Canceling a Trip (Host)
Once you accept a trip, your guest is counting on it — so a host cancellation carries a fee that scales with how late it is, and Carvia (not you) funds the guest's rebooking guarantee when it's last-minute.
Why host cancellations work differently from guest ones
When a guest cancels, the refund they get depends on your listing's cancellation policy. When you cancel, it's a different mechanic: you're pulling a car out from under someone who already booked it, so the fee and consequences scale with how much notice you give. The less notice, the more it costs you — and the more Carvia steps in to make sure your guest isn't stranded.
The penalty scale
| Notice before trip start | Fee to you | What happens for the guest |
|---|---|---|
| 7+ days | No fee | Counts against your reliability score, but no rebooking guarantee triggers |
| 3-7 days | $30 | Carvia proactively helps the guest find and book a replacement |
| Inside 72 hours, or after the check-in window opens | $75 | Carvia's funded rebooking guarantee activates |
The funded rebooking guarantee means Carvia pays the difference — up to 1.5× the original trip price — if your guest has to book a comparable replacement car at a higher price on short notice. That cost comes out of Carvia's pocket, not yours. Your fee is $75; anything beyond that to make the guest whole is on us.
How to cancel in-app
1. Open the trip from your Trips tab.
2. Select Cancel Trip.
3. Choose a reason. If it's a documented emergency — a death in the family, serious illness or injury, a government travel restriction, or a natural disaster affecting pickup — select Extenuating Circumstances and be ready to submit supporting documentation within 14 days. Trips cancelled for a verified extenuating circumstance skip the standard fee and rebooking-guarantee tiers above.
4. Confirm. You'll see the applicable fee (if any) before you finalize.
Why maximum notice protects your standing
Every host cancellation counts against your reliability score, even the free 7+ day ones — but the real risk is pattern, not a single cancellation. Three or more late cancellations in a rolling 90 days trigger an account review. Depending on what the review finds, that can mean:
- Losing Instant Book eligibility (your listings move to request-only, so you approve every booking manually), or
- Being restricted to the Max Protection earnings plan only, regardless of which plan you'd otherwise choose.
If your plans change, cancel as early as you possibly can — the difference between cancelling at 8 days and 2 days isn't just the fee, it's whether this cancellation counts toward that 90-day pattern at all in a way reviewers weigh heavily.
If you're not sure you need to cancel
Before cancelling, consider whether messaging your guest solves the problem — a shifted pickup time or handoff location often avoids a cancellation altogether. If the car itself is the issue (mechanical trouble, an inspection lapse), check Vehicle Inspection Requirements and consider whether snoozing the listing for future dates, rather than cancelling a booked trip, is the right move going forward.