I get asked this constantly – usually by someone’s executive assistant trying to figure out ground transportation for a visiting client or board member. “Should we just Uber them or book a town car?”
Depends what you’re optimizing for honestly. If you’re running to a friend’s house in Capitol Hill at 2pm on a Wednesday, call an Uber. Save yourself $60. But if you’re picking up your company’s CEO at SeaTac during evening rush with a tight connection to a downtown meeting? Different calculation.
Town Car vs Uber/Lyft: quick comparison
The basic difference is you’re comparing scheduled professional service against on-demand rideshare. Town car means you book ahead – usually at least couple hours though same-day often works – you get a specific driver assigned, and they show up whether it’s convenient for them or not because it’s their job. Uber/Lyft you open the app when you need a ride and hope someone accepts.
Price-wise town cars cost more. Airport run that’s $45-60 in an Uber X runs $95-125 with a town car depending which company (check our rates if you want specifics). UberBlack falls somewhere in between but you’re still dealing with the same availability issues as regular Uber.
Vehicle quality’s different. Town car companies run Lincoln Town Cars, Mercedes S-Class, newer Suburbans – vehicles specifically maintained for commercial service. Uber you might get a 2019 Camry in great shape or you might get a 2014 Prius that smells weird. Complete gamble. Had an Uber once that smelled like fish tacos, which was distracting during a work call I was trying to take.
The reliability gap shows up most during high-demand times. Tuesday at 10am? Uber’s probably fine. Friday at 5pm when three Alaska flights just landed at SeaTac and it’s raining? Good luck. I’ve had clients tell me they requested an Uber at the airport, watched the estimate jump from $52 to $94 while they waited, then had two drivers accept and cancel before finally getting picked up 35 minutes later.
Although – I should mention this because it’s not like town cars are perfect – I did have a town car driver show up 12 minutes late once because he got stuck behind an accident on I-5. So they’re not magically immune to Seattle traffic. But at least he called to explain what was happening instead of just not showing up, which happened with an Uber driver once.
Cost breakdown (what people forget)
The pricing situation with Uber makes me genuinely annoyed sometimes because it’s presented as this transparent thing but it’s really not.
Checked the app last Thursday at 4:30pm for SeaTac to downtown – $47 quoted. Seemed reasonable. Told my client “yeah just Uber it, save some money.” By 5:15pm when she actually needed to book, same route was showing $73. By 5:45pm it hit $89. She finally booked at $81 and the driver cancelled after 8 minutes. Had to rebook, ended up paying $76 and arrived 40 minutes later than planned. I felt bad for giving her bad advice.
Town car same route runs $118.50 flat. Book it Tuesday for Friday pickup, still $118.50. Book it Friday at 5:45pm during surge chaos, still $118.50. Flight delayed an hour? Driver tracks it and adjusts, no extra charge.
The time cost kills you with Uber though. Waiting for driver acceptance – sometimes 3-4 minutes of just watching that spinning circle – dealing with cancellations, drivers going to the wrong terminal. Had one client last month who spent 22 minutes between requesting the ride and actually moving. She bills at $240/hour for consulting so that’s $88 of lost productivity just waiting. Suddenly the town car price gap is what, $30? Math starts making sense.
For longer trips it gets weirder. Federal Way town car service to SeaTac runs around $97-110. Uber from Federal Way I’ve seen quoted anywhere from $38 to $71 depending on whether the algorithm’s feeling generous. But finding an Uber willing to actually take that trip during rush hour is its own frustration – drivers see a 35-minute airport run and a bunch just cancel because they’d rather do three short rides.
Though I’ll be honest – if it’s just me and I’m not expensing it and timing doesn’t matter? I Uber and save the money. It’s only when consequences of it going wrong actually matter that I switch to town car.
Time + reliability: what changes with traffic
Evening rush is where everything completely falls apart with rideshare.
Watched a client try to Uber from downtown to Bellevue at 5:30pm last Tuesday. First request sat there for 4 minutes with no acceptance. Second request got accepted, driver was 18 minutes away, then cancelled after 6 minutes. Third attempt finally connected but the driver was in Capitol Hill dealing with that construction on Broadway – been going on for like eight months now – and took 23 minutes to arrive.
Total time from “I need a ride” to actually moving: 47 minutes. She missed the first 20 minutes of her meeting.
Town car booked for 5:30pm means the driver’s staged nearby by 5:22pm, texts you “2 min out” at 5:28pm, and you’re moving by 5:31pm. That predictability is the whole point.
Traffic affects both services equally once you’re in the vehicle obviously. But town car drivers tend to know the patterns better – had a driver once take me through residential streets in Medina to avoid a 405 backup, saved probably 15 minutes. I didn’t even know those streets connected. Uber drivers are hit or miss on local knowledge, especially if they usually work Renton and just happened to be nearby when you requested.
Weather makes Uber basically unworkable during peak times. First real rain after dry spell and Seattle drivers forget how to drive, Uber prices go insane, wait times triple, drivers start canceling airport trips. Town car bookings don’t change – you scheduled it three days ago, driver’s committed, they show up.
Had a client during that snow event in January 2024 – remember when everyone lost their minds over like 3 inches? – who tried to Uber to SeaTac at 5am. App just said “no cars available.” Tried for 20 minutes, nothing. Called me panicking. We got her a town car but it took scrambling. Driver showed up with chains on the tires, got her there, she made the flight. Would’ve been completely screwed relying on rideshare.
