Short-Term Rental Terms

Requirements to Hire

To take out this agreement you need:

• A full or provisional UK driving licence (international licences are not accepted)
• Proof of address dated within the last 3 months — bank statement, utility bill, phone bill, credit card statement, council tax bill or official government correspondence. A vehicle logbook (V5C) is not accepted.
• Fully comprehensive insurance meeting the requirements set out under "Insurance" below
• Full UK breakdown cover — so the vehicle can be returned to us if it breaks down

Your Deposit

Before you collect the vehicle, you need to pay a refundable deposit. Each vehicle has its own standard deposit, shown with its rental price — where a vehicle does not state one, the standard deposit is £200. What you pay depends on how far you live from our premises at NE22 6JU. Short-term rental is available to customers within 100 miles of our premises, and in the delivery areas we serve — currently West Lothian & the Central Belt, where we bring the car to you at no extra charge. It is not available outside those areas.

The exact deposit for your hire is stated in your Key Facts summary and on the agreement itself. When you return the vehicle, your deposit will be refunded after 10 working days. Any charges owed are deducted from your deposit before the refund: excess mileage, damage, valet, outstanding fees, and any fines, PCNs or tolls that we have been unable to transfer to you, plus the admin fee for each notice.

Mileage Allowance

Your mileage allowance is 300 miles for each week you have the vehicle: 1,200 miles per 4 weeks. It builds up with time, so two weeks means 600 miles, and part-weeks count pro-rata.

When you return the vehicle, we record the mileage. If you have driven more than your allowance, you will be charged for every excess mile:

• £0.20 per excess mile if you have had the car for 7 days or more
• £0.30 per excess mile if you return within the first 7 days

Excess mileage charges are deducted from your deposit.

Late & Missed Payments

Your rental payments are due in advance for the week ahead. Payments are not accepted in arrears.

If a payment is missed, a £15 administration fee is added for that missed payment. This is charged once per missed weekly payment, not per day, and reflects our administrative cost of handling it: contacting you, updating your account, and arranging payment. If you fall several weeks behind, each missed weekly payment carries its own £15 fee.

If you know you are going to struggle to make a payment, contact us before it is due. We would always rather agree an arrangement than add fees.

If you fall behind and do not make an arrangement with us, the arrears process in "If You Break These Terms" applies, with written notices at each step before the agreement can end.

Parking & Traffic Fines

The vehicle is registered to WMA. If any parking tickets, bus lane fines, or other penalty charge notices (PCNs) are issued while you have the vehicle, they will be passed on to you. WMA will transfer liability for the notice to you, and the issuing authority or operator may re-issue it in your name.

Transferring liability is a manual process in which we locate your agreement and submit it with your details through the issuer’s process, so a £25 administration fee applies for each PCN we process. This is payable within 7 days of us notifying you.

Some issuers, particularly private parking companies, do not accept transfer of hirer liability or may reject a transfer. Where liability cannot be transferred, we may pay the charge as registered keeper and recharge you the full amount of the charge plus the £25 administration fee, payable within 7 days of us notifying you.

Speeding & Camera Offences

If the vehicle is caught speeding, or by any other camera offence, while you have it, the notice comes to WMA because the vehicle is registered to us. We are required by law to tell the police who was driving, and we will name you as the driver on the dates of your hire. The police will then send the notice to you directly, and you deal with it from there: the fine and any penalty points are yours, not ours.

Responding to these notices is a manual process with a strict legal deadline, so a £25 administration fee applies for each notice we process, payable within 7 days of us notifying you. This fee covers our handling of the notice only; the fine itself is dealt with between you and the police.

If you were not the driver, tell us immediately and in writing who was, with their full name and address, so that we can name them instead. If we cannot identify the driver and WMA is fined as a result, we may recharge that fine to you in full along with the administration fee.

Tyne Tunnel

This vehicle is on WMA’s Tyne Tunnel (TT2) business account. TT2 cannot bill you directly: every crossing is charged automatically to us, and we recharge it to you. You must not transfer the vehicle to your own personal TT2 account.

To be clear about what you pay: each crossing is recharged at the standard published TT2 toll rate for the vehicle (the non-account rate; current rates are published at tt2.co.uk). Your crossings are itemised and added weekly, and are payable with your next weekly rental payment.

If a weekly toll invoice is not paid when due, a £15 administration fee applies to that invoice.

