[Anotherdayinbkln]

How much do you tip your taxi/car service drivers?

Say you are coming from Manhattan (below 14th) or Williamsburg?

Do you tip a percentage of the fare?
Do you tip a buck or two over the final fare?
Do you run out of the cab and throw money at the cabbie a few blocks before your final destination?
Does it depend on luggage, distance, and amount of passengers or the cabbie's attitude?

Tellmetellmetellme



mods: make this global, I want a good variety of answers

[VeggieQueen]

i give about 15% - 20% or a min of $2-$3 if a short ride.

[alafairnadia]

I generally only tip yellow cabs. I tip around 15-20% but it depends on service. if the driver is totally gracious and pleasant - or at the least, civil - during the ride to brooklyn, I tip much more generously than I do for someone who grumbles, or laughs (when I say where I'm going. I seriously had one dude just keep saying "fuckin' manhattan bridge. HAHAHAHAHAHA. goddamned manhattan bridge hahahahahahaha" the whole ride. I wanted to kill him), or sighs heavily about brooklyn the whole ride. those folks get very little tip with a word, once my door is open and I'm standing outside, that had they been slightly less psychotic, they would have gotten double or triple tip.
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like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote

[daisyh]

OK, I've always wondered this, since I have a few friends who also only tip yellow cab drivers... why stiff the car service guys? Is their payment situation different? Is the tip included in the price they quote you? I don't get it...

Either way, I tip at least $3 if they're coming over the bridge from Downtown, more if it's from midtown and up...

[VeggieQueen]

I tip all of them... tip isn't ever included, as far as I know.

[kristina]

there are some services which automatically add gratuity, but they usually itemize it on a reciept if they do. from what I've seen, it's 10%. I usually tip 20%. I really only use car services if I need to take a car to or from manhattan. does anyone else get a crazy attitude from yellow cabs trying to go into brooklyn? I've been flat rejected like 5 times, and have since sworn off yellow cabs.

[em]

My understanding is that since a car service driver drives his own car and doesn't have to pay for a medallion, that you don't need to tip him. Whereas a yellow cab has to pay up to $300,000 for a medallion - so you need to tip. I could be wrong.

If I take a yellow cab home from Manhattan I tip about 15% depending on how the driver reacted when I told him I was going to Brooklyn...

[xueling]

I think yellow cabs legally have to take you anywhere in the 5 boros. I always get in the cab and shut the door first before I tell them I'm going to Brooklyn. If they make a fuss about it just jot down their name and cab number and complain. If traffic is outrageous and they seem legitimately sorry and are almost off-duty or something I wouldn't do it, but if they just don't feel like going to Brooklyn I will take down their name.

[alafairnadia]

every time I tip a car service driver, they go into shock. sorta like trying to tip waiters in spain. they never have any idea why I'm handing them money (car service drivers or watiters in spain), so I just don't bother anymore. I only tip car service drivers if they're especially helpful, beyond the yellow cab driver style of service. in other words, if they help me put my suitcase in the trunk, and help me get it out, that's a tip. if they don't, deffers no tip.

oh. I'll also tip car service drivers if I know they're not messing with my fare or lowballing it. for instance, I almost always take arecibo to the vet. most drivers charge me $7. I may or may not tip them depending on if they get me to the correct side of the street, help me get out the door with teh cat, etc. if they charge me $8, I always insist that they not take any shortcuts ("nope, not getting out at the corner. sorry, you're two feet off the mark buddy") if they charge me $6, they usually get a $1 or $2 tip.
_________________
like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote

[volition]

i tip regardless of whether it's a yellow cab or a car service because in most cases these guys don't own the vehicles or if they do they are losing a cut to the dispatcher service. i will of course base my tip on the level of service (ie courtesy, handling of bags if any, and directional knowledge) the driver gives me but in general that range is 10 - 15%.

[libbrooklyn]

My tip depends on the service, if the ride is pleasant and the service good (car service included) he will receive a tip. how much depends on how much cash i have in my pocket. usually 5 dollars depending on the length.

[Idlewild]

Having been a car service driver I believe I can say that tips are appreciated. In fact most of my fellow drivers couldn't stand picking up non-native Brooklynites unless they also worked in the service industry because they didn't tip or tipped very little. Not all car service drivers own their car and even if they do they are still paying hefty maintaince and tax costs.

