Legal matters

Bluefin Rentals is operated by Bluefin Rentals LLC, a Minnesota company based in Saint Paul, MN ("Bluefin Rentals", "we", "us"). These terms are the agreement between us and you, the person who books a car ("you"). You accept them when you tick the agreement box at checkout, for that booking and everything that follows from it.

Our cancellation policy is part of these terms. Our privacy policy explains what information we collect and what we do with it. If these terms and a page on our site seem to say different things, these terms apply.

To rent a car you must be at least 25 years old on the day your trip starts and hold a valid, unexpired driver's license that lets you drive the car in Minnesota. The same applies to every additional driver. [Owner decision: whether a license must have been held for a minimum time, whether foreign licenses need an International Driving Permit, and whether driving-record problems disqualify a renter].

Before you pay for your first trip, we verify your identity through Stripe Identity: you photograph your driver's license and take a selfie, and Stripe checks that the license is genuine and that the selfie matches its photo. Only a driver's license is accepted; a passport or a state ID card isn't. You need to do this once. What is collected and kept is in our privacy policy.

Additional drivers are verified the same way. When you add a driver to your trip, we email them a link. They sign in or create a Bluefin Rentals account and verify their own driver's license through Stripe Identity before the trip starts. A driver who hasn't been verified may not drive the car.

At pickup we may check the license of whoever is collecting the car against the verified one. If a license is missing, expired, or doesn't match, we may refuse to hand over the car. [Owner decision: what is refunded when we refuse to hand over the car for that reason: treated as the guest cancelling, or something else]

Keep your account details accurate: your legal name, date of birth, phone number, email and home address. We use them to contact you about your trip, and the name and date of birth must match your license. An account is for one person; don't share it or book for someone else to drive alone. Keep your password private. You're responsible for bookings and requests made from your account.

Trips can start at least 3 hours from the time you book. Pickups and returns are between 10 AM to 11 PM, every day, at the times our booking calendar offers. The price shown at checkout, including any discounts, surcharges, fees, extras and tax, is the price you pay.

Daily prices vary by date: weekends and busy periods (holidays and big local events, for example) can cost more, and quieter periods less. Each day of your trip is priced for its own date, and the car page and checkout show the total before you book. Once you've booked, later price changes don't affect your trip.

A booking is confirmed once your payment succeeds, and we email you to say so. While you check out, the car is held for you for one hour. If you pay after that and someone else has booked the car for any of your dates in the meantime, we can't confirm your trip: we refund your payment in full straight away and email you to let you know.

When you book, you pay the trip total shown at checkout, by credit or debit card (including Apple Pay and Google Pay). Payments are processed by Stripe; Bluefin Rentals never sees or stores your full card number.

By booking, you authorize Bluefin Rentals LLC to save the card you pay with and to charge it, without asking you again each time, for the following, as described in these terms:

• the security deposit hold (section 6);
• trip extensions you ask for (section 13);
• extras you ask for after booking (section 14); and
• costs arising from your trip (section 15).

The saved card is used only for the trip you booked with it. You can replace it at any time from your trip page; the new card is then used instead. We email you a receipt for every charge.

Every trip has a refundable security deposit of $1,500. About 24 hours before pickup, or straight away if you book closer to pickup than that, we place a hold for this amount on your card. A hold is not a charge: the money stays in your account but is unavailable to you while the hold is in place. On a debit card, that means the funds are set aside from your balance.

Card holds expire on their own after a period set by the card network. On longer trips we place a fresh hold before the current one expires, then release the old one; for a short time your bank may show both as pending.

We release the hold once we've inspected the car after you return it, and no later than 48 hours after you return it. Your bank may take a few days to make the funds available again. If we find damage or other costs when we inspect the car, we may keep the hold in place for longer while we assess them, and we'll email you if we do. If the car is returned damaged, or other costs described in section 15 arise, we may instead charge some or all of the hold to cover them, and will tell you what for. If those costs are more than the hold, the difference is charged to your card on file.

If the hold can't be placed, for example because your card is declined, we'll email you and try again, and you can add a different card from your trip page. The lockbox code for the car is released once a hold is in place.

