Fare Quoter

The Fare Quoter prices chauffeur jobs — UK rate cards (airport corridors, hourly, postcode pairs, account rates) and international affiliate quotes (cost + margin). On opening, today's date, the next quarter-hour time, and S-Class are already filled in. Usually you just need pickup and destination.

To get a quote in under 30 seconds:

1. Pickup address. Start typing in the Pickup field — street name, business name, postcode, any of these work. Google offers suggestions as you type; click the one that matches. If Google can't find it (new development, awkward postcode, unlisted business), click the 📮 Postcode lookup pill above the field and pick the building from the postcode's premises list.
2. Airport pickup or drop? Type the 3-letter IATA code (LHR, LGW, LCY, STN, LTN, FAB, NHT, BQH) and tab away. The system resolves straight to the airport — no waiting on Google.
3. Destination — same as pickup.
4. Via — leave blank unless there's a stop along the way.
5. Watch the section dots. The dot beside each section title pulses amber when that section needs input, turns green when complete. The line under the mode toggle tells you what's still missing in plain English.
6. Click Calculate Fare when every dot is green. The price appears on the right.
7. Send the quote. Pick Standard or Fully inclusive on the radio toggle (above the export row, if shown), then tap one of: Plain text email, Copy formatted, PDF, or Share.

For anything else, the other pills above cover the detail.

Three ways to put an address in, listed from quickest to most explicit:

1. Type and pick (Google Places). Start typing in the field — street name, business name, postcode, any of these work. Google suggests matches as you type. Click the right entry from the dropdown. The address only counts as "resolved" once you've clicked an entry; typing the right text and tabbing away isn't enough — the system needs Google's underlying place data (lat/lng, country code, formatted address).

2. Postcode lookup. When Google can't find the place — a new development, an unusual postcode, a business that isn't on Google — click the 📮 Postcode lookup pill next to the field's label. Enter the UK postcode, pick the building from the premises list. Goes through the same downstream path as a Google pick. UK quote mode only.

3. IATA airport codes. For any UK airport pickup or drop, type LHR, LGW, LCY, STN, LTN, FAB, NHT, or BQH and tab away. Snaps to the airport with the right district, lat/lng, airport flag and fixed-rate corridor. No need to wait on Google.

The × at the right edge of each field wipes the input and the resolved state in one tap. Use this instead of select-all-delete when replacing an address — it stops a stale airport flag or country code carrying into the next quote.

The Via field adds a stop to the route without changing the booking type. Skip unless there genuinely is a stop.

The toggle at the top of the form picks the pricing pipeline and the address-search scope.

UK quote runs our rate cards — airport fixed-rate corridors, hourly rates, postcode-pair lookups, account discounts, VAT at 20%. Address search is restricted to GB so you don't accidentally pick "London, Ontario" or a Stansted in Essex that isn't the airport.

International quote opens address search worldwide. You enter a wholesale cost from a partner (in any currency), pick a margin (Standard 35% by default — 30%, 25% and 20% are locked until you confirm), and the system rounds the client price up to the nearest £5.

Common International cases: any non-UK pickup (Paris, New York, Dubai), and UK jobs we're delivering through a partner — Glasgow, Isle of Man, the Highlands, anywhere we don't run a chauffeur ourselves.

If you flip modes after resolving an address, an amber prompt may appear below pickup offering to switch back. Tap Switch, or Stay if the unusual combination is what you mean (a UK leg priced through an international partner, or vice versa).

The client only ever sees the all-in fare in pounds. The affiliate's wholesale cost, exchange rate, and margin never leave the operator-side panel.

Three shapes a UK chauffeur job can take:

A-to-B — the default. Pickup and destination, no boxes to tick.

As Directed — for hires with no specific destination. The driver waits and goes where the client says for the chosen hours from pickup. Use for days out, school runs with multiple stops, or any hire where the route isn't set. Tick the box, pick the hours and the scope (In Town or Out of Town).

Wait and Return — single round trip with a wait at the destination, then back to pickup. The wait field is the wait at destination only, not the whole hire duration.

These options hide in International mode — the partner sets one flat price and there's no hourly maths to do.

Tap into the Account field and the dropdown opens with a Frequently used group at the top: Credit Card, AELTC Extra Business, the four HSBC variants, then Standard Rate (default). Below that, an All accounts list in alphabetical order. Type any letters and the grouping collapses into the usual search filter.

