Limo & Ground Transportation Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms used every day in limousine, chauffeur, and ground transportation operations — from deadhead and farm-out to garage-to-garage billing and TCP permits.

Operations

Black Caralso: executive car service, black car service: Black car service refers to pre-booked, chauffeur-driven transportation in a premium sedan or SUV, typically serving corporate and executive travel rather than casual or hailed trips.
Chauffeur: A chauffeur is a professional driver employed to operate a passenger vehicle for hire, whose role includes route planning, luggage handling, and passenger service in addition to driving.
Deadheadalso: deadhead miles, deadhead mileage, DH: Deadhead is any distance a vehicle travels without a passenger on board, such as the drive from the garage to a pickup location or the return trip after a drop-off.
Meet and Greetalso: inside pickup, greeter service: Meet and greet is an airport pickup in which the chauffeur parks, enters the terminal, and meets the passenger inside, usually at baggage claim, rather than waiting at the curb.
No-Show: A no-show is a booking where the passenger does not appear at the pickup location within the agreed grace period and cannot be reached, after which the operator may charge the full fare.
Shuttle: A shuttle is a repeating transportation service that runs a fixed route on a published schedule, such as between a hotel and an airport terminal, rather than serving individually booked trips.

Dispatch & Scheduling

Dispatch: Dispatch is the process of assigning booked trips to specific vehicles and chauffeurs, and managing those assignments in real time as conditions change.
Flight Tracking: Flight tracking is the automatic monitoring of a passenger's inbound flight status so that a scheduled airport pickup adjusts when the flight arrives early or late.
Run Sheetalso: trip sheet, manifest, daily manifest: A run sheet is the schedule of assigned trips given to a chauffeur for a shift, listing pickup times, locations, passenger details, and any special instructions.
Spottingalso: staging, pre-positioning: Spotting is positioning a vehicle at or near a pickup location ahead of the scheduled time, so the chauffeur is in place before the passenger is ready.

Billing & Rates

As-Directedalso: hourly, charter, AD: An as-directed booking reserves a vehicle and chauffeur for a block of time during which the passenger sets the itinerary, rather than booking a fixed route between two points.
Corporate Accountalso: house account, direct bill: A corporate account is a billing arrangement in which a business books transportation for its staff or clients and is invoiced periodically, rather than each passenger paying at the time of travel.
Garage-to-Garagealso: G2G, garage to garage billing: Garage-to-garage is a billing method that charges for the entire time a vehicle is away from its base, beginning when it leaves the garage and ending when it returns, rather than only the time a passenger is aboard.
Gratuityalso: auto-gratuity, service charge: Gratuity is the chauffeur's tip, which in chauffeured transportation is frequently added automatically to the fare as a fixed percentage rather than left to the passenger's discretion.
Minimum Hours: Minimum hours is the shortest billable duration an operator will accept for an hourly or as-directed booking, charged even if the actual service runs shorter.
Point-to-Pointalso: P2P, transfer rate, flat rate transfer: Point-to-point is a pricing method that charges a fixed fare for travel between two specified locations, regardless of how long the trip takes.
Wait Time: Wait time is the billable period a chauffeur spends waiting for a passenger beyond an agreed grace period, charged at an hourly or per-minute rate.
Zone Pricingalso: zone rates, zone-based pricing: Zone pricing sets fixed fares between defined geographic areas, so any trip from one zone to another costs the same regardless of the exact addresses.

Vehicles & Fleet

Motorcoachalso: coach, charter bus: A motorcoach is a full-size passenger bus used for group charter transportation, typically seating forty to sixty passengers with under-floor luggage storage.
Party Bus: A party bus is a passenger vehicle converted for group social travel, with perimeter seating, entertainment systems, and interior lighting in place of a conventional forward-facing layout.
Sprinteralso: executive van, sprinter van: A Sprinter is a high-roof passenger van commonly configured for executive group transport, typically seating ten to fourteen passengers with standing headroom.
Stretch Limousinealso: stretch, stretch limo: A stretch limousine is a passenger vehicle that has been lengthened after manufacture to add interior seating and cabin space, typically seating between eight and twenty passengers.

Affiliate & Networks

Affiliate Networkalso: affiliate program, operator network: An affiliate network is a system that connects independent ground transportation operators so they can pass trips to one another, allowing a company to serve customers in cities where it owns no vehicles.
Farm-Inalso: farm in, affiliate work: Farm-in is work an operator accepts from another transportation company, fulfilling a trip that the other company booked with the end customer.
Farm-Outalso: farm out, farming out, sub-contracting: Farming out is the practice of passing a booked trip to another transportation company to fulfil, typically because the originating operator has no vehicle available or the trip falls outside its service area.

Compliance & Licensing

DOT Numberalso: USDOT number: A DOT number is a unique identifier issued by the United States Department of Transportation to commercial vehicle operators, used to track safety records, inspections, and compliance reviews.
Livery: Livery is the regulatory and industry term for for-hire passenger vehicle service that must be booked in advance and cannot be hailed on the street.
TCP Numberalso: TCP permit, charter party permit: A TCP number is the permit identifier issued to a Transportation Charter Party carrier, authorising a company to provide prearranged passenger transportation for compensation.