Terms of hire

About these terms

These are the terms on which we hire out golf buggies and related vehicles, and on which we sell them. We have written them to be read: they are the whole of the deal, plainly put, so you can see exactly what you are agreeing to and exactly what we take responsibility for.

Your agreement with us is made up of these terms, your quote, and the damage schedule that comes with it. If they ever conflict, your quote comes first, then these terms, then the schedule. Anything agreed separately in writing between us overrides all three.

By accepting your quote you agree to these terms. Acceptance happens on your quote page, and the version of these terms in force at that moment is the one that applies to your booking. If anything is unclear, ask us before you accept and we will talk it through.

We are The Hawke Group Ltd, trading as Green Buggy Hire, registered in England and Wales, company number 16624766, registered office 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ. In these terms, "we", "us" and "our" mean Green Buggy Hire, and "you" and "your" mean the person or organisation named on the quote. "Vehicle" means the buggy or other vehicle hired or sold, together with everything supplied with it, such as keys, chargers, cables, canopies and equipment.

If you are accepting for a business, club, venue or other organisation, you confirm you are authorised to commit it, and it is responsible for the booking alongside you. Some protections in these terms apply only to consumers, and where that is so we say it.

Your quote

Your quote is valid for the period shown on it. Prices are in pounds sterling, itemised line by line, and where VAT applies it is shown separately so you can see it clearly.

A quote is based on the details you give us, such as the venue, dates, ground conditions and access. If those change, the price may change, and we will reissue your quote before going ahead so there are no surprises.

A quote is an invitation to proceed, not a contract. Accepting it asks us to confirm your booking; the contract for the hire or sale is made when we send you our confirmation.

Accepting, and how your booking is confirmed

When you accept your quote, you are requesting the booking and agreeing to these terms. We then check the vehicles and the transport for your dates and confirm, usually within one working day. You will hear from us either way, and nothing is payable unless we confirm.

We may decline a request, for reasons including vehicle availability, vehicles requiring maintenance, transport for your district on those dates, or any other operational or safety reason. If we decline, nothing is charged and we will tell you why in plain words.

Once we confirm, your booking is committed on both sides: we hold the vehicles for you, and the payment and cancellation provisions below apply.

Holding vehicles while you decide

If you are close to going ahead but need a little longer, ask us to hold your buggies. We will reserve them at no cost for a short period, shown on your quote, so they are not offered elsewhere while you decide.

If the booking is not confirmed by the end of the hold, the vehicles are released. Holding vehicles does not confirm a booking, and no charge applies for a hold that lapses.

Paying

Unless your booking says otherwise, payment in full is due in cleared funds before delivery. Your booking confirmation sets out exactly what is due and when; we will never ask for a number you have not seen.

You can pay by card, including Apple Pay and Google Pay, or by bank transfer. Business customers can ask to be invoiced after the hire instead, where we have agreed it for the booking, and can use a purchase order number.

If payment due before delivery has not arrived by the date on your booking, we may treat the booking as cancelled by you, or delay delivery until it arrives, and the hire period still runs as booked.

If an agreed invoice is paid late, we may charge interest and reasonable recovery costs: for business customers at the statutory rate under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, and for consumers at 4% a year above the Bank of England base rate.

We do not take a deposit of any kind: neither a part payment to secure your dates, nor a refundable amount held against damage. There is nothing to pay until your booking is confirmed, and then it is the figure on your quote. Anything properly due for damage is invoiced after collection, itemised and evidenced, as set out below.

Changing or cancelling your booking

Plans change, and we try to be flexible. Tell us as early as you can and we will do what we reasonably can to move dates, change vehicles or adjust the booking, subject to availability. A change may alter the price, and we will reissue your quote before anything goes ahead.

If you cancel a confirmed booking, we may charge what we have actually and reasonably lost or committed as a result: transport already booked, vehicles held for your dates and turned away from other work, and preparation carried out for you. Where your quote states a cancellation scale, that scale applies instead. Either way, we will show you how any charge is worked out.

If you are a consumer and you booked online or by telephone, you may have a statutory right to cancel within 14 days under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Where you ask us to deliver within that period, you may be charged for what has already been supplied. Nothing in this section takes away that right.

Substitution, upgrades and partner fleets

We may supply a different vehicle from the one quoted, provided it is equivalent or better for your use, at no extra cost to you. Where the seat size you asked for is unavailable, we may upgrade you to the next size up, and the upgrade is complimentary: you pay the price of the vehicle you asked for, never the bigger one that arrives.