Clean Air Zones & Tolls

You are responsible for paying all Clean Air Zone (CAZ/ULEZ) charges, toll road fees, and congestion charges during your rental, directly to the charging authority and on time.

If a penalty is issued because a CAZ, ULEZ, or congestion charge was not paid, it is handled exactly like a parking or traffic PCN (see "Parking & Traffic Fines"): we will transfer liability to you where the scheme allows, and a £25 administration fee applies for each notice we process, payable within 7 days of us notifying you.

Breakdown Cover

You must have your own breakdown cover in place before you collect the vehicle. We will ask for proof of cover and record your breakdown provider on this agreement.

All repairs, servicing, and MOT work on this vehicle are carried out at our base in Bedlington: the vehicle must be returned to us for any repair. You must not modify the vehicle in any way, and you must not authorise any repair, servicing or other work on the vehicle at another garage, without our explicit written consent first. It is your responsibility to hold breakdown cover adequate to return the vehicle to us, wherever you are, and we are not liable for any costs of getting the vehicle back to us.

If you need it, we offer our own recovery service at our standard rate:

• £90 + VAT for recovery within 15 miles of NE22 6JU
• £1.70 + VAT per mile for every mile beyond 15

If you rent a vehicle in one of the delivery areas we serve, you are a long way from our Bedlington base. Our recovery rate above is charged from NE22 6JU whatever the distance — it does not change because the vehicle was delivered to you, so your own breakdown cover must be adequate to return the vehicle to us from where you live.

If the vehicle breaks down through no fault of yours (a mechanical fault we are responsible for):

• If it is repaired and back with you within 24 hours, your rental payments are unaffected
• If it is off the road for longer than 24 hours, we may offer you a replacement vehicle. A replacement is optional, for you and for us. If you accept one, your payments continue as normal
• If we do not offer a replacement, or you choose not to accept one, your weekly fee is reduced pro-rata: one seventh of the weekly rate for each full day the vehicle is off the road, credited against your next payment

Insuring any replacement vehicle is your responsibility, just as it is for the original vehicle. We do not provide insured courtesy vehicles. If your insurance cannot be transferred to a replacement (for example, temporary cover on the original vehicle), you can decline the replacement and the pro-rata reduction above applies instead.

If the breakdown was caused by you (wrong fuel, ignored warning lights, running fluids low, or damage), your payments continue in full and you are liable for the repair costs (see "Your Responsibilities While Driving").

If the Vehicle Is Impounded

If the vehicle is impounded because of how it was used while in your care, you are liable for all associated costs: release fees, storage charges, recovery fees, and any impound insurance required to secure release. Your weekly rental payments continue in full until the vehicle has been returned to us or the agreement is ended by us, whichever comes first.

Vehicle Condition & Damage

Before you drive away, we will photograph the vehicle from all four sides and record its condition in detail: tyre depths, fuel level, mileage, interior, and any existing bodywork marks. You will be shown this record and asked to confirm you agree with it.

When you return the vehicle, we carry out the same inspection again. You are responsible for any damage that was not recorded at handover.

We strongly recommend you take your own photos of the vehicle when you collect it, for your own records.

Fair Wear and Tear

A vehicle that is driven and used normally will show some wear. This section sets out what we treat as ordinary wear and tear, which is never charged, and what counts as chargeable damage, assessed against the condition recorded at your handover.

• Dents: acceptable if 15mm or less across, with no more than two per body panel, and the paint is unbroken. Any dent on the roof, or on a swage line (the pressed crease line running along the body side), is chargeable regardless of size.
• Scratches and scuffs: acceptable if 25mm or less, with no primer or bare metal showing.
• Alloy wheels: scuffs are acceptable up to 50mm in total per wheel. Any damage to a spoke or the wheel hub, or any dent to the rim, is chargeable regardless of size.
• Windscreen: a repaired chip outside the driver's line of sight is acceptable. Any crack, or any unrepaired chip, is chargeable.
• Interior: wear from normal use is acceptable. Burns, tears and stains are chargeable.
• Tyres: even wear above the legal minimum tread depth is acceptable.

Damage within these limits is not charged. Damage beyond them is chargeable, priced against the condition record for your vehicle.

MOT

The vehicle’s MOT due date is recorded on this agreement at handover. We cover the cost of the MOT and routine maintenance.

If the MOT falls due during your hire, you must book the vehicle in with us at least 2 weeks before the due date, and you must return the vehicle to us when we request it for MOT or servicing.

