 75 cents for the congestion toll and, from four to eight on weekdays, USD 5.00 for rush hour. That is USD 79.75 before a single toll or the tip, and it is the best case, because JFK is the one airport with a flat fare.
LaGuardia is metered, with a USD 5.00 LaGuardia surcharge on top, and a pickup at either JFK or LaGuardia adds a USD 2.00 airport access fee. Newark is metered too, plus a USD 20.00 surcharge, and the passenger pays the tolls both ways, including the driver's trip back. Beyond the city line to Westchester or Nassau, the meter switches to the out of city rate, which charges double from the city limit to your door, again with tolls in both directions.
None of that makes a cab dishonest. It makes the price unknown until you arrive. A town car turns the formula into a number before you travel. It is not an estimate that might move; it is the price. Ours includes tolls and parking where it applies, does not rise in traffic or at rush hour, and is the same at midnight as at noon. Gratuity is not included. For a family of four with luggage going to Newark at five on a Friday, a number agreed the day before is usually the easier one to live with.
Compare
Town Car or Yellow Cab, Trip by Trip
The cab column is the TLC's own fare rules. The town car column is what we quote.
| Trip | Yellow cab | Town car with us |
|---|---|---|
| Manhattan to JFK | USD 70 flat, plus surcharges, tolls and tip | One set price, tolls included |
| Manhattan to LaGuardia | The meter, plus a USD 5 surcharge, tolls and tip | One quoted price, tolls included |
| Manhattan to Newark | The meter, plus USD 20 and tolls both ways | One fixed price, tolls included |
| Manhattan to White Plains | The meter, doubled beyond the city line, tolls both ways | One agreed price, tolls included |
| Across Midtown | The meter | One price, though a cab may be cheaper here |
When a Cab Is the Better Choice
One person, a short trip inside Manhattan, no luggage and no deadline. A cab will usually be cheaper than any booked car for that, and it is at the curb in a minute. We would rather say so than sell you a sedan for six blocks. The same goes for a short hop on a quiet evening when a cab is passing anyway.
When a Town Car Is
Anything to an airport, across a bridge or past the city line; anything with bags, children or a flight to catch; and any trip at an hour when cabs are scarce. That is most of what people book a town car for, and where a price agreed in advance does the most good.
Cab rules most riders miss
Four Cab Fare Rules Most Riders Never See
All four are on the TLC's fare page, and all four change what a cab costs on the trips people book town cars for.
The JFK flat fare is for Manhattan only
The USD 70 flat fare applies between JFK and Manhattan. From JFK to Brooklyn, Queens or anywhere else in the city, the cab runs on the standard meter, and a pickup at the airport adds the USD 2.00 access fee. A town car quotes Brooklyn and Queens the same way it quotes Manhattan.
Some surcharges stop at the state line
The 50 cent MTA surcharge applies to trips ending in the city or in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, Orange or Putnam. A cab to Newark skips it, but adds the USD 20 Newark surcharge and the driver's return tolls instead.
The meter doubles at the city line
On a trip to Westchester or Nassau, the meter changes to the out of city rate at the city limit and charges double from there to your door. The screen should show the change. The farther north you live, the more of the trip runs at that rate.
The congestion charges follow the street
The state's USD 2.50 cab surcharge applies to trips that begin, end or pass through Manhattan south of 96th Street, and the 75 cent congestion toll to trips in the zone at or below 60th Street, except on the FDR Drive, the West Side Highway and the tunnel connections to West Street.
None of this is hidden. Every one of those rules is fair and published by the TLC. The point is that a cab rider has to know them to predict the fare, and a town car rider does not.
North of the city
Town Cars Between Westchester and the City
North of the city, the double meter rule bites hardest, and it is where much of our daily work happens: commuters on the Harlem and Hudson lines, corporate campuses, and families heading for the airports. A cab from Midtown to Scarsdale spends most of its distance beyond the city line, at the out of city rate, with the tolls paid both ways. A town car quotes the whole trip once.
