A rental agreement template controls what your hire paperwork asks for, the terms it carries, what gets handed over with the vehicle, and how a hire is allowed to close. Set it up once and every new agreement that matches it is pre-built to your standard — so you're confirming details rather than re-typing them, and your trading terms go out on every hire automatically.
This is the complete guide to building one: the matching settings, the printed sections, your clause text, policy defaults, the equipment checklist, the attached Terms & Conditions PDF, signature rules and the "require a return inspection" toggle.
What an agreement template is for
A rental agreement is the contract you put in front of a hirer when a vehicle goes out. Rather than drafting that paperwork from scratch each time, you build a template that defines its shape and content. When a member of your team starts a new agreement, vehReports picks the right template, lays out the sections, drops in your clause text and policy defaults, and pre-fills the equipment checklist — leaving them to fill in the specifics for that hirer and vehicle.
A few things to keep clear from the outset:
- An inspection template controls condition reports — sections on the PDF, photo rules, declarations, verdict rules, the checklist and the damage taxonomy. A rental agreement template controls the hire contract. They are configured separately. If you also take a handover (outbound) or return (inbound) walkaround alongside the hire, those condition reports are shaped by the inspection template, not this one. See building inspection templates and checklists for that side.
- Building, editing and previewing templates is completely free and unlimited — no credit is used. A credit (about £1) is only ever spent at two moments: signing off an inspection report, and signing a rental agreement. Everything you do setting templates up costs nothing. See understanding credits.
- You can keep as many agreement templates as you like — for example one for cars, one for vans, one for long-term leases — and vehReports decides which to use per agreement.
Who can edit templates
Owners and Managers can create and edit templates. Inspectors can view templates but not change them, and Billing-only team members work with credits, orders and invoices rather than templates. For a full breakdown of what each role can do, see roles explained.
How a template gets matched to an agreement
You don't pick a template by hand on each hire — vehReports matches one automatically. For agreements the match is decided by the vehicle type, and where more than one template could fit, the one with the higher sort order wins. If nothing specific matches, vehReports falls back to the template you've flagged as the default. The general matching approach across templates is covered in how templates match.
To set this up, fill in the Identity section at the top of the template:
- Name — a clear internal name, e.g. "Cars — standard hire" or "Vans — long lease". This is what you and your team see in the template list; it doesn't appear on the printed agreement.
- Description — an optional note to remind your team what this template is for.
- Vehicle type — choose Car / SUV, Van, MPV / 7-seat, HGV, Minibus or Classic, or leave it blank to apply the template to all vehicle types.
- Sort order — a number (50 by default). When more than one template matches a hire, the one with the higher number wins. Give your specific templates a higher number than your catch-all.
- Use as the fallback — turn this on for the one template you want used whenever nothing more specific matches. Keep exactly one sensible default so no hire is ever left without a template.
Built-in and custom sections
The agreement PDF is made up of headed blocks — its sections. The template's Sections area is where you decide which blocks appear, in what order.
Built-in sections
vehReports ships a set of built-in sections — the parties, the vehicle, the charges and so on — that form the backbone of a standard hire contract. You can:
- Reorder them by dragging, to set the order they print in.
- Toggle any of them on or off if a block doesn't apply to how you trade.
Built-in sections can't be renamed or deleted — only reordered and hidden. If you've hidden ones you later want back, or you want to be sure none are missing, use Restore built-in sections in the section's header. That brings any missing built-in blocks back without disturbing the custom sections, ordering or on/off settings you've already set.
Custom sections
Beyond the built-ins, you can add your own custom sections — extra blocks specific to your business. Use Add custom section, give it a title, then add the fill-in fields it should contain. Each field becomes a fill-in line under that section on the agreement, and each can be:
- Text — free text (e.g. a fleet reference, a site or depot name).
- Date — a date field.
- Money (GBP) — a £ amount.
- Signature — a place to capture an extra signature.
You can mark any field as required so an agreement can't be signed without it. A custom section shows as its own block on the agreement using this template, ready for your team to complete. Unlike built-in sections, custom sections can be deleted when you no longer need them.
Tip: keep custom sections focused. They're ideal for things the standard contract doesn't cover — a delivery address, a named additional driver, a project code — not for restating clauses, which belong in the clause text below.
Clause text — the legal substance
The Clauses area holds the boilerplate wording printed on the agreement. This is the legal substance of the contract, in your own words, and it's where most operators spend the real setup time. There are tabs for:
- Insurance — your insurance terms and the hirer's obligations.
- Admin charges — how administrative and processing charges are applied.
- Operator's licence — operator's-licence wording where it's relevant to your hires (e.g. HGV or PSV).
- Liabilities — liability, damage and indemnity terms.
- Custom clauses — add as many extra clauses as you need. Each has a title and a body, and you can reorder them to control the order they print.
Each tab is a rich text editor, so you can format headings, lists and emphasis the way you want them to read on the page. Paste in wording your legal adviser has approved — vehReports doesn't supply or vet contract terms, so the words here are yours and your responsibility.
Tip: write clauses in plain, customer-facing language and keep them about the hire and the obligations on each side — the hirer reads this document.
Policy defaults — pre-set charges and policies
Use Rental policy defaults to pre-set fleet-wide rental policy so it flows onto every agreement and your team confirms rather than re-enters it. You can set:
- Mileage allowance and the allowance period (per day, per week or per month).
- Excess mileage charge (£ per mile over the allowance).
- Allowance basis — whether the allowance is scaled by the agreed booked window or by the actual time on hire. The agreed window suits most operators.
- Late-return fee per day (£, optional) — a daily charge applied when a vehicle is returned after the due-back date.
- Admin fee (£).
