Route 05
From $150 for the car, agreed in writing before the booking is accepted. One road in and out of Malibu means one thing: the buffer has to be real, and the chauffeur has to have looked at the canyon before he leaves.
01 — The pickup
Malibu pickups are rarely a simple kerb. Most are private drives off the highway, a gated colony with a guard who needs your name in advance, or a house on the ocean side where the only place to turn is a neighbour's apron. Some of them cannot be entered at all from the eastbound side of PCH, which sounds like a detail until a car has to drive two miles past you to find a legal turn.
So the useful things to send with the booking are the gate or guard name, whether the drive is on the ocean or the hill side, and how many cases are genuinely coming. The chauffeur arrives early, waits where he is permitted to wait, and texts rather than sounding a horn. On this route he will also have looked at the canyons and at the state of the highway before leaving the yard, because either can add half an hour without warning.
Guard-gated colonies need the passenger name lodged in advance. Send it with the booking and the car is admitted rather than turned around at the gate on an early departure.
02 — The drive
The default is PCH southbound through Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica, then either Lincoln or the 10 to the 405 and down to Century Boulevard. It is the shortest line on paper and the best drive of the three when the highway is clear. It is also the one that fails hardest, because a single incident on PCH has no parallel road to absorb it.
When the highway is holding traffic, the chauffeur turns inland instead — Topanga Canyon or Malibu Canyon over the hill to the 101, then the 405 south. It adds miles and it is not a gentle road, but it moves. From the far west end, past Trancas, Kanan Dume is usually the cleanest of the three canyons.
All of that is decided before the car leaves for you, not while you are sitting in it. If the picture changes mid-drive, the chauffeur will say so and give you a revised arrival rather than let you find out at the terminal.
03 — Timing
| Departure | Pickup before wheels-up | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Before 9am | 3 hours | PCH fills early with eastbound commuters and there is no way round it |
| 9am to noon | 2 hours 45 minutes | The calmest window of the day on the highway |
| Noon to 3pm | 2 hours 45 minutes | Beach traffic builds through the afternoon in season |
| After 3pm | 3 hours 15 minutes | Westside evening peak on the 10 and the 405 both |
| Weekend, in season | 3 hours 15 minutes | Zuma and Point Dume beach traffic sits on the highway all day |
| Any international | 3 hours 15 minutes | Tom Bradley check-in and bag drop take longer |
Swipe to see the full table
These are the numbers we recommend, not a rule. Tell us the flight and we will set the pickup against it, then send it to you in writing so there is nothing to remember on the morning.
04 — The car
The default on this route, and deliberately so. The long wheelbase gives you a boot that takes six large cases without the third row folded, which matters when the whole family is flying out of one Malibu house. Ride height also makes the canyons far less unpleasant if the chauffeur has to take one.
For one or two passengers with light luggage it is the better car and the better drive, particularly on a long PCH run. Ask for it at booking and we will quote it against the same route.
Larger groups out of Malibu go in the Sprinter, quoted separately. See the full fleet for the six classes and what each one actually holds.
05 — The figure
The car, the chauffeur, the whole drive from your Malibu door to the departures level, bottled water, and the time the chauffeur spends loading. Bags are his job, not yours.
A second pickup on the way in, a wait of more than fifteen minutes at your door, or an upgrade to the Sprinter. Each is quoted before you accept, never applied after the drive.
A closed highway, a canyon detour, a holiday weekend, a 5am departure, or a driver who ends up sitting in traffic for ninety minutes. The route risk is ours, and it stays ours.
Quoted before tolls, airport parking and gratuity. There are no surge charges on any RG Black Limo route, on any date.
06 — Questions
Three hours before a domestic departure, three and a quarter for anything international or on a weekend in season. Malibu has one road out and no alternative when it stops, so the buffer here is genuinely larger than it is from Beverly Hills or Santa Monica. Send us the flight and we will set the time for you.
For the car. Six passengers in the Escalade ESV pay the same $150 as one, and the figure is confirmed in writing before we accept the booking. Tolls, airport parking and gratuity sit outside it.
The chauffeur takes a canyon — Topanga, Malibu Canyon or Kanan Dume, whichever is moving — and you are told before you get in the car, not halfway through. The price does not change. That is the point of a set fare on a road like this one.
Yes, provided the passenger name is lodged with the guard in advance. Send it with the booking. If it cannot be arranged, the chauffeur will meet you at the gate instead and walk the bags in from there.
Yes. LAX to Malibu is quoted at the same figure and includes thirty minutes of complimentary wait timed from wheels-down, not from your scheduled arrival. Dispatch tracks the flight, so a delay costs you nothing.
You will have the figure, the pickup time and the chauffeur's name back in writing. Dispatch answers around the clock, every day of the year.
(323) 799-3190