SECURITY BOND / BOOKING DEPOSIT

Whats the Security Bond?

Our insurers require our Renters to provide a Vehicle Security Bond. This Bond can be provided either by credit card or by cash or eftpos. The previous practice of taking a credit card "swipe" to satisfy the Security Bond requirement is no longer acceptable to car rental vehicle fleet insurers - it has to actually be paid.

The Vehicle Security Bond will be refunded upon satisfactory return of the vehicle.

Due to cash minimisation requirements of our insurers, cash Security Bonds will be refunded by cheque.

Credit Card or eftpos Bonds will be refunded in the same manner as they are provided, but a handling charge of 2% will apply to those refunds to cover bank transaction charges. Please be aware that whilst the refund will go out of our trust account overnight, your bank will usually hold it for three or four days before crediting your account - this is not something that we have any control over.

The required Security Bond value depends on the Insurance Excess arrangements selected by the Renter - we have negotiated concessional arrangements as follows (In addition, Renters are required to demonstrate an ability to pay the remainder of their exposure should it become payable):

* The Security Bond limit does not preclude the Renter from responsibility to settle with us and subsequently claim from their insurer.

The Security Bond may be appropriated by us at our sole discretion should the Renter not fully observe the Terms and Conditions of Rental.

Booking Deposit

Early booking is encouraged - you get a wider choice of available vehicles and you have our performance guarantee. If our prices go up between booking time and your rental dates, you pay the rate we quoted. If our prices go down between booking time and your rental dates, you get the new lower price - you can't lose!

Our standard booking deposit is $75 per vehicle and it will be applied against your rental bill. If you are choosing the TourSafe Travel Insurance Package, the required deposit is the total of the TourSafe premium plus the $75, because you get immediate full cover against cancellation through TourSafe (your $75 will be covered under this policy as will your accommodation deposit, up to $900 in total).

The booking deposit can be paid online or over the phone by credit card, or alternatively, you can deposit the required funds directly into our bank account (call us and we will give you the details) - but please remember we can't reserve a car for you until this deposit is paid.

When you book a car, we take it out of our "available" list for the period of your rental, thus denying any other enquirers access to the vehicle you have selected. This process is more critical for us than many other car rental operators because we often only have one or two versions of a particular car. When you book a car with us, it is usually "the .. car" rather than "a .... car"

We try to treat cancellation requests on an individually fair basis, so rather than have a policy of "full refund if x days notice; 50% if y days notice and no refund if less than z days notice" we encourage you to tell us your circumstances. Most cancellations with us end up with either an immediate straight refund or full transfer to another future booking (even for friends or relatives) or a refund conditional upon our ability to get a replacement booking.