Cleaning & Valet

We expect the vehicle to be returned in a reasonably clean condition, similar to how you received it.

If the vehicle requires professional cleaning when you return it, a valet charge will apply. This ranges from £25 for a light clean up to a maximum of £100 depending on the condition.

If the vehicle is returned in the same condition it was collected, no valet charge applies.

Fuel

We record the vehicle's fuel level when you collect it. Please return the vehicle at the same fuel level — you are welcome to refuel it yourself before you bring it back.

If the vehicle is returned with less fuel than it was collected with, we charge for the shortfall per quarter tank short, based on your vehicle's own tank size and the current pump price per litre for its fuel type. The exact £-per-quarter figure for your vehicle is stated in your Key Facts summary.

Our current fuel prices are £1.75 per litre for petrol and £1.90 per litre for diesel. Our fuel prices are held in our rental policy and shown to you before your hire begins.

Your Responsibilities While Driving

You are responsible for looking after the vehicle while it is in your possession. You will be liable for any damage or costs caused by:

• Driving on flat tyres or causing wheel damage from a blowout
• Running out of fuel or putting the wrong fuel in
• Ignoring dashboard warning lights
• Letting the oil or coolant run low
• Leaving lights, radio, or accessories on and draining the battery

Prohibited Use

The vehicle must never be used:

• For hire and reward of any kind: taxi or private hire work, ride-hailing (e.g. Uber, Bolt), courier or delivery work (e.g. Just Eat, Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Amazon), or otherwise carrying passengers or goods for payment
• To sub-hire, rent, or lend to anyone not named on this agreement
• For driving instruction for payment
• For racing, pace-making, speed trials, track days, or off-road driving
• For towing, unless we have agreed in writing
• To be modified in any way, or to have any repair, servicing or other work carried out at another garage, without our explicit written consent first
• Outside mainland Great Britain, unless we have agreed in writing
• To carry hazardous or illegal goods, or for any illegal purpose

No smoking or vaping in the vehicle. If you smoke or vape in it, a professional valet charge applies (see "Cleaning & Valet") and it is treated as a breach of these terms.

Remember: the fully comprehensive private-lease insurance this agreement requires does not cover hire-and-reward use. Using this vehicle for taxi or delivery work means driving uninsured, which ends this agreement immediately.

Any prohibited use entitles us to end this agreement immediately and recover the vehicle.

Who Can Drive This Vehicle

Only you are permitted to drive this vehicle. No one else may drive it unless they are formally added as a named driver on this agreement.

To add a named driver, they must:

• Be at least 18 years old
• Hold a full or provisional UK driving licence (international licences are not accepted)
• Be named on the same insurance policy that covers this vehicle

Insurance

You must have fully comprehensive insurance that covers this vehicle as a car leased or rented from a private lease company, where the registered owner and keeper is the lease company (WMA Vehicle Hire & Sales Ltd).

Standard insurance that only covers social, domestic, and commuting use is not sufficient. "Private hire" or "hire and reward" insurance is a different product entirely: that is taxi cover, and it is not what this agreement requires. If you are unsure, read the description above to your insurer before collecting the vehicle.

You must provide proof of valid insurance before collection.

If You Have an Accident

If the vehicle is involved in an accident, or is stolen or vandalised, you must:

• Tell us within 24 hours, whatever the circumstances
• Not admit fault or negotiate liability at the scene
• Get the other driver’s name, address, registration, and insurer where applicable, plus photos of the scene and any damage
• Get a police incident number where the police attend, or for theft or vandalism
• Pass any letters or correspondence about the incident to us unanswered, promptly
• Notify your own insurer as your policy requires

Write-Off or Total Loss

If the vehicle is damaged beyond economical repair, or stolen and not recovered, this agreement ends on the date the insurer confirms the total loss. Rental payments and any other sums due up to that date remain payable. Your deposit is dealt with under "Your Deposit". If the loss resulted from a breach of this agreement, you remain liable for our losses not met by insurance.

Returning the Vehicle

When you want to return the vehicle, you must contact us first to arrange a return appointment. You cannot simply drop the vehicle off without an appointment.

The return inspection is carried out with you present, so that we can go through any changes in condition together, and we record on the inspection whether you were present.

If you choose not to be present for the return inspection, or the vehicle is returned outside our opening hours, you remain responsible for any damage found afterwards that is not recorded on the handover condition record. If we find any such damage, we will always notify you within 10 days of the return, and before any money is taken from you.

