How renting on Rentoodle works
Rentoodle team, updated 4 minute read
A plain English walk through of hiring on Rentoodle: searching, booking dates, ID verification, tracked delivery or local collection, and returning it well.
What Rentoodle actually is
Rentoodle is a UK marketplace where you hire everyday things from other private individuals rather than from a shop. The camera, the carpet cleaner, the travel cot and the dress you are looking at are all owned by someone who already bought them and would rather they earned their keep than sat in a cupboard.
Because the items belong to people rather than to a rental chain, the range is broad and local. It also means the experience is a little more human than a trade counter: you will usually exchange a couple of messages with the person you are hiring from, and they will usually care how the item comes back.
Borrowers pay 0% booking fees on Rentoodle, so the daily price on a listing is the price of the hire. If the lender offers tracked delivery, their listing shows the postage cost alongside it, so you can see the full picture before you book.
Finding the right item near you
Search behaves best when you give it the thing rather than the job. Searching for the tool by name usually beats describing the task, because lenders title their listings after the item they own.
A few habits make the results better:
- Search by brand or model when you know it, then widen if there is nothing nearby.
- Browse the category page as well as searching: lenders do not always use the word you would.
- Check the delivery methods on the listing before you fall for it, because some items are collection only.
- Look at how the listing describes condition and what is included, especially for anything with accessories.
- Message the lender with a question before booking if anything is unclear. Most reply quickly.
Choosing your dates
Hires on Rentoodle run from a start date to an end date, and the default minimum is two days. Some lenders set a longer minimum period on their own listings, which is shown before you book.
Build a little slack into the window. If you need a pressure washer on Saturday, a Friday to Sunday hire is far less stressful than a Saturday to Saturday one, because it absorbs a delivery that arrives late in the day or a job that takes longer than you thought. The same applies at the other end: the item needs to be back with the lender by the end date, not merely posted on it.
Verifying your identity and paying
Hirers on Rentoodle are identity verified. If you are new, there is a one-time £2 check: you upload a passport or driving licence, take a selfie, and the two are matched using biometric technology by Rentoodle's verification provider. It is usually instant, and it is one-time rather than per booking.
Payment is captured after your identity has been verified, so verification is not an afterthought at the end of the process. Getting it done early, rather than the night before you need the item, is the single easiest way to avoid a booking going wrong.
Delivery or local collection
Lenders choose which they offer. With tracked delivery, the lender sends the item to arrive on the start date, and you send it back by tracked delivery to arrive with them by the end date. Keep the packaging it arrives in: it is the right size, it already survived one trip, and it saves you finding a box on the return leg.
With local collection, you and the lender agree a place and time by message. Collection suits heavy things, fragile things and anything you want to see working before you take it away. It also removes two days of postage from each end of the hire, which often makes a short hire viable that would not otherwise be.
During the hire, and giving it back well
Treat the item as someone's property rather than as stock, because that is what it is. Read any instructions the lender sends, use the item for what it is meant for, and message the lender rather than improvising if something does not behave as expected.
Return it clean, complete and on time. Clean means no dried mud on a garden tool and no crumbs in a high chair. Complete means every cable, adaptor, lens cap and strap that came with it. On time means back in the lender's hands by the end date. Hirers are responsible for returning items and for damage they cause, so a careful handover protects you as much as it protects the lender.
If something does go wrong, say so straight away. A message on the day, with a photograph, is far easier for everyone than a surprise discovered at the other end.
Frequently asked questions
Do borrowers pay a booking fee?
No. Borrowers pay 0% booking fees on Rentoodle. You pay the daily price set by the lender, plus the postage cost shown on the listing if you choose tracked delivery instead of local collection.
How short can a hire be?
The default minimum hire is two days. Individual lenders can set a longer minimum period on their own listings, and that minimum is shown to you before you book.
When am I charged, and what is the £2 for?
Payment is captured after your identity has been verified. The £2 is a one-time identity check for hirers who are new to Rentoodle, not a charge on every booking.