Cancellation Policy

Our Late Cancellation and No Show Policies are listed on both the Trip Confirmation and Receipt. These state “Late cancellations will be charged the full fare. Airport arrivals require at least (1) one hour’s notice to avoid the charge. All other services require at least (2) two hours notice unless the pickup is more than 2 hours from ORD at which time the advanced notice is the travel time to the pickup. Call for requirements associated with multiple vehicles, specialty vehicles or buses.

SmartCars does not assume that a No Show or Late Cancellation incident is billable without first completing an investigation. This inevitably means putting the charge on hold until we communicate directly with the client and/or the party responsible for having made the reservation.

To successfully cancel ‘transfer’ type services without a fee for sedans and SUVs (within 35 miles of the Chicago Loop) or 2 hour ‘charter’ services, the client must provide Smart Cars with at least 2 hour notice. For any larger vehicle type (van, bus…) with these same service types , 5 hours advanced notice is needed. In the case of multiple vehicles, Smart Cars negotiates terms on a case by case basis and usually require a 50% minimum down payment which will be forfeited if the negotiated terms for appropriate cancellation notification are not met.

Before classifying a service as a “No Show”, our policy requires us to wait at least 30 minutes AFTER the presumed pickup time. During this period, we attempt to contact the client in several ways. First we call the client’s and/or booker’s cell phone 5 minutes after the arranged pickup time. If this is to no avail, we try all of the other available phone numbers and emails attached to this client and their booker. We continue attempting contact until 30 minutes after the pickup time, at which point we release the Chauffeur. An “incident” is then placed in our system and a customer service representative (CSR) begins our internal investigation. This usually starts with listening to the recording of the reservation.

Next an email is sent to the client or their agent explaining the situation and requesting a response. This is repeated daily until we finally reach the client (it is normally within 24 hours that we hear back) or their admin. Once we speak with the client, we attempt to determine the cause of the incident, and provide them with whatever information we have gathered in the interim. Almost always the recording establishes the source of the error and the party responsible.

In the cases where Smart Cars is at fault, we apologize for the potential inconvenience AND confirm if the client has an alternative reservation for a different date and time.

If the client is at fault, we listen attentively for their “take” on the situation. This may span from “I am sorry for the mistake, please bill me” to “If you bill me I will never use your service again”. Our CSRs are all trained to listen carefully to the tone and content of the client’s response. With this in mind, we collaborate with the client and attempt to formulate a determination that is respectful of both parties.