An American traveller’s guide to chauffeur service in the Netherlands

Visitors from the United States ask our dispatch desk the same handful of questions — about tipping, taxes, the word “limousine”, and whether anyone will understand them on the phone. Here are the answers, from the people who drive the cars.

A fair share of the guests in the back of our cars have just crossed the Atlantic. They arrive on the overnight flights that land at Schiphol in the early morning, a little dazed, and in our experience the questions they ask on the drive into Amsterdam follow a pattern. Most are about money and manners; a few are about the road. This guide collects them, so that the first hour in the Netherlands can be spent looking out of the window instead of wondering whether to tip.

What “car service” means here

In the United States, “car service” or “black car” means a booked sedan with a driver, distinct from a street taxi. In the Netherlands the same thing is called a chauffeur service, or in Dutch a chauffeursdienst, and the vehicle is a saloon rather than a sedan — same car, different word. What you will not find is the stretch limousine: “limousine service” in Dutch and wider European usage means a premium saloon with a chauffeur, not a long white car with a row of seats along the side. Our fleet is black Mercedes-Benz and BMW saloons, a Mercedes-Benz V-Class for groups, and a Mercedes-Maybach S-Class for the two-seat version of first class.

A taxi, by contrast, is a metered car from a rank, and a ride-hail app is a freelancer in whatever car he or she owns. A chauffeur service is booked ahead, at a price fixed at the time of booking, and the driver comes inside to find you. Our visitor’s guide to Amsterdam taxis, linked at the end of this article, covers the differences in more detail.

Tipping, taxes and the card machine

Three things about paying, in order of how often we are asked. There is no obligation to tip. Our chauffeurs are salaried, not paid per fare, and a tip is a pleasant surprise rather than an expected part of the transaction. Guests who tip usually round up or hand over a note at the end of a long day; guests who do not are not being rude.

Prices include tax. Dutch VAT is built into every price you see — on a menu, in a shop, on a chauffeur booking — so the number quoted is the number charged, with nothing added at the register. AmstelCab prices are per car, taxes included, and there is no card surcharge, no surge and no meter. Finally, the card machine: we take the major cards, Apple Pay, iDEAL (the Dutch bank-transfer system you will see everywhere) and Klarna. American credit cards work, contactless is the norm, and cash is not needed.

Kilometres, the right-hand side and a quiet car

Distances here are in kilometres, and the country is small: Amsterdam to The Hague is under an hour, Amsterdam to Brussels and Cologne are each a comfortable morning’s drive, and Paris is a long day with lunch in the middle. Traffic drives on the right, as at home; speed limits are in kilometres per hour; motorways are numbered with an A and are generally excellent. None of this is your problem in the back of a chauffeured car, but it helps to have a sense of scale when planning a day.

A good part of our fleet is electric: the Mercedes-Benz EQE, EQE SUV, EQS, EQS SUV and EQV and the BMW i5 and i7 run alongside the E-Class, S-Class and 5 Series. If you have not ridden in one, the difference is silence — no engine note at the lights, no vibration on the motorway. Charging is the chauffeur’s concern, planned around the day, never the guest’s.

Schengen, borders and a passport in your pocket

The Netherlands is part of the Schengen Area, the group of European countries that ordinarily have no passport control at their shared land borders. Practically, that means a chauffeur can drive you from Amsterdam to Brussels, Antwerp, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Luxembourg or Paris without stopping at a border post — the road simply continues and the signs change language. Carry your passport anyway; spot checks are possible, hotels ask for it, and it is the document that proves you may be there.

Two exceptions matter to American visitors. The United Kingdom is outside Schengen, so a drive to London involves the Channel crossing and passport control on both sides. And the rules for visa-free entry into the European Union are set by the EU and change from time to time; check the current requirements before you fly, because your chauffeur cannot help with them at the gate.

Booking in English, from another time zone

Everything about AmstelCab works in English. The booking page at amstelcab.nl/book is in English, the confirmation is in English, and dispatch answers the phone and WhatsApp in English at any hour — the number is +31 6 85141194, which from the US is dialled with 011 in front. The Netherlands is on Central European Time, usually six hours ahead of New York and nine ahead of Los Angeles, so an evening message from the West Coast reaches us in the early morning and is answered around the clock.

Booking for someone else is common — an assistant in Chicago arranging a pickup for a partner landing in Amsterdam — and the booker receives the same status updates as the guest: confirmed, chauffeur on the way, guest in the car, safely arrived. No account is needed and there is nothing to install; the My Ride page in the confirmation shows the chauffeur’s live position during the ride.

Jet lag and the morning pickup

The flights from the East Coast leave in the evening and land at Schiphol in the early morning, local time, which is the middle of the night at home. This is the ride where a chauffeur earns the booking. You clear passport control, collect the bags, and walk out into an arrivals hall where a chauffeur in a suit is holding a sign with your name. The luggage goes onto a trolley you do not push; the car is in the garage nearest the hall; there is cold water in the back and a charger for the phone whose battery did not survive the flight. The drive into the city takes half an hour, give or take, and you can sleep through it.

Two pieces of advice from the people who do these pickups every morning. First, put your flight number on the booking: we track the aircraft, and a late arrival moves the pickup at no cost, with the first sixty minutes after landing free in any case. Second, remember that hotels rarely have a room ready before the afternoon. If you would rather not sit in a lobby, a chauffeur by the hour can drop the bags at the hotel and take you for breakfast and a slow loop of the canals while the room is made up.

A short glossary

• Chauffeur service — what you would call car service or black car.
• Saloon — a sedan. Estate — a station wagon. Boot — the trunk.
• Business Class, First Class — our two saloon tiers: E-Class or equivalent, and S-Class or equivalent. Not to be confused with your airline seat.
• Van Class — a Mercedes-Benz V-Class for up to seven passengers and seven bags; the airport-run car for a family.
• iDEAL — the Dutch online bank payment; you will not need it, but you will see it.
• Schiphol — pronounced roughly “SKIP-ol”; Amsterdam’s airport, code AMS.

The Netherlands is an easy country to visit and an easy one to be driven around. The roads are good, the distances are short, almost everyone you deal with speaks English, and the only real adjustment is remembering that the price you were quoted is the price — no tax, no tip, no meter, no surprise at the end. Welcome. Your chauffeur is inside the hall.

Questions, answered

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