We may also fulfil all or part of a booking with vehicles hired in from a partner fleet or third party. Where we do, your agreement stays with us alone, these terms apply unchanged, you deal only with us, and it makes no difference to the price or the standard of vehicle. We remain responsible to you for the hire.

Vehicles shown in photographs and renders are illustrative of type. Colour, trim and cosmetic details can vary between fleet vehicles.

If we cannot supply

Very occasionally we cannot supply the vehicles booked: a vehicle damaged or not returned on an earlier hire, a failed safety check, a transport or mechanical failure, staff illness, or another operational or safety reason. We may cancel or change a booking at any time for such a reason, and we will tell you as soon as we reasonably can and make genuine efforts to supply an equivalent or better alternative, from our own fleet or a partner fleet, at no extra cost.

If we cannot supply an alternative that works for you, we will promptly refund everything you have paid for the part of the hire we cannot deliver, by the method you paid. That refund is your sole remedy and the full extent of our responsibility in that situation.

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not responsible for the cost of replacement vehicles from another supplier, for any difference in price, or for loss of profit, revenue or takings, wasted expenditure, staffing costs, other hire costs, cancellation or disruption of your event, reputational harm, or any other indirect or consequential loss, whether or not we were told the vehicles were critical to your event.

If your event depends on the vehicles, we recommend event cancellation or disruption insurance, and we will gladly describe what we are supplying so your insurer has what it needs. If you are a consumer, nothing here affects your statutory rights, and this section does not let us cancel a confirmed booking simply because it suits us commercially.

Delivery, collection and your site

We deliver to and collect from the venue on your booking, within windows we confirm with you beforehand. Someone authorised by you should be present at delivery for the handover, and where possible at collection.

You are responsible for telling us in advance about anything affecting access or ground: narrow or locked gates, height or weight limits, steps, soft or waterlogged ground, steep slopes, live event traffic, restricted hours. Please make sure there is somewhere suitable and reasonably secure to keep the vehicles during the hire.

If we cannot deliver or collect at the agreed time because of access, ground conditions, site rules or the absence of your representative, and that was within your control and not disclosed to us, we may charge the actual cost of the wasted or repeated journey, and the hire period still runs as booked.

At collection the vehicles must be at the agreed point, accessible and unobstructed, with keys and equipment ready. If they are not, we may charge the actual cost of recovering them.

Ownership, and what you must not do

Hiring does not transfer ownership. The vehicles remain our property at all times (or, for a partner-fleet vehicle, the property of its owner), and risk in them passes to you at handover and stays with you until we take them back. During the hire you must not:

• Sell, hire out, lend, pledge, charge or otherwise dispose of a vehicle, or deal with it as if it were yours, including re-hiring it to anyone else.
• Allow any lien or security interest to arise over it, and you must tell us at once if anyone attempts to seize or take control of it.
• Move it to a different site, or take it out of the United Kingdom, without our written agreement.
• Modify, repaint, rewire, wrap or apply adhesive livery, vinyl or stickers to it, or remove or obscure our markings, without our written agreement.
• Have it repaired, serviced or recovered by anyone else, unless it is an emergency and we cannot be reached.
• Use it for racing, competition or stunts, for towing beyond its rating, on a public road, or for anything it was not built for. Our buggies are for use on private land.

Who may drive, and using the buggies safely

For the hire period the vehicles are in your care, and you are responsible for how they are used, by anyone. They are straightforward to drive and we run through the controls at the handover, but they must be treated with respect. You must make sure that everyone who drives:

• Is an adult, unless we have agreed otherwise in writing for your site, and is fit to drive: not under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medication that affects driving.
• Has been shown the controls, by us at the handover or by someone you authorised who was there.
• Keeps to sensible speeds and to the areas agreed as suitable, taking particular care on slopes, near water, on wet or uneven ground, in crowds and after dark.
• Never carries more passengers than the vehicle is built for, and makes sure everyone is seated, with seatbelts used where fitted, before moving off.
• Never leaves a vehicle running, or with the key in it, unattended, and keeps keys somewhere secure overnight.
• Takes care around children, who should not drive and should be supervised near the vehicles.

Insurance

We hold public liability insurance for our own operations and can provide our certificate on request.

