Cross-border limo and car service to the United States

We drive across, not to the bridge

Most Canadian limousine companies will take you to the border and no further, because a commercial passenger vehicle entering the United States needs a chauffeur with the right documents, a vehicle with the right insurance and an operator with the right authority. We hold all three, which is why the cross-border trips on this site run on our own cars from your door in Canada to your door in the United States and back. The chauffeur knows the crossing - which bridge is quicker at 5 pm on a Sunday, which lane the NEXUS holders use, what the officer asks - and the fare is one fixed number for the whole trip.

The crossings we use

From Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Falls: the Peace Bridge at Fort Erie to Buffalo, the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, and the Rainbow Bridge in the falls themselves for the shortest hop to Niagara Falls, New York. Buffalo Niagara International Airport is the most-booked destination - Canadians fly from it for the US fares - followed by the Bills' stadium in Orchard Park, the outlet mall at Niagara Falls NY, and the onward drive to Rochester, Syracuse and New York City. From London and Windsor: the Ambassador Bridge and the Gordie Howe International Bridge to Detroit - the airport, the Lions, the Red Wings, the Tigers, and the onward drive to Chicago. From Sarnia: the Blue Water Bridge to Port Huron. From Vancouver: the Peace Arch and Pacific Highway crossings to Bellingham and Seattle - Sea-Tac airport, the Seahawks, the Mariners, the Kraken, and Portland beyond. From Montreal: Lacolle to Plattsburgh and Burlington, Vermont, and the onward drive to Boston and New York. From Winnipeg: Emerson to Grand Forks and Fargo. From Halifax and New Brunswick: St. Stephen to Calais and the drive to Bangor and Portland, Maine.

Times are approximate off-peak figures excluding the border wait; the engine prices the exact address. The US Customs and Border Protection border wait times and the CBSA's wait times are what the chauffeur reads before choosing the bridge.

What you need to bring

Every passenger needs a valid passport or a NEXUS card; children need their own, and a child travelling with one parent should carry a consent letter from the other, which the Government of Canada recommends. Non-Canadian passport holders may need a US visa or an ESTA; the chauffeur cannot fix that at the bridge. Bring nothing the CBP prohibits - the list is on cbp.gov and the fresh produce and the firearm are the usual mistakes - and declare what you bought on the way home; the CBSA's personal exemptions depend on how long you were away. The chauffeur will remind you of all of this the day before, because a trip turned around at the bridge is a bad day for everyone.

How the crossing goes

The chauffeur drives to the crossing, chooses the lane - NEXUS if every passenger holds a card, otherwise the standard lane - and stops at the booth. The officer asks each passenger the usual questions: citizenship, purpose, duration, what you are bringing. The chauffeur has the passenger manifest and the vehicle's documents ready and answers for the vehicle only. A secondary inspection, if the officer orders one, adds twenty minutes and is not personal; it happens to a few percent of every crossing. Then the drive. On the way home the CBSA does the same in reverse, and the declaration is yours to make.

The trips people book

Buffalo airport. The most-booked cross-border trip in the country: a Toronto pickup at a fixed fare to the departures curb at BUF, and the return from the arrivals curb with the flight number on the booking so the pickup tracks the landing. Two hours plus the border, which the chauffeur reads live.

The game. A Sprinter of fans from Toronto to the Bills' tailgate in Orchard Park and back the same night; a sedan from Vancouver to the Seahawks or the Mariners; a Detroit Lions Sunday from London or Windsor. The sporting events page has the rest.

The shopping day. Niagara Falls NY's outlet mall, Bellingham's, Plattsburgh's. An hourly-style day with the SUV for the bags and the chauffeur who knows what the exemption is.

New York, Boston and Chicago. Eight to nine hours from Toronto to Manhattan, five and a half from Montreal to Boston, five from Detroit to Chicago: a Premium Sedan or an SUV, one fixed fare, a stop for lunch, and the chauffeur's overnight quoted if the return is the next day. For an executive who does not want the airports at either end, the drive is a working day in a quiet cabin.

Medical trips. Canadians travelling for treatment in Buffalo, Rochester, Detroit, Seattle and Boston - and Americans coming north - book a chauffeur who will wait through an appointment and drive home carefully. The Luxury SUV for the comfort; the desk for the plan.

Cruise and airport connections. Vancouver to Seattle for the Alaska cruise terminal at Pier 91 or Sea-Tac; Montreal to Burlington for the Vermont flight; Halifax to Portland, Maine, for the Casco Bay departure.