You choose where to collect the car when you book. Picking up from our home base in Saint Paul is free; we send the exact address once your booking is confirmed. Our other listed pickup locations cost $100. We deliver anywhere within 10 miles of our home base for $120, which covers both the drop-off and the collection. The car is returned to the same place it was collected from unless we agree otherwise in writing.

The car's lockbox code is on your trip page and in your emails once your deposit hold is in place. Keep it to yourself. We may change a code between trips; the code on your trip page is always the current one.

We may photograph the car, inside and out, at pickup and at return. Those photos are the record of the car's condition, and you can see them on your trip page.

Return the car by the end time of your trip, or extend the trip first (section 13). A late return may be charged as described in section 15: [Owner decision: grace period, and the late-return rate (per hour, or a day at the trip's rate)]. Return the car with the key and every accessory it came with, locked, in the agreed place. If you don't return it and we can't reach you, we may report it to the police as stolen.

Only you and the additional drivers on your trip page may drive the car. Each driver must follow these terms, and you're responsible for anything an additional driver does.

If the car comes back smelling of smoke, or with ash or burns in it, we charge a smoking fee of at least $250, and more if cleaning the car and removing the smell costs more than that.

Pets are welcome. Please return the car without excessive animal hair: if it needs extra cleaning for pet hair, we charge a fee of at least $250, and more if the cleaning costs more than that. Service animals are always welcome, and the same applies to them.

Where the car may go: [Owner decision: travel area: Minnesota only, the neighbouring states, anywhere in the US; and whether Canada is allowed].

Tell us straight away if a warning light comes on or the car develops a fault, and don't keep driving it if that could cause damage. Don't have the car repaired without asking us first.

Each day of your trip includes 200 miles. Miles beyond your trip's allowance are charged at the per-mile rate shown when you booked, after the trip. Days added by an extension add their own allowance. With the Unlimited mileage extra, there is no allowance and no per-mile charge.

Return the car with the same fuel level it had at pickup. If it comes back with less, we charge for refueling: [Owner decision: how refueling is charged (the cost of the fuel, plus any service fee)]. With the Prepaid refuel extra you can return it at any fuel level; it covers up to a full tank.

You're responsible for every toll, parking charge, ticket, fine and citation incurred during your trip, including any that arrive after it ends. When one is issued to us as the car's owner, we may pay it and charge it to your card on file as described in section 15, or give the issuing authority your name, address and license details so it is transferred to you. [Owner decision: whether an administration fee is added for handling a ticket or toll, and how much]

If the car is in an accident, damaged, broken into or stolen, make sure everyone is safe, call the police where the law requires it (and always for theft or an accident with another vehicle or an injury), and tell us as soon as you can at (612) 718-5602. Take photos, and get the names, insurance and license details of anyone else involved. Cooperate with us, the police and any insurer handling the claim.

No protection plan is included with any trip, and Bluefin Rentals doesn't sell one. Your own auto insurance applies as it normally would. [Owner decision: whether renters must carry their own auto insurance and show proof of it, and what, if anything, our own fleet insurance covers for a renter]

Check with your insurer and your card issuer before your trip about whether they cover a car rented from a small rental company, and for how much. Anything they don't cover is your responsibility under section 11.

You can ask to extend a trip from your trip page at any time before it ends. If the car is available for the whole of the added time, the extension is confirmed immediately and charged to your card on file. If you ask within 60 minutes of your trip's end, it's sent to us as a request: we place a hold for the amount, and charge it only if we approve. If we decline, the hold is released. A trip can't be extended once it has ended.

You can also ask us by text, phone or email. If you do and we agree, we extend the trip for you: it's confirmed straight away, even in the last 60 minutes, and charged to your card on file at the same price. We'll email you the new return time and a receipt.

An extension costs the price of the days it adds, at our current daily prices for those dates (weekend and busy-period prices included), with the length discount for your trip's new total length. Time added within a day you've already paid for costs nothing. Extensions are on the same cancellation terms as your trip, and each added day includes the usual 200-mile allowance.

