Modifying or Canceling a Reservation

Are there penalties for cancelling a reservation?

You can cancel a reservation (or change the start time or shorten it) at no charge if you cancel more than 2 hours prior to the reservation or before 9am on the reservation date.

If you cancel a reservation within 2 hours before its start time, you will be charged for 50% of the original time booked.

If your reservation is longer than 24 hours, please note that no cancellation fees apply beyond the first 24 hours of a booking.

Although it is always possible to cancel, postpone or shorten a reservation without penalty before 9am (in fact, between 12am and 9am), it is important to take into account that any reserved time that has already lapsed remains billable (for example, if at 8:45am you cancel a reservation that started at 7am, you will still be billed for 1 hour and 45 minutes).

What does “original start date/time” mean when it comes to the modification and cancellation policy?

It refers to the start date/time that you entered when you first made your reservation, or the earliest-ever start time registered in our system for this trip.

This precision is important because it is not possible to shift the start time of a reservation yourself, to shorten it or to cancel it, once the “original start date/time” of your reservation has passed. To do this, you must call us. 

If we didn’t take this information into account, it would be easy to circumvent our already very permissive reservation modification policy by first shifting the start dates/times of the trip to then shorten it, thus avoiding penalties.

For example, this means it’s not possible at 10am to cancel a reservation that starts at 11am, if you have already changed the trip’s start time, and it originally started before 10am. You will, however, be able to release the vehicle.

What is the difference between cancelling a reservation and releasing a vehicle?

If your reservation hasn’t started yet, you will be able to cancel the reservation through the mobile app or website. Open the trip and click “Cancel” on the mobile app, or “C” on the website. If your reservation has already started, you will be able to release the vehicle, ending your trip early, by selecting “Release ” on the mobile app, or “R” on the website.

Releasing a vehicle means the elapsed portion of your trip remains billable, and makes the vehicle available again so that it can be reserved by someone else.

Taking the time to release a vehicle if you bring it back earlier than expected allows others to use it without delay, and helps optimize vehicle availability. We strongly encourage you to do this, on behalf of other grateful members who will appreciate the availability.

Releasing a vehicle may not save you money for a short trip, but if your reservation is several days long, keep in mind that no cancellation fees apply beyond the first 24 hours of a trip

So remember to release the vehicle if you come back early to save the cost of any extra days.

Important to know

Using the Communauto mobile app to lock the doors at the end of your trip will have the effect of « Releasing » the vehicle. You therefore have nothing else to do.

On the other hand, if you use your key fob or key card to lock the vehicle at the end of your trip, you will have to select « Release » on the mobile app, or « R » on the website to successfully “Release” the vehicle. Failing to do so means you will not have shortened your reservation.

For more details on the different ways to access and end a trip, see « How do I start my trip once I have a reservation? » and « How do I end my trip?« .