Rooftop Tents – Hire Terms

• We shall give you a time slot for collecting your rooftop tent. Please try to make your time slot as we may have other customers collecting or returning items before and after you. Whenever you get to us, we shall endeavor to fit you in. But please understand there may be a wait at busy times.

• Please allow at least 30 minutes for the collection. We shall fit the tent securely to your vehicle and we shall make sure that you are happy with its operation before you depart. If you also paid to hire roofbars from us, we shall first attach the roofbars to your vehicle. Please allow an extra 15 minutes.

• We shall give you a time slot for returning your rooftop tent. Please try to make your time slot as we may have other customers collecting or returning items before and after you. Whenever you get to us, we shall endeavor to fit you in. But please understand there may be a wait at busy times.

• Please allow at least 20 minutes for the return. We shall remove the tent from the roofbars at the end of your hire. If you also paid to hire roofbars from us, we shall remove the roofbars from your vehicle. Please allow an extra 10 minutes. 

• If you’re really late back with the rooftop tent, please appreciate that we reserve the right to charge you an extra day’s hire. Late returns may mean that someone else can’t have the rooftop tent for the start of their holiday.

• We shall provide the rooftop tent of your choice together with brackets to fit it to your roofbars. We can optionally provide and fit suitable roofbars for your vehicle if this has been agreed with us prior to collection.

• The tent will come with a ladder which shall give you access to the tent once it is fitted on top of your vehicle. We can also provide you with two foldable stools at no charge. These can make it easier to set up and collapse the rooftop tent, especially on taller vehicles.

• The tent is supplied with an anti-condensation mat, a tent-sized mattress (an inch or two thick depending upon the tent), a mattress protector and a cover sheet. Unless you have arranged to hire bedding, please bring your own sleeping bags or other bedding as you wish. If you also paid to hire bedding, we shall supply you with a duvet and 2 pillows.

• All hired items remain the sole property of Electric Explorers at all times.

• We do not include the required roofbars unless you have arranged to hire them from us. You are most welcome to hire roofbars, but please give us as much notice as possible so that we can ensure we have the required parts ready for you.

• If you do have your own roofbars, you must make sure that they are securely affixed to your vehicle and that they are rated for a dynamic load equal to or greater than the weight of the empty tent.
  • For “Scott” & “Shackleton”, this requirement is 61kg.
  • For “Earhart”, this requirement is 46kg.
  • For “Mallory”, this requirement is 62kg.

• You will need to arrange and pay for any campsite booking or any other accommodation arrangements you choose to make.

• The hire of the rooftop tent does not include any camping equipment beyond what is provided with the tent itself. The webpage for each tent gives a full list of all features and equipment that are supplied, together with a list of extras that you are welcome to add to your hire.

• You are responsible for the rooftop tent during the period of your hire.

• We insure the rooftop tent against theft or loss, but it is your responsibility to insure your vehicle and to check if your insurer needs to be notified that you are fitting a rooftop tent.

• Please pay special attention to the increased height of your vehicle whilst hiring the rooftop tent. Multistorey car parks, height restriction barriers and garages may all be too low for you to pass.

• Don’t go through a car wash with a rooftop tent attached.

• Your vehicle’s roof must be able to take a dynamic load equal to the weight of the roofbars plus the weight of the empty rooftop tent.

• If supplied by you, your roofbars must be able to take a dynamic load equal to the weight of the empty rooftop tent. (All roofbars supplied by us are able to take the required load.)

• Compliance with these maximum loads is your sole responsibility. We know that the roofbars which we can optionally supply are rated at a dynamic load of 75kg (sufficient for all our tents), but we will not know the rating of any roofbars which you supply, and we will not know the rating of your vehicle’s roof. If you are in any doubt, please contact your vehicle manufacturer or your roofbar manufacturer.

• We cannot fit rooftop tents to cars with plain roofs (no front-back rails or fixpoints). We cannot fit rooftop tents to cars with all-glass roofs (sunroofs, panoramic sunroofs and double sunroofs are fine).

• The named hirer must be over 23 years of age at the start of the hire period.

• It is your responsibility to comply with all applicable traffic laws whilst you are driving with the rooftop tent attached.

• For the avoidance of doubt, always fully collapse the tent before you move your vehicle. For softshell tents, you must replace the travel cover with all clips closed. For hardtop tents, you must engage the hardshell closing clips.

• Please do not drive off-road whilst hiring one of our rooftop tents. Unmade access roads to campsites and beauty spots are fine, but serious off-roading will expose the rooftop tent fixings to excessive loads. For the same reason, please do not drive aggressively while you have one of our rooftop tents fitted to your vehicle.

• We shall clean the tent before your hire. Please return it in a similar state of cleanliness so that the next guests can enjoy their stay.

• There is strictly no smoking or vaping permitted in the tent. This is not only for your safety; the smoke will impregnate the fabrics of the tent. This will incur forfeiture of the security deposit as the tent will have to be taken out of service and deep cleaned.

• No naked flames or other heat sources (such as lit matches, candles, stoves etc..) are allowed in the tent.

