How Much Does a Car Service Cost in the Bay Area? A 2026 Price Guide

“How much is a car to the airport?” sounds like a simple question, and the truthful reply is always a little annoying: it depends on how far you're going, what you're riding in, and whether the car has to wait for you.

So instead of “it depends,” here are our real numbers. Every rate and fee below is what we charge at Peace Limo Service as of October 2026. Other Bay Area companies price differently, but most of them build a quote from the same parts, so this should help you read anyone's estimate.

The short version

• One-way rides are priced by the mile, with a minimum: from $75 in a sedan and $100 in a luxury SUV.
• Hourly service starts at $90 an hour for a sedan and $110 for an SUV, with a 4-hour minimum.
• SFO to downtown San Francisco in an SUV comes to $121.90 with the airport fee and a 15% tip.
• Your price is locked in when you book. There is no surge pricing. A gratuity of at least 10% is part of every booking and shown as its own line.

Two ways a ride gets priced

Nearly every quote we write falls into one of two buckets.

Point-to-point is for getting from A to B: an airport run, a ride to dinner, a hotel transfer. You pay for the distance, and there's a minimum fare so that a three-mile trip still covers the chauffeur's time getting to you.

Hourly (the industry calls it “as directed”) means the car and chauffeur are yours for a block of time. You can change the plan as you go, add stops, and leave your things in the vehicle. Each hour includes 15 miles; beyond that it's $6 a mile.

Wine tours and sightseeing tours use the same hourly rates with a 6-hour minimum, because nobody enjoys Napa in four hours.

What common trips actually cost

These are base fares for one-way rides at the rates above, rounded to the dollar and based on normal driving distance. Fees and gratuity come on top, and we get to those next.

Notice how many of the short airport runs land exactly on the minimum. Inside roughly 20 miles, the distance barely matters. What changes your price is the vehicle you choose.

What gets added to the base fare

This is the part people forget to budget for, so here is every line that can appear on one of our quotes:

• Airport fee: $6 at SFO, $4 at SJC, $3 at OAK. Airports charge commercial vehicles by the trip, and this line covers it.
• Bridge toll: $7 to $9.75, depending on the bridge, when your route crosses one.
• Extra stops: $10 each on point-to-point rides and tours. Hourly service has no stop fee.
• Meet and greet: $40, optional, for airport arrivals. Your chauffeur parks, comes inside and waits for you with a name sign. Without it, pickup is at the curb.
• Gratuity: at least 10% is added to every booking, and you pick the amount — 10%, 15%, 25%, 35% or your own number. It's its own line, so nothing is hidden inside the fare.

Put together, an SUV from SFO to a downtown San Francisco hotel looks like this: $100 fare + $6 airport fee = $106, plus a 15% gratuity of $15.90, for $121.90 total. Add meet and greet and it's $167.90.

One thing that is not on the list: a charge for late flights. Give us your flight number and we move the pickup to match the actual arrival. Airline delays don't cost you anything.

Point-to-point or hourly: which is cheaper?

For a single trip, point-to-point wins nearly every time. Hourly earns its price when the car needs to stay with you.

Take dinner in the city. Hotel to restaurant and back, in an SUV, is two short rides at the $100 minimum, so $200 before tip. Booking the same evening hourly means the 4-hour minimum, or $440. If you know roughly when you'll be done, two one-way rides are the better deal.

Now take a day in Napa. Four wineries, lunch, tasting appointments that run long, a case of wine in the back. There's no sensible way to do that as separate rides, and you wouldn't want to. Six hours in an SUV starts at $660 before gratuity (6 × $110), split among up to six people, and covers 90 miles, which fits a day that starts and ends in wine country. From San Francisco the round trip alone is about 92 miles, so plan on 8 hours ($880, 120 miles included) or a few extra miles at $6 each, plus $10 per winery stop on tours. That's what hourly is for: wine country, wedding days, a run of meetings down the Peninsula, shopping trips, anything where the plan might move.

If you're unsure, price the one-way ride and the hourly version side by side. Both forms show the total before you commit to anything.

Pick the right vehicle (it matters more than the route)

The quickest way to overpay is to book more vehicle than you need. The quickest way to have a bad morning is to book less.

• Sedan: one to three passengers with ordinary luggage. Right for most solo and couple airport runs.
• SUV: up to six passengers, or three to four people who each have a checked bag. A sedan seats three, but three travelers with three large suitcases and carry-ons is an SUV trip. Golf bags and strollers, too.
• Metris VIP: up to five in captain's chairs with conference seating. People book it when the ride itself is part of the occasion.
• Sprinter: up to 14. For groups it's often the cheapest option per person: ten people sharing a $225 hour pay $22.50 each.

Two sedans cost more than one SUV for the same trip, and you arrive separately. If the group fits in one vehicle, book one vehicle.

How it compares with rideshare

We'll be straight about this. For a short, off-peak hop across town, a rideshare is usually cheaper than any chauffeured car, ours included. Use it. That's what it's good at.

The comparison changes when the trip has a deadline. Rideshare prices move with demand, so the fare you checked last night isn't the fare you get on a busy morning, and the car that shows up is whichever one accepted the request. A reserved car is a fixed price that was confirmed in writing, a specific vehicle size, and a chauffeur who was assigned to your trip ahead of time and is watching your flight. For an early departure, a family with luggage, a client pickup or a wedding, that certainty is what you're buying. We wrote more about the airport side of this in our SFO car service guide.

Five ways to keep the total down

1. Book the size you need. Count bags as well as people before you choose.
2. Skip meet and greet if you travel light. Curbside pickup is already included in the fare.
3. Limit extra stops. Each stop is $10 on point-to-point rides and tours. If you have three or four, compare the hourly rate.
4. Share a larger vehicle by the hour. On hourly bookings one Sprinter ($225) costs less than three sedans ($270) and keeps the group together. For a long one-way ride, price both in the form.
5. Send the flight number. It costs nothing and it's the reason a delayed flight doesn't turn into a problem.

Quick answers

How much is a car service from SFO to downtown San Francisco?

$75 base fare in a sedan or $100 in an SUV, plus the $6 SFO fee and your gratuity. In an SUV with 15% gratuity the total is $121.90.

Is gratuity included?

A gratuity of at least 10% is part of every booking. You choose the amount (10%, 15%, 25%, 35% or custom) and it appears as a separate line, so the total on your quote already includes it.

Can I cancel?

Yes. Transfers and tours are fully refundable when you cancel at least 24 hours before pickup, and weddings and events need 7 days. The details are in our cancellation policy.

What about Napa from the airport?

SFO to Napa is about 58 miles: $203 in a sedan and $290 in an SUV before fees and gratuity. Our SFO to Napa guide covers the drive and the alternatives, and if you're tasting once you arrive, look at an hourly wine tour instead.