Pay links for limo companies: get paid before the car moves

A limo payment link is a secure web page you send to a passenger or client so they can pay for a trip, or save a card for it, on their own phone. The trip details are already on the page. They check them, add a tip if they want, and pay. Nobody on your team reads or writes down a card number.

The point is timing. A card collected before the car leaves the yard is worth far more than one you chase after drop-off. Pay links make "pay before pickup" a two-minute step for the customer instead of a phone call for your dispatcher.

This post covers when to send a pay link, how to use one to secure a booking, how to use it on invoices, and how LimoGrid's PayLink works.

What is a limo payment link?

It is a link tied to a specific reservation or invoice. The customer opens it and sees the order summary: the trip, the amount, and your company's branding. From there they can:

• Add a tip
• Pay now, or save a card for later charges
• Mark the card as personal, business or other

Because the link belongs to one reservation or one invoice, there is no retyping of amounts and no guessing which trip a payment was for. The payment lands against the right record.

When to send a pay link

Four situations cover most of it.

1. A new customer you have never billed. The first booking from an unknown phone number is the one you know least about. Get a card before you commit a car.
2. Weddings, proms and events. Big-ticket, date-specific bookings where you turn away other work to hold the vehicle.
3. The late-night airport booking. Someone books at 11pm for a 4am pickup. A pay link sent with the confirmation means the card is secured before the chauffeur wakes up.
4. An invoice that is past due. A link on the invoice turns "I'll get to it" into a tap.

For your regular corporate accounts that already have cards on file, you usually do not need a pay link at all. You charge the saved card from the reservation. Pay links are for the gap between a first booking and a trusted account.

How to secure a booking: saved card or charge up front

Operators handle this in different ways, and a pay link supports the two most common.

Save the card now, charge later

The customer enters a card through the link, and it is saved to their account. You charge it when your policy says so: after the trip, at a cancellation deadline, or at month-end. For many bookings, a card on file does the job a deposit used to do: it gives you something to charge if the customer cancels late.

Charge immediately

For bookings where you want money in the bank before the car moves, the link can charge right away. LimoGrid's PayLink also has an option to charge immediately once the card is saved, so the customer does one step and you get both the saved card and the payment.

Write the policy down first

Whatever you choose, decide the rule before you send the link and put it where the customer reads it. PayLink lets you add a message to the order summary. Use it for the cancellation terms, the pickup time and anything the passenger should know before paying. A policy the customer saw before paying is much easier to enforce than one mentioned in a follow-up email. We cover disputes in more depth in limo company credit card processing.

Pay before pickup: a simple workflow

Here is a routine that works for most small fleets:

1. Take the booking by phone, email or your online booking widget.
2. Create the reservation and send the PayLink with the confirmation.
3. Keep a short list of upcoming trips that still have no card. Follow up the day before.
4. If the card still isn't in by your cutoff, call. Decide then whether to release the vehicle.
5. After the trip, charge the saved card for any extras, such as wait time.

The important part is step 3. A pay link only helps if someone notices when it has not been used.

Invoice links for accounts that pay late

Not every client pays at booking. Corporate accounts and repeat bookers often pay on invoice. The friction there is usually not willingness to pay, it is effort: finding the invoice, finding the card, finding the portal.

Send a PayLink for the invoice and the effort disappears. The client opens the link, sees what the invoice covers and pays it. The payment is recorded against that invoice, so your receivables are right without anyone matching payments by hand.

For clients with several open invoices, LimoGrid can also apply one payment across multiple invoices. More on that in corporate account billing for limo companies.

Tips: let the passenger add them before paying

Tips on a card have always been awkward. The passenger wants to tip, the chauffeur would like to be tipped, and the card was charged three days ago.

On a PayLink, the passenger adds a tip on the order summary before they pay. It becomes part of the same payment, so there is no second charge and no cash to chase. For a company that pays tips through to drivers, that makes the number clean for driver pay at the end of the period.

How PayLink works in LimoGrid

PayLink lives at pay.limogrid.com and is part of the Pro plan (see pricing). What it does:

• Tied to a reservation or an invoice. The trip is already on the page.
• Tips added by the passenger before paying.
• Save a card or charge now, with the option to charge immediately after the card is saved.
• Card type marked as Personal, Business or Other.
• Your branding on the page, and a message to the customer on the order summary.
• Your merchant account. Payments go through your own processor (Authorize.Net, Stripe, Square or Midwest). LimoGrid is not the processor.
• No double charges. Payments and invoice charges use idempotency keys, so a retried request is processed once.

On Authorize.Net, the card form is hosted through Accept.js, so card data never touches your servers. Details are on the PayLink page.

Frequently asked questions

What is a payment link for a limo company?

It is a secure page tied to one reservation or invoice. The customer opens it on their phone, sees the trip or invoice, and pays or saves a card without anyone taking the card number by phone.

Can I use a pay link to take a deposit?

You can use it to save a card before the trip, so you have a card on file to charge under your cancellation policy, or to charge the customer immediately. Pick the rule that fits the booking and state it in the message on the order summary.

Can passengers add a tip through the link?

Yes. On a LimoGrid PayLink the passenger adds a tip on the order summary before paying, so it is part of the same payment.

Does the money go through LimoGrid?

No. PayLink charges through your own merchant account on Authorize.Net, Stripe, Square or Midwest, at your own rate.

If you are still reading card numbers over the phone, book a demo and we will walk through a PayLink from the passenger's side, on your phone.