A chauffeur car has three dials that decide whether an hour inside it is restorative or faintly irritating: what is playing, how warm it is, and whether anybody is talking. All three belong to the passenger, and all three are routinely left unadjusted because saying something feels like making a fuss over nothing. The result is a great many quietly suboptimal journeys.
It is not a fuss. Setting the cabin is an ordinary part of the arrangement, and a professional would far rather be told at the start than discover at the end that you spent the journey too cold and listening to something you disliked. This is a short guide to doing it easily, plus what a good chauffeur will work out without being asked.
The first two minutes
Everything is easiest to set at the beginning. As the car pulls away, a single sentence covers all three dials: whether you would like it quiet, whether the temperature suits you, and whether you are working. Say it once and the rest of the journey arranges itself around the answer without further discussion. One sentence at the beginning does the work of ten small requests later.
Waiting is what makes it awkward. Half an hour in, asking for the radio to be turned off feels like a complaint about something that has been going on for a while, whereas at the outset it is simply information. Chauffeurs are used to the opening brief and expect it; the silence is what leaves them guessing. Guessing tends to produce the cautious option, which is not always the one you wanted.
Music, radio and silence
The default in most chauffeur cars is either silence or something low and instrumental, on the reasonable assumption that anything with an opinion in it is a risk. If you would like something specific, ask. Most vehicles will connect to a phone over Bluetooth, which means your own playlist can run through the car's system and you can control it yourself from the back.
Silence is an entirely valid choice and is what a great many passengers prefer. It is also the right answer for anyone planning to sleep, and a chauffeur told at the outset that you want to sleep will keep the cabin quiet, take the smoother route where there is a choice, and wake you with enough notice to gather yourself before arrival.
- Ask for the radio off, or for something specific — both are normal requests
- Most cars connect to your phone by Bluetooth for your own audio
- Say if you intend to sleep, and ask to be woken a set time before arrival
- News and talk radio can be turned off without any explanation needed
- In a rear cabin with its own controls, ask how they work rather than guessing
Getting the temperature right
Sitting still in a moving car makes you feel colder than the same temperature in a room, and rear cabins often run cooler than the front because of where the vents sit. This is the single most common thing passengers put up with unnecessarily. Two degrees changes an entire journey, and asking for it takes three seconds. It is worth saying before you settle rather than after you have started working.
Many executive and flagship saloons have separate rear climate controls, sometimes with individual settings for each side. If you cannot find them, ask rather than fiddling — the layouts vary considerably between manufacturers, and the chauffeur can set it for you from the front in a moment. On a long run it is worth setting properly at the outset, because a cabin two degrees wrong becomes more annoying with each hour.
- Ask for a specific temperature rather than warmer or cooler
- Check whether the rear cabin has its own controls
- Ask for vents to be redirected away from your seat
- Request heated or ventilated seats where the car has them
- Say if you want the cabin set before you get in
Conversation, and how much you want
Chauffeurs are trained to read this in the first half minute and most read it accurately. A short answer and a look at the phone means quiet. A question about the traffic means conversation is welcome. If you enjoy talking to the person driving you — and many people genuinely do, particularly on long runs — then say something, because the professional default is to stay quiet.
The reverse request is just as easy and far more common than people think. Mentioning that you have a heavy day and would like a quiet run is polite, clear and completely unremarkable. It will be respected for the whole journey, including on any return leg later the same day. It is also worth saying if your preference changes: a quiet outward journey and a talkative one home is entirely normal.
Windows, blinds and light
Rear privacy glass is standard on most chauffeur vehicles and some carry manual or powered blinds as well. On a bright motorway run, or for anyone trying to sleep in the afternoon, they make a substantial difference. Ask if the car has them rather than assuming, since it varies by vehicle. Drawn blinds also make the rear cabin feel considerably more private, which matters if you are working on something sensitive.
Open windows are a separate conversation. They undo the cabin quiet that most people book the car for, and at speed they make conversation and calls difficult. If you want fresh air, asking for the climate system to bring in outside air usually achieves it without the noise. Where you genuinely want the window down, say so and the chauffeur will drop the pace slightly rather than fight the wind noise.
Multiple passengers and competing preferences
Where several people are travelling together, the chauffeur will not adjudicate. Someone in the party needs to make the call, and the simplest way is for whoever booked the car to state the setting as everyone gets in. Dual-zone climate helps where it exists, but music and conversation are single decisions. Making that call out loud at the start saves the polite deadlock where everyone defers to everyone else.
In a luxury MPV the situation is easier, because the rear rows are further from the driver and a conversation among passengers can happen at normal volume without carrying forward. For a working group in transit that separation is often the most useful thing about the vehicle. It also means one passenger can sleep while the others talk, which is rarely possible in a saloon.
