Personal Driver Service: Your Own Driver for Appointments, Errands and Full Days

Most people do not need a limousine. They need a driver. Someone who takes them to a hospital appointment and waits, who runs a family to three stops in an afternoon, or who spends a day with a visiting parent so that nobody has to drive in unfamiliar traffic. A personal driver service is built for those days, and it is quieter and more practical than the word "chauffeur" suggests.

This page explains how a personal driver booking works at Onroutz.ca, who uses it, how it compares with a taxi, a rideshare or a rental car, and where it overlaps with related services such as a luxury chauffeur or a designated driver.

What is a personal driver service?

It sits between two familiar things. A taxi or rideshare takes you from A to B and leaves. A rental car leaves you with the driving, the parking and the navigation. A personal driver is a person who does those tasks while you do something else.

Other names for the same service include private car driver service, private driver, driver for hire and "chauffeur for a day".

Who uses a personal driver

The common users are not who you might expect.

• Patients and families at medical appointments. A driver takes you to the clinic, waits and brings you home. A relative can sit beside you instead of searching for parking.
• Older relatives. A familiar routine of door-to-door transport to shopping, the bank, a place of worship or a family lunch.
• Visitors to a new city. Someone who does not know the roads, the parking rules or the winter conditions, and who wants a local at the wheel.
• People relocating. Short-term movement between a hotel, an apartment, a bank, a government office and a phone shop, all in a few days.
• Business visitors who want a consistent vehicle during a trip. The executive car service page covers the corporate version.
• Families with children, who need a driver with child seats and room for strollers and bags.
• Anyone who dislikes driving in the dark, in snow or on motorways.

None of these needs a stretch limousine. All of them benefit from a driver who waits.

How a booking works

1. Describe the day. Date, start time, pickup address, the list of stops, and roughly how long you expect to spend at each.
2. Choose the vehicle. Executive Sedan, First Class Sedan, Luxury SUV or Executive Sprinter, depending on the passengers and the baggage.
3. See the fixed fare. The booker shows the fixed all-in fare for your exact pickup, drop-off and vehicle before you pay. For a day that does not fit the booker's fields, the desk can confirm the arrangement.
4. Receive one confirmation. It lists the vehicle class and how to reach the 24/7 desk.
5. Meet your driver at the door at the booked time.
6. Adjust as the day goes on. Tell the driver, or the desk, if you need to add a stop or change an order.

Multi-leg itineraries can sit on one booking, so a day of five stops is a single record.

Reserve your car

Choosing the vehicle

Vehicles are "or similar", and the exact model is confirmed at booking.

Mobility needs vary from person to person. If a passenger uses a walker, a folding wheelchair or has difficulty with steps, tell the desk at booking and describe what is needed. The desk will confirm what is possible rather than promise a feature. See the fleet page for the classes.

Waiting time and how it works

Waiting is the point of the service, so it is worth being precise.

• At an address pickup, the standard free waiting time is 15 minutes.
• At an airport pickup, it is 60 minutes after international landings and 30 after domestic landings, with flight tracking.
• During a timed or hourly booking, the time you book is the time that the driver and car are yours. Describe the day to the desk, and the arrangement is confirmed with the booking.

If you are likely to take longer than expected at an appointment, say so. Doctors run late, banks have queues and shops find extra things to say. Telling the driver early costs nothing and avoids an awkward last hour.

A personal driver versus the alternatives

Toronto's public transport can be good for a single leg. The UP Express between Pearson and Union Station takes 28 minutes and costs $12.35 for an adult one way as of 2026. For a late-night trip home the Toronto Transit Commission's Blue Night Network runs on most major routes from approximately 1:30 a.m. until subway service starts, with buses at half-hour intervals or better. For a day of five stops, a person with mobility needs or a family with children, those options become hard work, and a driver who waits is the simpler answer.

Book this transfer

Appointments: the practical details

Medical and administrative appointments are the most common reason to hire a personal driver, and a few habits make them smooth.

1. Give the exact address and the entrance. Hospitals and large clinics have several doors, parking structures and drop-off zones.
2. Allow for the appointment running over. Add margin to the end time, not the start.
3. Tell the driver what you will need. A wheelchair at the door, a place to wait, a companion who will join you.
4. Share a contact number for the person who will be with the patient, so the driver can reach someone.
5. Plan the return stop. A pharmacy on the way home is easier to arrange at booking than at the kerb.

The driver is not a medical escort and cannot provide care. The role is transport and waiting. Where a passenger needs assistance beyond that, a family member or caregiver should travel with them.

Visitors, newcomers and time-limited days

A personal driver is an efficient way to see a city or sort out an unfamiliar one.

For visitors, the Toronto attractions by private car guide lays out sample days, and the Niagara Falls private tour from Toronto is an example of a ready-made itinerary. For new arrivals, a personal driver can link a government office, a bank, a phone shop and a grocery store in one morning, with a single vehicle that waits at each.

Abroad, comparable services are available. There are dedicated pages for a car with driver in Dubai, a car with driver in Abu Dhabi and a private driver in Bali. The regional hubs for the Middle East and Asia-Pacific show other places where partners operate.

Visitors flying into Canada should check entry rules before they travel. Visa-exempt foreign nationals generally need an eTA, and IRCC states that U.S. citizens do not. It costs CAD $7 and is valid for up to five years or until the passport expires. A driver can wait at the airport, with a name board inside arrivals on request, after the visitor clears the border.

Recurring arrangements and routines

Some people use a personal driver once, for a hard week. Others set up a pattern: the same weekly appointment, a standing Sunday lunch with relatives, a monthly trip to a distant clinic. Corporate accounts with monthly invoicing exist for companies, and a family or a household assistant can ask the desk how a repeat arrangement would work for them.

Whatever the pattern, write the routine down once and send it to the desk. Include the pickup address, the usual entrance, where the car waits, who is travelling and any details a stranger would not guess, such as a gate code, a neighbour who needs a call or a passenger who prefers the front seat. A written routine means every trip starts with the same information, and it saves the passenger from repeating themselves.

Who drives, and where

Toronto, the GTA and southern Ontario. The Onroutz.ca fleet and chauffeurs, dispatched from Toronto, drive. See the Toronto hub and the Toronto limousine page.

Everywhere else. A vetted, licensed and commercially insured local transfer partner delivers the ride, and the Toronto desk books, confirms, supports and invoices it. A single confirmation and a single invoice, with a desk that is reachable day and night. Partner cars are at most four model years old, or seven for Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Maybach. Onroutz.ca does not own cars or offices abroad. The Canada hub and the USA hub show where the network runs.

In Toronto, the City says limousine drivers need a City licence, and Onroutz.ca vehicles and chauffeurs are licensed and commercially insured.

Discretion and trust

When someone is driving you through your day, trust matters. Chauffeurs do not photograph clients and do not post about trips. NDAs are available on request. Where privacy is needed, the name board can show an alias. For high-profile clients the same principles are explained in the guide on why celebrities and VIPs book a discreet private car, but they apply to everyone.

Onroutz.ca is a transport service, not a security company. Its drivers are not armed and are not bodyguards.

Cancellation

More than 72 hours' notice: no charge. 72 hours or less: 10%. 48 hours or less: 50%. 24 hours or less or a no-show: 100%, counted from the scheduled pickup. Large events may have a different deadline, printed on the confirmation. For a recurring arrangement, ask the desk how best to schedule it.

Check your fixed fare