Hire a driver to drive your car and a second to drive you

Hire a driver to drive your car, with a second chauffeur alongside

Most people who want to hire a driver to drive your car have a simple brief. The car is theirs. They want a capable, vetted person behind the wheel for a few hours, an evening or a long run out of the city. What they rarely want is to be stranded once the car has been delivered, or to wonder how the driver gets home afterwards.

RydeBack answers that by always sending two chauffeurs. Chauffeur 1 drives your own vehicle. Chauffeur 2 drives a RydeBack car, which carries you and your guests, follows you as a chase car, or collects chauffeur 1 at the end. The result is a driver service built around owners and their cars, rather than a ride that leaves the car behind.

If you came here looking for a personal driver with own car, there are two readings, and we cover both. Our chauffeurs can drive you in your own car, or they can bring their own RydeBack car to carry you while your vehicle is driven separately. For more traditional point-to-point chauffeuring in our cars only, see our private chauffeur service.

Some owners want to be driven in their own car. It is set up the way they like, it is comfortable, and they would rather arrive in it. For that, choose the ride in your own car mode. Chauffeur 1 drives you in your vehicle. Chauffeur 2 follows close behind in the RydeBack car and takes chauffeur 1 back at the end. The price is identical to the split mode.

Prefer to travel separately? In the split mode, you and your guests ride with chauffeur 2 while chauffeur 1 drives your car to its destination. Chauffeur 2 then collects chauffeur 1. Both modes are explained, with a simple diagram, under service options.

When owners hire a driver to drive their car

The reasons vary, but they usually fall into a few familiar patterns.

• Evenings out. Dinners, galas, launches and celebrations where you would rather not drive at the end. Our page on how to get a driver to drive my car home covers this case in full.
• Arrivals. Landing at a commercial airport or a private aviation terminal (FBO) and wanting your own car waiting, driven there by someone you trust, with a second car ready if your party is larger.
• Cruise ports, marinas and train stations. Leaving a yacht club or a cruise terminal with luggage, guests and a car that needs to go home.
• Long-distance trips. Moving to a second home for the season, or a weekend away where you would rather work, rest or talk than drive.
• Business days. A day of meetings in your own car, with a driver handling traffic and parking while you take calls in the back seat.
• Simply not wanting to drive. Fatigue after a long-haul flight, a late finish, or a preference to be driven. No justification is needed.

Hotels, family offices and corporate teams often book on behalf of a principal or guest. The clients we serve page explains how delegate booking works.

A driver for luxury cars and supercars: who gets your keys

A driver for luxury car owners needs more than a licence. Before a RydeBack assignment, each chauffeur clears five checks: approval by the city, a criminal background check, a review of their driving record, an interview, and an assessment drive under supervision. Exotic and high-value cars are assigned only to our professional tier, whose members have been assessed in that class of vehicle.

That is the part supercar and collector-car owners tend to ask about first. A modern exotic may have a dual-clutch gearbox, drive modes, a nose-lift system or a very wide body that changes how it handles a car park ramp. A classic may have a manual gearbox and no driver aids at all. Tell us the make, model and anything particular about the car, and we match the chauffeur to it. You can see how drivers join and are graded on our chauffeur standards page.

Custody is handled the same way every time. Your car is photographed and filmed in a full walk-around at handover and again at drop-off, and the files are stored in your private evidence vault for 12 weeks. The key goes into a numbered, signal-blocking Faraday pouch the moment we take it. The final handover is confirmed with your PIN. The details are on how we protect your vehicle.

We arrange commercial insurance for the service; you receive the details when you book.

Hire a driver to drive my car long distance: how the hours work

Long trips are where our pricing model is most useful to understand. Hours are counted garage to garage: from the moment the chauffeurs leave our base to the moment they are back. That covers their journey to you, your trip, and their return. Distance is charged only on your trip, so the drive back is paid for once, inside the hours, and never again by the kilometre.

Two examples, shown as ranges because traffic and routes change:

• New York, out of the city for the weekend. A run of 150 to 180 km to a second home, taking 6.5 to 8 hours garage to garage, comes to roughly US$2,375 to US$2,900. The quote also includes estimated tolls for the route.
• Dubai to Abu Dhabi. A trip of 130 to 150 km, taking 4.5 to 5.5 hours garage to garage, comes to roughly AED 6,545 to AED 7,835.

If the car is staying at the destination and you are heading somewhere else, choose the different destinations mode. Chauffeur 1 returns by taxi or rideshare, and that fare is estimated and included upfront, then settled to the receipt at cost, capped at 25% above the estimate. For a quote on your own route, use the instant price calculator.

