Pre-booking: what it means that a VTC may only work with a prior booking and why that protects the traveller
Pre-booking means contracting beforehand: in Spain, a chauffeured hire vehicle (VTC) may only provide a service that has been requested in advance, with origin, destination and price known before starting, and may not pick up anyone who hails it in the street or wait for customers at a rank. It is the legal border with the taxi, set in the Land Transport Act since the 2018 reform. For the traveller, pre-booking means three things: the price is fixed and known at booking, the service is recorded before it happens (the route sheet) and the driver sets off knowing who to pick up and where to go. This platform works only that way, with a prior booking, whether the service is run under a VTC authorisation or a taxi licence.
Written by Ridelta - Taxi y VTC · reviewed on 27 October 2026
What does the law say about prior contracting?
The Land Transport Act regulates chauffeured hire as a form of discretionary passenger transport: the VTC carries whoever has hired the vehicle with its driver for a specific service, and that hire must have been contracted beforehand. The regulation adds the practical consequence: VTCs may not drive around looking for customers or park on the public highway waiting for them, and must carry documentation of the contracted service. The 2018 reform, passed by royal decree-law after the conflict with the taxi trade in the big cities, confirmed that rule and transferred to the regions the power to regulate the VTC's urban service, with a four-year period that ended in 2022.
Since then, each region has developed the rule in its own way: some require a minimum time between contracting and the start of the service, others have created a regional authorisation of their own for urban service, others have left the national framework as it is. What is common to all is the starting idea: the VTC is a service you ask for beforehand. That is why what is told here does not depend on the area: pre-booking is how the sector works throughout Spain, and what changes by territory are the time limits and the paperwork.
What is the route sheet and what is it for?
The route sheet is the document proving the service was contracted before being provided: who contracted it, from where to where, at what time and in which vehicle. Since 2017 there has also been a national electronic register of VTC service communications, in which companies must report each service before starting it, with the contract details, so that the authorities and roadside inspectors can check that the car is running a pre-booked service and not touting. The driver must be able to show that communication if asked.
For the traveller, the route sheet has a value that is not visible: their trip exists in a register before the car starts. If there is a problem — a forgotten item, a complaint, an incident — the service is identified by date, time, vehicle and company, and it is not one person's word against another's. It is also what makes the invoice possible: a pre-booked, recorded service is invoiced naturally to whoever ordered it, whether a private individual or a company.
What does the traveller gain from pre-booking?
First, the fixed price: because the service is ordered with origin, destination and time, the price is calculated and accepted beforehand and does not depend on traffic or the way taken. Second, the certainty that the car is coming: a pre-booked service is assigned to a specific driver and vehicle, and the platform follows it until it ends, unlike going out to look for a free taxi at four in the morning in a village with no rank. Third, information: the passenger knows which car is collecting them, who is driving and how to get in touch, and the driver knows who the passenger is, how many there are, how much luggage they carry and whether a child seat or an accessible vehicle is needed.
There is a fourth, less obvious advantage: pre-booking takes the rush out of the moment. Whoever books days ahead the trip to the airport for a seven o'clock flight chooses the vehicle, the time and the options calmly; whoever looks for a car in the street at half past four takes whatever there is. And in the villages and rural areas without taxi ranks, which make up most of Spain's territory, a prior booking is not one option among several: it is the only way for there to be a car at that hour at that door.
What may a VTC not do, and what may a taxi do?
A VTC may not pick up anyone who stops it in the street, may not wait for customers at ranks or at the doors of stations and airports without a contracted service, and in many regions may not even drive on the public highway without an assigned service, except to go to or return from one. Nor may it carry markings that make it pass for a taxi. The taxi, by contrast, has street and rank hire, the meter and the public municipal tariff reserved to it, and in exchange is subject to a closed number of licences, tariffs it does not set itself and service duties such as covering shifts or serving people with reduced mobility with part of its fleet adapted.
Where the two coincide is in the pre-booked service: a taxi may also accept advance bookings, often at a fixed price for known trips, and in many rural areas it is the local taxi that does the airport or hospital transfers booked the day before. That is why a pre-booking platform can work with drivers under both kinds of authorisation: what it offers the traveller is the same — booking, fixed price, assigned car — and what changes is the administrative title of the vehicle doing it.
How does pre-booking show when you book here?
In that everything is asked for beforehand. The calculator on each area's site asks for the pickup address, destination, date and time and returns the fixed price; on confirmation the service is recorded and assigned, and the customer receives the confirmation with the trip details. There is no "get a nearby car now" button, because that is exactly what pre-booking is not: the platform publishes the minimum notice it accepts on its help page and on each area's site, and that notice is what the law and operations allow, not a promise of immediacy.
For anyone coming from urban mobility apps, the change of habit is just that: thinking about the transfer a little earlier. In return, the price does not change with demand, the car that arrives is the one booked, the driver knows where they are going, and the invoice comes out in the name of whoever needs it. The specific terms — minimum notice, cancellation, included waiting — are on the help page; what this piece explains is why they exist.
Frequently asked questions
Can I hail a VTC in the street?
No. Spanish law requires the VTC to be contracted before the service and forbids it from touting on the public highway or at ranks; that is reserved to taxis.
How far ahead must a VTC be booked?
It depends on the region and the platform: some regions require a minimum time between contracting and the service, and each platform publishes the notice it accepts on its help page.
What is a VTC's route sheet?
The document, now reported to a national electronic register before each service, proving who contracted the trip, from where to where, at what time and in which vehicle. The driver must be able to show it at an inspection.
Can a taxi also work with prior booking?
Yes. A taxi can be hired in the street, at a rank and also by booking, often at a fixed price for known trips; that is why a pre-booking platform can work with both authorisations.
Who checks that a VTC complies with pre-booking?
The region's transport inspectorate and the roadside police, who can ask for the service communication in the national register; lack of prior contracting is a punishable offence.
Sources
- Ley 16/1987, de 30 de julio, de Ordenación de los Transportes Terrestres (arrendamiento de vehículos con conductor) (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Real Decreto-ley 13/2018, de 28 de septiembre, en materia de arrendamiento de vehículos con conductor (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Real Decreto 1211/1990, Reglamento de la Ley de Ordenación de los Transportes Terrestres: condiciones del arrendamiento con conductor (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible · Registro de Comunicaciones de los Servicios de Arrendamiento de Vehículos con Conductor (consulted on 27 October 2026)
How we write, where the figures come from and how we correct an error: editorial policy.
The development of the VTC's urban service is each region's competence and changes; this piece explains the common framework, not one territory's rule. The platform's booking terms are on its help page.