How to Set Your Terms Before You Take a Private Client

• Private arrangements fall apart when nobody sets terms. The rider starts texting whenever they need a ride, and you end up on call for free.
• On Uber and Lyft, the app writes every term for you. On a private client, you have to write them yourself.
• Six terms cover almost everything: rate, scheduled not on-demand, hours, notice, cancellations and waiting, and payment.
• Say them once, before the first booking, in plain words. A term stated up front is an agreement. A term stated after a problem is an argument.
• Put them where the rider books. On SOLODRIVE.PRO the rider books at your handle, sees your price before they confirm, and puts a card on the fare.

It starts well. A rider you liked asks if they can call you directly next time. You say yes. A week later they text at 5:40 AM asking if you can get them to the airport in twenty minutes. Then a Sunday afternoon. Then a run that turns into three stops and an hour of waiting in a parking lot.

Nothing they did was unreasonable. You never told them what the deal was, so they made one up. The default deal for a driver with no terms is unpaid, on-call availability. That is why so many drivers try private rides once and go back to only the apps.

Drivers who make it work say the same things to each other: work scheduled rides, not on-demand rides. Give your availability and your rules up front. Two or three regulars are enough foundation for a day. Every one of those is a term.

You have been working under terms the whole time. You just did not write them. Uber and Lyft set the fare, decide when a cancellation pays you, decide how long you wait before you can leave, and decide what a rider owes for keeping you there. All of it is set by the app, and all of it can change without asking you.

A private client has none of that by default. Nobody hands you a cancellation window or a wait-time rule. That is the freedom you wanted, and it is also the work. The good news is the list is short.

Decide your number before the rider asks. Some drivers price by the mile and the minute, and some quote a flat price for the trips they repeat, like an airport run or a daily commute. Either works. What does not work is making up a number in the car.

On a direct booking you set the rate, not an app. When a rider books you through your own booking page, they see the price before they confirm, so there is no surprise total and no haggling at drop-off. If you need help picking the figure, how much to charge for a private ride walks through the math, and how drivers set their own rates covers changing them later.

This is the term that saves the arrangement. Tell every private client you take scheduled rides, booked ahead. You do not take "can you come now" calls.

On-demand is what the apps are for, and they are built for it. A private client is valuable because the ride is known in advance. A Tuesday 7 AM pickup you knew about on Sunday is a ride you can plan a whole day around. A text asking where you are is a ride that wrecks one.

Say when you drive private clients. Weekdays 6 AM to 6 PM. Mornings only. No Sundays. Whatever fits the rest of your driving and your life.

You review every direct request before you send a fare, so a request outside your hours is a polite no, or an offer for a time that works. Saying the hours up front means you rarely have to say no at all.

Pick a minimum and keep it. Two hours is a common minimum for a same-day trip. A day ahead is common for anything before 7 AM and for airport runs. You can take shorter notice when it suits you. The term is there so a rider does not expect it.

For trips booked further out, how far ahead to take a booking covers the other end of the window.

This is where most private arrangements get awkward, so settle it first.

Cancellations and no-shows. Decide what a late cancellation means to you, and say it when the rider books. Many drivers ask for notice and leave it there. Some tell a rider that a no-show means the next booking needs a day's notice. This is your own stated term and you apply it yourself. There is no automatic cancellation charge on a direct booking, and SOLODRIVE.PRO does not have a policy engine that applies one for you. What you get is a rider who heard the term before they booked. More on that in what to do when a booked rider cancels.

Waiting and stops. Price waiting into the fare. If a trip is a doctor's appointment and back, or a grocery run with a stop, quote the whole job as one price before the ride. Then say how long a pickup wait is included. Nothing is metered, so the agreed price is the price, and nobody watches a clock.

Payment should never be a conversation at the curb. On SOLODRIVE.PRO the rider sends a request, you review it and send back a fare, and the rider attaches a card to that fare to confirm the ride. The full fare is captured when the ride is complete. No cash, no "I'll send it later," no awkward reminder a week on.

For a rider who books you every week, set up a standing ride. The rider consents once, the card is saved, and the ride bills weekly on schedule. Setting up a standing weekly ride shows the steps.

