PCO car hire is how most licensed private hire drivers in London get a car that is legal to work in. You rent a vehicle that already holds a TfL private hire licence, insured for hire and reward, on a weekly payment, and you hand it back when you are done. This guide covers what it costs in London in 2026, what a weekly price should include, what TfL and the platforms require of the car, and the questions that separate a good deal from an expensive one.
What PCO car hire actually is
A PCO car is a vehicle licensed by Transport for London as a private hire vehicle. The licence belongs to the car, not to you. Your PCO badge is the driver licence, and both have to be valid before you can accept a booking.
Hiring one solves three problems at once. The car is already licensed, so you are not waiting on a TfL inspection and plating. It is insured for hire and reward, which an ordinary policy is not. And it is somebody else's depreciating asset, which on an executive car is the largest single cost of ownership.
What you give up is the asset itself. At the end of a hire you own nothing, unless the agreement is a rent to buy, which is a different structure covered further down.
What it costs in London in 2026
Weekly rates vary far more than they look, because what sits inside the price is not standard across the market.
As a broad guide for London in mid 2026, standard PCO ready cars are advertised at roughly £190 to £290 a week with insurance and maintenance included, with some entry electric plans from £104. Executive cars such as a Mercedes E-Class run about £250 to £330 a week. Our own published rates start at £380 a week for a BMW 7 Series and £750 for a BMW i7, each with insurance, servicing, MOT, maintenance and 24/7 RAC included. Availability and the current list are on the fleet page.
Those bands are only comparable once you know what each includes. A £280 car without insurance is not cheaper than a £330 car with it, because hire and reward cover for a London PHV driver runs roughly £1,500 to £3,000 a year, which is £29 to £58 a week. We have set out how to compare two weekly prices properly in PCO car hire with insurance, including the excess figures that decide what a single incident actually costs you.
What a weekly price should include
Ask for this list explicitly. A provider who includes all of it will say so immediately.
| Item | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Fully comprehensive hire and reward insurance | An ordinary policy is void the moment you carry a paying passenger |
| Scheduled servicing | On an executive car this is a real number, not a rounding error |
| MOT | A PHV needs one, and it needs arranging |
| Maintenance | Who pays for wear items, and who books the work |
| Breakdown cover | A car off the road is a week of no earnings |
| The TfL licence | The car must already be plated, or you cannot work it |
What is normally not included, and should be written down before you sign: fuel or charging, the insurance excess, PCNs, the congestion charge, ULEZ where the car is not zero emission capable, mileage above the weekly allowance, and damage outside fair wear and tear.
The deposit
Nearly every PCO hire takes a deposit. What varies is whether it is a charge or a hold.
Ours is an authorised hold on your payment card rather than a charge, so the money stays in your account and is simply reserved. The amount is set per rental and printed on your contract rather than published as one headline figure.
Where a provider does take a genuine charge, ask when it comes back and what triggers a deduction. The 21 day figure that appears across the industry is not arbitrary, and we have explained where it comes from in why PCO deposit release takes 21 days.
What you need before anyone can hand you keys
Four things, and the first is not negotiable anywhere in London:
- A valid TfL private hire driver licence. The PCO badge. If yours is still in process, that is the moment to choose a car rather than sign for one. How to get your PCO licence in London covers the whole process, including the topographical test and the SERU assessment.
- A full driving licence. TfL requires one held for at least three years before it will issue a PCO badge, so every badge holder already clears this.
- Proof you are actively working, normally a platform account in your name.
- Proof of address, and a payment card in your own name for the deposit hold.
The rule that shapes the whole London market
Two TfL rules do more to determine which cars exist in London PCO hire than anything the platforms do:
- A private hire vehicle cannot be more than 10 years old from first registration, at first licensing or at renewal. In 2026 that makes a 2016 the oldest usable car, in its final licensable year.
- A vehicle licensed in London for the first time must be zero emission capable and Euro 6. TfL defines zero emission capable as 50g/km CO2 or less with at least 10 miles of zero emission range, or 75g/km or less with at least 20 miles. Plug in hybrids qualify. Fully electric cars pass automatically.
The practical effect is that the London PCO fleet has moved almost entirely to plug in hybrids and electric cars, and any petrol or diesel car being offered to you as a first time London plate is not going to be licensed.
A useful side effect: any zero emission capable car already meets ULEZ standards, so the £12.50 daily charge does not apply.
Which platforms will accept the car
TfL licensing is the legal floor. Every platform then applies its own vehicle rules on top, and they are stricter.
Uber runs thirteen products in London, and seven of them gate on a model list: Comfort, Electric, UberXL, Exec, Lux, Exec XXL and Access. For those, your exact model has to appear on the list. A car can be legal, licensed, insured and working on UberX while being invisible to Comfort or Exec because Uber has never added that model.
The full picture is in what Uber requires of a car in London, and if you want to check a specific model before you commit, the complete list of models Uber accepts covers all 780 across 107 makes. For the higher tiers specifically, Uber Exec and Lux rules for 2026 sets out what changed on 1 August 2026, and Uber Comfort requirements covers the tier most drivers step up to first.
If you have a Mercedes in mind, which Mercedes models qualify for PCO in London has the tier by tier breakdown.
Hire, rent to buy, or own
Three structures, and the right one depends on how long you intend to drive.
Weekly hire is the most flexible. Insurance, servicing, MOT, maintenance and depreciation are all somebody else's problem, and you can stop. You own nothing at the end.
Rent to buy puts the weekly payment toward eventual ownership. It suits a driver who is certain they are staying in the trade for years and wants the asset. It is far less forgiving if your circumstances change. We have explained the structure in what rent to buy PCO car hire is and run the numbers side by side in rent or rent to buy.
Buying outright is cheapest per week over a long enough horizon and carries every risk. Insurance at £1,500 to £3,000 a year, servicing, tyres, MOT, and depreciation on a car with a hard TfL expiry date attached to it.
Five questions worth asking before you sign
- What exactly is included in the weekly price, item by item, and what is not?
- What is the accident excess, when is it payable, and what happens on a non fault claim?
- What is the mileage allowance, and what is the rate above it?
- What happens to my weekly payment if the car is off the road after a fault or an accident?
- What is the minimum term and the notice period to end the hire?
The fifth catches more drivers than the other four combined. A weekly price with a long minimum term is not a weekly commitment, whatever it is called.
The short version
PCO car hire in London means renting a TfL licensed private hire vehicle, insured for hire and reward, on a weekly payment. Expect roughly £190 to £290 a week for a standard PCO ready car and more for a full executive one, and treat any price as meaningless until you know whether insurance, servicing, MOT, maintenance and breakdown cover are inside it.
Check the car clears TfL first, then check the exact model against the platform tier you intend to work, then ask what the excess and the notice period are.
Our fleet, the current weekly rates and what each one includes are on the fleet page. The fee list in full, including excesses, is on the FAQs, and you can call us on 0203 740 9188.