Going the other way, the choice in most Westchester towns is not a cab at all. Street hails are rare outside the city, so the real options are a car service booked ahead or an app at whatever price the moment sets. A town car from White Plains into Manhattan, or from Rye to LaGuardia, is a fixed price arranged the night before, with the chauffeur outside at the time you gave.
Westchester County Airport is about five miles from White Plains, which makes it the easiest airport in the region for much of the county. We meet arrivals there as we do at the big three, and for private flights we coordinate with the operator on the field. For a Westchester family flying from JFK or Newark instead, the price is quoted from the front door, with the bridges and tolls of the whole trip already inside it.
Commuters
Standing Town Car Bookings for Commuters
The oldest use of a town car in New York, and still one of the most common: the same trip, every working day, at the same price.
Set it up once
Give us the days, the time and the two addresses. The car arrives at the same time every morning, and the return can be fixed or called in when you leave the office.
Keep the same chauffeur
Wherever the schedule allows, the same chauffeur drives the same commute, learns the building, the coffee stop and the route you prefer, and knows when a quiet ride is wanted.
Pause it with a message
Vacations, a day working from home or a week of travel take one message to dispatch. Nothing is charged for trips that do not run.
One statement a month
Every trip on one monthly statement, with the date and route on each line, which is how most commuters and their employers prefer to handle it. If your employer pays, the statement can go straight to them.
Airports
Town Cars to Every New York Airport
What a cab does at each airport, and what a quoted price does instead.
JFK
The cab's flat fare makes JFK look simple, until the surcharges, the tolls and the tip are added. A town car quotes one figure for the run in either direction, and the chauffeur meets you inside arrivals with a name board. From Brooklyn or Queens, where the cab is metered, a fixed price matters even more.
LaGuardia
Metered by cab, with a LaGuardia surcharge and a pickup fee on top. By town car it is one agreed price, and the chauffeur meets you at arrivals rather than in the taxi line.
Newark
The airport where the cab's formula grows fastest: the meter, the Newark surcharge and the tolls both ways. Our quote comes with the tunnel and the turnpike already in it.
Westchester and Teterboro
The smaller airports, where cabs are thin on the ground and a booked car is the normal way to arrive. Private flights are met in coordination with the operator.
Flight delays cost nothing. Flights are tracked on every pickup, so a delay moves the pickup time rather than starting a waiting charge. Each airport has its own page with terminals and timings, grouped under our town car service to the airports.
An early flight
A 7:00 Departure, From the Night Before
The most common town car booking of all is the early flight. Here is how a 7:00 departure from JFK works from the Upper West Side. The times are illustrative; the buffers are the ones we recommend.
8:00pm
The night before
The confirmation arrives with the chauffeur's name, the car and a number to call. If anything changes overnight, dispatch tells you before you wake.
4:15am
Chauffeur outside
The sedan is at the door fifteen minutes before the pickup time, engine warm, with a message to say it has arrived.
4:30am
On the way
Bags in the trunk and across the RFK Bridge before the traffic builds, with the route chosen for that hour.
5:15am
At departures
At the terminal with time to check bags and clear security for an international flight, and the bags lifted out at the curb.
Later
The return
The return pickup is already booked against the inbound flight number, so a delay abroad moves the pickup automatically.
The cars
Today's Town Cars
There are no new Lincoln Town Cars, so today's town car is a full size executive sedan with room in the back and in the trunk. See the sedans and SUVs we run today for seating on each.
BMW 7 Series
Our other flagship sedan, with the space and the calm that a working ride or an early flight calls for. The Lincoln Continental and Cadillac XTS round out the sedans.
Luxury SUVs
The Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Suburban and GMC Yukon Denali, for more passengers or more luggage than a sedan takes. The usual choice for families going to the airport.