Myself, I have had it with Yellows. Every time I hailed one from Manhattan or the airports going back to Brooklyn I'd get the heavy sighing, the maniacal beeping and speeding and just plain rudeness. I usually call Eastern, they always seem to have a car no more than 15 minutes away and with Yellow fares having gone up I am probably saving money on car service. I usually tip 20% as standard, 25%-30% for going above and beyond the call of duty.

As an aside the best way to find out the price is to ask the dispatcher on the phone what the cost will be. I have had a problem or two with Evelyn car service drivers jacking up the price by a few dollars on local calls. I called them on it and paid what I was quoted and the phone, no tip.

[alafairnadia]

[saintjohnsnear5th]

[Anotherdayinbkln]

Can you ever ask a cabbie to go off the meter? Like, "take me for $15 off the meter instead of $18 fare and a $2 tip"

Ive done that in other countries..

[ANFIELD]

Just to add on about yellow cabs not going to Brooklyn - you can complain all you want but to have any real action taken you have to turn up to a TLC hearing in person, which usually means taking a day off work. What a shock, the TLC isn't concerned about weeding out lame drivers or serving the entire NYC populace.
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Only the dead know Brooklyn.

[Carnivore]

[Idlewild]

You can do all that but why go through the aggravation? I'm looking to go home not get in altercations. With car service the drivers are glad to get the hook up going back to Brooklyn, they take their time, they don't ask "how to get their" and more importantly you have tons of leg room. Plus, the fare for a yellow has gone up, so the cost is probably the same if not cheaper.
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I'm a Chain Belt...that's called the "quart of blood" technique. You do that, a quart of blood will drop out of a man's body.

[apollonia666]

Yellow cab drivers are required to take you wherever you want to go in the five boroughs once you're in the car, so I always do what Carnivore already suggested and don't tell them where I'm going until I've gotten in. Haven't had very many incidents of drivers kvetching about where I'm going, fortunately, although I did get turned down a couple of times before I learned to do this. Now I just act like I don't hear them when they ask where I'm going until I'm in and the door's closed. I have, however, had car service drivers flirt with me several times, which has sometimes been uncomfortable, especially when they've been really aggressive about it.

I usually tip $2 to $4 unless it's a really long trip.

[kristina]

[neene]

i haven't had a problem yet with yellow cabs not wanting to go across the bridge
and every night i see more and more of them out here,
i think that resistance is becoming a thing of the past.

i do tip 20% on yellow cabs but for some reason tend to go a little lower for car services (15%)
especially if i've forgotten to ask the dispatcher the fare and i feel the driver is jacking it up.

but i was questioning that gratuity policy,
so i'll be making an adjustment thanks to this thread
(just in time, now that it's getting colder and i probably won't be on my bike as much for the long distances).
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the further you go out on a limb, the harder it is to keep your balance
balance is overrated

[ArchitectNerd]

I don't know why I should pay someone extra for doing their job. Taxi driver's don't want to go to Brooklyn because they're afraid they won't get another fare until they're back in Manhattan and with the lost time and gas they figure that it's at best a revenue neutral proposition. But business is filled with break even nonsense like that and I'm not exactly sympathetic to people breaking the law, making my life more difficult and trying to make more money all at the same time. I tip if the service is good. If the service is bad I tip poorly or not at all.

I have only taken three or four taxis home to Brooklyn and have fought with nearly every cab driver. I have been told among other things that the Manhattan bridge was clogged with traffic at 2:30am, that the bridges were ALL closed, and simply that they would not go. I think it's important to fight back all the time. I simply don't care how inconvenient it is for people to do their job. I have money, I need a ride and cabbies are legally required to take me where I want to go. I know it sounds elitist and entitled but if that's what it takes to get home safely, then that's what it takes.

[Boygabriel]

[dcmacdaddy]

[paulybrklynny]

sorry if its been addressed,

i'm definitely of the close the door before revealing destination, but tip well even if they grumble persuasion.

i always remind them that legally they can't refuse a fare, and that they are losing more money by arguing with me, i have often be confronted with the claim that legally cabs can refuse intoxicated passengers.

lets face it, if i'm taking a cab back, that's the reason why. i can understand why they wouldn't want to carry the extremely intoxicated, regardless of the the length of the trip, but can this possibly be a law? isn't the entire reason cabs exist is to prevent drunk driving/public intoxication?

anybody know?

[MichaelKeys]

[Hoover]

I usually tip car service guys when I've called ahead for the car and been quoted a price by a dispatcher. But I don't tip if I flag them down on the street and the driver quotes me a price himself, on the theory that if he's told me that he wants $8, that's how much I should give him. What are people's thoughts?

[Idlewild]