At checkout you can add:

• Prepaid refuel ($70/trip): Bring the car back at any fuel level and skip the refueling fee. Covers up to a full tank.
• Unlimited mileage ($80/day): Drive as far as you like. Removes the daily mileage allowance and the per-mile charge beyond it.
• Child seat ($25/trip): A forward-facing child seat, installed and ready at pickup.

Extras are priced at checkout and are refunded in full if the trip is cancelled. Extras you ask for after booking are a request. We place a hold on your card on file for each one, charge it if we approve, and release it if we don't. Unlimited mileage can only be added at checkout, and requests must be made before the trip starts.

You can also ask us by text, phone or email, including once your trip has started. If we agree, we add the extra for you and charge it to your card on file straight away, and you'll get a receipt.

We may charge your card on file for costs your trip causes, including damage, mileage overage, fuel, tolls, cleaning, smoking, excess pet hair, and late return. Mileage beyond your trip's allowance is charged at the per-mile rate shown when you booked. The smoking and pet hair fees are at least the amounts in section 8. Other amounts reflect the actual cost to us, and we'll tell you what each charge is for. We only make these charges once your trip has started. You'll receive a receipt for every charge.

If a charge can't be made to your card on file, we'll email you a secure link to pay it.

Occasionally the car you booked can't make your trip, for example because it needs a repair. Before your trip starts, we may move your booking to another car from our fleet that is available for your whole trip. If we do, we'll email you the new car and the reason.

Your dates, pickup and price stay the same. We won't charge you more or refund the difference if the new car's daily price is different. Mileage beyond your allowance is still charged at the per-mile rate shown when you booked. If the new car's lockbox code has been released to you, the email includes it. Otherwise it follows as described in section 6.

If the new car doesn't work for you, contact us. Cancelling follows our usual cancellation policy. We don't change your car once your trip has started.

Cancelling and refunds are covered by our cancellation policy, including what happens to extensions, extras and holds when a trip is cancelled. If we cancel your trip, you're refunded in full.

A car's daily rate is shown before tax. Once you choose your dates, the car page shows the trip's total with tax, and checkout and your receipt itemise the tax: sales tax (Minnesota's plus the local sales taxes where you pick the car up, shown as one combined rate) and, for rentals of 28 days or less, Minnesota's 9.2% rental vehicle tax. Charges after booking are taxed the same way where tax applies, and a refund returns the tax on the amount refunded.

We may decline any booking. We may also stop an account from making new bookings, for example after unpaid charges, damage, a broken rule in these terms, a disputed valid charge, or information that turns out to be false. A block can apply to your driver's license as well as your account, so it also applies to any other account verified with the same license.

A blocked account can still sign in, see its trips and receipts, and pay anything it owes. It can't book, verify an ID, extend a trip, request extras or post a review. Blocking an account doesn't cancel a confirmed trip. If we decide to cancel one, it is refunded in full, as any trip we cancel is. If you think we've blocked you by mistake, contact us at bluefinbiz@gmail.com.

We never refuse service because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, disability, public assistance status, sexual orientation, gender identity or age (beyond the age rules in section 2).

After a completed trip you can review it. Your review, its star rating and your first name are shown publicly on our site. Reviews must be your honest experience, and must not include anyone's personal information, abuse, or anything unlawful. We may remove a review that breaks these rules; we don't remove reviews for being negative. By posting one you let us show it on our site and quote it, with your first name, for as long as it stays posted.

Photos and videos on your trip are seen only by you and us. We use them as the record of the car's condition, including as evidence for a charge or in a dispute.

If you have a question about any charge, contact us at bluefinbiz@gmail.com first. We'll explain it and put right anything that's wrong.

We may update these terms. The terms in force when you book apply to that booking; a later change applies only to bookings made after it, unless the change is required by law. The date at the top of this page is when they last changed.

If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce a term straight away, we can still enforce it later. You can't transfer your booking or these terms to someone else. We send notices to the email on your account, and you can reach us at bluefinbiz@gmail.com or (612) 718-5602.