The hire invoice arrives. The day rate matches what you booked. It gets signed off.
The other lines go through with it.
That is how quiet hire leakage usually looks: not a wrong rate, but transport, waiver, fuel, cleaning, wear parts and breakdown allowances that nobody matched to the hire record while the query window was still open.
The clock is short
Under the CPA Model Conditions for the Hiring of Plant (2021), any query with the owner’s invoice must be raised in writing within 14 calendar days of receiving it.
HSS says the same shape in its own words: notify invoice queries in writing within 14 days of the invoice date. They will not extend credit terms for queries raised after that. Speedy invoices fuel separately, and those fuel invoices are due in full within 14 days of the invoice date.
Month-end is often too late. The check has to happen when the invoice lands.
Lines that aren’t the day rate
Transport, both ways
Under the CPA conditions, the hirer pays the cost of getting plant to site and back. Speedy charges its standard delivery cost when it delivers or collects. Check one delivery and one collection per item. If kit is not ready when collection is agreed, CPA conditions treat it as back on hire with immediate effect, and you can pick up another collection charge as well.
Damage waiver
Waivers sit as a percentage of hire charges. Speedy Shield is currently 10%, Sunbelt’s damage and loss waiver 15%, and HSS’s damage waiver 16% where offered. Check it was chosen on that hire, and that you are not also paying for cover you already hold. HSS may ask for your policy schedule if you decline. Sunbelt may ask for proof of your own cover.
Fuel
Speedy invoices fuel separately from the hire charge. Under CPA conditions, owner-supplied fuel is charged at an agreed cost. If nobody agreed a cost, query the line before it ages out of the window.
Cleaning and decontamination
CPA conditions say the hirer must clean and, where needed, decontaminate plant at the end of the hire, and is liable for the owner’s costs if that is not done. HSS goes further: cleaning costs plus hire charges continuing until repairs or cleaning are finished. Collection photos are the defence when the yard says it came back filthy.
Wear parts
Under CPA conditions, bucket teeth, blades, drill bits and similar ancillaries are the hirer’s cost. Expect the line. Check the quantities against what the site used.
Breakdowns and odd days
CPA conditions only consider breakdown time from the point written notice is received and acknowledged by the owner. Inherent faults can attract a full allowance. Odd days at the start and end of the hire period are charged pro rata where no minimum hours apply. A verbal “it packed up Tuesday” without an acknowledged note is a weak query later.
Illustrative arithmetic (not an industry average)
Take a machine at £180 per day on your rate card for ten chargeable days. A 15% waiver on that illustrative hire is £270 before VAT. That is not a national average. Use your rates and your suppliers’ current percentages. The point is that the “small” line is not always small.
A five-minute plant hire invoice check
When the invoice lands, match each line to the hire record:
- On-hire date and off-hire confirmation date
- Delivery and collection charges (one each, unless a failed collection is real)
- Waiver choice for that hire
- Fuel, cleaning and wear-part lines against site notes
- Any breakdown allowance against written notices you sent
Then query in writing the same week, inside the 14 days.
A shared hire list with dates, confirmation numbers and attachments beside each item makes that check faster than digging through inboxes. What’s On Hire is built for that register. The invoice still needs a human eye.
Check it while it’s still a query, not a debt.
Sources
- CPA Model Conditions for the Hiring of Plant (Oct 2021): cl.18(i) 14-day written invoice query; cl.31 transport; cl.23(c) and (d) failed collection and cleaning; cl.28 fuel; cl.29 wear parts; cl.9 breakdown notice; cl.18(e)(ii) odd days pro rata
- HSS Hire Standard Terms: 14-day invoice query from invoice date; 16% damage waiver; cleaning with hire continuing
- Sunbelt Rentals UK Damage & Loss Waiver: currently 15% of hire rate; proof of own cover if declined
- Speedy Customer Terms & Conditions (UK): standard delivery cost; fuel invoiced separately, due in 14 days
- Speedy Shield Terms and Conditions: currently 10% of hire charge
- Photo: Dumper truck by Oast House Archive, CC BY-SA 2.0
