Cancellation policy
Last updated: August 2026 · Applies to every booking made on Vribe
Almost nobody reads this page before they need it, and by the time they need it they can no longer choose. So it is written in order: first which policy applies to you and how much it returns, then how late you can cancel, and at the end the cases where the other party is the one who fails. The tiers in the table are not written by hand: they are read from the same function that executes the refund, so what you see here is exactly what the system applies. If you find a difference between this document and what the app does, it is our error and we want to know.
Definitions
- Booking:
- The agreement between a traveler and a host for the use of a vehicle on specific dates, created on the platform and governed by the contract both sign.
- Rental:
- The amount corresponding to use of the vehicle for the booked period, excluding deposit and delivery fee.
- Security deposit:
- Refundable amount that answers for damage, missing items, fuel, fines and other charges under the contract.
- Payout:
- The payment Vribe transfers to the host for a booking, with the commission already deducted.
1. Which policy governs your booking
There is no single cancellation policy on Vribe: the host picks one per vehicle out of three, so two bookings made on the same day can carry different terms. The one that governs yours is the one the vehicle had at the moment you booked, and it is frozen there. If the host later changes their vehicle's policy, that change applies to new bookings and never to yours — just like the daily rate, the commission and the deposit, which are also fixed when you book and are not recalculated.
1.1 Where you see it before paying
At checkout, before confirming, with the actual tiers of the vehicle you are booking rather than a generic summary. If a vehicle has no explicit policy, the moderate one applies, which is the middle of the three. And it appears again by name in the rental contract you sign before receiving the vehicle, so it is set down in a document both parties keep.
1.2 What it covers and what it does not
The policy decides one thing only: what part of what you paid for the trip is refunded to you if you cancel. It reaches the rent and, if you booked it, the home delivery fee. It also reaches the extras you chose and, on a trip with a chauffeur, the chauffeur fee: the percentages apply to the booking total. It does not reach the security deposit, which comes back in full always and in every cancellation. And it does not apply when the one who fails is the host, nor when the handover is not completed without you having cancelled and nobody reports that you didn't show up: those cases have their own sections and end in a full refund regardless of the vehicle's policy. If the one who doesn't show up for the handover is you, however, it does apply: as if you had cancelled at the start time. If you booked without paying today and you cancel before the scheduled charge, there is nothing to refund: the booking is cancelled at no cost, because the charge is always scheduled within your free cancellation window.
2. The three policies, tier by tier
All three behave the same way in essence: there is a band in which cancelling costs nothing, and from a certain point before the start the refund begins to fall. What changes between them is when that band starts and how much is retained. The table uses a round example rental so the arithmetic can be followed at a glance; your amounts are the ones on your booking.
| Policy | If you cancel | We return, of the rental |
|---|---|---|
| Flexible | 24 h or more in advance | $300.00 (100%) |
| less than 24 h in advance | $200.00 (67%) | |
| Moderate | 72 h or more in advance | $300.00 (100%) |
| between 24 h and 72 h before | $150.00 (50%) | |
| less than 24 h in advance | $0.00 (0%) | |
| Strict | 7 days or more in advance | $300.00 (100%) |
| between 48 h and 7 days before | $150.00 (50%) | |
| less than 48 h in advance | $0.00 (0%) |
2.1 Flexible
The most forgiving. Cancel 24 hours or more in advance and you receive 100%. Below those 24 hours the equivalent of one day of rental is retained — the same daily value frozen on your booking — and everything else comes back. Never more than you paid is retained: if the trip was a single day, the rental refund is zero, not negative.
2.2 Moderate
The middle ground, and the one applied by default when a vehicle has no other. With 72 hours or more in advance you receive 100%. Between 24 and 72 hours, half. Below 24 hours there is no rental refund. The deposit, as always, comes back in full in that last case too.
2.3 Strict
The most demanding, and the one usually chosen by hosts of vehicles in high demand, because a last-minute cancellation leaves their vehicle idle. With seven days or more you receive 100%. Between 48 hours and seven days, half. Below 48 hours there is no rental refund.
2.4 How the time is counted
Always in hours until the trip starts, not in calendar days. It is calculated at the instant your cancellation is recorded, against the booking's start date and time. This matters at the edges: cancelling 71 and a half hours before a moderate booking falls on the 50% side, not the 100% side. If you changed the dates earlier, the count runs against the new dates, which are the ones in force.
3. The security deposit always comes back in full
In every cancellation, under any policy and at any moment, the security deposit is returned to you in full. The reason is simple: the deposit answers for damage, missing items, fuel and fines from the trip, and if the trip did not happen there is nothing to answer for. The tiers in the previous section do not touch it. It was charged together with the rental in a single payment, so it comes back the same way and in the same operation, without you having to ask. All of this applies when the vehicle asks for a deposit; if it asks for none, there is no held amount to return and the cancellation only moves the rental.
