New York City is back on top of the tourism map, which means many visitors are traveling between LaGuardia, JFK and Newark Liberty airports and Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island.
As a native and lifelong New Yorker, these are my recommendations for the most reliable and affordable car services and licensed taxis, to help you save money and prevent you from being scammed into paying much more than what you should be paying.
You can pay as little as $2.90 per person for public transportation or as much as $100 or more for a car service for one-way transportation.
This comprehensive guide gives you all your choices between JFK, LaGuardia, Newark International (EWR) and Manhattan, which is where most visitors to NYC stay.
We have updated this post with full articles for each airport.
NYC Guide: JFK Airport Transportation
NYC Guide: LaGuardia Airport Transportation
NYC Guide: Newark Airport Transportation
Recommended NYC Car Services
Long before app-based ride services surged onto the scene from Silicon Valley, NYC had a thriving local car service industry, and still does, including family-owned businesses.
NYC-based car services offer similar competitive prices and late model cars to the Silicon Valley companies Uber and Lyft, and competitive with NYC taxi prices.
Most NYC-based car services are small, family-owned businesses.
Plus, NYC-based services hire only professional, experienced drivers who know NYC and don’t need to rely on GPS to find an address or the back route to the airport when the highway is gridlocked.
NYC-based car services also give you the choice to order your vehicle by app or the old-fashioned way – dialing instead of texting to speak to a real live person to order your car.
Some NYC-based car services have both local phone numbers with 212 and 917 area codes, and toll-free numbers.
What a concept! Speak to a real live dispatcher who knows the city and its traffic patterns and can advise you on the best pick-up time for wherever you are going.
And that real live person can take your credit card info so you can prepay on the phone and not even bother to sign anything when you are in the vehicle.
Your credit card stays on record for the next time, and you get an actual receipt via email for each ride you take – just as with those app-based services owned by the Silicon Valley millionaires.
Unfortunately, even some of the local car services have begun to charge more for peak demand times, but nothing like the surge pricing charged by the Silicon Valley companies. Plus, you are told up-front, so there are no expensive surge pricing surprises when you get the bill.
All those things make locally-based NYC car services more convenient and often less expensive than those Silicon Valley companies.
And since many car service drivers maximize their income by working both for a NYC-based company and one of the Silicon Valley imports, you are not taking work away from a NYC driver – you are giving him or her more work.
If you are tired of surge pricing surprises, drivers not familiar with NYC or with the English language, or with sending your money to Wall St. investors, check out these reliable, professional NYC-based car services, some of which also have a national presence.
NYC-based traditional black car and neighborhood livery drivers can take mobile payments and send you an email receipt.
And unlike those Silicon Valley companies, the NYC car services also take that old-fashioned hand-held payment system called cash.
BTW – I always give a cash tip, even when I pay by credit card, so drivers don’t have to wait for the payment cycle from the car service company or from the credit card company. That applies also to licensed NYC taxis.
Carmel
Carmel has been providing reliable car service at reasonable prices for more than 25 years, and I have been using them that long. They offer discounts for non-peak airport service – just ask.
They also have partners in other cities, including Los Angeles.
Their experienced telephone dispatchers know traffic patterns and will tell you if your requested travel time to the airport is not enough, or just order a car through their app, the same way you would an Uber or Lyft ride, and pay electronically or with cash.
Dial 7
Dial 7 also has been providing reliable car service at reasonable prices for more than 25 years. I use them regularly, too, and recommend them.
They also have partners in other cities, including Los Angeles.
Dial 7, like its chief competitor Carmel, offers discounts for non-peak airport service if you ask, and their telephone operators know traffic patterns and can advice you on the proper timing for your trip.
You can also order a car via their app, the same way you would order an Uber or Lyft ride, and pay electronically or with cash.
- Phone Number: (212) 777-7777
Allstate Limo
Based in Chelsea, AllState is in a great location to easily get to anybody in New York City in a reasonable pickup time.
Their drivers look and act professionally, and they offer discounts for regular riders.
- Phone Number: (212) 333-3333
Website
Carey
Primarily a corporate service, Carey also transports non-corporate individual passengers, although at rates slightly higher than Carmel, Dial 7 and AllState, in part because drivers are uniformed and vehicles are more likely to be higher-end luxury sedans and SUVs.
- Phone Number: (800) 336-4646
Website
Elite Green
If you are eco-minded, this is the car service for you. Elite Green’s fleet strictly is exclusively fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles, including the Lincoln MKT and Mercedes S550.
For security, personal account riders cannot enter a vehicle without a voucher.
- Phone Number: (866) 696-5966
Website
Wiro
Wiro is the best car service you’ll find for your money in NYC. Of all the companies on this list, Wiro is the most consistent, which is a huge plus in a city where being five minutes late will enrage a lot of customers.
Drivers often arrive early and will call and text you when they are near. With low prices and high courtesy, Wiro is the way to go.
- Phone Number: (718) 775-2611
Website
Arecibo
Based out of Park Slope, Brooklyn, Arecibo serves the entire tri-state area and has the tagline “we’ll be there in 5 minutes.”
We wouldn’t always count on that to hold 100 percent true, but they are good about always being prompt. Arecibo offers standard, luxury, minivan, and SUV vehicles.
- Phone Number: (855) 428-0222
Website
New Family
Based on the Upper West Side, New Family services the entire city, specializing in Upper Manhattan and Bronx, primarily with bi-lingual Latino drivers.
- Phone Number: (212)749-7777
- No website, but positive review on Yelp
Prem’s Luxury
Operated by a father-daughter combo. Prices are higher than other car services recommended here, but it gets high marks from followers on Facebook.
- No website
- Facebook page which includes phone number
This article was published originally on NYC on the Cheap, which was hacked, held for ransom and destroyed in Feb. 2022, and is now rebranded as NYC Travel Guru.
This article has been has been updated for ecoXplorer and re-published periodically, including in Jan. 2023 with new rates.
The original and updated articles are both (C) Copyright Evelyn Kanter.
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and the author of guidebooks and smartphone apps – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is the President of IMPA, the International Motor Press Assn., and a former Board member of SATW, the Society of American Travel Writers.
Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.
Also follow my NYC website, www.nyctravelguru.com.
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