Terms and conditions for a mobile tyre fitter

A mobile tyre fitter needs terms that deal with the van, not the depot: the call-out agreed by phone at the side of a road, the locking nut key that is not in the glovebox, the sensor that crumbles when the tyre comes off, and the fleet account that pays when it feels like it. I draft those terms around your business for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Mobile tyre fitters and mobile tyre and wheel businesses in England and Wales, sole traders and limited companies, working from one van or several. Most fit for private motorists, who are consumers, and also hold accounts with fleets, leasing companies, garages and van hire operators, who are business customers. The law treats those two groups very differently, so the terms have to handle both.

What matters in a mobile tyre fitter's terms

Call-outs, bookings and the cancellation right

A job agreed at the customer's home, in a car park or on a verge is an off-premises contract, and one booked by phone, text or through your website is a distance contract. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 then give the motorist fourteen days to cancel. An off-premises contract of £42 or less sits outside the regulations, and an urgent repair the customer has asked for is an exception, but only for that work. A booked set of four tyres is not urgent, so your terms and your booking confirmation need the express request and acknowledgement wording, or you may fit tyres you cannot charge for.

What the advertised price actually includes

Tyre pricing is where consumer enforcement bites. If you advertise a price per tyre and the customer discovers valve, balancing, disposal and call-out on arrival, that is drip pricing, which the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 treats as a banned practice: the headline price shown to a consumer must include every mandatory charge. The terms should set out the call-out charge, out-of-hours and distance rates, disposal, and the extras that genuinely vary, such as runflats, large diameters and non-standard valves. You also cannot add a surcharge when a consumer pays by card, under the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012.

Seized nuts, valve sensors and kerbed alloys

Corroded wheel nuts shear, brittle valve stems snap and pressure sensors that have been on the car for years do not always survive removal. Your terms should record that these parts are inspected but their condition is pre-existing, that you will stop and tell the customer before replacing anything chargeable, and that the wheel may need to be left unfitted if a stud is damaged. What the terms cannot do is exclude your own carelessness: under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 a service must be performed with reasonable care and skill and liability for it cannot be limited below the price. Photographing kerbed rims before you start is worth more than any clause.

Aborted call-outs, access and unsafe locations

The locking nut key is missing, the car is in a stacked space, the jacking point has rotted away or the vehicle is on an unlit verge on a bend. Your terms should give you the right to decline the job on safety grounds, to require firm and level ground, and to charge an abortive attendance fee when you arrive and cannot work. Keep that fee tied to the cost of attending: the Consumer Rights Act 2015 grey list treats disproportionate default charges as unfair, and an unfair term does not bind the consumer. The customer should also be responsible for permission to work on private land.

The tyres themselves, and tyres the customer supplies

Tyres you supply are goods, so the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires satisfactory quality, fitness and correspondence with the description, with a short-term right to reject within 30 days. Most complaints are not defects at all: kerbing, potholes, underinflation and tracking damage look like failures to the customer. Say what you warrant and what a manufacturer assesses. Registration lookups also return the wrong fitment often enough to matter, so make the customer confirm size, load index and speed rating from the sidewall. Where the customer buys tyres online and you fit only, the terms should charge for labour and place responsibility for the goods elsewhere.

Fleet accounts, disposal and liability

Fleet and garage accounts need agreed rates, purchase order rules and payment terms. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives statutory interest at 8% over base and fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the size of the debt, with a 30-day default credit period where none is agreed. Retention of title over a tyre already on a working vehicle is of little practical use, so lean on payment timing. Account customers will ask for your waste carrier registration, which you need under the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 and the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 to take old tyres away. Cap liability to business customers and exclude vehicle off road and lost revenue claims, which the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 tests for reasonableness.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

Should I fit tyres the customer has bought online?

Many fitters do, and the terms should treat it as a labour-only job. You are not responsible for the quality, age or suitability of goods you did not supply, but you remain responsible for fitting them with reasonable care. Reserve the right to refuse anything damaged, mismatched or wrong for the axle, and record that refusal as an abortive attendance.

My terms are printed on the invoice I hand over afterwards. Is that a problem?

That is the single most common failure I see in this trade. Terms produced after the wheels are back on were not part of the bargain, and a consumer cannot be bound by terms they had no real chance to read. The fix is in the booking flow, by text link or confirmation email, and I cover how to do it in the covering note.

Do I need a separate set of terms for fleet customers?

One set can serve both if it is structured properly, with a consumer section that applies only to motorists and commercial provisions for account work. Larger fleets and leasing companies will often push their own purchase terms at you instead, which is a different exercise: those need reviewing before you sign, not replacing with yours.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Ask Caesar, £495 a month
• Terms and conditions for a locksmith
• Terms and conditions for a handyman service

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.