Leaving Account blank gives Standard Rate (default), which is the walk-up credit-card price profile.

Vehicle is pre-set to S-Class on every fresh quote because it's the most common pick. Switch to E-Class for lighter jobs, V-Class for groups or luggage, Range Rover when the client asks. The dropdown only shows vehicles the active account can actually be quoted for.

Vehicle capacity shows passengers OR luggage, not both at once. A V-Class fits 6 passengers or 5 cases, not both. Check with the booker before quoting a near-full load.

The big number is the Total Quote — what the client pays. The ghosted Base Fare beneath shows the pre-uplift figure. Right of the headline, a small mode badge reads "UK quote" (neutral) or "International · {Country}" / "Affiliate · UK" (amber) so you can tell at a glance which pipeline produced the price.

UK quotes show what's been added (waiting time, parking, account charges) and VAT at 20% in the breakdown panel below. International quotes show an all-in GBP figure with cost / margin / country in the KPI tiles; the breakdown is for your reference, not the client's.

Surcharge warnings appear when relevant: Wimbledon period, Wimbledon Finals (which doubles the fare), and SW19 venues during the Championships. Don't dismiss them without checking.

The How this fare was calculated panel below the headline expands to show every line that went into the total — useful for explaining the price to a client or your own sanity-check.

Pick Standard or Fully inclusive on the radio toggle above the export row first — every button below emits whichever variant you've chosen. Fully inclusive collapses to a single all-in figure with no breakdown; Standard shows the base fare and the line-by-line additions. The toggle hides for Wimbledon and International quotes where there's no inclusive variant.

Four export buttons, left to right:

• Generate plain text email quote (deep blue, leading) — opens your default mail client with the full plain-text email body pre-filled. The workhorse export when HTML paste won't render cleanly in the recipient's inbox, or when you just want the text in front of you to edit before sending.
• Copy formatted email (GCD green) — builds the branded HTML version (green stripe, mode badge, journey card, tabular fare hero) and copies it to clipboard. Paste into Outlook compose; most styling carries across.
• PDF attachment (charcoal) — generates the same template as a one-page PDF, ready to drag into your compose window. Use for procurement-heavy accounts or anything that needs to read cleanly on a phone preview.
• Share (default) — copies a short plain-text summary. Paste into Teams, Slack, WhatsApp, or anywhere a quick figure is enough. On mobile it triggers the native share sheet.

The HTML and PDF templates auto-switch when relevant: Wimbledon dates at SW19 trigger the AELTC layout with venue logistics; non-UK pickups trigger the international layout (Gerrards Service, tolls/waiting noted as extra, 24-hour cancellation, no UK VAT). UK legs delivered through an affiliate (Glasgow, Isle of Man, etc.) read as a normal UK chauffeur quote — the client sees no partner reference.

The form uses a small colour vocabulary. Once you know it, you'll never be confused about what to do next.

Section dots (the small numbered circle to the left of each section title):

• Grey — section is empty / not started. Default.
• Pulsing amber — this is the next section to fill. Only one pulses at a time.
• Green tick — section is complete.
• Red — something's wrong. Usually means an address was typed but never picked from the dropdown.

The build-status line sits under the mode toggle. Read it first if you don't know where to look — it tells you in plain English what's missing: "Enter pickup and destination to continue.", "Set the pickup date and time.", "✓ Ready to calculate."

Field markers:

• Amber * after a label — required field.
• (optional) after a label — skip if you don't need it.

Buttons and banners:

• Calculate pulses amber — you have unfilled fields, or you changed something after the last calc. Recalculate.
• Amber stale banner below Calculate — the figure on screen is out of date.
• Amber mode-mismatch prompt below Pickup — your pickup country doesn't match the active mode. Tap Switch or Stay deliberately.
• Orange surcharge warning — unusual situation (Wimbledon, no fixed rate, etc.). Check with management before sending.
• International quote button has an amber tint when inactive — testing-phase reminder so you don't miss the alternate mode.
• Standard 35% margin button is green when active — green means safe / default. The 30%, 25% and 20% buttons are greyed out until you confirm them through the "are you sure?" prompt below the row.

