Frequently asked questions

Choose a car from the fleet, pick your dates and send the request. It reaches us straight away and we reply to confirm availability, the final quote and what we need from you.

A request through this site is a request, not yet a reservation. The booking is confirmed once we have accepted it in writing, checked your documents and taken any deposit due. If you would rather arrange it by phone, the concierge line is (347) 892-6346.

As early as you can, especially for a weekend, a holiday or a specific car. We hold one booking per car per day, so a popular car goes to whoever confirms first.

Short notice is still worth asking about. We keep the fleet ready rather than in storage, so same-day and next-day requests often work — call rather than wait for an email reply if the date is close.

Every self-drive rental takes a refundable security deposit. The amount is shown on each car's page, because it varies with the car, and it is held against the credit card you present at delivery.

Return the car on time, undamaged, with the fuel it came with, inside the mileage allowance and free of tickets, and the hold is released within 10 business days. How quickly your bank shows it is up to them.

A chauffeur booking takes no deposit at all — the car never leaves our care.

The rental is paid in full before the car is released, and rates are quoted per 24 hours, before tax and delivery.

The security deposit must be held on a credit card in your own name with enough available limit. Debit cards and prepaid cards are not accepted for the deposit.

Cancel more than 72 hours before the start and there is no charge, less any third-party cost already spent on your booking. Inside 72 hours we retain 50% of the rental. Not turning up, or not meeting the driver requirements at handover, means the full rental is retained.

Changing dates is not a cancellation. Ask us as early as you can and we will move the booking if the car is free.

25 to drive one of our cars yourself, with a full licence held for at least 3 years.

We do consider drivers aged 21 to 24, case by case, where some extra checks are met — see the next question.

A chauffeur booking is different: our driver drives, so anyone 21 or over can book one, with no licence and no insurance of their own.

Possibly. 25 is the standard, and most exotic rental companies stop there — we would rather look at the driver than the birthday, so a renter aged 21 to 24 can be approved as a special case.

It is not automatic, and it is never decided at the kerb. Ask us before you book and we will tell you either way, in writing. What we need:

• A clean driving record for the past five years — no at-fault accidents, major violations, licence suspensions or comparable claims.
• Additional identification: proof of your home address in your own name, and proof of employment, enrolment or income.
• Written confirmation from your own insurer that your policy covers the specific vehicle, for its full value, for the rental period. We verify this with the insurer directly rather than on your word for it.
• A security deposit of up to twice the amount published for the vehicle, agreed in writing before the booking is accepted.
• Consent to live vehicle telematics for the rental, an agreed mileage limit, and no travel outside our service area under any circumstances.
• An in-person handover, with the vehicle's performance, limits and handling covered before the keys change hands.
• A guarantor aged 25 or over who meets the standard requirements and signs the rental agreement alongside you, where we ask for one.

Approval covers that booking, and not every car is available under it — the most powerful cars stay with drivers 25 and over. If we say no, anything you have paid comes back in full. Call the concierge line on (347) 892-6346 and ask: it costs nothing to find out, and we would rather have the conversation early than turn you away on the day.

Four things:

• A full, valid driver's licence, held for at least 3 years.
• A passport or government photo ID that matches the licence.
• A credit card in your own name for the deposit.
• Proof of your insurance covering the car you are renting.

We check documents before delivery day wherever possible, so nothing holds up the handover. See section 2 of the terms for the full list, including our driving-record check.

For a self-drive rental, yes. You need your own liability and physical damage cover that extends to a rented car of that class, carrying at least $300,000 combined single limit, with Aura Auto Group named as additional insured and loss payee.

This is the one requirement people are most often caught out by: plenty of personal policies quietly exclude high-value cars or cap the payout far below what our fleet is worth. Ask your insurer about the specific car, in advance and in writing. If your policy will not stretch, tell us — we can often arrange cover for the rental period at extra cost, agreed before delivery.

A chauffeur booking needs no insurance of yours and no licence, because our driver drives.

