Booking policy

Last updated: August 2026 · The full life of a booking, step by step

This document describes what happens from the moment you request a vehicle until the trip closes: what is validated, what deadlines run, who must do what at each step and what happens if someone does not. The deadlines here are the ones the system actually applies, with the real frequency at which it checks them. The last section gathers them all in a single list, in case you came looking for a specific one.

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.
Delivery fee:: Optional charge set by the host for bringing the vehicle to the traveler.

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.

1.1 About you

Your account cannot be suspended, your identity must be verified and so must your driving licence. The licence must also be current: if it expired, the verification is not erased, but you cannot book until you upload the new one. It is the only one of the three conditions that can stop being met on its own as time passes, which is why it is checked on every booking.

1.2 About the vehicle

The vehicle must have a verified, active insurance policy, and that policy must cover through to the end of your trip: if it expires before your return date, the booking does not proceed. Nor can you book a vehicle of your own. These two conditions protect something concrete — that nobody drives without cover and that the insurance does not lapse mid-trip.

1.3 About the dates and times

The return must be later than the pickup, and past dates cannot be booked. Pickup and return times must fall within the schedule the host defined for that vehicle, which can have closed days and different windows per day. If you pick a time outside that schedule, the system tells you before charging you.

1.4 About home delivery

If you ask for the vehicle to be brought to you, the host must offer that service and your location must fall within their radius. The fee is calculated from the real distance and shown before you pay; if the address falls outside the radius, you are told how many kilometres away it is and the booking does not proceed with delivery.

2. 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.

2.1 Instant booking

The booking is confirmed as soon as payment completes. There is no wait and no approval: the dates are yours from that moment and the host is notified of an already-closed booking.

2.2 Booking by approval

The booking stays pending until the host accepts it, and they have 24 hours to respond. During that wait the dates are already blocked for others, and your money is held but not charged. If they accept, the booking is confirmed and the charge executes; if they decline, everything is released with no charge.

3. 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.

3.1 Authorised is not charged

In a booking by approval the amount is authorised on your card but not charged: it is held, your bank may show it as a pending charge, and that money has not left your account. The real charge only happens when the host accepts. In an instant booking, by contrast, the charge executes on confirmation.

3.2 If the host does not respond

A pending booking expires on its own after 24 hours. On expiry the authorisation is released — or the charge refunded, if for some reason it had already been taken —, the dates become available to other travelers again and we notify you by email. The system reviews pending bookings every 30 minutes, so the release may take a few minutes longer than the exact deadline: it is a periodic sweep, not a per-booking stopwatch.

4. 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.

4.1 Why they are blocked before confirmation

If the dates stayed free during the approval wait, two travelers could pay for the same vehicle and the same days, and one of them would be left without a trip after paying. Blocking them from the start moves the inconvenience to the right place: you wait at most 24 hours for an answer, but nobody takes the dates from you while you wait.

4.2 When they are released

They are released if the booking is cancelled, if it expires for lack of a host response, or if a date change moves it to other days. In that last case the system blocks the new days and releases the old ones in a single operation, respecting the host's manual blocks and without touching days held by other active bookings.

5. 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.

5.1 First, the host's inspection

The host documents the vehicle's condition with a photographic inspection, and can do so from 24 hours before the agreed time. That inspection is the reference against which the return photos will be compared, so it fixes the starting point. While it does not exist, the traveler cannot accept the contract: the system expressly prevents it.

5.2 Then, the contract

The traveler accepts the rental contract on the platform. It is generated from that booking's real data — the parties, the vehicle, the dates, the amounts and the frozen cancellation policy — not from a generic template. Any accepted additional drivers are listed by name in that document, which is why they can only be invited before it is signed.

5.3 And the handover code

Accepting the contract requires a code the host gives the traveler in person. That is what ties the signature to the actual meeting: without standing in front of the host there is no code, and without the code there is no recorded handover. Attempts are rate-limited, so nobody can sit and try combinations. That acceptance is what marks the start of the trip.

6. 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.

6.1 If handover is never recorded

If 24 hours pass from the start time and handover was not completed, the system flags the booking and notifies both parties and our team. From then on cancellation carries no penalty for the traveler and a full refund, and a host who never documented the vehicle receives the corresponding trust penalty. The money details are in the Cancellation policy.

6.2 If the vehicle is not returned on time

As the return time approaches the system sends reminders to the traveler, and if the time passes without the vehicle coming back, alerts to the host. The check runs every 30 minutes. Failing to return a vehicle breaches the contract and can escalate to a theft report, with the consequences described in the Disputes and incidents policy.

7. 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.

8. 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.

8.1 They have 24 hours

From the return, the host has 24 hours to inspect the vehicle and report damage. If they report nothing, the booking closes automatically and the deposit is returned to the traveler. The system runs that closing every hour, so it may happen up to an hour after the deadline falls due.

8.2 When it does not close on its own

If the return inspection was flagged for manual review, the booking does not close automatically: it waits for someone on the team to look at the evidence. This is deliberate — releasing the deposit with nobody having reviewed a doubtful case would be irreversible. And if the host does report damage within the 24 hours, the booking enters a dispute and the money is held until it is resolved.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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, the booking is flagged. 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.

What this policy is not

It is not the rental contract: that is entered into between host and traveler, and signed on the platform at handover. Nor does it replace the Cancellation policy, the Deposits and payments policy or the Vribe Traveler Guarantee, which are what govern money and refunds. It is not a promise of availability: a vehicle appearing in search does not guarantee the host will accept your request. And Vribe may adjust the operational deadlines of this policy with advance notice.

In the event of any discrepancy between the translated versions of this document, the Spanish version prevails.