In this guide 6 sections
Check five things before buying. Does it track chauffeur hours against vehicle availability? Does it tie airport pickups to live flight times, handle farm outs to affiliates, bill corporate accounts on one statement and split gratuity? Test each with a real week of bookings.
Does it match chauffeurs to cars and to legal hours?
A booking needs a car and a driver at the same time. Many tools show one or the other. The dispatcher then cross-checks a vehicle grid against a driver roster by eye. Stretch limousines, sedans and executive vans each need a different licence class in some regions, so check how the tool records that.
Look for a board that shows both, plus hours already worked this week. A chauffeur near a limit should be flagged before the job is assigned, not after. Legal driving hours vary with the country and the licence type, so ask how the tool lets you set yours.
Check vehicle detail too. A stretch, a sedan and a sprinter van differ in seats and luggage space. A wedding job should not land on a car that fits four.
- Driver hours worked this week on the assign screen
- Vehicle class, seats and luggage space
- Service gaps for cleaning and refuelling
- Blocked dates for maintenance and inspection
- Spare chauffeur or car on standby
Can an airport pickup follow the flight?
Airports cost time. A flight lands early, the chauffeur is still on another job, and the passenger waits at arrivals holding a phone.
Ask whether the system reads the flight number and updates the pickup time when the flight changes. Ask where the chauffeur sees that change. A dispatcher alone watching a flight board does not scale past a few jobs. Terminal changes, curbside rules and meet-and-greet signs belong in the booking notes too.
Also check the waiting rules. Free minutes after landing differ between domestic and international arrivals, and the tool should apply them without a manual calculation.
How does it handle farm outs to affiliates?
Every operator turns down a job at some point. A farm out passes it to a partner company in another city, or to a trusted local firm on a busy night. A busy Saturday in prom or wedding season is when the missing log hurts most.
The tool should record the partner, the agreed rate, the confirmation and what the partner reported afterwards. It should also keep the customer price separate from the partner cost, so the margin is visible per job.
Without that, farm outs live in emails and text threads. Three weeks later nobody knows which partner owes a commission or which job was never confirmed.
- Partner list with service areas and rates
- Job offer, accept and decline log
- Customer price and partner cost side by side
- Incoming farm ins from other operators
Will corporate accounts get one clean statement?
A corporate client has an account code, a booker, several travellers and a cost centre per trip. The invoice at month end must show all of these, or their accounts team sends it back. Invoices also need the booker’s name, since the person who orders the car is rarely the person who pays.
Test it with a sample account. Create four trips for three travellers under two cost centres, then produce the statement. Check for the purchase order number, waiting time, tolls, parking and fuel surcharge as separate lines.
Check credit terms, too. Some firms pay in thirty days, others pay by card on the day. The tool should handle both without extra work.
Gratuity needs its own handling
Gratuity is not revenue in the same way as the fare. It may be added at booking, added by the passenger on the day or built into the contract rate. Chauffeurs expect to receive it in full.
Ask the vendor how a tip added after the trip reaches the driver and the books. The answer should name the report, not a general promise. Your accountant will ask. Be ready.
Finish with a trial week. Keep it honest. Enter a real week of bookings, one airport run, one farm out and one corporate trip. If your dispatcher still reaches for a notebook, mark that gap.
Dispatch software scorecard
One page, five blocks: chauffeur and vehicle, airport pickup, farm out, corporate account and gratuity. Each block holds three test questions, with columns for vendor A, vendor B, pass or fail and the workaround needed. A closing row names who ran the trial week and when.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Do I need flight tracking for every pickup?
Only for airport runs. Even so, it saves the most time there. A flight number on the booking lets the pickup time move on its own when the aircraft is early or late.
How should farm out margins be tracked?
Keep the customer price and the partner cost as two fields on the same job. The difference is your margin, and the log shows which partner confirms reliably.
Can one tool handle chauffeurs who are contractors?
Usually yes. Look for a driver record that holds licence, insurance and payment terms. Contractor pay often differs from employee pay, so check the payout report.
What should a trial week include?
Real bookings from last month: an airport run, a wedding, a farm out and a corporate account. Real jobs expose gaps that a vendor demo hides. Ask the dispatcher to run it, not the owner, since the dispatcher feels every extra click.