Our insurance does not cover a vehicle while it is in your care, and it does not cover your use of it. You are responsible for the vehicles from handover to collection, and for arranging any cover appropriate to your event and site, including cover for hired-in plant and your own public liability. If you are not sure what you need, ask us and we will point you in the right direction.

We may ask for evidence of your cover before delivery on larger hires. Holding insurance does not reduce your responsibility to us under these terms: if your insurer declines a claim or applies an excess, the amount remains payable by you.

The condition record

We record the condition of each vehicle at delivery, including photographs, and we do the same at collection. You are welcome to take part in both checks, and we encourage it.

If you notice anything you think the delivery record missed, tell us within 24 hours of delivery and we will look at it and update the record where right. After that, the delivery record stands as the condition of the vehicle at the start of the hire.

Where a vehicle cannot be inspected properly at collection, for example in the dark or heavily soiled, we may complete the check at our premises within a reasonable time and send you the record and photographs.

Damage, loss and theft

You are responsible for the vehicles for the whole hire period. If a vehicle is damaged, lost or stolen during the hire, you owe us the cost of putting it right or replacing it, in full.

That responsibility applies however the damage or loss happens and whether or not anyone was at fault: whether the vehicle was driven by you, your staff, your contractors, your guests, a visitor to your event or a person unknown, and whether it was in use, parked or unattended. The only exceptions are fair wear and tear, which we never charge for, and damage or loss caused by our own negligence or breach of these terms.

Common damage is charged against the fixed damage schedule that comes with your quote, agreed before your booking, so you know in advance what any item costs rather than facing an open-ended bill. Where a repair falls outside the schedule, you owe the actual cost of the repair, parts plus labour at our published rates, or the invoiced cost where a third party does the work. Where a vehicle is beyond economic repair, lost or stolen, you owe its replacement value: an equivalent vehicle of the same type, age and condition. We evidence whichever applies.

Where they actually arise, you also owe the reasonable cost of recovering, transporting and storing the vehicle. Where you are a business customer, you also owe our lost hire income while the vehicle is genuinely off the fleet being repaired or replaced, capped at 14 days at the daily rate on your booking. We do not charge lost hire income to consumers.

If a vehicle is damaged, involved in an accident, lost or stolen, tell us as soon as you can on the number on your booking. If it is stolen or damaged by a third party, report it to the police, get a crime or incident reference, give it to us within 5 working days, and give us reasonable help with any claim. Do not admit liability or settle any claim about a vehicle on our behalf without our written agreement.

How we work out and charge these costs

You will never get a charge you have not seen coming. Before we invoice anything for damage or cleaning, we send you the condition records and photographs from delivery and collection, and either the schedule line that applies or an itemised breakdown of the work and cost.

If you disagree, tell us within 14 days of receiving that pack and we will look at it again with you, and we will not treat a disputed charge as settled while a genuine query is open. Where you are a consumer, none of this affects your right to take a dispute to court.

Charges are invoiced separately from the hire and are payable within 14 days. We hold no deposit to set them against, so nothing is deducted from money you have already paid: any charge is raised as its own invoice you can see and query.

Cleaning, charging, keys and late return

Vehicles arrive clean, safety-checked and charged. Ordinary dirt from ordinary use is expected and never charged. We charge for cleaning only where a vehicle needs materially more than our normal turnaround: heavy mud inside the cab, spilled food, drink, paint or oil, adhesive residue from stickers or livery, smoke odour, or biological soiling that has to be handled under health and safety rules. In those cases you owe the actual cost of the additional cleaning, with photographs shown before anything is charged.

For hires of more than a day, keep the vehicles charged as we explain at the handover. If a vehicle comes back needing materially more than the normal recharge, or with missing or damaged keys, chargers, cables or equipment, the recharge or the replacement is charged at cost.

If a vehicle is not available for collection at the agreed time, the hire continues and you owe the daily rate on your booking for each further day or part day until we recover it, plus the actual cost of any additional journey. This does not entitle you to keep a vehicle beyond the agreed period.

Faults and breakdowns during your hire

If a vehicle develops a fault, stop using it, keep everyone around it safe, and contact us straight away. We will help you sort it, and where we can we will talk you through it or arrange a visit.

Where the fault is a genuine mechanical or electrical failure not caused by how the vehicle was used, we will repair or replace the vehicle as quickly as we reasonably can, or refund the hire charge for the time you were without it, at our option. Where a visit is needed because of damage, misuse, a flat battery from not charging, or user error, the callout is chargeable at our published rate, told to you before we attend.