You do not need a document. You need one clear message before the first booking. Something like this:

> Happy to drive you. Here is how I work. I take scheduled rides booked through my page, not same-minute calls. I drive weekdays, 6 AM to 6 PM. I need two hours' notice, or the day before for anything before 7. The price you see when you book is the full price, waiting included. If you need to cancel, let me know the day before. Here is my link.

Short, friendly, and every term is in it. A rider who books after reading that has agreed to how you work.

Terms you said once in a text get forgotten. Terms that sit next to the booking do not.

With SOLODRIVE.PRO your booking page lives at your handle. Share your link and a rider books you there, sees your price before they confirm, and attaches a card to the fare. One-off rides can be booked in advance, and regulars can book a standing ride that repeats every week. Your customer list shows every rider who has booked you, so you can see who books on time and who keeps cancelling. It is a list of your riders, not an automation tool. What you do about a pattern is your call.

Here is the part that makes the terms worth the effort. Two or three good regulars are enough foundation for a day.

Say you charge 30 dollars a trip. Three regulars each ride twice a day, to work and home, five days a week.

	Trips	Your fares
One day	6	$180
One week	30	$900
One year (50 weeks)	1,500	$45,000

That is 900 dollars of your own fares booked before Monday starts, at a rate you set, inside hours you chose, with notice you asked for. The apps fill the rest of the day if you want them to. Use your own rate and your own riders for the real number. How many regulars it takes to replace a gig shift works it through.

None of that holds up without terms. With no terms, those same three riders are 30 phone calls a week at times you did not pick.

The apps drivers already run, like Gridwise, Para, Stride and Everlance, are built around the work you do on the platforms: earnings, mileage, expenses, offers. They are useful for that. None of them sits between you and a private client, so none of them shows a rider your price, your hours or your booking link. Setting terms with your own client is a job those apps were never built for.

SOLODRIVE.PRO works alongside the apps you still drive. It gives you the booking page where your terms meet your rider.

What terms should I set before taking a private client?

Six things. Your rate, the fact that you take scheduled rides and not on-demand calls, the hours you take bookings, how much notice you need, what happens on a cancellation or a long wait, and how the rider pays. Decide each one before the first ride and tell the rider before they book, so every later conversation is about a term you already agreed.

Why do private driving arrangements fall apart?

Usually because there were no terms. The driver says yes to a rider, the rider starts texting whenever they need a ride, and within a few weeks the driver is on call for free. The rider is not being difficult. Nobody told them what the deal was. Terms stated up front fix that before it starts.

Should I take on-demand calls from a private client?

Most drivers who make private clients work say no. Tell riders you take scheduled rides, booked ahead, inside the hours you set. On-demand is what the apps are for. A booked ride is something you can plan a day around, and a text at 6 AM asking where you are is not.

How much notice should I ask a private client for?

Pick a number you can keep and say it before anyone books. Two hours is a common minimum for a same-day trip, and a day ahead is common for early mornings and airport runs. The exact number matters less than the rider hearing it before they book instead of after they are annoyed.

Can I charge a private client for a late cancellation or a no-show?

That is one of your own stated terms, not an automatic charge. There is no cancellation policy engine on SOLODRIVE.PRO that applies a fee for you. If you have a cancellation term, say it when the rider books and apply it the same way to everybody. Many drivers keep it simple and ask for notice, and stop holding a slot for a rider who keeps cancelling.

How do I handle waiting time with a private client?

Price it into the fare up front. If a trip includes a wait, like a doctor's appointment or a store run, quote the whole job as one price before the ride. Tell the rider how long a pickup wait is included in that price. There is no meter running, so the agreed price is the price.

How does a private client pay me?

Through your booking page. The rider sends a request, you review it and send back a fare, and the rider attaches a card to that fare to confirm the ride. The full fare is captured when the ride is complete, so payment is never a conversation at the curb. For a standing weekly ride, the rider consents once, the card is saved, and it bills weekly.

How many private clients do I need to make it worth it?

Fewer than most drivers think. Two or three regulars on a weekday schedule is enough foundation to plan a day around. Say you charge 30 dollars a trip and each regular rides twice a day, five days a week. That is 30 booked trips and 900 dollars of your own fares before the week even starts.