Sprinter Vans
Eleven to fourteen passengers in forward facing seats, for a group that wants to travel together with its bags, at one price for the whole van.
Which Car for the Bags
The trunk decides more than the seats do. As a rule of thumb, a sedan suits up to three passengers with a large case each; beyond that, or with skis, golf clubs or a stroller, book an SUV. Tell us the bags when you book and we will tell you if the car you chose is too small, before it turns up at your door.
| Passengers | Luggage | Car |
|---|---|---|
| One to three | One or two cases each | Executive sedan |
| Three or four | A week's luggage, or golf clubs | Luxury SUV |
| Five to seven | Carry ons and a few large cases | Luxury SUV |
| Eight to fourteen | Luggage for everyone | Sprinter van |
The standard
What Makes a Town Car Service Worth Booking
Six things that separate a town car from a car that happened to be available.
The price is set first
One number before you travel, with tolls and parking inside it, and no change for traffic, weather or the hour. If anything is added, it is because you added a stop or a passenger.
The car is the one you booked
An executive sedan when you book a sedan, not whatever was free. If a change is ever needed, you hear about it before the pickup, not at the curb.
The chauffeur is early
On site before the time, parked where you can see the car, with a message to say so. On airport runs, the chauffeur is in arrivals before the flight lands.
The route is chosen by someone local
The tunnel or the bridge that is moving at that hour, the side of the terminal that is quieter, the entrance a building uses after six, and the detour that avoids the parade, the marathon or the motorcade.
One number answers
Dispatch picks up at any hour, by a person who can see your booking and change it, rather than a menu or a chat window, and who can reach the chauffeur in seconds.
The receipt makes sense
Your name, the route, the date and the price, matching what you were quoted, with a reference on it if you need one for expenses.
Cheap or best
Cheap Town Car or the Best Town Car?
Two searches, one answer: the price that holds on the day.
What Cheap Usually Leaves Out
The cheapest quote for a town car is often the one that has left something out. Tolls are the usual missing piece, then airport parking, then waiting time and the congestion charges. Compare quotes on the total for the same car and the same trip, and ask what the next fifteen minutes of waiting cost before you book.
Cheap can also mean the wrong car: a compact where you asked for a sedan, or a driver who has never been to your airport terminal. A town car that costs a little more and arrives as booked is the cheaper one in every way that matters on the day.
None of that means you should overpay. A fair price for a town car is one you can compare line by line with any other quote, and ours is built to be compared that way.
What the Best Looks Like
The best town car service in NYC is the one whose price on the day matches the quote, whose car is outside before the time, and whose dispatcher answers at four in the morning. Everything else is decoration.
When you read reviews, skip the star count and look for words about timing and price: early, on time, late, changed, extra. A company that is reliable gets described as boring, and in a town car boring is the compliment you want.
Ask, too, how a company handles the bad day: the flight that lands three hours late, the car that gets a flat tire, the snowstorm. The answer tells you more about a town car service than its photographs do.
When the city runs short
The Days a Set Price Matters Most
A few days a year, every cab is taken and every app is surging. A town car booked ahead is neither.
Snow
The first heavy snowfall empties the cab stands and fills the apps. A town car booked the day before was assigned before the snow started, and its price was set before anyone checked the forecast.
Rain at rush hour
Every umbrella in Midtown is waiting for the same car. A booked sedan arrives at the time you gave, and the chauffeur meets you at the door rather than at the corner.
The day before Thanksgiving
One of the busiest travel days of the year at all three airports. Book early, leave earlier than you think, and the price does not care how many other people are flying.
Holiday weekends
Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day empty the city in one direction on Friday and fill it again on Monday night. The price you agreed is the same on both.
Marathon Sunday
Roads close across all five boroughs from early morning. We plan the route around the course the day before, and the quote does not grow because the detour is longer.
UN week
Motorcades and rolling closures on the East Side for most of a week each September. Allow extra time near the East River; the price stays where it was agreed.