Vehicles across the border

The Premium Sedan for the executive corridor to New York and Boston; the Luxury SUV for the family, the shopping day and the medical trip; the Executive Sprinter for the game and the group; the Executive Sedan for the Buffalo airport run. All carry the insurance the United States requires of a Canadian commercial passenger vehicle, and the chauffeur carries the operating authority documents in the glovebox.

The fare, and what it covers

One fixed fare for the trip by vehicle class, shown before you book, including the chauffeur, the fuel, the bridge tolls and the return positioning. The border wait is inside the fare - it is not waiting time - and so is a reasonable stop. It does not include a chauffeur's overnight on a multi-day trip, which is quoted separately, or parking at the destination on an hourly day. Gratuity is not added. The currency is Canadian dollars on this site, whichever side the trip ends on.

Americans coming north

The service runs both ways. A traveller landing at Buffalo who wants a car to Toronto, a family in Seattle heading to Whistler, a group in Detroit going to the Windsor casino: booked on the same engine with the pickup on the US side, a chauffeur who crosses to collect them and the same documents required. The Toronto Pearson and Vancouver pages are the ones American visitors read most.

The Buffalo airport run, in detail

A Toronto pickup at 5 am for an 8:30 am departure from Buffalo Niagara International: the QEW to Fort Erie in seventy-five minutes at that hour, the Peace Bridge crossing in ten to twenty on a weekday morning, the I-190 to the airport in twenty-five, and the departures curb at 7:15. On the return the flight number is on the booking, the chauffeur is at the arrivals curb when the aircraft lands, and the Lewiston-Queenston bridge is often the quicker crossing northbound in the evening. For a family flying out of BUF for a Florida week the Luxury SUV takes the luggage; for a single traveller the Executive Sedan is enough. The Buffalo airport's own site lists the curb arrangements, and the chauffeur knows them.

Detroit from Windsor and London

The Ambassador Bridge and the new Gordie Howe International Bridge put downtown Detroit twenty minutes from Windsor and two hours from London, and the trips are the airport at DTW for its US fares, Ford Field and Comerica Park and Little Caesars Arena on game day, the Henry Ford museum, and the onward drive to Chicago in five hours. The tunnel is the third crossing and the chauffeur chooses among the three on the live wait times. Detroit's Metropolitan Airport has two terminals and the chauffeur drops at the right one.

Seattle from Vancouver

The Peace Arch at Blaine is the Vancouver crossing and it is the busiest on the west coast; the Pacific Highway crossing a few kilometres east takes the trucks and, on a bad day, the sedans too. Bellingham is forty minutes beyond the line and Seattle two hours; Sea-Tac airport a further thirty minutes south. The Alaska cruise passengers who disembark in Vancouver and fly home from Seattle are the season's regulars from May to September; the Vancouver page covers the cruise terminal at Canada Place, and the Seattle Seahawks, Mariners and Kraken fill the autumn and winter Sundays. The chauffeur reads the CBP wait times before choosing the lane.

Montreal to Vermont, Boston and New York

Lacolle on Autoroute 15 is an hour south of Montreal, Plattsburgh's airport forty minutes beyond it, Burlington two hours with the ferry across Lake Champlain in summer, Boston five and a half hours down the I-89 and I-93, and New York six and a half on the I-87. The Premium Sedan for the executive corridor, the SUV for the family's Vermont ski weekend at Jay Peak or Stowe. The Quebec page covers the winter roads.

The Maritime crossings

From Halifax the drive to the border at St. Stephen-Calais is five hours through New Brunswick and the onward run to Bangor and Portland, Maine, is the route for the Casco Bay cruises and the Boston connection; the Houlton-Woodstock crossing on the Trans-Canada is the trucks' route and sometimes the quicker one. Long trips, priced as one fare with the chauffeur's overnight, and quiet roads.

The paperwork we carry so you do not have to

Cross-border commercial passenger transport requires the operator to hold US operating authority and the vehicle to carry insurance recognised on both sides, and the chauffeur to hold the commercial licence and be admissible to the United States. All of that is in the glovebox on every cross-border trip and the officer at the booth sees it every day. What the passenger carries is the passport, the NEXUS card if they have one, the consent letter for a child and, for non-Canadians, the visa or ESTA. The Government of Canada's travel page lists the documents by nationality, and the desk will check the list with you the day before.

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