Car and van hire texts from booking to return

Hiring a car or a van has more small deadlines in it than people expect. The DVLA check code has to be fresh, the vehicle has to be collected on time, a trip into Bradford or across the Dartford Crossing comes with a charge that has to be paid within days, and the return has its own time, fuel level and key drop. Each one is a phone call waiting to happen, and most of them can be handled by car and van hire texts sent at the right moment.

This post goes through the hire from booking to return: the rules behind each deadline, a set of texts for a fictional firm, and how to send them from the hire software. The figures are from GOV.UK, the DVLA and the Department for Transport.

The licence check code

Most hire desks check a driver's record before handing over the keys, and in Great Britain that runs through the DVLA's check code. GOV.UK's "View or share your driving licence information" service lets drivers "create a licence 'check code' to share your driving record with someone, for example a car hire company". To make one they need their driving licence number, their National Insurance number and the postcode on their licence.

Two rules about the code shape the texts. "The check code will be valid for 21 days", and on the hire company's side, "You can only use the code once", so a second check needs a second code. The company also needs "the last 8 characters of their driving licence number". So a code made three weeks before a summer hire can expire before pickup, and a code used for a check at booking can't be reused at the counter.

GOV.UK adds a warning on both pages: "It's a criminal offence to obtain someone else's personal information without their permission." The driver makes the code and chooses to share it, which is the point.

That has a consequence for how you ask. A text that says "send us your licence number and NI number" looks exactly like a scam, and it asks for more than you need. Ask for the check code only, tell people where to make it on GOV.UK, and say in the text that you'll never ask for their National Insurance number. Our post on links in texts explains why naming GOV.UK beats sending a link for this kind of request.

Charges the customer might not know about

A hire vehicle goes wherever the customer drives it, and some of those places charge. Two are worth a text, because the deadlines are short and a missed payment becomes a penalty.

Clean Air Zones in England are listed on GOV.UK's "Driving in a Clean Air Zone" page: Bath, Bradford, Sheffield and Tyneside (Newcastle and Gateshead) are class C, Birmingham and Bristol are class D, and Portsmouth is class B. Class C and D zones charge vans and minibuses that don't meet the minimum standard, and class D charges cars too. The standard for vans and cars is "Euro 6 (diesel) and Euro 4 (petrol)". The zones "operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week", and "You must pay the charge by 11:59pm on the sixth day after driving into the zone", or "you may get a penalty charge notice". London's ultra low emission zone is checked through a separate service.

The Dartford Crossing is the other one. GOV.UK says "You need to pay the Dartford Crossing charge (Dart Charge) by midnight the day after you cross", and that it usually applies "between 6am and 10pm", weekends and bank holidays included. A customer driving a hired van from Essex to Kent on a Saturday afternoon can easily forget it.

If every vehicle in your fleet meets the Clean Air Zone standard, say so in the pickup text and save the customer the worry. If some don't, the pickup text for those vehicles is the place to mention it.

More vans on the road

DfT's vehicle licensing statistics show why van hire is a busy trade. The UK had 4,886,900 licensed light goods vehicles at the end of 2025, up from 3,545,800 at the end of 2014, a rise of 38%. Cars grew by 14% over the same years, from 30,330,200 to 34,485,500. By the end of June 2026 the van figure had reached 4,958,100.

Van numbers rose every year in the series, including 2020 when cars fell. Vans get hired by people moving house and by tradespeople whose own van is off the road this week, and the two groups need different texts. The first-timer needs telling about the check code, the height and the fuel type. The trade customer needs the pickup bay and the return time, and nothing else.

Car and van hire texts, from booking to return

Written for a fictional firm, Kestrel Van Hire. These are service messages about a booking, so they don't need an opt-out line.

Booking confirmed:

Kestrel Van Hire: your Luton van is booked for Fri 13 Nov, pickup 08:00 at our Hadley Road branch, return Sat 14 Nov by 17:00. Bring your photocard licence. We'll text two days before about your DVLA check code.

The check code request, two days before pickup so the code is well inside its 21 days:

Kestrel Van Hire: before Friday, please create a DVLA licence check code. Search "view driving licence" on GOV.UK. Reply with the code. We'll never ask for your National Insurance number.

