Drafting General Terms and Conditions for Taxi Companies

A taxi company provides passenger transport, and precisely when transporting people, the risks and liability differ from those of a standard service provider. You transport travelers and their luggage, you drive at fixed times to airports, hospitals, or business appointments, and you have to deal with cancellations, no-shows, traffic jams, and waiting times. General terms and conditions stipulate the conditions under which you operate, what you do in the event of delays or force majeure, and the extent of your liability. Without these agreements, only statutory rules apply, and these often turn out less favorably for the carrier than a well-drafted document.

Moreover, for a taxi company, general terms and conditions are indispensable in the business market. Anyone providing contract transport for municipalities, healthcare institutions, or schools, or handling regular routes for companies, requires a professional framework that aligns with the agreements in the transport contract. General terms and conditions prevent you from having to renegotiate payment, cancellation, and liability for every assignment.

General terms and conditions are only binding if the other party is aware of them or could reasonably have been aware of them. Pursuant to Articles 6:233 and 6:234 of the Dutch Civil Code, the law requires you to provide the terms and conditions before or at the time of concluding the transport agreement. If you fail to do so, the traveller or business client may invalidate the provisions, and you will fall back on the statutory regulations. Therefore, a limitation of liability that you have not properly provided offers you no protection.

For a taxi company, this requires a practical approach. For bookings made via your website, refer to the terms and conditions during the ordering process; for telephone or app bookings, refer to an easily accessible version in the confirmation. For contract transport and corporate framework agreements, attach the terms and conditions to the agreement and have the client give explicit consent. This ensures demonstrable compliance with the requirement to provide the terms and conditions.

Liability is the most sensitive subject for a taxi company. You transport people, and injury or death to a passenger is subject to a specific statutory regime for passenger transport that cannot be excluded without limitation. A general exclusion of liability for personal injury does not hold up. What is possible, however, is carefully defining the damages for which you are reasonably responsible, and excluding indirect and consequential damages such as a missed flight, a missed appointment, or a missed connection due to a delay.

In addition, the terms and conditions regulate liability for the traveler's luggage and belongings, damage caused by the traveler themselves in or to the vehicle, and your position in the event of force majeure such as traffic jams, road closures, extreme weather conditions, and breakdowns en route. A balanced liability arrangement that remains within legal limits is stronger than an overly broad exclusion that is set aside by a judge.

In addition to liability, taxi transport involves a number of specific risks that should be addressed in the terms and conditions. Cancellations and no-shows are the most common points of contention: a passenger who fails to show up or cancels at the last minute costs you the entire trip. A clear cancellation scale and a no-show policy prevent disputes and entitle you to compensation.

Furthermore, waiting times for delayed flights or trains, prepayment and deposits for long journeys, and the choice between a fixed fare and billing by the taximeter play a role. Regarding passenger behavior, you stipulate that you may sanction littering, aggression, or the disregard of safety instructions, and terminate the ride if necessary. Finally, you process personal data of passengers, such as pickup address and ride details, which requires a reference to your privacy policy under the GDPR.

A large part of the taxi market consists of contract transport: school transport, healthcare transport, Wmo transport, and business transport based on framework agreements. In that segment, your general terms and conditions apply in conjunction with the specific transport agreement. It is therefore important that your terms and conditions establish a clear order of precedence: what applies if the agreement and the general terms and conditions differ? Generally, you prioritize the provisions in the individual contract and supplement the remainder with your general terms and conditions.

In the business market, also pay attention to your client's purchasing terms and conditions. Large parties often try to declare their own terms and conditions applicable. Anyone who first refers to their own general terms and conditions and provides them stands in a stronger position in this 'battle of forms'. Well-drafted terms and conditions help you avoid unknowingly operating under the client's conditions.

Taxi operators are subject to specific obligations regarding complaints and disputes. You are required to have a written complaints procedure and inform your passengers about it. Additionally, affiliation with an independent dispute resolution body for the taxi industry is required. It is advisable to refer to your complaints procedure and the time limit within which a passenger must submit a complaint in your general terms and conditions, so that both you and the passenger know where they stand.

In the terms and conditions, you further specify which law applies and which court has jurisdiction in disputes that are not resolved through the complaints or dispute resolution procedure. For consumer travelers, you take into account the limits that the law sets regarding provisions on choice of forum and liability.

If you transport private travelers, they are consumers, and stricter rules apply to your terms and conditions. For consumer contracts, the law provides for a 'blacklist' of prohibited provisions in Article 6:236 of the Dutch Civil Code and a 'grey list' of presumably unreasonably burdensome provisions in Article 6:237 of the Dutch Civil Code. Clauses that exclude liability too broadly, or that give you the unilateral power to change prices or conditions, may fall onto these lists and be annulled by the traveler.

It is therefore essential to formulate your consumer terms and conditions in such a way that they pass the test of the black and grey lists. A set of conditions that is legally defensible protects you better than a set that is strict on paper but fails in practice as soon as a traveler or the disputes committee examines it.

Filing is not legally required, but it is practical for a taxi company. By filing your terms and conditions with the Chamber of Commerce or the court, you establish the date and content, allowing you to demonstrate later which version was in effect at a specific time. The practice of filing is familiar to the taxi industry: the trade association has filed general terms and conditions for taxi transport with the court in The Hague, and many entrepreneurs refer to these or build their own terms and conditions around them.

However, filing does not replace providing the terms and conditions. You must still make the terms and conditions available to the traveler or client before concluding the agreement. Filing is a supplement that strengthens your evidentiary position, not a replacement for your duty to provide information.

General terms and conditions for a taxi company are tailor-made. A company that primarily provides airport transfers for private individuals requires different provisions than an enterprise that handles contract transport for municipalities or enters into business framework agreements. A template from the internet does not take into account your modes of transport, your liability risks, and the legal limits regarding passenger transport and consumer protection.

MKB Juristen drafts your general terms and conditions to measure—legally correct and tailored to your taxi company—for a fixed price upfront. This means you know exactly where you stand, with no surprises afterwards. Contact us, and we will provide a document that suits your driving style and holds up when it matters.