4. How late you can cancel
Cancelling belongs to the period before the trip. Once the vehicle is in your hands the booking is no longer cancelled: it closes by another route. It is worth knowing before you need it, because the button stops being available and the reason is not a bug.
4.1 Before handover
While the booking is pending approval, confirmed or awaiting handover, either party can cancel it: you or the host. The exact moment is recorded, the refund is calculated with the frozen policy, the payment back is executed and the dates are released on the vehicle's calendar so someone else can book them.
4.2 After handover it is no longer cancelled
From the moment handover is signed and the vehicle passes into your hands, the booking closes with the return or, if something went wrong, with a dispute. This is not a technicality: it exists because cancelling after handover returned the deposit and voided the host's payment for a trip that did happen, even before checking for damage. If you need to end an already-started trip early, that is an early return and is coordinated with the host, not a cancellation.
4.3 Bookings that no longer accept cancellation
A booking already cancelled is not cancelled twice, and neither is one completed or under dispute. If two people try to cancel at once — you and the host in the same second — only one of the two operations takes the booking and the other receives a notice that the state changed. This is deliberate: it guarantees the money moves only once and that the trust penalty, where it applies, is applied only once.
5. If the host cancels
You receive 100% of everything you paid —rent, delivery if there was one, and deposit— regardless of the vehicle's policy or how long is left before the trip. No penalty applies to you, because the decision was not yours. If you had paid part with promotional credit, that credit returns in full to your balance with its original expiry: you do not pay for someone else's default. A host who cancels an already confirmed booking loses 5 Trust Score points, those dates stay blocked on their vehicle's calendar, and they may be temporarily suspended from new bookings; frequent cancellations are grounds for suspension. In addition, in your booking we show you similar vehicles available nearby for your dates, and you can use what you paid on them (section 5.1).
5.1 Use what you paid on another vehicle
If the booking is cancelled on the host's side —because the host cancelled it, because it's confirmed that the host didn't show up, or because within 72 hours nobody recorded the handover or reported what happened— and it still has dates ahead, the deposit, if there was one, is returned immediately, and we set aside the rest of what you paid for 24 hours. If you book another vehicle within that time, it's deducted when you pay: if the new booking costs more, you pay the difference; if it costs less, the difference goes back to your card as soon as it's confirmed. If you don't book anything, or if you ask for it earlier from your booking, everything goes back to your card. What we set aside doesn't expire or get lost the way promotional credit can. If you reported that your host didn't show up and you book another vehicle while your report is being resolved, we authorize the full amount of the new booking on your card, but we don't charge it yet. If it's confirmed that the host didn't show up, what you paid for the first booking pays for the new one: we only charge you the difference, and if there's money left over, it goes back to your card. If it isn't confirmed, we charge the authorized total. If the report takes longer than your card's authorization lasts, we charge the total provisionally and let you know; if it's later confirmed that your host didn't show up, we refund what you paid for the first booking.
6. If the vehicle is never handed over
It can happen that the booking is confirmed, the date arrives and the handover simply does not complete. From 30 minutes after the start time, either party can report through the app that the other didn't show up, after having written to them in the chat. The reported party has 24 hours to respond: if they accept it or don't respond, the report is confirmed; if they object, our team decides based on the booking's conversation, under the Disputes and incidents policy. If it's confirmed that the host didn't show up, you receive 100% of what you paid, deposit included, your promotional credit returns to your balance, we show you similar vehicles available nearby, on which you can use what you paid (section 5.1), and the host receives the penalty for a missed handover (section 8). If nobody reports anything within the 72 hours after the start time, the booking is cancelled automatically with the same refund, and a host who didn't document the vehicle within the 24 hours after the start time receives the smaller penalty in section 8.
6.1 If you don't show up
Not showing up means not arriving at the handover within the 30 minutes after the start time without having cancelled, or arriving unable to receive the vehicle: without your driver's license, or sending someone else who isn't an authorized driver on the booking. If your host's report is confirmed, the booking is cancelled as if you had cancelled at the start time: your policy applies, and at that point it is at its last step. The deposit comes back in full, the promotional credit you applied is lost, as in any cancellation of yours, and the cancellation counts as late in your Trust Score.
6.2 On a trip with a chauffeur
With a chauffeur, both parties can report from the start time, without waiting the 30 minutes. If two hours later nobody has validated the start code, we notify both parties and ask them for information. The deadlines and consequences are the same as in this section. Since a trip with a chauffeur has no handover inspection, if nobody reports anything, the host always receives the smaller penalty.
7. What happens to the promotional credit you applied
If you paid part of the booking with Vribe credit, the rule depends on who decides to cancel. When you cancel by your own decision and the trip was still possible, the applied credit is lost entirely and the cash refund is calculated only on what you actually paid by card: the policy applies to real money, not to credit. When the failure is the host's — they cancel, or the vehicle is never handed over without you having cancelled or it being confirmed that you didn't show up — the credit returns to your balance in full, keeping the expiry date of the original batch. And if instead of cancelling you change the dates, the credit is kept. That is the main reason to ask yourself, before cancelling, whether what you need is really to move the trip.
