Late Return Policy
Hosts count on Guests to return cars at the originally scheduled time, or extend via Drive mate app. If Guests don't, it puts significant inconvenience and stress on Hosts and possibly future Guests.
For Guests, we want to ensure that there is sufficient flexibility when it comes to dropping off, as there are sometimes practical issues (traffic, getting stuck due to unavoidable reasons). For this, Drive mate provides a grace period of 15 mins to all Guests,. It is always recommended to opt for trip extension if Guest feels that they are likely to get delayed (trip extensions are subject to Host approval unless they have Instant Booking).
Charges to Guests
If Guests are delayed beyond the grace period, then a late return charge + inconvenience fee will apply.
Late return charge is trip price for the extended trip length. For example, if the car is delayed by 5hrs, then the late return charge would be trip cost for extra 5hrs as per car’s listed price + (Drive mate fees + processing fees.
The inconvenience fee for Guests is $100 if no booking is impacted and if 6 or more hours late.
The inconvenience fee for Guests is $200 if an upcoming booking is impacted, of which $50 is paid to Host, plus the extended trip price, as below.
Payouts to Hosts
Host will be paid their share of the late return charge + inconvenience fee, if applicable.
Host’s share of the late return charge will be calculated per their car’s listed price for the tie the car is late. So, if the car is delayed by 5hrs, then their share would be equivalent to their listed price for 5hrs.
Hosts are paid an inconvenience fee of $50 if next booking is impacted.
In the event of very substantial lateness, additional fines may be assessed at Drive mate's sole discretion. If unclear when Guests will return cars, Drive mate could decide to pick up cars and return to Hosts and charge repossession fees.
Drive mate reserves the authority to charge the estimated late return charge and any inconvenience fee to the Guest's payment method on file.