How to farm out limo jobs without losing the client

To farm out a limo job, you hand a trip you booked to another operator (an affiliate) who drives it for an agreed rate, while you keep the client relationship and the billing. Done right, the passenger sees your brand from booking to drop-off. Done wrong, the affiliate's chauffeur hands your client a business card and you never hear from them again.

Sooner or later you will have a job you can't cover. A client in Boston needs a car in Chicago. Prom night has more bookings than you have vehicles. The quiet Tuesday turns into a day with three simultaneous airport runs. Saying no to a good client is expensive. Saying yes and sending a bad affiliate is worse.

This guide covers when to farm out, how to vet an affiliate, what to send with the job, the steps in order, and how the Grid and GNET fit in.

What does it mean to farm out a limo job?

Farm-out and farm-in are two sides of the same trip:

• Farm-out: you booked it, someone else drives it. You bill the client, the affiliate bills you (or you pay them the agreed rate).
• Farm-in: someone else booked it, you drive it. The other operator is your customer for that trip.

The client belongs to the company that booked it. That is the whole principle, and every good farm-out process protects it: the passenger gets your confirmation, your branding and your invoice. The affiliate provides the car and the chauffeur.

When farming out makes sense, and when it doesn't

Farm out when:

• The trip is out of your service area. A client traveling to another city still wants to book with you.
• You are out of vehicles or drivers on a peak night, and turning the job away risks the account.
• You don't have the vehicle type. A client wants a Sprinter or a party bus and your fleet is sedans and SUVs.
• The margin still works. You charge your rate, the affiliate charges theirs, and the difference covers your time and risk.

Think twice when:

• It is your most important client's most important trip. Some trips you drive yourself, even if it means moving other work.
• You don't know the affiliate. A first job with a new affiliate should not be a CEO's airport pickup.
• The margin is negative. Occasionally worth it to keep an account. As a habit, it is paying to work.

How to vet a limo affiliate

Your name is on the trip, so vet the affiliate the way you would vet a new chauffeur. A short checklist:

1. Insurance. Ask for a current certificate of insurance and check the coverage and the dates. Ask to be notified if it changes.
2. Licensing and permits. Confirm they hold the operating authority and any airport permits the trip requires. Rules differ by state and airport, so ask rather than assume.
3. Fleet. Ask what vehicles they run and how old they are. Photos help. So does seeing a car in person if you will send them regular work.
4. Chauffeur standards. Dress code, signage for meet-and-greet, how they handle a late flight, whether chauffeurs are employees or contractors.
5. Communication. Who answers the phone at 4am? How do they send status updates: on location, passenger on board, dropped off?
6. Billing terms. How and when they invoice, what counts as wait time, how they bill extras like parking and tolls.
7. References. Ask other operators who have farmed to them.
8. A test trip. Start with a simple, lower-stakes job. Watch the status updates and the invoice. Then decide.

Keep a short list of affiliates you trust in each city you serve, with notes on what they are good at. An affiliate who is excellent at airport runs may not be the one for a wedding.

What to put in a farm-out

A lot of farm-out trouble starts with missing information. Send everything the chauffeur needs, in writing, in one place.

• Pickup date, time and address, with the local time zone if you are booking across zones
• Flight number and airline for airport pickups, and whether it is meet-and-greet or curbside
• Passenger name and a contact number, plus the number of passengers and bags
• Vehicle type and service type (point-to-point, hourly, airport)
• Drop-off and any stops
• The rate and what it includes: gratuity, wait time, parking, tolls
• Name sign exactly as it should read, usually your brand or the client's company
• Special instructions: child seat, a regular's preferences, a quiet ride, which door at the building
• Your brand rules: the chauffeur represents your company on this trip, no affiliate business cards, no discussing rates with the passenger
• Your dispatch contact for anything that changes

Write it once, clearly, so the affiliate's dispatcher does not have to call you to ask which terminal.

How to farm out a limo job, step by step

1. Confirm the booking with your client first. Price it at your rate, take the card or confirm the account, and send your own confirmation.
2. Choose the affiliate. Your trusted list for that city first. If nobody is available, post it to a wider network.
3. Agree the rate before sending details. What you pay the affiliate, and what it includes.
4. Send the full farm-out. Everything from the list above.
5. Get an explicit acceptance. A job is not farmed out until the affiliate confirms it, in writing or in the system.
6. Watch the status. On location, passenger on board, dropped off. If you don't see "on location" when you expect it, call.
7. Handle the client yourself. Any changes, delays or questions go through you, not the affiliate.
8. Close it out. Bill your client, reconcile the affiliate's charges against what you agreed, and note how it went.

Farming out on the Grid: you set the rate, the client stays yours

The Grid is LimoGrid's marketplace. Operators post jobs they can't cover and claim jobs in their service area.

A few rules make it work for farm-out:

• The poster sets the rate. There is no auction. You decide what the job pays, and an operator claims it at that price or leaves it.
• The passenger stays your customer. The trip is billed by you, under your brand. The operator who claims it drives it.
• You can restrict it to your own affiliates. Post only to the operators you have vetted, if you prefer.

On paid plans there is no per-trip fee for posting or claiming. On LG Connect, the free plan, it is $5 per claimed and completed ride. Say you claim and complete 20 Grid jobs in a month on LG Connect: 20 × $5 = $100, and nothing else. See pricing.

Two more tools help with affiliate work. DriverLink sends a job to any driver as a secure link, no login needed, which suits a one-off affiliate chauffeur; every link generated and sent is kept in history. Affiliate portal links show the affiliate the active offer. LimoGrid also keeps farm-out preferences, and shows farm-in badges so dispatchers can tell at a glance which trips came in from another operator. More on the network page and the driver app page.

Affiliates on other software: GNET

Not every affiliate you trust uses LimoGrid. GNET bridges operators on different dispatch systems. Through GNET, LimoGrid supports farm-in and farm-out with status and billing flowing back, and farm-out cancellation. Your affiliate keeps their software, you keep yours, and the trip status still shows up on your board. We explain it in full in what is GNET.

For comparison, as of September 2026, Limo Anywhere offers its LA Net affiliate network, and its BLACK plan includes Auto Farm, automated farm-out. Its knowledge base describes GNET farm-in as native and GNET farm-out through Addons with an extra per-trip cost. If you run on Limo Anywhere today, check which plan you are on before counting on either. Our Limo Anywhere alternative guide goes further.

Frequently asked questions

What does farm out mean in the limo business?

Farming out means giving a trip you booked to another operator, an affiliate, who drives it for an agreed rate. You keep the client, the billing and your brand on the trip.

How do I find reliable limo affiliates?

Ask operators you trust for referrals, vet insurance, permits, fleet and chauffeur standards, and start with a low-stakes test trip. Networks like the Grid and GNET help you reach operators you don't know yet.

Who sets the rate on the Grid?

The operator who posts the job sets the rate. There is no auction; another operator claims the job at that price or passes.

How do I stop an affiliate from taking my client?

Keep all client communication and billing with you, put your brand and your rules in the farm-out, and work with affiliates who agree to them. On the Grid, the passenger stays the poster's customer and is billed by the poster.

Can I farm out to operators who don't use LimoGrid?

Yes. Through GNET, LimoGrid farms out to and farms in from operators on other dispatch software, with status and billing flowing back.

If you want to see a job go from your dispatch board to an affiliate and back, book a demo, or start free on LG Connect and claim your first Grid job.