8. Effect on the Trust Score
Cancelling can cost trust points, and it is worth knowing the four cases with their exact figure, because the system applies these and no others:
- A host who cancels a confirmed booking loses 5 points.
- A traveler who cancels within their booking policy's penalty window loses 4 points. The window is precisely the moment when the refund stops being 100%: 24 hours on flexible, 72 on moderate and seven days on strict. Cancelling before that window costs no points. Not showing up for the handover counts the same as cancelling within the window.
- A host who doesn't show up for the handover loses 8 points. It is the highest of the four penalties because it leaves someone waiting for a vehicle that never arrived.
- If the handover isn't recorded and nobody reports what happened within 72 hours, a host who didn't document the vehicle within the 24 hours after the start time loses 4 points.
9. How the refund is executed
The refund is not a promise someone has to keep by hand afterwards: it is executed at the same moment the cancellation is recorded, against the payment method you paid with. There is no need to request it or write to support to ask for it. When the money goes out, you receive an email confirming it with the amount.
9.1 Authorised is not the same as charged
If the vehicle works by host approval, your card is authorised when you book but the charge is not executed until they accept. If the booking is cancelled while it was only authorised, there is no refund to make: the hold is released and you were never charged. Your bank may take a few days to stop showing that amount as held, even though on our side it was released instantly.
9.2 Bookings that grew through a date change
If you changed the dates and that made the booking more expensive, you paid that difference as a separate charge. On cancelling, the refund cascades against each of those charges, starting with the original, until the amount owed to you is complete. You do not have to do anything different or claim separately. If for any reason the sum of what was charged did not cover what you are owed, the case is opened automatically for a person to review.
9.3 When you see it in your account
The refund is executed instantly on our side —except what we set aside for another vehicle when the host fails, which goes out when you ask for it or when the period ends (section 5.1)—, but when it appears on your statement is decided by your bank, and there we have no control. It usually takes between five and ten business days depending on the card issuer. If you do not see it after that, write to us with your booking number and we will trace it.
10. What happens on the host's side
If the cancellation returns all the money, the host earns nothing on that booking: their payout is voided, though not deleted — it stays on record as voided, with the amounts it held. If the policy retained a part, that part is split between the host and Vribe in the same commission proportion the original booking had, as if it had been a normal rental. If the host had already been paid before the cancellation, the difference is recovered with our team's intervention, not automatically.
11. Changing the dates instead of cancelling
Before the trip begins you can request a date change, which the host must accept. It usually suits you better than cancelling: you keep the applied promotional credit and there is no trust penalty. There is one lock worth knowing: the change cannot be requested if the current dates have already entered your policy's penalty window. If it could, it would be enough to push the trip into the future to dodge a penalty already incurred and then cancel for free. If the change makes the booking more expensive the difference is charged; if it makes it cheaper, it is refunded to you.
12. Extending the trip
With the vehicle already in your hands you can ask to extend the trip. The difference is calculated at the vehicle's current rate and charged as a separate payment. The extension only becomes firm when that payment completes: if it fails, the trip keeps its original dates and the return remains as agreed. Because an extension happens with the trip already under way, it is not cancelled — it closes with the return, like any trip in progress.
13. Disruptive events and force majeure
If a natural disaster, a road blockade, an order from the authorities or an equivalent event prevents the trip, the tiers in this document do not apply. The treatment of those cases is in the disruptive events and force majeure clause of the Terms of Service, which is what governs in that situation.
14. Exceptional circumstances
Outside force majeure, there are grave personal situations — a medical emergency, a hospitalisation, the death of an immediate family member — in which Vribe may authorise a refund outside policy. It is not an automatic right nor an exception that grants itself: it is assessed case by case and supporting documentation is requested. To request it, write to support from the affected booking, with the documentation at hand. The same route serves if you believe a refund was calculated wrongly.
15. If you booked without paying today and the charge does not complete
The scheduled charge is attempted 48 hours before your free cancellation window closes, and if it fails you can pay it yourself until that window closes. If when the window closes the charge is still not complete, the booking is cancelled automatically, with no charge and no penalty: until that instant you could cancel for free, and that is exactly what happens. The dates become free again and we notify both parties.
What this policy is not
It is not travel insurance: it does not cover the cost of a flight, a hotel or any expense you incurred around the trip, only what you paid through Vribe for this booking. It is not a guarantee that you will find another vehicle if yours is cancelled, even though our team will help you look. It is not a single policy: each vehicle picks its own, which is why it is worth looking before booking. And it does not cover what happens after handover, which is governed by the deposits and payments policy and, if something went wrong, by the disputes and incidents policy.
In the event of any discrepancy between the translated versions of this document, the Spanish version prevails.