Hire a driver to drive your car by the hour or for the day

Rates are published per chauffeur-hour. Because two chauffeurs always attend, an hour of service costs twice the listed rate, plus the per-kilometre charge on your own trip. The minimum booking is three hours, then half-hour steps.

• Toronto: CA$180 per chauffeur-hour, CA$360 per service hour, plus CA$7 per km.
• Miami and New York: US$125 per chauffeur-hour, US$250 per service hour, plus US$5 per km.
• London: £95 per chauffeur-hour, £190 per service hour, plus £3.80 per km.
• Dubai: AED 460 per chauffeur-hour, AED 920 per service hour, plus AED 18.50 per km.

For a full day in your own car, an eight-hour booking covering 60 to 100 km comes to roughly CA$3,300 to CA$3,580 in Toronto or US$2,300 to US$2,500 in Miami. Payment is taken in full at booking, with no deposit. Any tip is your choice, and all of it goes to the chauffeurs. A cleaning fee applies only if the RydeBack car is soiled, and it is charged after the trip with photos.

Each city has its own page with local details, such as our London driver service and Dubai service.

What every booking includes

Whether you book three hours or a full day, the core of the service does not change. Each RydeBack booking comes with:

• Two vetted chauffeurs, one for your car and one for the RydeBack car.
• A RydeBack passenger car, used to carry you and your guests, to follow your car, or to bring the first chauffeur back.
• A recorded photo and video walk-around of your car at handover and at drop-off, kept in your private evidence vault for 12 weeks.
• Your key sealed in a numbered Faraday pouch from the moment it leaves your hand.
• Live trip status in the RydeBack web app, with an email or SMS when chauffeurs are assigned, en route, holding your secured keys, departing, arriving and returning the keys.
• A PIN-confirmed handover at the end, so the key goes only to the person you named.
• Estimated tolls and, in the different destinations mode, the estimated return fare for chauffeur 1, all in the upfront price.

What is not included is anything unexpected. There is no deposit and no separate charge for the chauffeurs' trip back.

Moving the car without moving yourself

Not every booking involves a passenger. Sometimes the car simply needs to be somewhere you are not: a service appointment, a detailer, a storage facility for the season, or a second home where you will arrive later by air. In those cases, hiring a driver to drive your car is really about custody, and the different destinations mode is designed for it.

Chauffeur 1 collects the car from you or your staff, records the walk-around, seals the key and drives straight to the destination. On arrival the car is filmed again and the key is handed to whoever you nominated, confirmed by PIN. Chauffeur 1 then returns by taxi or rideshare. Because that return fare depends on the route and the time of day, we estimate it in advance and settle it to the actual receipt, never more than 25% above the estimate.

The record stays in your vault for 12 weeks, which is useful if the car is going to a workshop and you want a clear before-and-after of its condition.

Chauffeur or driver: what you are actually hiring

The words are often used interchangeably, but there is a useful distinction. A driver is anyone who drives a vehicle. A chauffeur is a professional employed to drive other people, usually in a private or hired car, and expected to handle the whole journey: timing, route, discretion, the car itself and the comfort of the passengers.

When you hire a driver to drive your car through RydeBack, you are getting chauffeurs in that fuller sense, even when one of them is alone in your car with no passengers. They arrive presentable, follow a fixed custody procedure, keep you informed at every step, and treat the vehicle as if it were their responsibility, because for those hours it is.

Driving well is also about saying no at the right time. Road-safety research on how alcohol and drugs affect drivers is summarised by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in its alcohol and drugs research area, and the CDC sets out the basics of impaired driving. Hiring a chauffeur is the simplest way to make sure the person driving your car is fit to do it.

Booking, cities and the small print

RydeBack is live in five cities: Toronto, Miami, New York, London and Dubai. In New York, the passenger car is operated by a partner licensed by the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission. Dubai assignments are staffed through a partner licensed by the RTA, the emirate's roads and transport authority. Local details for Toronto, including the winter rule for supercars on summer tyres, are on the Toronto chauffeur service page.

Cancel 72 hours or more before pickup and you receive a full refund. Under 72 hours, 50% is refunded. A no-show, or a cancellation after the chauffeurs have been dispatched, is not refunded. The full terms are in our cancellation policy.

Online reservations are opening soon and will need at least two hours' notice. In the meantime, our team takes bookings on 1-877-860-3388, at support@rydeback.com and through the chat button.