Who it is for
Who Books a Town Car in New York
Commuters
The same pickup every weekday from the suburbs or across the river, at a fixed price on one statement, with one way trips at a fixed price for the days in between.
Business travelers
Airport runs at either end of a trip, meetings across town, and a receipt that goes straight into the expense report, with a reference of your choosing on each one.
Families
School holidays, flights with children and luggage, and grandparents arriving from abroad, in an SUV with car seats fitted before the pickup and room in the back for the stroller.
Anyone without a car
Hospital appointments, the trip home after surgery, or a night out that ends after the trains stop, with a chauffeur who helps with the door and waits until you are inside.
Appointments and care
Town Cars for Medical Appointments
Many town car trips have nothing to do with business. They are trips to a hospital, a clinic or a specialist, often for someone who should not be driving that day and would rather not wrestle with a cab or a train.
Tell us when you book if the passenger uses a walker or a folding wheelchair, needs help with steps, or is coming home after a procedure. The chauffeur helps with the door, the bags and the walk to the entrance, and for appointments with an uncertain end time, booking by the hour means the car waits rather than leaving you to find another.
Family members often book these for a parent. We take the booking and payment from you, call the passenger to confirm the time the evening before if you would like us to, and message you at pickup and drop off. If the passenger needs a vehicle with a wheelchair lift, say so at the start, so we can tell you honestly whether one of our vehicles suits. It is better to know the night before than at the door of a clinic.
The details
What Our NYC Town Car Service Includes
Everything below sits inside the price you confirm.
- A set price for the journey, agreed before you travel
- All tolls on the route, both ways where they apply
- Parking at the airport or the station where it applies
- Fifteen minutes of waiting at a city pickup
- Flight tracking and meet and greet at arrivals
- An executive sedan or SUV of the class you booked
- Child seats fitted before the pickup, at no charge
- A named chauffeur and a dispatcher on one number
- Receipts by email, or a monthly statement on account
- No surge pricing on any date
Questions to Ask Any Town Car Service
Ask every company these before you book, us included.
- Is that the whole price, or will tolls and parking be added?
- Is the price the same at rush hour and after midnight?
- What car will arrive, and is it the one in the quote?
- How long is free waiting at the pickup and at the airport?
- What happens if my flight is delayed by two hours?
- Is gratuity included, or added on top?
- Who do I call if the car is late, and will a person answer?
- Can I have the same chauffeur for a regular trip?
- Will the car wait if I am held up at baggage claim?
- Do you meet passengers inside, or at the curb?
What to Have Ready When You Book
Nine details that make the quote exact and the pickup smooth.
- Flight number for any airport pickup, not just the landing time
- The exact pickup address, with the entrance or terminal
- How many passengers, and how many large bags
- Ages and weights of any children needing seats
- A mobile number for the passenger, if you are booking for someone else
- Any stop on the way, so it can be priced in
- A reference for the receipt, if the trip goes on expenses
- The return time or flight, if you want both legs priced together
- Anything the chauffeur should know, such as a gate code or a side entrance
How it works
How to Book a Town Car Service in New York
1
Send the journey
Pickup, destination, date, time and passengers. That is all a quote needs.
2
Confirm the price
One number with tolls and parking inside it. Gratuity is not included.
3
Meet the chauffeur
The chauffeur's name and number arrive before the pickup, and the sedan arrives before the time.
4
Ride, then forget it
No meter to watch, no surcharge to query, no change at the city line. The receipt matches the quote, and the return is already booked if you asked for one.
Where we drive
Where Our Town Cars Run
The city, the suburbs and the states next door. The rest of what we do is on the other services we run.
Manhattan
Every neighborhood from the Battery to Inwood, with the airports, Penn Station and Grand Central as the most common runs and the double meter of the suburbs one tunnel away. Hotel pickups are met in the lobby on request.
Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island
Borough to borough and borough to airport, where a bridge or a tunnel decides the time and the toll is already in the price. From Brooklyn and Queens, the cab's JFK flat fare does not apply, which makes a quote worth having.
Westchester
White Plains, Scarsdale, Rye, New Rochelle, Yonkers and the river towns, into the city, to the airports and between towns, often as standing bookings, and to the Metro-North stations when the train is the better half of the journey.
Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey
Nassau and Suffolk, Greenwich and Stamford, Hoboken and Princeton, each quoted as one price with tolls, and longer runs to Philadelphia, Boston or Washington on request, with the drive time quoted alongside the price.
FAQ
Town Car Service FAQs
A person answers the phone at any hour if your plans change.
A car service that sends an executive sedan with a chauffeur, booked ahead at a set price. The name comes from the Lincoln Town Car, the sedan New York car services used for decades until production ended in 2011. Today the car is usually a Mercedes S-Class, a BMW 7 Series or similar. What has not changed is the booking: ahead of time, at a price agreed first.
It depends on the distance, the vehicle and the airport if there is one. Every quote is one set price with tolls and parking included; gratuity is not included. Use the booking form above, or call 914-770-4646.
Inside Manhattan, usually not. To an airport at rush hour, to Newark, or past the city line where the meter doubles, a fixed price is often close to the cab's total once the surcharges, tolls and tip are added, and it is known before you leave. For two or three people sharing, the gap narrows further, because the town car price is per car, not per person.
No sedan company can buy a new one; the last was built in 2011. Our town cars today are executive sedans such as the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series, alongside the Lincoln Continental and Cadillac XTS. The badge changed; the size of the back seat and the trunk did not.
Yes, all tolls on the route, and parking where it applies. The price you confirm does not change with the traffic. Gratuity is the only thing not included.
No. The same journey costs the same at five on a weekday, at two in the morning and on a holiday. There is no surge and no rush hour surcharge. A cab adds USD 2.50 from four to eight on weekdays, and USD 5.00 on the JFK flat fare; a town car does not.
Yes, at JFK, LaGuardia, Newark and Westchester County Airport. The flight is tracked, the chauffeur meets you inside arrivals with a name board, and waiting is set by the landing time. For departures, we suggest a pickup time based on the airport, the hour and whether the flight is international.
The evening before is ideal for an early flight. For a sedan on a normal day a few hours is usually enough, and we take same day bookings whenever a car is free. Booking early does not change the price; it only makes sure the car you want is the car that comes.
Yes, every day. Much of our work is between Westchester towns, the city and the airports, often as standing bookings for commuters and families. Westchester County Airport, the Metro-North stations and the routes into Manhattan are everyday runs.
Yes. We take the booking and payment from you, and the chauffeur contacts the passenger directly. On request we let you know when they have been collected and dropped off. It is how many people book for parents, visiting relatives and colleagues flying in.
Yes, at no charge, fitted before the pickup. Give us the ages and weights of the children when you book so the right seats come with the car. Infant seats, forward facing seats and boosters are all available, and the chauffeur fits them before you arrive.
In everyday speech, very little: both mean a dark executive sedan booked ahead. Black car is also a TLC license category, which our page on black car service in NYC explains.
Yes. Book the return at the same time and it is a fixed price too, or book by the hour if the timing is open. For a whole day with one car, a chauffeur for the whole day is usually the better fit.
The one whose price on the day matches the quote and whose car is early. Ask any company the questions in the tabs above, us included, and choose on the answers.
Cheap quotes usually leave out tolls, parking or waiting. Compare the full price for the same car and trip. Ours includes tolls and parking and does not surge, which is what keeps it affordable on the day.
Since 2010
Book a Town Car
Send the journey. We will send one set price, with the tolls already in it.
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Contact Us
- Info@highsocietylimos.com
- 914-770-4646
- 447 Broadway New York NY 10013