Conditions

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Payments:

We accept payment by direct deposit, cheque, money order, cash, debit card, or by credit card (Visa, MasterCard and American Express). If you are paying by cheque, money order or by direct deposit please allow extra time for postage, funds clearance or transfer between banks. If you intend to pay with cash (cheque, money order or debit card – any card that you need to key in a PIN) and do not have a credit card for the security deposit please have additional forms of ID and be ready to supply an additional amount equivalent to the renter’s liability you select (ie $1895, $895 or $695) for the deposit (ie full cost of rental PLUS the deposit). We also charge an admin fee for cash deposits to cover additional labour costs and the increased risks we face with cash transactions.

To minimise security risks for our valued staff, we do NOT refund deposits in cash. Deposits will be refunded within 5 working days of vehicle return. Cheques will be posted to your licensed address, or nominated local address. Refunds can be deposited straight into your account if you wish – but we require written advice of your BSB and account details. We can take no responsibility for incorrect transfer of deposits if we do not receive clear written advice of the correct destination account. Please take special care if you choose this method of refund. In the event of your payment by cheque plus a cash deposit, we will refund your deposit (less any additional charges) after your cheque has cleared.

All known charges for your rental car are paid when signing for the rental. If an extension to the rental period is agreed, additional amounts for the additional period will be charged to the nominated credit card, or paid in person BEFORE the extension period takes effect. Additional charges, if any, will be advised after the vehicle has been inspected and charged to the nominated credit card, or deducted from the deposit.

We also accept payment by American Express. So if you only have this card, or you wish to accrue points for Amex purchases you can. However, the Amex commission is higher than Visa and MasterCard and we are forced to pass this on to customers. An additional charge of 3.5% will be levied on all Amex transactions.

Additional Charges:

Extra Kilometers. Kms driven beyond the free daily allowance are charged at a rate of $0.20 each. If you know that you will drive beyond the allowance you can pre purchase additional kms at $0.15 each. There is no limit to the amount of kms you can pre purchase, but we do not refund unused kms, so we recommend careful consideration if you are selecting this option. Please note that our unlimited kilometer option only applies to Basic Economy and Modern Economy cars while they are driven within our designated local area of use which is clearly shown on the rental agreement. If a car is taken further away from Ballina Byron airport without written agreement the fee is $50 plus $0.20 per kilometer (even if unlimited kilometers option has been selected).

Smoking/cleaning Charge. All our cars are NON SMOKING. If smoking is detected there is a $50 charge for cleaning/deodorizing. We expect your vehicle to be returned in a similar state to how it left our airport base. Where warranted, a cleaning charge of up to $20/hour may be levied.

Fuel Top Up. Unless otherwise stated in your rental contract, your rental car is presented to you with a full petrol tank. You can save money by ensuring that you have enough time to refill the tank to capacity close to the airport in Ballina. There is an administrative charge of $20 to refill the tank, plus the cost of fuel used.  The NRMA recommends allowing the fuel bowser to click off up to 3 times before concluding that the tank is full.  We recommend checking the fuel gauge after this exercise – if it shows less than full we require staff to top it up.  If you think this is unreasonable please put yourself in the shoes of the next customer to drive that car.  If the fuel tank is below full would that be fair?

Cash Administration Fee. A cash administration fee is levied on each rental paid for by cash or debit card. That fee is a function of our labour costs and risks associated with dealing with cash in a risky business. The admin fee is generally about $50, but it does change as a result of our experiences. We don’t like it, but we have no choice.

Traffic and Parking Infringements. We often receive parking fines and speed camera notices months after a rental has finished. To recover our costs in handling these events we charge a flat fee of $40 per infringement. We will advise you if we receive an infringement notice and have to charge for our time. Please drive carefully.

Vehicle Damage. In most circumstances where damage to a vehicle has occurred during a rental we obtain an estimate within a few days. Customers pay the liability they agreed at the start of the contract. If damage and lost rental days are less than the agreed liability amount this is refunded to the customer. A customer’s liability is usually determined by driver’s age and whether reduced liability cover has been chosen. In some circumstances (eg flood damage, or blood alcohol beyond the legal limit) customers will have no insurance cover. We always recommend careful driving and suggest you consider taking the reduced liability option. Where damage involves claims with other insurance companies it may take months to have the matter brought to finality. We have no choice but to ask you to be patient, and take some deep breaths. Some things in life are just beyond our control.

Vehicle Recovery.  Charges will apply if we are required to recover the vehicle from another location.  Unless otherwise stated on the rental agreement the vehicle is to be collected from and returned to our base at Ballina Byron Gateway Airport, Southern Cross Drive Ballina NSW.  Collecting vehicles from other locations is a major inconvenience and expense due to staff costs, rosters and airline schedules and additional staff availability, especially if this occurs without notice.  If a renter decides to leave a rental car at a location not specified on their rental agreement there will be additional charges levied against the nominated credit card, or deducted from the vehicle’s cash security deposit.  The amount is determined by distance and the impact on our staff’s time.  It may also include a component for refueling when the vehicle arrives in Ballina, and parking infringements that may be received up to several months later.  Renters can avoid vehicle recovery cost by returning the vehicle to Ballina Byron airport, as per the agreement.  Renters can sometimes help to minimise the cost by advising us immediately if they are incapable of returning the car, so we can adjust staff rosters in advance and recover the car faster.  We will provide a costing as soon as we are told that this situation may apply.

