Booking policy

1. What is validated before your booking is created

Booking is not just picking dates: at the moment you confirm, the system checks a list of conditions and, if any fails, the booking is never created and you are told which one. They are checked at that instant and not earlier, because a verification can expire between looking at a vehicle and deciding to book it.

2. How days and hours are counted

A day is twenty-four hours counted from your pick-up time, not a calendar day. A trip always costs at least one day, even if it lasts less. Every started hour counts as a full hour. When your trip goes beyond the full days, the leftover hours are charged like this: up to five extra hours are charged by the hour, at the price the host set for that vehicle, and never for more than a day costs; from the sixth hour a full day is charged instead of the hourly charge. If the host did not set an hourly price, one sixth of their daily rate is used. An example: you pick up on Tuesday at 12:00 and return on Wednesday at 18:00. That is thirty hours: one full day and six extra hours. As they exceed five, two days are charged. If you returned at 17:00 it would be twenty-nine hours: one day and five hours, and those five are charged by the hour. Your booking's hourly price is fixed from the moment you book. If the host changes it afterwards, your trip's price does not change.

3. The kilometres your trip includes

Most vehicles on Vribe are rented with unlimited mileage, and their listing says so. Some hosts set a limit of kilometres per day; in that case the listing shows the limit and the price of each extra kilometre before you book, and your booking summary tells you how many kilometres your trip includes in total (the daily limit multiplied by the days you pay for). On a trip with a chauffeur there is no kilometre limit. Kilometres are measured with the odometer: at handover and at return the dashboard is photographed and the reading is recorded as it appears, in kilometres or in miles depending on the vehicle; if the dashboard shows miles, Vribe converts them to kilometres. The difference between the two readings is what you drove. If you went over the total included, when the return is recorded Vribe calculates the charge for the extra kilometres with the price per kilometre fixed in your booking and presents it to you for payment: you have 48 hours to pay it from the app. If you do not pay it within that deadline, it goes to the dispute process, like any post-trip amount under the Payment Terms. If the host changes the limit or the price after you booked, your trip does not change.

4. Instant booking or by approval

Each host decides how their vehicle is booked, and that completely changes what happens to your money in the hours that follow. The vehicle's page states which of the two applies before you pay, so it is not something you discover afterwards.

5. What happens to your money in each case

The difference between the two booking types is not only about timing: it is about what exactly happens to your card. It is worth understanding because it changes what you will see on your statement.

6. Dates are blocked from the moment you book

Your trip's dates are blocked on the vehicle's calendar from the instant the booking is created, even while it is pending approval. The block happens inside the same operation that creates the booking, and the vehicle is taken for as long as it lasts: two people booking the same vehicle for the same days in the same second cannot both win — one gets the booking and the other a notice that those dates are no longer free.

7. Handover

Handover is the most regulated moment of the whole cycle, and not out of bureaucracy: it is the point where the vehicle's condition is recorded in writing and where the contract between the two parties is born. It has three pieces that happen in order, and none can be skipped.

8. During the trip

With the contract accepted, the trip is under way. Communication between the parties runs through the booking's chat, which is recorded and serves as evidence if a dispute arises later. The system watches two deadlines during this stage.

9. The return

On returning the vehicle a second photographic inspection is completed and compared with the handover one to identify new damage. That contrast is the basis of any later claim: without both inspections there is no way to tell damage from the trip apart from damage that was already there. With the return recorded, the booking passes to the host's review.

10. The host's review

Once the return is recorded, the last window of the cycle begins. It is the one that decides whether the deposit comes back on its own or a case is opened.

11. Reviews

Once the trip closes, both parties can review each other. Reviews are double-blind: they are not published until both parties have written theirs, or automatically after 14 days if only one did. That way neither writes conditioned by what the other said. The deferred publication is done by a process that runs once a day. The rules on what a review may say are in the Community rules.

12. Changes and extensions

A confirmed booking can be modified by two different routes, and they are not interchangeable. A date change happens before the trip starts and needs the host to accept it; it carries a lock that prevents requesting it if the current dates have already entered your policy's penalty window. An extension happens with the vehicle already in your hands and is charged as a separate payment, which only becomes firm once it completes. Both are described in detail in the Cancellation policy.

13. Additional drivers

You can authorise up to three additional drivers at no cost, but only before the contract is signed, because the contract lists them by name and once signed that list is closed. Each must have a Vribe account with verified identity and licence and no suspension. The condition is checked twice, on inviting and on accepting, because a verification can expire between those two moments. Driving without being authorised breaches the contract and weighs in any later dispute.

14. Every deadline, in one place

These are the times that govern a booking, with the real frequency at which the system checks them. A periodic sweep means the action may happen a few minutes after the exact deadline, never before:

• The host has 24 hours to accept a pending booking. Checked every 30 minutes.
• The handover inspection can be done from 24 hours before the agreed time.
• If handover is not recorded within 24 hours of the start time, both parties are notified; if nobody reports anything within 72 hours, the booking is cancelled with a full refund for the traveler. Checked every 30 minutes.
• The host has 24 hours from the return to inspect and report damage. The automatic close runs every hour.
• Unpublished reviews publish themselves after 14 days. Checked once a day.
• A date-change request expires after 24 hours, or earlier if the trip nears the penalty window. Checked every 5 minutes.
• Late return is counted in started hours from your return time. Up to 5 hours are charged by the hour; from the sixth, a full day.
• Every charge determined at return —late hours, extra kilometres— is paid from the app within 48 hours. If it is not paid, it goes to the dispute process; nothing is taken from the held deposit unless that process confirms it.
• Either party can report that the other didn't show up from 30 minutes to 72 hours after the start time; the reported party has 24 hours from the report to respond.