What does off-rent (off-hire) mean?

Off-rent, called off-hire in the UK, Australia and parts of Canada, is the point at which a customer tells the rental company they're finished with a unit and the rent stops. The unit is then waiting to be picked up and checked before it can go out again.

The nvisin tool built around this: Rental Manager.

How it works

When a customer calls a unit off, the rental company records the date and time, gives an off-rent number or confirmation, and books the pickup. What the customer pays after that depends on the agreement. Most companies stop the rent on the off-rent date, as long as the unit is ready to collect: accessible, emptied, and in the condition it went out in.

Until it's picked up, inspected and cleaned, the unit isn't available to rent. That gap is why off-rent dates matter for planning, not just billing.

Worked example

DateWhat happensStatus
Oct 14Customer calls the light tower off. Off-rent recorded at 3:10 pm.On rent until today; billing stops
Oct 16Driver picks it up. The fuel tank is a quarter full.Coming back
Oct 17Checked, refuelled, lamp replaced. Refuel charge added to the final invoice.Available

The customer is billed to October 14. The unit couldn't earn anything until the 17th, so the yard counts three days of turnaround when it plans next week's deliveries.

Common mistakes

  • No written record of the call. Without a time and a confirmation, the off-rent date becomes an argument on the last invoice.
  • Counting a called-off unit as available. It's still on a site until someone brings it back.
  • Not saying when rent stops. Off-rent date, pickup date or return to the yard: pick one and put it in the rental agreement.
  • Skipping the check-in. Damage found a week later is hard to charge for.

Related terms

  • Rental billing cycle: A rental billing cycle is the period a rental is charged for at a time, such as a day, a week, a 28-day period or a calendar month, and the date each charge falls due.
  • Rental agreement: A rental agreement is the contract between a rental company and its customer for a unit: what is rented, where it goes, the rate and billing cycle, who is responsible for damage, and how the rental ends.
  • Damage waiver: A damage waiver is an optional charge, usually a percentage of the rent, that a rental company adds in exchange for limiting what the customer pays if the unit is accidentally damaged.

Further reading