• Please make sure that any heating or cooking appliance or naked flame outside the tent is far enough away to avoid damaging the tent and any attached annex.

• Pets are not allowed inside the tent.

• No more than the specified number of persons are allowed to sit/sleep in the tent. Please observe the weight limit at all times.

• The tent ladder must be secure on level ground and you must ensure that the ladder steps are fully locked in place before climbing the ladder.

• You must be sufficiently able-bodied to be able to climb a short ladder safely. It’s easier than getting into the top bunk of a bunk bed, but accessing a rooftop tent won’t be suitable for everyone.

• If you borrow our folding stools to help when setting up and collapsing the tent, please always ensure the stools are securely positioned on firm level ground before standing on them. They’re only 40cms high, but even a fall from that height could hurt.

• If your hire includes any mains electrical appliances (e.g. a toaster or a kettle), please make sure you do not use these in wet conditions. We regularly inspect and test all our portable mains electrical appliances but you are responsible for how you use them. If you notice any damage to an electrical item, please let us know at once and don’t use the item.

• You are responsible for the safety of all members of your group whilst you are hiring the tent. Be especially aware of younger members of your group who might forget that they are on top of a vehicle. Rooftop tents can be great fun but you are always two metres or so off the ground when using them.

• All instructions given during the handover of the tent must be followed during the hire period to minimise the risk of personal injury, loss and/or damage.

• The manufacturers of our tents deliberately do not treat them with fire retardants. These chemicals are banned in many countries as they have been reported to have serious negative health effects, though these chemicals are not currently banned in the UK.

When we were selecting our tents, we found that some established manufacturers refuse to use these retardants because of the known harmful effects upon human health. Inside a small confined space such as a tent, any health risk from these chemicals will be exacerbated.

All tents will burn if exposed to a naked flame or sufficient heat. This is true whether the tent is treated with flame retardants or not. We have chosen to forego the marginal potential benefit of using fire retardants in exchange for the highly probable health benefit which comes from avoiding exposure to these chemicals in a confined space.

• We attach the tent to your vehicle at the handover. Please keep the tent on your vehicle for the duration of your hire. The tents are very heavy and they must be fitted correctly by us in order to be safe. The tent is designed only to be used when fitted to the roof of a vehicle.

If we were to let guests remove tents themselves, there would be the risk of the tent being badly refitted to the car, or the tent could be stored incorrectly. Removing the tent would also make it easier for thieves to take the tent. There would also be the risk of you injuring yourself or damaging your car whilst removing or refitting the tent.

We hope you understand that it is a condition of hire that the tent remains attached to the vehicle for the duration of the hire. In order to reduce the risk of theft, most of the tents have anti-theft nuts used to attach them to the vehicle’s roofbars. If we have provided you with roofbars, then these will also have been locked in place.

• If you have any problems with the rooftop tent during your hire, please let us know sooner rather than later so that we can see what we can do to put things right.

• If we are unable to fix a problem to your satisfaction, there may be the option to switch to an alternative rooftop tent, though this will depend entirely upon the availability of another tent.

• If the rooftop tent is stolen whilst in your care, you must notify us immediately. Please report the theft to the police, obtain a crime reference number and give this to us.

• In the event of an accident involving the rooftop tent :
  • Obtain the names and addresses of third parties, witnesses and registration numbers.
  • Report the accident to the police and any emergency services as required. Do not accept blame or insist that another party is at fault.
  • Take photographs of the scene and any damage.
  • Please contact us so that we may assess the damage prior to the tent being driven any further.
  • Depending on availability and at our discretion, we will endeavor to provide a substitute rooftop tent, subject to your location and the remaining hire period.
• Please note that in all cases our liability to you is limited to the total sum of monies you have paid to us for the hire. This does not affect your statutory rights.

• At the handover we shall inspect the rooftop tent with you so that you are happy with its condition at the start of the hire period.

• Please return the tent in a similar state of cleanliness so that the next guests can enjoy their stay.

• Please note that pets are not allowed inside the tent.

• If booked direct, we shall return the security deposit within 7 days of the end of the hire period. If you have booked through a 3rd party portal, please see their terms & conditions for the timescale for security deposit returns. If there is any non-trivial damage, soiling, or loss incurred to the hired equipment, then we shall deduct the cost of rectifying this from your security deposit. If the cost of rectification exceeds the value of the security deposit, you agree to pay us the difference up to a total of £500. This does not prejudice our right to seek extra redress in the event of gross negligence or malicious damage. You can choose to purchase excess cover from a 3rd party but we do not offer excess cover.

• We are not going to quibble over minor damage or wear & tear; we will not hold back the security deposit without reasonable cause. We much prefer to give the entire security deposit back to our customers.

• Please let us know of any damage or loss as soon as possible. This gives us the best chance to minimise our losses and to ensure the tent can be ready for the next guests.

• As part of the booking process, we collect the minimal amount of information required to manage your booking and to process your payment. We do not pass this information on to any 3rd party.

• We may email you once or twice a year about our services. You can opt out of our marketing emails by following the unsubscribe link in any marketing email from us, or by emailing us and specifying the email address that you wish unsubscribed.

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