Pickup day:

Kestrel Van Hire: your van (AB12 CDE) is ready in bay 3. It's diesel and 3.5m high, so watch for low bridges and car park barriers. It meets the Clean Air Zone standard, so no CAZ charges.

The charges reminder, sent where the booking mentions a route or for hires from depots near the crossing:

Kestrel Van Hire: if you use the Dartford Crossing, pay the Dart Charge on GOV.UK by midnight the day after you cross. We can't pay it for you.

Return reminder, the afternoon before:

Kestrel Van Hire: your van is due back tomorrow by 17:00 at Hadley Road. Please return it with the same fuel level as at pickup. Reply EXTEND if you need longer.

After return:

Kestrel Van Hire: thanks, your van's back and checked. No damage found and your deposit has been released. It can take a few working days to show.

None of these carries a damage photo (a text can't), a payment link or a request for card details, because those are the things fraudsters fake. If something's wrong with the vehicle on return, the text says an email with the details and photos is on its way, and the email does the work.

Sending them from the hire software

Most hire systems hold everything these texts need: the booking times, the vehicle and its registration, the branch, the customer's mobile. The two common ways to get the texts out are a CSV export each morning or a call to an SMS API whenever a booking changes.

The CSV route suits a small firm. Export tomorrow's pickups and returns, import them into CaptiFi Connect with column mapping (the registration, branch and return time become custom fields), and send each group its text. A scheduled send can go out at a fixed time each afternoon.

The API route suits a bigger fleet. When a booking is made, the hire system sends the confirmation straight away and schedules the check code request and the return reminder with schedule_at, which takes a time up to a year ahead. If the booking moves, POST /messages/{id}/cancel stops the scheduled texts (their credits are refunded) and the system schedules new ones. An Idempotency-Key built from the booking id and the text type means a retried request never sends the same reminder twice. A text sent to a single number goes at the time you choose, because quiet hours on CaptiFi Connect hold back only campaign and list sends.

Replies are the other half. Customers will text the check code back, ask for an extra day, or say they're stuck in traffic. Send from a number people can reply to, and replies land in the two-way inbox for the desk. An EXTEND keyword can send an automatic answer ("we'll call you within the hour to arrange it") while the desk checks availability. A failed text shows up in the delivery report, which is worth checking before a 08:00 pickup when the customer hasn't sent a check code.

Is any of this marketing?

The booking, pickup and return texts are service messages. The ICO describes these as messages "for administrative or customer services purposes", such as to "confirm or remind them about appointments", and a hire booking fits. The ICO also says that if a service message "has elements that are direct marketing, even if that is not the main purpose of your message, then it will count as direct marketing". A "book again for 10% off" line on the return text changes its status.

Marketing to past customers can use the soft opt-in, which covers "an existing customer who bought (or negotiated to buy) a similar product or service from you in the past", provided they were given "a simple way to opt out" when you collected their details and in every message. So offer the opt-out at the counter, keep the offers in separate texts, and put "Reply STOP to opt out" on each.

Common questions

How long is a DVLA licence check code valid for?

A check code is valid for 21 days, and the hire company can only use it once. If a code is used at booking, the driver needs to create a new one for any check at pickup. Drivers create codes on GOV.UK using their licence number, National Insurance number and postcode.

Should a hire company text customers about the Dart Charge or Clean Air Zones?

It helps, because both have short payment windows. The Dart Charge must be paid by midnight the day after crossing, and Clean Air Zone charges by 11:59pm on the sixth day after entering the zone. A short reminder at pickup, or a note that the vehicle is CAZ compliant, prevents penalty notices later.

Do car hire booking texts need an opt-out?

Booking confirmations, pickup details and return reminders are service messages, so they don't need one. Any text that promotes a future hire or an offer is marketing, and needs consent or the soft opt-in plus an opt-out in the text.

Can customers reply to a hire company's texts?

Yes, if the texts are sent from a mobile number. Texts sent from a sender name can't be replied to, so a hire firm that wants check codes and extension requests by text should send from a number and route the replies to the desk.