The plain-English guide
Empty legs and dead legs, explained.
If you have seen the phrase "empty leg" or "dead leg" and wondered what it means, here is the short version, and how you can book one.
What is an empty leg?
An empty leg is a chauffeur journey that is already happening with nobody in the back. A car drops an executive at Heathrow and has to drive home to Manchester empty. A chauffeur sets off to collect a client and covers fifty miles to reach them. In both cases the car, the fuel and the chauffeur's time are already committed. The seat is going spare on a journey that was happening anyway.
And a dead leg?
Same thing, different word. Dead leg is the term the chauffeur trade tends to use for an empty repositioning journey; empty leg is the phrase private aviation made familiar when it sells spare seats on a jet flying back to base. On the road they mean exactly the same: a professional car, driven with no fare in it. On this site you will see both, and they are interchangeable.
Why they happen
A chauffeur fleet cannot avoid empty miles. Cars have to get to the pick-up, and they have to get home afterwards. A large share of everything a typical fleet drives is this empty running, premium capacity moving with no revenue attached, and until now no way to book it.
Why an empty leg costs less
When you book a chauffeur from scratch, you pay for the whole job: the car out, your journey, and the car home. An empty leg is different, because the operator has already paid for that repositioning trip whether or not you are in it. Any fare they take is money they would not otherwise have made, so they can price the leg well below a standard one-way booking and still be better off. You get a premium journey for less; they turn a dead mile into revenue.
How you book one on LuxeLegs
LuxeLegs is the UK marketplace for exactly these journeys. Operators list the empty legs their cars are already driving, with the route, the date and a price. You look for a leg that matches where you are going, and book it. It is the whole car, privately, with the same professional chauffeur the operator sends to any client. The only thing that has changed is that the journey was already on the road.
Common questions
What is an empty leg?
A journey a chauffeur is already making with no passenger: a car repositioning after a drop-off, or heading out to its next booking. The mileage happens either way, so the car can be booked by a traveller going the same way for far less.
Is an empty leg and a dead leg the same?
Yes. Dead leg is the chauffeur trade's word, empty leg is the phrase from private aviation. Both describe an empty repositioning journey with no fare in the car.
Is it a shared ride?
No. It is the whole car, privately, with a professional chauffeur. The journey was simply already going to happen, which is what makes it cheaper.
Why is it cheaper than a normal booking?
The operator has already committed the car and the chauffeur's time for that leg, so any fare is revenue they would not otherwise have had. They price it below a from-scratch one-way and still come out ahead.
Where does LuxeLegs operate?
LuxeLegs is a UK marketplace for chauffeur empty legs, matching travellers with one-way journeys operators' cars are already making across the country.