Equipment hire agreement, hire number H-2026-3381
Equipment hire agreement template with the rates in a schedule
A hire agreement is a price list, an insurance decision and a return date, and the argument is always about the day it came back. This one puts the equipment and rates in a schedule, makes the damage waiver a choice with its price, and defines late return in hours so there is nothing to interpret.
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Section by section
What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.
- Contract cover
- The hire number, the two companies and the collection time.
- Parties
- Owner and hirer with ABNs, and the hire number the paperwork follows.
- Schedule 1, equipment
- Three items with serials, daily and weekly rates and replacement values, plus the fuel rule.
- Schedule 2, hire period and charges
- Collection, return, hire charge, waiver, bond and the $2,094.40 total.
- Charges
- Daily and weekly rate rules, with the arithmetic shown in a callout.
- Bond
- $1,500 by pre authorisation, released in 5 working days, applied in a fixed order.
- Damage waiver
- Clauses 4.1 to 4.4: the price, the $500 excess, the exclusions, the insurance alternative.
- Hirer's responsibilities
- Nine numbered duties, from competent operator to returning it clean.
- Late return, loss and breakdown
- The two hour grace, replacement value on theft, and the owner's breakdown duty.
- Consumer guarantees and signing
- The ACL callout, termination, and signature blocks with the pre delivery photo record.
Clauses in this document
- Consequences of termination clause
- Consequential loss clause: excluding indirect and flow on loss
- Consumer guarantees clause under the Australian Consumer Law
- Force majeure clause: excusing performance when events intervene
- Hold harmless clause
- Insurance clause: which policies, what amounts, what proof
- Term clause in a contract
- Termination for insolvency clause
- Waiver of subrogation clause
Damage waiver, insurance and the bond
A hire company handles risk three ways, and this agreement keeps them separate. The bond, $1,500 on a card pre authorisation, covers small certainties: cleaning, fuel shortfall, a late day. The damage waiver, 12 percent of the hire charge, covers the frightening one: accidental damage to a $48,000 machine, cut down to a $500 excess. The hirer's own insurance can replace the waiver where a plant policy covers hired-in equipment. What the customer chooses at the counter is who carries the middle of the risk, and the schedule makes that a priced choice rather than fine print discovered after the tip-over.
How to adapt this document
For party hire, swap Schedule 1 for a per item list of tables, chairs and marquees with a bond sized to the order, drop the operator and transport clauses, and keep the late return clock. For AV hire, add a technician option as a daily rate line and a clause that only the technician opens the rig. For long term plant hire, add a monthly rate column, make the hirer responsible for scheduled servicing at set hours, and have the waiver renew monthly with the invoice. Whatever the equipment, keep the three load bearing parts: rates in a schedule, the waiver as a priced choice with named exclusions, and late return defined by the clock.
What makes this document work
The charges callout does the arithmetic
Clause 2 shows the working: five charge days at daily rates would be $2,025, the weekly rate caps it at $1,620, delivery adds $80, the waiver adds $204, and GST lands the total at $2,094.40 on collection. The counter and the customer agree on the number before the keys move.
Late return is defined by a clock
Clause 6 gives a 2 hour grace after the 5 pm return, then charges each day or part of one at the full daily rates, with $80 an hour if the owner has to collect. That ends the 'it was only an hour' conversation, because the agreement says which hour, and what the hour after it costs.
The waiver is a product, not a fee
Clauses 4.1 to 4.4 price the damage waiver at 12 percent, reduce the hirer's liability to a $500 excess, and name what it never covers: theft with the keys left in, misuse, overloading, tyres and glass. Naming the exclusions is what makes it a real risk decision rather than a line item.
Questions people ask
Is a damage waiver insurance?
No, and clause 4.3 says so. It is a contractual promise by the owner not to pursue the hirer beyond the excess for accidental damage. No insurer stands behind it and no policy is issued. Hire companies offer it this way because selling actual insurance would require a licence.
Who is liable if the equipment is stolen?
The hirer, for the replacement value in Schedule 1, $48,000 for the excavator here. Where the waiver was taken and the keys were secured overnight as clause 5.7 requires, liability drops to the $500 excess. Theft with the keys left in the machine is excluded from the waiver entirely.
What is a fair late fee for hired equipment?
The daily rate for each day or part of one after a short grace, two hours here, plus reasonable recovery costs if the owner has to fetch the machine. A penalty untethered from the owner's actual loss risks being unenforceable, which is why this clause charges the rates, not a fine.
Can the hirer's own insurance cover the equipment?
Often, yes. Business plant policies commonly extend to hired-in plant, and clause 4.4 lets the hirer decline the waiver by showing a certificate of currency covering the Schedule 1 replacement values. Ask the insurer whether hired-in plant is covered, to what value, and with what excess.
Does GST apply to the bond?
No. A security deposit is not consideration for a supply while it is merely held, which is why the $1,500 pre authorisation carries no GST in Schedule 2. GST applies only to amounts actually charged, including any part of the bond later applied to damage, cleaning or late return.
Can a hire agreement exclude the consumer guarantees?
No. Hire is a service, the guarantees apply, and clause 9 says nothing in the agreement excludes them, alongside the mandatory wording in the callout. What the agreement can lawfully do is set rates, bonds and responsibilities, and limit consequential loss to the extent the law permits.
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