How to Hire a Cargobike
How much is it?
We charge £160 including VAT for up to TWO weeks. £160 is our minimum charge and you don’t have to keep it for the full two weeks, but please check our opening hours because collection and return is normally done at our Hackney base only when we are open. We also charge a £200 (no VAT) Deposit which most customers receive back with no deductions for loss, damage, late return etc. We also require you to arrange your own insurance for theft, damage, third party liability etc. We can offer you a 30 day free code with one of the bike insurance providers to help you arrange this.
Do I get any of that money off the purchase price?
Yes – you can get up to 80% of the hire fees off the purchase price, so if you’ve spent £160 on a hire you can usually get £128 off the purchase price off any cargo bike that we have in stock. If you want to order one in, we will do you a different deal. We cap the hire fee returns at £500, or four weeks’ worth of hiring. Most customers fall well within this time period, and most hire perhaps two before making their choice.
Please ask us for more details about how we work with other employee voucher schemes, as we’re with a number of them and they all operate slightly differently: Cyclescheme, Vivup, Cycle Solutions, Enjoy Benefits, Bike2Work and others. We can’t always give 80% of your try-before-you-buy fees with all of the vouchers. Please talk to us first. In the meantime you can read our “Ways to Purchase a Cargobike” page.
Note: If you’re intending to buy fairly quickly through a work cycle voucher, it’s wise to get all your ducks in a row before the date of your hire. Ask us for more details!
How do I decide what to Hire?
Good question! Well you could email us and then you’ll get an autoreply, in which there is a link to fill in the short survey about your needs. This will really help us to help you, but also it can help clarify in your mind what is important to you with a cargobike, and what factors such as parking and storage you may need to think about.
Have a chat with us about what is available during the dates you’re looking to hire. Sometimes we’re fresh out of a particular model, or sometimes they’re all booked out for hire for a couple of weeks. We can discuss what’s available for you and quickly work out when is a good start date for you.
How do I book a Hire?
Contact us and once we’ve gone through options with you and you’ve decided what to try first, we’ll send you the two invoices to pay: the Hire Fee @ £160 and the Deposit @ £200 both to pay via BACs. We will also send you a Quote for the replacement value of the items which you’ll need to use in order to arrange insurance while you have them on hire. Remember, we can offer you 30 days free insurance with a code – but you don’t have to take this up. You can find your own insurance if that suits you better, such as your home contents insurance (or business insurance).
What do I get with the hire?
We always provide insurance-ready locks, usually a cover for the whole bike, instructions or a booklet about the bike if a printed one is available, and baby-or child seats to suit the age(s) of your kid(s). Boxbikes usually come with a rain tent for the box, although not every model has one.
Discuss with us whether you’d like any other accessories. Many of the midtail and longtail bikes like Tern or Veloe have many accessory options that we can add to the bike for you. Some will come with an extra hire fee which can come off the price completely if you buy it, e.g. Clubhouse + on the Tern GSD is £30 extra.
What are the Terms & Conditions?
Another good question: these are stated on the Procedure attached to the invoice. Basically, look after the bike.
- Lock it up properly.
- Don’t pass it around lots of people unless you’ve paid for a commercial hire. (Within the family is of course fine.)
- Keep it clean.
- Don’t make any marks or holes in it.
- Bring it back on time! (unless you’re buying it).
- Full T&Cs available on request.
When can I collect?
You must make an appointment. Our Hackney base is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, so make your appointment to collect on any of these days (check the opening times too please). Return it either a week or two weeks later. You don’t have to hire for exactly a week, you can return early but it must be while we’re open. So if you collect on a Friday but only want it until Wednesday then feel free to book it until Wednesday but the price will be the same as a full week. When you bring it back you must do a face-to-face handover with us, you can’t just lock it up outside our premises – definitely not allowed!
What happens when I collect?
We do a full Safety Handover including briefing on how the bike works, then you test-ride the bike to make sure you’re happy and comfortable. We adjust anything that needs to be adjusted. Then you sign our paperwork, we take a photo of you and your hire bike (if you allow us!) and then off you go. Please allow at least 40 minutes for this – it must not be done in a rush! Safety first!
Do you deliver the bike?
We did a lot of this during the Covid lockdowns. However, the best customer experience now that we’re apparently out the other side of the pandemic is for you to collect it yourself. We have all the kit at our premises, so if you decide you need a baby seat for the littlest one after all, or a cover for the whole bike, or anything else, we have it all on hand to add for you. We’re close to a number of stations on the TfL network and within Zone 2 so we’re pretty easy for a lot of people to access. Check out our Contact page for details.
We can sometimes deliver to customers who really cannot make the journey for whatever reason. Talk to us from the start about this, let us know your address and we’ll put together a bespoke delivery and handover price for you.
Our staff ride the bike to you, do the Safety Handover at your place, then usually ride back on a folding bike or take public transport. For out-of-town deliveries we can occasionally use a van for Hire deliveries, but we would prefer not to for environmental reasons. Also as it’s a Hire we may well be collecting it again afterwards – another van journey. But we can do this, it’s a possibility, and if it helps you make that life-changing decision to go for a cargobike lifestyle then we’re happy to help!
Anyway, you’ve got the cargobike, what next?
During your hire
Contact us with any questions or concerns you may have. The Safety Handover can be a lot to take in so it’s easy to forget something; we understand! So we’re happy to remind you of anything you may have forgotten. Also we’re happy to discuss different accessory options or different specs available for that model. You may also wish to talk to us about purchase. (We hope so anyway!) We can easily amend the Quote we sent you for the insurance to add in or take out items for purchase.
Returning your hire
So if you’re not going to buy that model, or not going to buy it right now, you’ll want to return it all and get back your Deposit. Here’s a reminder of what to do before you bring it back to our Hackney base at your scheduled appointment:
Handing back your hire bike – as per T&Cs you received with the invoice:
- If there is anything mechanically up with the bike we need to know now! Don’t leave it until handover as it’s likely to go out to another customer that day 🙂
- If it’s electric-assist, please fully charge the battery before it leaves your place;
- Please give the bike and all its accessories a good, thorough clean before handing it back, our hire service relies on the bikes and kit staying in good condition ready for the next customer.
No jet washing(!) but please wipe down and dry so that watermarks don’t gather, and pay attention to the underneath of the bike too, plus wheel rims (It’s OK for tyres to have a little dirt/water on, but excessive mud etc. should be brushed off);
We now have an automatic £40 inc VAT cleaning fee if the bike and/or accessories come back needing a clean! Thank you for your understanding. - Check your photo of your hire form to ensure that you give back every item; sometimes people forget the instructions for the child seats for example or a bungee/key or even a charger, and we can’t return your deposit until we receive them in good condition (and can cause a problem for the next customer);
- (an extra courtesy please) Make sure any seatbelts are neatly back in place, clasps clicked together, no uneven straps etc. It needs to be easy for the next person to see how to use them.