Since 2009
The person, not the fleet.
Jacob [Jacob's surname] has been a licensed Chicago chauffeur since 2009. What began as one man and one car is now a small firm run on the same principle it started with: you should know who is driving you, and they should know you.
The story
It started because the alternative was worse.
In 2009 Jacob was driving for someone else's company, and watching the same thing happen every week: a car sent by an algorithm, a driver who had never met the passenger, a price that grew between the quote and the receipt. The people in the back deserved better, and so, frankly, did the people driving.
So he took out a licence of his own and started with a single sedan and a rule that has not changed since — the client knows the chauffeur's name, and the chauffeur knows the client's preferences. Everything the firm does now is an attempt to keep that true at scale, which is why the fleet is four vehicles rather than forty, and why we take on fewer accounts than we could.
Today Jacob works with [number] chauffeurs, all of them vetted personally, and still drives regularly himself. If you have an account, there is a reasonable chance he has driven you.
Jacob
Founder · Licensed Chicago chauffeur since 2009
“Anyone can send you a car. What you're actually buying is the twenty minutes you don't spend wondering whether it's coming.”
Standards
Five things we do the same way every time.
These are not aspirations. They are the operating rules, and the reason the price is what it is.
How chauffeurs are vetted
Every chauffeur holds a current City of Chicago public chauffeur licence. Before anyone drives for us they pass a criminal background check and a motor vehicle record review, and both are re-run on an ongoing basis rather than filed and forgotten. Jacob interviews every candidate himself and rides with them before they carry a client. We turn down far more applicants than we hire, which is the only part of this that is genuinely expensive.
Fifteen minutes early, always
Chauffeurs are on site fifteen minutes before your pickup time, and you get a text when the car arrives with the chauffeur's mobile number. It costs us the fifteen minutes and it removes the only genuinely stressful part of ground transport. If we are ever late without telling you first, the ride is on us — a policy that survives because we rarely have to honour it.
One chauffeur per account
Accounts are assigned a chauffeur, introduced by name, who stays with them. It is not sentiment — it is that after the fourth ride they know which terminal door you use, that you take calls between meetings, and that your daughter's school run has a particular gate. Cover, when it is needed, is arranged in advance and named to you beforehand. You will never meet a stranger at the kerb without warning.
Vehicle discipline
Nothing stays in service past four years, regardless of how well it has held up. Vehicles are serviced at manufacturer intervals with the records kept, inspected before every reservation, and detailed between every ride rather than at the end of a shift. There is always a spare vehicle available, because a car that will not start is our problem and should never become your morning.
All-inclusive pricing, on principle
Tolls, parking, airport fees, tax and gratuity are inside the quoted figure. No fuel surcharge, no administrative fee, no surge, and nothing presented to you at the kerb. We publish the whole rate card, which almost nobody in this industry does, because a price you can check is the cheapest form of trust available to us. We are priced above the Chicago market and we would rather explain why than quietly claw it back in fees.
A person answers
Dispatch is staffed around the clock by people, not a queue. When something goes wrong — a flight cancelled, a meeting moved, a plan abandoned at eleven at night — you speak to someone who can actually change the booking, immediately, and who will tell you honestly if what you need is not possible.
Where we work
Chicago, and the places Chicago commutes to.
Downtown, the Loop and River North daily; Naperville, Schaumburg, Oak Brook, Evanston, Hinsdale, Arlington Heights and the collar counties routinely; and long-distance runs to Milwaukee, South Bend and Indianapolis when the drive beats the flight. O'Hare and Midway several times a day, every day of the year.
Credentials
- Licensed Chicago livery operator — licence details supplied on request
- Commercial liability cover; certificate of insurance available on request
- Every chauffeur holds a current City of Chicago public chauffeur licence
- Background and driving-record checks before hire and on an ongoing basis
Corporate accounts receive licensing and insurance documentation as standard at onboarding. Anyone else is welcome to ask for it before booking.
Reserve
Your car is already free.
An all-inclusive price in under a minute. No account, no deposit, no obligation to book.