TIFF industry and press car service
Eleven days, several venues a day, and a schedule that changes by lunchtime. The Toronto International Film Festival is the one week a year where a held vehicle stops being a luxury and starts being the cheaper option.
TIFF Industry and Press Car Service rates
Industry work is booked as hours, not journeys, because the schedule moves. These are the standing figures from our rate card and they do not change for festival week.
Up to 14 passengers
Executive Sprinter
Fourteen seats for a delegation
Up to 2 passengers
Mercedes-Benz S-Class Maybach
The car for a premiere arrival
Up to 6 passengers
Cadillac Escalade
The most booked festival vehicle
All rates are plus HST 13% and gratuity 15 to 20 percent. A full festival programme is quoted as a block of days. Runs starting outside the GTA are priced on distance.
Why industry books a held vehicle at the Toronto International Film Festival
Press and industry attendance is not a series of trips. It is a day with four or five fixed points and an unpredictable amount of movement between them, most of it decided an hour beforehand. Booking that as individual journeys means booking each one late, at whatever the moment costs, while carrying everything you own.
A held vehicle inverts it. One car, one driver, for a block of hours. The driver learns the day’s shape by the second morning. Your equipment, coats and press kit stay aboard between calls. And the cost stops being a series of surprises and becomes a number you agreed before the festival started.
What a working festival day looks like
Press and industry screenings start early and cluster around the Lightbox. The car is on hand from the first one rather than booked for it.
Junkets and meetings sit in hotels around the Entertainment District. Short hops, tight gaps, and no time to arrange anything.
It always does. Within a held booking that is a conversation with your driver, not a rebooking.
If the day ends at a carpet, the arrival is sequenced by the event, which changes when you need to leave the last meeting.
The same vehicle carries it. Finding a second car at midnight during the festival is the expensive way to end a day.
Because the festival venues sit within roughly 200 metres of one another, the driving is trivial and the waiting is the service. That is the single thing people booking their first festival get wrong.
Crews, delegations and press teams
Group size changes the vehicle but not the shape of the booking.
A crew with equipment is the case where the Sprinter earns its price twice: seats for the people and a boot that does not require a decision about what gets left behind.
Accounts, invoicing and named drivers
Most industry bookings are on an account rather than a card, and there are three things worth setting up before the festival rather than during it.
Invoicing
Billed after, not swiped on the night.
- One invoice for the whole programme
- Purchase order reference carried on it
- No card handed over in a hotel lobby
A named driver
The same person all festival.
- Direct mobile number, not a dispatch line
- Learns the schedule by day two
- Knows which approach to each venue
Several pickups
People staying in different hotels.
- Each passenger gets their own time
- Routed to arrive together
- One number rather than several fares
TIFF industry and press car service: questions buyers ask
Do you handle industry and press transport for the Toronto International Film Festival?
Yes, and it is most of what we run during festival week. Industry attendance at the Toronto International Film Festival is booked as a held vehicle by the hour rather than as separate journeys, because the schedule moves during the day.
How much does a held vehicle cost?
An Executive Sprinter is $195 an hour from $780, a Mercedes-Benz S-Class Maybach is $250 an hour with a four hour minimum, and a Cadillac Escalade is $175 an hour from $525, all within the GTA and plus HST 13% and gratuity 15 to 20 percent.
Can I book the whole festival rather than day by day?
Yes, and it is cheaper and simpler. A full programme is quoted as a block of days with one vehicle and one named driver, rather than eleven separate bookings.
What happens when the schedule changes mid-day?
Nothing, which is the point. Within a held booking the driver goes where you direct. Hours beyond what you booked bill at the same rate, with no rebooking and no surge.
Do we get the same driver every day?
Yes on a multi-day booking. They learn the shape of your days by about day two, which is worth more than it sounds when venues are 200 metres apart and the traffic is not.
Can we leave equipment in the car between calls?
Yes, and for a press crew it is often the main reason to hold a vehicle. Kit, coats and press materials stay aboard instead of being carried between venues.
Do you invoice, or do we pay by card?
We invoice. One invoice for the whole programme, with your purchase order reference on it if you use one. No card handed over in a hotel lobby.
Can one booking collect people from different hotels?
Yes. Each passenger gets their own pickup time and the route is ordered so the group arrives together, which matters when the first screening is a fixed call.
What size vehicle suits a press crew?
An Executive Sprinter at $195 an hour for up to fourteen, because it takes the people and the equipment without a decision about what gets left behind. A small team fits an Escalade at $175 an hour.
Which venues does this cover?
TIFF Lightbox on King Street West, Roy Thomson Hall on Simcoe Street, the Princess of Wales Theatre at 300 King Street West and the Royal Alexandra, plus the Entertainment District hotels where the junkets sit.
Do you do airport runs for arriving talent or press?
Yes, from Pearson, with the passenger checking in at the Pre-Arranged Limousine Desk and the vehicle brought to the post. It is covered on the Pearson transfers page.
How far ahead should a programme be booked?
Four to six weeks for a multi-day hold. Holding one vehicle across eleven days is a bigger commitment than a single evening and it places earlier.
Is gratuity included?
No. Every rate is plus HST 13% and gratuity 15 to 20 percent, stated separately so the figure on the invoice is the figure you agreed.
Can the driver wait during a long screening?
Yes. That is what the held hours buy. The vehicle is not released while you are inside and there is no charge beyond the hours themselves.
Do you handle talent with privacy requirements?
The vehicles are unbranded with no decals and no plates on display, and the chauffeur does not discuss passengers. Beyond that, tell us what you need at the quote stage.
What if we need a second vehicle at short notice?
Flag it as a possibility when you book the programme. Holding a second vehicle on standby is far easier to arrange in advance than to find at 6pm during festival week.
Can we add a gala or premiere to the programme?
Yes, and it changes the timing rather than the booking. A carpet arrival is sequenced by the event, so it sets when you have to leave the last meeting.
Do you cover pickups outside Toronto?
Yes, from anywhere in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Runs starting outside the GTA are priced on distance rather than the GTA hourly figures here.
Is there a minimum booking?
The vehicle minimums apply: four hours on the Maybach, from $525 on the Escalade and from $780 on the Executive Sprinter. A festival day almost always exceeds them.
Can we use it for a sponsor group as well?
Yes. Above fourteen we quote a 27-Passenger Mini Bus at $250 an hour, which suits a sponsor group moving between a venue and a reception.
What do you need to quote a programme?
The festival dates you need covered, the number of people, where they are staying and roughly how many venues a day. A fixed block figure comes back.
Is this only useful during the festival?
The held-vehicle shape suits any multi-day event, but festival week is where it pays for itself most obviously, because the schedule changes daily and everything is booked out.
Related TIFF services
Book the festival, not the journeys
Send your dates, the number of people and where you are staying. We quote the block and hold one vehicle and one driver across it.