Only a driver named and approved on the signed rental agreement. Additional drivers meet the same requirements as you and are added before delivery.

Letting anyone else drive voids the insurance entirely and breaks the agreement, which leaves the whole value of the car with you. If plans change mid-rental, call us and we will add the driver properly.

The daily allowance is set per car and shown on that car's page, so check the car you are booking rather than assuming a fleet-wide number.

Miles are counted across the whole booking, not day by day, so a quiet day leaves more road for the next one. Anything beyond the allowance is $5 per mile, taken from the deposit on return. Planning a long run? Ask when you book — extended mileage packages cost less arranged in advance than driven over.

Anywhere in New York · New Jersey · Connecticut without asking us first.

Beyond the tri-state area we need to agree it in writing beforehand, which may change the mileage, insurance and delivery terms. Taking a car outside the agreed area without permission voids the insurance. Cars may never leave the United States, or travel by ferry, rail or transporter, without our written consent.

Yes. The car arrives hand-washed with a full tank, and comes back the same way. Returned short of fuel, there is a $150 refuelling charge plus the fuel itself. Returned needing more than a normal valet, up to $300 in cleaning.

Smoking or vaping in one of our cars is $400, because the smell outlasts the rental.

There is a 60-minute grace period. After that, an eighth of the daily rate per hour, up to a full day. More than three hours late counts as another full rental day.

Tell us as soon as you know. Traffic happens and we can usually absorb it — what we cannot absorb is a car that is not back when the next booking is waiting for it, and those losses come back to you.

The car is your responsibility from the moment it is released to you until we take it back, including theft, vandalism, weather and damage caused by anyone else. Report any accident, damage or fault to us immediately, and to the police where the law requires it, and never authorise a repair or recovery yourself.

Wheels, tyres, glass, undertrays and paint chips from road debris are common on low, wide cars and stay with you. Mechanical failure from normal use is ours: we recover the car and either replace it with something comparable or refund the unused part of the rental.

Both inspections, at delivery and at collection, are photographed and time-stamped, so what was already there is on record before you drive away.

You do, including anything that reaches us after the rental has ended. We pass them through at cost and add no administration fee, and we are required by law to tell the issuing authority who was driving.

Yes — that is the White Glove service, and it is how most of our bookings happen. The car arrives at your address on a covered trailer, hand-washed, tank full and photographed, and we collect it from wherever it ends up: your building, your hotel, your office garage. There is no counter and no clipboard.

It is $75 for the first 10 miles, then $50 per additional 10 miles or part of them, plus any tolls at cost. That mileage is the round trip from our dispatch point, out and back, and the fee covers both the delivery and the collection. You see the quote in writing before the booking is accepted.

With a chauffeur booking, our driver drives and the car never leaves our care. That changes what we need from you: no security deposit, no licence, no insurance of your own, no mileage allowance and no return date to watch. It is quoted by the hour or the day, with a minimum agreed when you book, and the rate covers the driver, the car, fuel and standard mileage in our service area.

Self-drive is the opposite trade: you keep the keys, and the requirements above apply — deposit, licence, insurance and mileage.

Some cars in the fleet can be booked either way. The car's page shows which, and the fleet page can be filtered to one or the other.

Time past the booked engagement is charged in 30-minute blocks at your agreed hourly rate, so an evening that overruns costs what it actually overran by. Gratuity is yours to decide and is never added unless we have said so.

Our drivers work within the hours the law allows and will turn down anything unlawful or unsafe, which is the same protection you would want if you were the one in the back.

Yes, and it is worth telling us it is one. Weddings, photo and film shoots, proposals, birthdays and corporate days all have details a standard booking does not — staging times, waiting hours, a second car, where the car sits between appearances.

Call the concierge line with the date and what you have in mind. Filming and commercial use need to be agreed in advance, and being asked early is what lets us say yes.

New York · New Jersey · Connecticut — all five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester, northern New Jersey and Connecticut, with delivery priced by distance from our dispatch point. 8 AM – 5 PM · 7 days.