Terms and conditions

These are the terms on which Prime Drive accepts a booking. They are deliberately short and specific, and they apply the same way to a single transfer, to a long-distance transfer and to a day’s touring. They are read together with the written confirmation of your own booking, which carries the price, the itinerary and the terms agreed for it.

Who are you contracting with?

The operator is La Spezia Transfer NCC - Oksana Nesterenko, a licensed Italian noleggio con conducente business trading under the commercial name Prime Drive, VAT number 01556400115, registered at Via Ippolito Nievo 18, La Spezia, with correspondence at Via Crispi 113/A, 19125 La Spezia.

In Italy the licence for private hire with a driver is called NCC. It is not a taxi licence: an NCC vehicle is booked in advance for a named customer at a price agreed in advance, rather than hailed or taken from a rank at a metered fare.

How is a booking made?

1. You ask for a quote through the contact page, by email or by WhatsApp, telling us the date, the journey and the number of passengers.
2. We reply within 24 hours with a price for that vehicle and that itinerary.
3. You accept in writing. The booking exists when we confirm it to you in writing, by email or by message, not when you send the request. That confirmation records the pickup point, the time, the itinerary and the price, and it is the document to check if anything is later in doubt.

A request that has not been confirmed in writing is not a booking, however far the conversation has gone. If you have not had a written confirmation and your travel date is close, please chase us.

What does the price cover, and when does it change?

The agreed price does not change unless you change the itinerary. That is the operator’s own published commitment and it is the heart of these terms. A longer queue at the airport, heavier traffic on the motorway or a slower day than expected does not produce a larger bill at the end.

Prices are quoted per vehicle, not per person, for up to eight passengers.

No price is published on this website. Every quote is worked out for your date, your route and your party, and it is fixed once you accept it.

What the fare covers, and anything it does not, is set out in the quote itself, before you accept it. That written quote is the document to read on the question of what is included; nothing is added to it later unless you change the itinerary. Fares are quoted and paid in euro.

Cards accepted are Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express. We charge no surcharge for paying by card beyond our own cost of accepting it, as Italian consumer law requires. Nothing is added to your booking that you did not ask for, and no box on this site is ticked in advance on your behalf.

How much waiting time is included?

We ask for your flight number when you book and we follow the flight, including early arrivals as well as delays. At the meeting point the driver waits with your name shown on a tablet, so there is no paper sign to look for in a crowd.

How many passengers and how much luggage?

Up to eight passengers per vehicle. The vehicle is a Mercedes-Benz. Luggage has to fit in the boot with every seat in use, so tell us how many you are and how many cases you have when you ask for the quote. It is the detail people underestimate, and it is better settled in the quote than on the pavement.

By law an NCC service carries wheelchairs and mobility supports at no charge. Tell us at the quote stage if someone in the party uses one, because the ground decides a great deal here: the Cinque Terre villages are steep and stepped, and that changes which places are realistic in a day.

What does the chauffeur do, and what is not included?

Your chauffeur drives, meets you, waits where the vehicle is allowed to wait, and shares what he or she knows about the region on the way. The chauffeur is not a licensed tour guide. In Italy guiding inside monuments, museums and churches is a separate licensed profession, and we do not pretend otherwise. Licensed local guides can be arranged on request, and for Florence, Pisa and Lucca they add real value.

Entrance tickets, guide fees, meals and boat or train fares are not included in a transfer or a day’s driving unless the written confirmation says so.

Where the vehicle can stop is set by local rules, not by us. The Cinque Terre villages are closed to traffic in their centres, so a car normally reaches the edge of a village and the last stretch is on foot. Monterosso al Mare is the exception: we hold the permits to drive in as far as Piazza Garibaldi, and may move along the seafront from there. Florence and Pisa both restrict access to their historic centres, and the arrangement for a specific address inside one of those zones is confirmed at the time of booking rather than promised in advance.

What a private car can do, and a tourist coach cannot, is set you down close. In Pisa, coaches are banned from Via Cammeo and sent to the free park on Via Pietrasantina about 2 km out, while we set down on Via Cammeo or Via Andrea Pisano, about 500 m from the Piazza dei Miracoli - five to seven minutes on flat pavement, no steps. Where the car stops in each place is set out on the destination pages, in plain terms, including the walk at the end of it.

What happens if I cancel, or you do?

The cancellation terms are agreed in writing with your quote, before the booking exists. You read them and accept them in the same message that carries the price, so they are known to you before you are committed to anything, and they are not altered afterwards.

One thing can be said plainly today, and it is unusual for an operator to volunteer it: private passenger transport is excluded from the 14-day right of withdrawal that applies to most things bought online in Europe, under article 47 of the Italian consumer code. Whatever cancellation policy is agreed is therefore the whole of your protection - there is no statutory floor underneath it. That is exactly why it is put in front of you in writing before you book, rather than explained after something has gone wrong.

If we have to cancel - a vehicle off the road, a driver taken ill - we tell you as soon as we know, and money paid for a journey that does not take place is returned.

Does a strike or a road closure affect my booking?

A private car is immune to a rail strike and does not stop running when the sea gets up and the ferries are cancelled. That is one of the honest reasons to book one. It is not immune to a road that is physically shut. The coast road to the Cinque Terre, the SP 370, is landslide-prone and has been put under alternating one-way working more than once in recent years, and the Provincia della Spezia publishes the current status of its provincial roads. That status, not our preference, decides what is drivable on the day.

Arriving by cruise ship

Nobody can leave a cruise ship until it has been cleared by the authorities, and La Spezia is a working commercial port where passengers may not walk about on foot. You are carried from the ship to the cruise terminal by shuttle bus, and because the cruise line pays for those buses, their number and their hours are its commercial decision rather than a published timetable. None of that is within our control, and neither is the ship’s departure: cruise lines tell their passengers in writing that the ship will not wait for guests travelling independently. For that reason this site makes no guarantee about getting you back aboard, and you should treat any operator who offers one with care.

What the cruise port page gives you instead is honest arithmetic: how long each trip really takes, and which ones do not fit a short call. Tell us your all-aboard time when you ask for the quote: it is the number the arithmetic for the day is measured against.

What do you need from me?

• Accurate pickup details, and the flight number or ship name where there is one.
• Anything that changes what has to be arranged - the real number of passengers, large or unusual luggage, a child seat, a mobility need - told to us when you book, not on the day.
• Being at the agreed point at the agreed time, or telling us as early as you can that you will not be.
• Valid travel documents for everyone in the party. Border and airport formalities are outside our control and are not a reason for a refund.
• Seat belts worn, as Italian law requires, and reasonable behaviour towards the driver and the vehicle.

Insurance

The vehicles carry the motor insurance Italian law requires of a licensed NCC operator. No figures are quoted here, because an insurance figure is only worth printing with the policy in hand.

If something goes wrong

Tell us first, and tell us quickly - most problems are fixable on the day by the person driving you or by a phone call to the office.

If it cannot be settled there, write to us. The email address and the WhatsApp number are on the contact page, and we read Italian, English and Russian. Keep the written confirmation of your booking to hand: it is the document a complaint is measured against.

Your data

What happens to the details you send with a quote request is set out in the privacy notice. In short, they are used to answer your request and for nothing else.

Which law applies?

These terms and any booking made under them are governed by Italian law, and the Italian courts have jurisdiction. Where you book as a consumer rather than for a business, Italian and European consumer law may give you the right to bring a claim in the courts of the place where you live. Nothing on this page takes away a right the law gives you.

These terms were published on the date shown below. The terms that apply to your booking are the ones in force when we confirm it to you in writing.