Refund Policy

Sometimes a trip to Charleston comes together perfectly.

Sometimes life throws something across your plans, and the car never leaves our lot.

This page is our way of saying, “Here’s what happens with your money when that second thing happens.”

If anything below doesn’t quite match your situation, you can always message, call, or email us, and we’ll look at it with you.

How we look at refunds

When you reserve a car, we pull that vehicle off the board for your dates.

That means other people may hear, “Sorry, that one’s already spoken for.”

So we try to keep a balance:

• You shouldn’t be punished for every change of plan.
• We also can’t have cars sitting empty at the last minute with no way to re-rent them.

That’s where the timing windows come in.

Canceling before pickup

You’ll see the exact rules for your reservation when you book, but here’s the general rhythm most of our trips follow. You can swap in your own numbers if you need them to be a bit different.

About a week or more before pickup

If you cancel roughly a week or more before your pick-up time, we usually return what you’ve paid for the rental itself.

Any clearly labeled non-refundable fees (for example, special event charges or payment processing costs) may stay put.

A few days before pickup

Inside that last week, but not right on top of your pickup, we’ve had the car blocked for a while.

In this window, you’ll often get a partial refund or a credit for a future booking, and we keep a portion to cover the time the car was held for you.

Very close to pickup

If you cancel inside the last 48 hours, it’s usually treated as a non-refundable booking. At that point, it’s extremely hard for us to place that car with someone else on such short notice.

You’ll always see which version applies to your reservation before you hit “confirm.”

When you don’t make it to pickup

If your start time arrives, the car is ready, and we haven’t heard from you:

• The booking is treated as a no-show, and
• The rental amount is normally charged in full.

If your flight is delayed or something unexpected happens on the way, let us know as soon as you can. We’re much more flexible when we know what’s going on.

Moving a reservation instead of canceling

Many people don’t really want a refund; they just need different dates or times.

If you ask to shift the reservation:

• We check the schedule to see what’s open.
• If the new dates are busier or slower, the rate may change, and we’ll show you the new total before you decide.
• In some cases, there may be a small change fee instead of a full cancellation fee.

If you’re not sure which way to go, ask us what makes more sense for your particular trip.

When we have to call it off

Every once in a while, something on our side makes a reservation impossible:

• A mechanical issue we can’t safely ignore,
• Damage from the previous rental,
• Or situations completely out of our control.

If that happens, we will:

1. Let you know as soon as we know there’s a real problem.
2. Try to offer a similar car at the same time.
3. If we can’t offer something that feels fair, return the rental charges you’ve paid for that booking.

We take those situations seriously; nobody likes last-minute surprises.

Security deposits and refunds

Think of your reservation as two separate pieces:

1. The rental price
2. The security deposit

The deposit is there to cover things like:

• Extra mileage,
• Tolls or tickets that show up in our mailbox,
• Extra cleaning or smoking fees,
• Late return charges,
• Damage or missing items.

If you cancel before ever taking the car, any deposit that has already been charged is usually released back to you in full.

If you did drive the car, we will inspect it upon return, settle any open items, and send the remainder of the deposit back to the card on file. How quickly that shows up is up to your bank or card company.

Bringing the car back early

Sometimes plans wrap up ahead of schedule, and you’re ready to hand back the keys.

You’re always welcome to return the car early, but:

• The car was set aside for your full rental period,
• So unused days or hours are normally not refunded.

If you had to cut the trip short for a serious reason (illness, emergency, etc.), tell us what happened. We’ll look at it case by case and do our best to be decent about it.

If you booked through someone else

If you reserved one of our cars through:

• A travel agent,
• A third-party website, or
• An app or marketplace,

then their cancellation and refund rules may be the ones that apply. They also usually control when and how money is sent back.

If you’re unsure who actually charged your card, we can help you figure that out and point you in the right direction.

How refunds are sent

Unless we’ve agreed on another method in writing:

• Approved refunds go back to the same card or payment method used for the original booking.
• We process refunds on our side as quickly as possible.
• Your bank or card provider decides how long it takes to show up on your statement.

We can email you a receipt or confirmation if you need proof for your records.

Still have questions?

Policies help, but sometimes you just want to explain what happened to a real person.

You can always reach us at:

Premier Auto Charleston

Address: 4560 Rivers Ave, Suite C
North Charleston, South Carolina 29405

Phone: +1843-507-4630

Email: info@premierautocharleston.com

Tell us who you are, which car and dates you had, and what changed. We’ll look at it carefully and respond like humans, not just a policy page.