Bookings, Cancellations & Refunds
Last updated 19 October 2026
Summary. A 50% deposit confirms your appointment. Cancel more than 48 hours before and you get the deposit back in full. Cancel later and the deposit covers the slot we held and the travel we committed to. If you are a consumer who booked online, by phone or on WhatsApp, you also have a statutory cooling-off right, explained in Section 4, which comes before everything else here.
1. About this policy
This policy explains how bookings, deposits, cancellations, rescheduling and refunds work at VAM Checks (V.A.M. Checks Limited, company number 794566). It forms part of our Terms & Conditions. Nothing in it removes your statutory rights; where it conflicts with the Consumer Rights Act 2022, your statutory right wins.
2. Booking and deposit
A deposit of 50% of the agreed fee confirms your appointment. It reserves a fixed slot, the travel we commit to and the time spent arranging access with the seller. The deposit counts in full towards the fee. We take payment through Revolut Business or bank transfer and do not store card details.
3. Paying the balance
The balance is due when the inspection is completed and before the report is released, unless we have agreed other terms with a business client.
4. Your statutory cooling-off right
If you are a consumer and booked at a distance (online, by email, by phone or on WhatsApp) or away from our business premises, you can cancel without giving a reason within 14 days (distance contracts) or 30 days (off-premises contracts) of the day the contract was made.
4.1 To cancel, tell us clearly before the period ends, by email to info@vamchecks.ie or on WhatsApp. You can use the wording below, but you don't have to.
4.2 If you cancel in the cooling-off period and we have not started the inspection at your request, we refund everything you paid, including the deposit, within 14 days.
4.3 If we have started at your express request, Section 5 applies. This right does not apply to business clients (Section 13).
To: VAM Checks, info@vamchecks.ie
I give notice that I cancel my contract for the following service: vehicle inspection booked on [date] for [appointment date].
Name: [your name]
Address: [your address]
Date: [today's date]
5. Asking us to start during the cooling-off period
5.1 Most inspections are needed quickly and take place inside the cooling-off period. To attend before it ends, we need your express request. When you book, we ask you to confirm in writing that you ask us to begin during the cooling-off period and that you understand you lose the right to cancel once the inspection has been fully carried out.
5.2 If you cancel after we have started but before the inspection is complete, you pay an amount proportionate to what we have already provided: nothing if we have not yet set off for the inspection; normally the deposit if our inspector is already travelling or on site; and a proportionate amount, which we explain to you, if the inspection is partly done.
5.3 Without your express request we will not attend before the cooling-off period ends. Once the inspection is fully carried out, the right to cancel is lost and the full fee is due, as the Consumer Rights Act 2022 allows.
6. Cancelling outside the cooling-off period
| Notice before the appointment | What happens |
|---|---|
| More than 48 hours | Full refund of the deposit, or we move it to a new date at no charge. |
| 24 to 48 hours | We keep half the deposit. The rest is refunded or held for a new booking. |
| Less than 24 hours, or no-show | We keep the deposit. |
These amounts are a genuine estimate of our loss from a slot we can no longer fill and travel already committed. They never exceed the deposit. If you cancel late because of a genuine emergency, such as illness, bereavement or an accident, contact us: we normally move the deposit to a new date instead.
7. Rescheduling
You can reschedule once, free of charge, with more than 24 hours' notice, and your deposit moves to the new date. Further changes, or a change with less than 24 hours' notice, are treated as a cancellation under Section 6. A moved deposit stays valid for 3 months. A change of vehicle is a new booking, although we normally move the deposit to it.
8. Aborted inspections
An inspection is aborted when we attend but cannot carry it out for a reason outside our control, as described in Section 9 of our Terms: for example the car is not there, the seller does not attend or refuses access, the car has been sold or cannot be started. We then keep the deposit to cover travel and the reserved slot, no balance is due and no report is issued. If we could reasonably have prevented the problem, we refund the deposit. If only part of the inspection is possible, we record what could not be examined and agree a proportionate fee adjustment with you before the report is issued. If a seller cancels or refuses access, any recovery from the seller is between you and them.
9. If we cancel or cannot attend
If we cancel for any reason, you choose between the earliest available alternative appointment or a full refund of everything you paid within 14 days. The same applies to delays caused by events outside our control. We are not liable for indirect losses, such as the car being sold to someone else in the meantime.
10. How refunds are paid
Refunds go back to the original payment method unless we agree otherwise, without undue delay and in any case within 14 days. Your bank may take a few more working days to show it. We never charge a fee for issuing a refund.
11. Situations that are not grounds for a refund
A fee properly earned is not refundable because the inspection found defects and you decided not to buy; because it found no significant defects; because the seller withdrew the car, raised the price or sold it after the inspection; because you decided not to buy for other reasons; because you disagree with our professional opinion without a factual error; because a defect outside the scope in our Inspection Disclaimer appeared later; or because someone else later gave a different view. None of this affects your right to a remedy if we did not provide the service with reasonable care and skill.
12. If you are not satisfied
Tell us at info@vamchecks.ie with your booking details and the problem, ideally within 14 days of receiving the report. If we did not provide the service with reasonable care and skill, a consumer is entitled to have it put right at no cost and, where that is not possible, to a price reduction or refund. Our usual remedies, in order, are correcting and reissuing the report, re-inspecting the car where useful, a proportionate price reduction, or a refund. You can also contact the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (ccpc.ie) or, for cross-border matters, the European Consumer Centre Ireland (eccireland.ie). Please contact us before raising a chargeback, as we resolve almost every issue directly.
13. Business clients
The cooling-off right in Section 4 applies only to consumers, not to dealers, garages, fleet operators, importers or brokers. Business bookings follow Sections 6 to 10 and our Terms. Account terms and volume pricing can be agreed in writing.
14. Contact
Email info@vamchecks.ie, or call or WhatsApp +353 85 887 4159.