- Out-of-hours surcharge (£).
- VAT % (20% by default).
These are policy figures that apply across the fleet. They are different from per-vehicle rates: the daily hire rate, deposit and damage excess live on each vehicle's record (its rental defaults) so they can scale with the asset, and those pre-fill new agreements too. See adding and managing a vehicle for where to set those. On a new agreement, your team can override any pre-filled figure for the one-off case without changing the template.
The equipment checklist
The equipment checklist records what physically goes out with the vehicle — spare key, charging cable, locknut key, documents, and so on. On the agreement it becomes a checklist that makes it crystal clear exactly what was handed over, which is what matters when the vehicle comes back and you're reconciling what's missing.
To build it:
- Use Add item and type the item name.
- Set the default status for each item — Pass, Fail or N/A. This pre-fills the status on every new agreement; your team can override any item per agreement (for example marking an item N/A on a vehicle that doesn't have it).
- Reorder items by dragging into a sensible handover order.
If you want the standard starter set back, or want to make sure you haven't deleted something common, use Restore standard items in the section header. It re-adds any missing standard items while keeping the items you've added or edited.
Note that the equipment checklist records equipment, not inspection points — it's separate from the inspection checklist on the condition report. Use it for "what's in the vehicle", and the inspection template's checklist for "what condition things are in".
The Terms & Conditions PDF
Attach a Terms & Conditions PDF to the template and it's appended to every agreement rendered from that template. The hirer receives your full terms as part of the signed paperwork, without anyone attaching them by hand each time. It's the right place for trading terms, a fleet handbook excerpt, or an insurance schedule that's too long to sit inline as clause text.
- Upload one PDF per template. The file must be a PDF and no larger than 4 MB.
- The attached document is private to your account and appended only to agreements from this template.
Signature rules
In Signatures required on the agreement you decide which signatures the agreement must capture before it can be signed:
- Hirer (customer) — the person taking the vehicle.
- Lessor (your team) — your business as the vehicle's owner/operator.
Both are required by default. If your flow only needs one, untick the other. Any Signature fields you added inside a custom section are captured in addition to these.
Keep in mind this section is only about signatures on the agreement itself. Signatures on the condition report — the inspector and the customer at handover or return — are configured on the inspection template, not here.
When the hire is actually signed, you can capture signatures in person or send the hirer a secure signing link to sign remotely — see signing the agreement and sending a signing link. Signing the agreement is the moment that uses one credit (about £1); everything up to that point is free.
The "require a return inspection" toggle
The Lifecycle section carries one important switch: Require a return inspection before closing. It's on by default, which means an agreement built from this template expects a return (inbound) inspection before it can be closed — the standard handover → return → close flow.
When to turn it off
Switch it off for hires where a formal return walkaround on the system doesn't fit the process:
- Long-term leases — where a vehicle is out for months and a system return inspection isn't part of the arrangement.
- One-way hires — where the vehicle is returned somewhere you can't inspect it.
- Key handovers or any flow where a return walkaround simply isn't done.
With the toggle off, an agreement built from this template can be closed directly after the outbound inspection, without a return inspection blocking the close. The full handover-to-close journey is covered in the rental lifecycle.
A one-off exception
If it's a single situation rather than a whole category — say a particular vehicle that never came back — you don't need to change the template at all. Handle the close on that individual agreement, as described in the rental lifecycle. Only change the template when the no-return-inspection behaviour should apply to a whole class of hire going forward.
Saving and keeping templates current
Building and editing a template costs nothing and never touches a credit. Save your changes and they apply to new agreements built from the template from that point on. You can come back and refine the template as often as you like.
Update the equipment list, swap the T&Cs PDF, tweak a clause or change a default charge, and new agreements pick up the change automatically — there's nothing to re-attach by hand. Crucially, agreements that are already signed keep the terms, clauses and equipment list that applied at the time they were signed. A signed agreement is a permanent record of what both parties agreed; editing the template never rewrites history.
Common questions and pitfalls
Will editing a template change agreements I've already signed? No. Changes only affect new agreements. Signed agreements keep the wording, equipment list and T&Cs that applied when they were signed.
Do I need separate templates for cars and vans? Only if their contracts genuinely differ. You can run one template for all vehicle types (leave the vehicle type blank), or build specific ones and let matching pick the right one. Give specific templates a higher sort order so they win over a catch-all.
I hid a built-in section by mistake — how do I get it back? Toggle it back on, or use Restore built-in sections in the Sections header to bring back anything missing without disturbing your other settings.
Can I delete a built-in section? No — built-in sections can only be reordered or hidden. Only custom sections can be deleted.
Where do the daily rate and deposit come from? Not the template — those per-vehicle figures (daily hire, deposit, damage excess) live on each vehicle's record and pre-fill new agreements from there. The template's policy defaults cover fleet-wide figures like the mileage allowance, excess-mileage rate, allowance basis, late-return fee, admin fee, out-of-hours surcharge and VAT.
Does setting up or editing a template cost a credit? No. Building, editing and previewing templates is free and unlimited. A credit is only used when an agreement is actually signed, or when an inspection report is signed off.
The T&Cs upload is rejecting my file. It must be a PDF and 4 MB or smaller. Reduce the file size or convert it to PDF and try again.
Can I require an extra signature beyond the hirer and lessor? Yes — add a Signature field inside a custom section. It's captured in addition to the hirer/lessor signatures set in the signature rules.
Related articles
- How templates work — matching by vehicle and inspection type
- Building inspection templates and checklists
- Creating and completing a rental agreement
- Signing the agreement and sending a signing link
- The rental lifecycle: handover, return and close
- Adding and managing a vehicle
- Understanding credits — what's paid and what's free