Who should choose which option
Most of my personal trips are Uber honestly. Going to dinner in Fremont, meeting friends at a bar in Ballard, even getting to the airport sometimes if it’s middle of the day and I’m traveling light. The flexibility’s nice, price is usually reasonable, and if the driver takes 12 minutes instead of 8 I don’t care.
I book town cars when timing actually matters or when I’m not the one dealing with consequences if something goes wrong. Client pickups always. Executive travel always. My own airport trips during morning rush (5-8am) or evening rush (4-7pm) because I’ve missed a flight before due to transportation issues and don’t want to repeat that nightmare.
There’s also this thing where if you’re picking someone up – like a client visiting from out of town or your boss – having the driver there holding a sign with their name just looks more professional than texting them “I ordered you an Uber, driver’s name is Mohammad in a gray Camry, should be there in 11 minutes.” Even if Uber costs half as much, perception matters in business.
Corporate clients I tell them: if the trip going wrong would cost you more than the $60-70 price difference, just book the town car. CEO missing their flight because Uber driver cancelled twice? That’s an $800 rebooking fee plus hotel plus whatever meeting they missed. Sales team showing up flustered and 20 minutes late to a pitch? Hard to quantify but it’s not zero. I’ve seen deals fall apart over smaller things.
For quick trips under 2 miles within downtown, town car’s probably overkill. Minimums usually start around $68-75, doesn’t make sense for what could be a $9 Uber. Though I did have one client insist on town car for a 6-block trip because she was wearing expensive heels and it was drizzling and didn’t want to walk from wherever the Uber stopped. Her money, her choice.
One thing that surprised me – late night airport pickups work way better with town cars. You’d think Uber would be fine at 10:30pm when demand’s low, but finding a driver willing to come to SeaTac that late can take 15-20 minutes. Town cars you book in advance, driver’s there when you land.
Booking tips that actually matter
Town car booking comes down to timing and not screwing up basic details. Call at least 2 hours ahead for airport runs, more during peak times. Same day usually works but during rush hours you’re risking it. I learned this the annoying way trying to book a 5:30pm SeaTac pickup at 3:45pm – they were fully committed, had to try three other companies.
If it’s corporate travel, sort out invoice structure on the first call. Some companies need monthly consolidated billing, others want per-trip receipts with project codes. Much easier to set up initially than fix it when accounting starts asking questions in February about December expenses.
Vehicle type matters more than people realize. “Sedan” could mean a Lincoln Town Car or a Mercedes or honestly I’ve seen companies call a Camry a sedan. If you need trunk space, ask explicitly. Had a client book a “sedan” for three people with full luggage – didn’t work, they had to cram bags on laps for 25 minutes to SeaTac.
With Uber just pad your timing significantly. Need to be somewhere at 3pm? Don’t request for 2:40pm. Request for 2:20pm to absorb wait time, cancellations, whatever. Better to arrive 10 minutes early than 5 minutes late.
And check the price estimate way before you need the ride. If it’s already surging at 2pm and you need to go somewhere at 3pm, that’s useful information for deciding whether to wait or just book a town car now.
The pickup location pin at SeaTac is critical for Uber – people mess this up constantly. Be specific. “Alaska Airlines Arrivals, Door 1” not just “SeaTac Airport” or you’ll spend 10 minutes on the phone with your driver while people honk behind his car.
When Uber pricing actually broke someone’s budget
Guy I know does regular sales trips – flies in Monday mornings, needs to get downtown for 9:30am meetings. Usually Ubers it, costs $50-60, works fine.
One Monday his flight got delayed, landed at 8:45am instead of 7:30am. Now he’s competing with everyone trying to get downtown for 9am meetings. Opens Uber app – $127. Thinks it’s a glitch. Closes app, opens again – $131. He’s doing mental math about waiting for surge to drop versus being late.
Waits a few minutes, checks – $119. Better. Waits another minute – $124. Going back up. Books it at $124 because he’s panicking.
Gets to meeting 8 minutes late, expenses the $124. Finance flags it as “excessive transportation charge” because his normal rides are $50-60. He has to write an explanation email about surge pricing.
The annoying part? If he’d just booked a town car it would’ve been $118.50 and nobody would’ve questioned it because that’s normal range for professional car service. But because he usually Ubered and this one time it surged higher than a town car, it looked excessive on the expense report.
I don’t know if there’s a clear lesson there. Maybe book town cars for work stuff so expenses look consistent? But it stuck with me as how the “save money with Uber” logic can backfire.
FAQ
How bad does surge pricing actually get?
I’ve seen it hit 2.8x during that windstorm in November 2022. Normal evening rush is more like 1.4x to 1.8x which still adds up. Worst part is it’s unpredictable – sometimes Friday at 5pm is fine, other times it’s surging hard and you find out later there was a Seahawks game.
Is UberBlack actually better?
Vehicle quality yes, availability not really. You’re still in the same on-demand pool with potential cancellations and surge. I tried using it exclusively for two months thinking it would solve reliability issues but drivers still cancelled sometimes. It’s basically Uber X with nicer cars.
What if I book a town car and don’t need it?
You’ll eat a cancellation fee. Most companies are 50% within 2 hours, 100% within 30 minutes. Had a client whose flight got cancelled 4 hours before landing, they called to cancel but paid 50% anyway. That’s the tradeoff – driver was holding that time slot and turned down other jobs.
Do drivers actually track flights?
Good companies do. We use flight tracking software that updates automatically. Driver adjusts schedule, you don’t pay wait time if flight’s late. Had a client whose Chicago flight was delayed 90 minutes – driver showed up when it actually landed, worked perfectly.