Cancellations/Late Returns:

24 hours notice is required to cancel a booking prior to rental commencement, otherwise we require payment equivalent to a one day rental for the booked class of vehicle. Late returns are charged at 1/6 of the daily rate per hour, or part thereof, until the daily rate is reached. Please advise ASAP if you will not be returning your vehicle on time.

When you rent one of our popular cars you sign a contract saying when you will return it and you pay for that usage before you drive away. In this regard it’s just like renting a flat.  If you return the car early we will do our best to find another customer to take up the balance of the contract period. But we will happily refund any days that the car was rented out to someone else.

Free Kms:

Free kms in your daily rental are listed on the front page of your rental contract. These are usually 200 kms, 150 kms and 75 kms for our Modern Economy, Basic Economy and Local Runabout classes, respectively.

If you wish to save yourself additional expenses from more running about than you expected you can purchase an unlimited km option at just $10 per day. This option is available to customers with our Basic and Modern Economy classes of vehicles, but is for our agreed area of use only. Please note that additional charges apply to vehicles used outside the area of use without prior written agreement.

Driving Times/Distances:

To help you plan your holiday and to determine your best option for kms you expect to drive we have listed some of the most popular destinations in the area. You can visit sites like Travelmate to work out suggested routes and other driving distances and times.

^* As per Travelmate.
^* Use these distances to help plan your holiday or to calculate prepay kms for your rental.
^* Subtract your free kms from the journey distance to determine cost - multiply by $0.15 for prepay or by $0.20 if paying on return.

Discounts:

Discounts apply for longer rentals. If you need a vehicle for more than 3 weeks please ask us for a quote.

Areas of Use:

Please let us know where you plan to drive so we can select the most appropriate vehicle and specify your support area. Modern Economy Class  vehicles can be driven between the Sunshine Coast and Coffs Harbour and west to Tenterfield . Basic Economy Class vehicles are limited to between  Grafton and the Gold Coast theme parks and west to Kyogle . Local Runabout Class are limited to 50 kms radius from Ballina (Evans Head to Brunswick Heads and west to Lismore).   If a car is taken further away from Ballina Byron airport without written agreement the fee is $50 plus $0.20 per kilometer (even if unlimited kilometers option has been selected).

Who Can Drive?:

Generally, if you are a licensed driver over 21 with more than 2 years experience (and no endorsements to your driving license) you can rent one of our reliable cars. For our older customers there is no longer any restriction as long as you still have a full unrestricted licence. If you have an overseas license we will ask to see your passport as well.

Unsealed Roads:

Unsealed roads are common in this area. They cause lots of damage to vehicles and can be quite dangerous, even for experienced drivers. If you wish to drive on an unsealed road you must ask us first. If it is acceptable we will note it on the front page of your agreement. If you do not tell us you may be liable for all damage that arises.

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Customer Guarantees:

We established this business to stand out from the pack in terms of service, price and ethics. Here's why? Because the common view of the rental car industry is that it is a pool full of sharks, promising one thing and delivering something quite different. Customers can be lured in by unbelievably low prices which tend to evaporate when the total figure appears on the contract. By then it's too late - plans have been made and the customer leaves with the feeling that the transaction was not quite honest. This has happened to us too and we don't like it one bit.

We believe in being up front. If we say a sedan will cost you $44/day for two day's rental - that's what it is. Book a car and come to our desk at Ballina Byron airport, when we meet scheduled flights and pick it up. There are no hidden extras like stamp duty, GST (already in the price), premium location, registration recovery, or out of hours charges. Insurance is also covered. If you're over 25 and want to reduce your liability from $1895 to $695 this will cost you less than $10.00/day, but you don't have to take it. The bottom line is still the same. If you want to compare prices with other businesses we strongly recommend you get their 'bottom line' price, including kms/day and any mandatory charges, not just the rental component. Otherwise you might just get a nasty surprise when they swipe your card.

All our terms and conditions are clearly available from this web site. If you have any questions that haven't been answered please email us and we will get back to you ASAP.

We usually allocate a vehicle from your chosen vehicle category. Sometimes it gets a bit tricky though - customers do not always return vehicles when they say they will, or the vehicles may return with damage, or perhaps require a serious clean to make them presentable for you. In the unlikely event that this happens we will firstly attempt to provide you a free upgrade to a higher category. If this is not possible we will endeavour to provide you with a less expensive alternative and refund the difference. Finally, if for an unforeseen reason we are unable to provide you an acceptable vehicle, we will apologise for the inconvenience, refund any deposit and give you a credit of 10% towards any future rental with BBRC.

Our customers regularly tell us we have the best prices around. We know this, but it's good to get it confirmed. We've decided to go a step further and put this in writing. Here's the simple BBRC price guarantee - if you rent a BBRC rental car and can show us a better ALL UP DEAL on a comparable vehicle in Ballina Byron, tell us within 14 days and we will refund the difference plus 10%. PLUS!!! Get 10% off our advertised rates for your next rental.

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GENERAL DISCLAIMER

While every effort is made to ensure that accurate information is disseminated on this web site, we make no representation about the content and suitability of this information for any purpose.
It is provided ‘as is' without express or implied warranty.
In no event shall Ballina Byron Rental Cars be liable for any indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of income or profits or data, arising in connection with the use or performance of this website or any related information. Further, Ballina Byron Rental Cars has provided links to a number of sites purely as a service to our clients. This should NOT be taken as implying any link between us and those various organisations or individuals.