Quick troubleshooting for the common situations:

• "Google's dropdown isn't showing the right address" — try variations as you type (street name first, business name, postcode). If still nothing useful, click the 📮 Postcode lookup pill — it queries premises by postcode directly and often finds buildings Google misses.
• "I typed an address, tabbed away, and nothing happened" — addresses must be picked from the dropdown, not just typed. Click in the field, retype, and click the matching suggestion when it appears. If Google's still not finding it, fall back to postcode lookup.
• "Postcode lookup says 'That doesn't look like a UK postcode'" — format is 1-2 letters, 1-2 digits, optional letter, space, 1 digit, 2 letters. Like SW1A 1AA, TW6 1EW, or M1 1AA.
• "Postcode lookup says 'No addresses found'" — postcode might be new, miscoded, or non-residential. Try Google's autocomplete instead, or check the postcode with the client.
• "Amber prompt below Pickup about mode mismatch" — your pickup resolved to a country that doesn't match the active mode. Tap Switch to International quote if the job is genuinely international, or Stay in UK quote if you're deliberately running a UK leg through a partner.
• "Calculate button is pulsing amber" — you changed an input after the last calculation. Click Calculate to refresh.
• "Build-status line stays amber and won't go green" — read what it says. It names the section that's still empty.
• "Red dot on a section" — usually means an address was typed but not picked. Click in the field, retype, pick from the dropdown (or fall back to postcode lookup).
• "I picked the wrong address" — click the × on the right edge of the field to wipe both text and resolved state in one go, then start again.
• "Vehicle dropdown doesn't show E-Class" — some accounts (e.g. HSBC variants) restrict the fleet. Pick from what's available, or check with management if the client specifically asked for E-Class.
• "30%, 25% or 20% margin button won't activate" — they're locked by default. Click one and the are-you-sure banner appears below the row. Tap Yes, allow to unlock all three; Reset re-locks them on the next quote.
• "I want to start a fresh quote" — ↺ Reset next to Calculate, or ↺ Clear all at the bottom of the result panel. Both restore defaults but keep you signed in.
• Anything else weird — click the red 🐞 Report a bug button bottom-right. Captures everything I need: form state, address resolution, breakdown, plus a log of your last 50 clicks.

Things to be deliberate about:

Stale quote. Change any input after calculating and the amber stale banner appears. The figure on screen may be wrong. Recalculate before sending.

Quote over £500. A verification modal appears. Don't acknowledge it without checking with management first.

Standard Rate is the walk-up price. Don't send it to an account client by accident. Pick the named client from the Account field's Frequently used list at the top, or type any letters to filter the full list.

Non-standard margins (30%, 25%, 20%) stay unlocked once confirmed until the next Reset. Don't carry a 20% margin into a different quote by accident. Reset between clients.

Mode-mismatch prompt — read it before dismissing. Tapping Stay is fine when you genuinely mean a UK leg through an affiliate (or an international price for an inbound passenger), but it's an unusual choice. Be deliberate.

International cost is the affiliate's wholesale price, not the client price. The margin sits on top. The client only ever sees the final figure.

Vehicle capacity shows passengers OR luggage, not both at once. Six people plus five cases won't fit in a V-Class. Check with the booker before quoting a near-full load.

Wait-and-Return's wait time is the wait at destination, not the whole hire duration.

As Directed is for hires without a destination. If the client has somewhere to go, use A-to-B or Wait and Return instead.

Double-check the exchange rate on international jobs before sending. The rate field is editable. Today's mid-market rate may not match what the client's card provider gives them.

Check with management before sending if any of these apply:

• Quote over £500
• Wimbledon period, Finals weekend, or any SW19 / AELTC venue pickup
• Any surcharge warning showing on the quote
• Farnborough, Northolt or Biggin Hill (no fixed rate yet — falls back to hourly)
• Vehicle stretched on passenger or luggage capacity
• International pickup in a country we haven't quoted before, or via a partner we haven't used recently
• 30%, 25% or 20% margin used on an international job — these are non-standard and usually need approval
• Mode-mismatch prompt fired and you're not sure which way to take it
• Anything the client has flagged as unusual

The red 🐞 Report a bug / Suggest something pill sits bottom-right of every screen. Tap it any time the quoter does something you don't expect — including wrong price, missed airport, route that doesn't make sense, email wording you'd change, or just an idea.

The button opens a pre-filled email with everything I need to trace the issue: the quote result, breakdown, address resolution (postcode, lat/lng, country), the current form state, a 50-entry log of what you did before reporting, and a heuristic checklist of things that look suspicious. You only need to write what went wrong in plain English at the top — the rest is captured for you.

If you hit Calculate, see something odd, then keep clicking around — report before you reset. The event log goes back further the sooner you tap.