Continuing to use a vehicle after a fault has appeared, where that makes the damage worse, is your responsibility.

Fines, penalties and third-party claims

You are responsible for any penalty, parking or site charge, toll or similar issued in connection with a vehicle during your hire, with any related costs. Where one is issued to us, we will pay it if we must, tell you, and recharge it to you; where the law allows, we may instead give the issuing authority your details as the person in control of the vehicle at the time.

If someone makes a claim against us arising out of the use of a vehicle during your hire, we will tell you promptly and you must give us reasonable help in dealing with it.

Ending a hire early, and recovering the vehicles

We may suspend or end a hire immediately and take the vehicles back if payment due is not made, if these terms are broken in a serious way, if a vehicle is being used unsafely, unlawfully or outside the agreed site, if it is at risk of seizure, or if you or your organisation become insolvent.

You agree that we, and anyone we authorise, may enter any premises where a vehicle is or is reasonably believed to be, lawfully and at a reasonable time, to inspect or recover it, and you will arrange access to any site you control.

Where we end a hire because of something you have done, the hire charge for the booked period remains payable, plus the actual cost of recovery. Ending a hire does not affect any right either of us already has.

If you are buying a vehicle from us

Where your quote is for a purchase rather than a hire, these terms apply with this section, and the hire-specific sections do not. Accepting a sale quote requests the order; the contract is made when we confirm it, and payment is due in full before delivery unless your order says otherwise.

Ownership of a purchased vehicle passes to you only when we have received payment in full. Risk passes on delivery, so insure it from then. Please inspect the vehicle on delivery and tell us about any visible damage or shortage as soon as reasonably possible.

The vehicle's condition, specification and any warranty are as stated on your quote and its listing. Our buggies are sold for use on private land; they are not road-legal vehicles unless your order expressly says so, and registration, insurance and lawful use are your responsibility.

If you are a consumer, nothing in this section affects your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015: goods must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described, and if they are not, the remedies the law gives you apply in full.

Our responsibility to you

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for breach of consumers' statutory rights, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

Subject to that, our total liability to you arising out of or in connection with a booking, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, is limited to the total charges you have paid us for that booking. We are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business or contracts, loss of anticipated savings, wasted expenditure, loss of use, disruption or cancellation of an event, or any indirect or consequential loss.

Where you are a business customer, you agree these limits are reasonable given the charges involved and the fact that you control the site and the use of the vehicles during the hire, and that you are better placed than we are to insure against event disruption. All warranties and terms implied by statute or common law are excluded to the fullest extent permitted.

We are not responsible for anything left in or on a vehicle, or for property of yours or your guests kept near it.

Your responsibility to us

Because the vehicles are in your care and under your control during the hire, you will indemnify us against claims, demands, losses, damage, fines and reasonable costs, including reasonable legal costs, arising out of the use of the vehicles during your hire, your breach of these terms, or anything done at your site, except to the extent caused by our own negligence or breach.

Where you are a consumer, this applies only to loss and damage that is a foreseeable result of your own breach or fault, and does not extend beyond what the law allows us to recover.

Your information

We handle your personal information in line with UK data protection law and our privacy notice, which explains what we collect, why, and your rights. We use your details to arrange and run your hire or order and to keep in touch about it.

Events outside anyone's control

Neither of us is responsible for failing to meet an obligation because of something genuinely outside our reasonable control: severe weather, fire, flood, accident, transport failure, pandemic, civil unrest, cyber attack, or acts of government. If such an event affects your booking we will work with you on the best way forward, including rescheduling, and we will refund what you have paid for any part of the hire that cannot happen because of it.

General

These terms, your quote and the damage schedule are the entire agreement between us for your booking, and they replace any earlier discussion or representation, except any liability for fraudulent misrepresentation, which nothing here excludes.

Any variation must be agreed in writing. If any provision here is found unenforceable, the rest continues to apply. A delay in enforcing these terms is not a waiver of them. You may not transfer your booking or your rights without our written consent; we may transfer ours on notice, without reducing your rights. A person who is not a party to the agreement has no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce it.

Which law applies

These terms, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes), are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. If you are a consumer living elsewhere in the UK, you may also bring proceedings where you live, and you keep any rights the law of your home nation gives you.

Talk to us

If you have any question about these terms, contact us at legal@greenbuggy.co.uk. For anything about your hire or order, support@greenbuggy.co.uk reaches the team. We would always rather talk something through than leave you unsure.