What the Lender Guarantee covers
Rentoodle team, updated 4 minute read
A plain English guide to the Rentoodle Lender Guarantee: what it is for, the kinds of things it excludes, the evidence to keep, and the 24 hour reporting rule.
What the guarantee is for
The single biggest worry people have about lending their things is the obvious one: what happens if it comes back broken, or does not come back at all. The Lender Guarantee exists to answer that. Every booking on Rentoodle is covered by it, up to £30,000.
This page is a plain English orientation, not the contract. The Lender Guarantee page carries the full terms, and the general Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply alongside it. Where anything here and the terms disagree, the terms are what count, so read them before you list anything valuable.
How it fits with the hirer's own responsibility
The guarantee is a backstop, not the first line. Under Rentoodle's terms, hirers who fail to return an item or who damage it are liable for the full replacement or repair cost, regardless of the circumstances.
So the normal route is that the hirer puts it right. The guarantee is there for when that does not happen: if the hirer is not cooperating and payment is delayed, you may be able to claim on it. That is also why hirers are identity verified before a booking completes, with a one-time £2 check for hirers who are new to Rentoodle, and why payment is captured after that verification.
What it covers, in general terms
The guarantee covers your advertised items against theft, damage and non-return occurring during a rental booking, up to each item's estimated value and subject to the threshold and criteria in the terms.
Two practical consequences follow. First, the item has to have been in the listing the hirer actually rented from, so lending extra things on the side is not covered. Second, the value you state has to be reasonably accurate, so keep your listings honest and up to date rather than optimistic.
What it does not cover
Every guarantee has exclusions, and this one is no different. In general terms, the following sit outside it:
- Vehicles and real estate.
- Consumable items, and weapons.
- Wear and tear, which is the ordinary ageing of a thing rather than an incident.
- Mechanical or electrical fault and breakdown, and inherent defects such as corrosion or damage from damp, vermin or extreme temperature.
- Damage that was already there before the rental in which the problem is reported.
- Items rented out again while a claim on them is still ongoing.
The evidence to keep
The guarantee is built around evidence, and almost all of it is evidence you can only gather at the time. The habit to build is simple: photograph or film the item immediately before it goes out, and again as soon as it comes back.
The terms are specific about this. Photographs or video of the items are expected from no more than 24 hours before the rental, video evidence of the items in use may be required for some items, and evidence taken immediately after the rental is what shows the damage happened during the hire rather than afterwards. Keep every message in the Rentoodle messenger rather than moving to text or email, keep purchase receipts where you have them, and in a theft or non-return report it to the police as soon as reasonably possible.
The 24 hour reporting rule
This is the deadline that catches people out, so it is worth stating on its own. You must inform Rentoodle as soon as possible, and in any event within 24 hours of the end date of the rental, of any incident you may need to claim for under the guarantee.
That means checking the item as soon as it is back rather than leaving the box by the door until the weekend. Unpack it the day it arrives, power it on, count the accessories, and compare it against the photographs you took before it went out. If anything is wrong, report it inside the window even if you are still hoping the hirer will sort it out directly, because raising it does not stop you resolving it between yourselves.
There are other timing rules in the full terms, including a limit on how long you have to hand over all the information a claim needs. Read them on the Lender Guarantee page rather than discovering them during a claim.
Before your first booking
Do three things now and the guarantee will be far easier to rely on later. Read the full terms, so you know what your own listings need to say and whether the eligibility criteria fit you. Set up your payout details, since lenders are paid after the rental. And build the photograph habit from your very first hire rather than from the first one that goes wrong.
If you have your own insurance covering the items, note that the terms expect you to claim on it first. If you have any questions the terms do not answer, ask before you list rather than after.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the Lender Guarantee cover?
Every booking on Rentoodle is covered by the Lender Guarantee up to £30,000, subject to the criteria and thresholds set out in full on the Lender Guarantee page.
How long do I have to report a problem?
You must inform Rentoodle as soon as possible, and in any event within 24 hours of the end date of the rental, of any incident you may need to claim for. Check items the day they come back.
What is excluded from the guarantee?
In general terms, vehicles, real estate, consumables, weapons and wear and tear are not covered, along with mechanical or electrical breakdown and pre-existing damage. The full exclusions are on the Lender Guarantee page.