Personal Belongings

We are not responsible for loss of, or damage to, personal belongings left in the vehicle during the hire or after its return. We are not liable for indirect losses, such as missed work or appointments, arising from the vehicle being unavailable. Nothing in this agreement limits any liability we cannot limit by law.

If You Break These Terms

Serious breaches: immediate termination. We may end this agreement immediately, without notice, if:

• The vehicle is uninsured, or your insurance no longer meets the requirements of this agreement
• The vehicle is used for any prohibited use (see "Prohibited Use")
• You gave us false information when entering this agreement
• The vehicle is seized by the police or another authority because of how it was used
• The vehicle is at immediate risk from dangerous driving, abandonment, or unauthorised drivers
• Any other breach is so serious that it puts the vehicle, other road users, or our ability to recover the vehicle at immediate risk

Falling behind on payments. We understand things go wrong, and we would always rather agree an arrangement than end an agreement. If you fall behind, this is the process:

• Payment missed: a £15 administration fee applies and we will contact you
• 7 days behind: we send you a formal arrears notice and offer a payment arrangement. If we agree an arrangement and you keep to it, this process pauses
• 14 days behind, with no arrangement in place or kept: we send a final notice, and the agreement ends 7 days later unless the arrears are cleared or an arrangement is agreed
• 21 days behind: the agreement ends and the vehicle must be returned or will be recovered

Any other breach. We will give you 7 days’ written notice telling you what the breach is. If it is not put right within those 7 days, the agreement ends.

How we send notices. Notices under this agreement are sent by WhatsApp, SMS, and email to the most recent contact details you have given us, and take effect when sent. You must keep your phone number and email address up to date with us; a notice is still effective if you have missed it because your details were out of date.

When the agreement ends, you must return the vehicle immediately or make it available for collection. If we have to recover the vehicle, recovery costs are added to your account. Any outstanding fees may be deducted from your deposit and, if unpaid, passed to a third-party recovery agent.

Cancellation

This agreement is for vehicle hire starting on an agreed date, so the 14-day cancellation right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 does not apply; there is no statutory cooling-off period for vehicle rental.

By signing this agreement today, you confirm that:

• You have viewed the vehicle in person
• You accept its condition as recorded in the inspection

The £20 reservation fee (if paid) is non-refundable and covers vehicle preparation, administration, and relisting costs.

Remote Execution and Delivery

Some hires are arranged remotely, with the vehicle delivered to you rather than collected from us in Bedlington. This section explains how that works.

Where a hire is arranged this way, this agreement is signed, countersigned, and takes effect before the vehicle sets off to you — never on your doorstep. Your payment, your documents and your insurance are all checked and confirmed before the vehicle travels.

On the day the vehicle is delivered, our staff bring it to you in person. We carry out the same condition check we would carry out in Bedlington, and you acknowledge a delivery record confirming the vehicle has arrived and its condition. Acknowledging the delivery record is not signing this agreement — this agreement is already in force by the time the vehicle reaches you.

Before the vehicle is dispatched to you, we confirm you have told us you hold the insurance this agreement requires (see "Insurance" above), in place and covering the vehicle from the moment it reaches you. Holding that cover in place remains your responsibility.

If you are in one of the delivery areas we serve, breakdown and recovery work exactly as set out in "Breakdown Cover" above — the same rate applies from our Bedlington base, whatever your distance from us.

How We Use Your Information

WMA Vehicle Hire & Sales Ltd (Company Number 12086881) needs your personal information to set up and manage this rental agreement. The documents you have provided (driving licence, insurance, proof of address) are stored securely.

We keep your information for 6 months after the agreement ends. After that, your personal details are removed; we only keep anonymous records for our own reporting.

Full details are in our privacy policy at wmamotors.co.uk/privacy.

Signing This Agreement

This agreement may be signed electronically. It takes effect when signed by you (the hirer) and countersigned by or on behalf of WMA Vehicle Hire & Sales Ltd. Where you sign electronically via a link we provide, WMA’s countersignature may be applied electronically and automatically upon your signature. WMA’s supply or continued supply of the vehicle further evidences its acceptance.

Governing Law & Complaints

This agreement is governed by the law of England and Wales, and its courts have jurisdiction over any dispute. If you are unhappy with anything, contact us first (WMA Vehicle Hire & Sales Ltd, Glebe Road, Bedlington) and we will respond within 14 days.