General Business Terms
§1 Proposal and conclusion of contract.
1. Unless otherwise specified, any offers quoted by the coach company are non-binding.
2. The ordering party can place its order in writing, electronically or verbally.
3. Unless otherwise agreed upon, the contract shall commence upon written or electronic confirmation of the order by the coach company. If the content of the confirmation differs from that of the order, the differences contained in the confirmation shall become legally binding only if the ordering party declares acceptance of the confirmation within one week of receiving the confirmation.
§ 2 Services.
1. The information regarding the scope of services as agreed upon in the order confirmation shall prevail. § 1 no. 3 and § 3 shall remain unaffected.
2. The service according to the confirmed contract includes the provision of a vehicle as agreed upon vehicle with on-board staff, and carrying out the transport operation; the application of the clause on the contract for services is excluded.
3. The service agreed upon does not include:
a. accomplishing the purpose of the tour;
b. supervision of passengers, in particular children, adolescents and persons who need assistance;
c. supervision of items left behind in the vehicle’s passenger area by the ordering party or one of its passengers;
d. supervision of luggage, in particular prior to and during loading and during and after unloading;
e. information about the regulations relevant for all passengers, in particular those included in foreign exchange, passport, customs and health regulations, and compliance with the obligations arising from these regulations.
Above is irrelevant, if something else has been agreed upon.
§ 3 Service changes.
2. Service changes by the coach company that become necessary
after conclusion of the contract are permissible if the circumstances that lead to the service changes were not caused by the coach company in bad faith and if these changes are not considerable and if they are deemed acceptable to the ordering party. The coach company shall inform the ordering party of the necessity of the changes upon becoming aware of such circumstances.
2. Service changes by the ordering party are possible with the consent of the coach company only. They must be in writing or in electronic form, unless something else has been agreed upon.
§ 4 Prices and payments.
1.The rental fee agreed upon when the contract was concluded applies, which is to be paid before commencement of the journey.
2. All additional costs (e.g. road and parking fees, accommodation expenses for the on-board staff) are not included in the rental fee.
3. Additional costs incurred due to service changes requested by the ordering party shall be billed separately.
4. The assertion of costs that are incurred due to damage or soiling shall stay inviolate
5. Invoices are due upon receipt and without deductions.
§ 5 Rescission and cancellation by the ordering party.
1. Rescission
The ordering party may rescind the contract before the start of the tour. If the ordering party rescinds the contract for reasons that the coach company is not responsible for, the rental fee claim converts into a claim for compensation. The amount of compensation is determined by the rental fee agreed upon minus the expenditures saved by the coach company and minus any proceeds generated during the rental period by other uses of the vehicle. Alternatively, the coach company shall be entitled to settle claims for compensation as a lump sum as shown below:
In case of rescission:
a. up to 30 days before the scheduled start of the tour 20%
b. between 20 and 11 days before the scheduled start of the tour 50%
c. between 10 and 5 days before the scheduled start of the tour 70%
b. from 4 days before the scheduled start of the tour 100%
If the ordering party cannot prove that the expenditures incurred by the coach company have not been incurred or were lower than invoiced.
The claim for compensation is omitted, if the withdrawal is affiliated to a change in the scope of services by the coach company that have made travel difficult or dangerous for the ordering party. In case of cancellation due to force majeure or due to considerable complication, hazard or impairment, the coach company shall be obligated at the ordering party’s request to drive the ordering party and its passengers back; in this case, the ordering party shall be entitled to be driven back by the means of transportation agreed upon in the contract only. The additional costs for return transportation in case of cancellation due to force majeure shall be borne by the ordering party.
b. If the ordering party cancels the contract, the coach company shall be entitled to appropriate remuneration for the services already provided and still to be provided under the contract, in particular for return transportation, provided the latter is still of interest to the ordering party in spite of the cancellation.
§ 6 Rescission and cancellation by the coach company
1. Rescission
The coach company may rescind the contract before the start of the tour if extraordinary circumstances, which the coach company is not responsible for, make the provision of services impossible. In this case, the ordering party may ask to be reimbursed for the necessary expenditures incurred by the ordering party relating directly to vehicle ordering only.
The right to withdraw from the contract also follows from a missing counter-confirmation by the ordering party or untimely payment.
2. Cancellation
a. The coach company may cancel after the start of a tour if the provision of services is made considerably more difficult or is jeopardised or negatively affected either by the ordering party or by force majeure or by any considerable complication, hazard or impairment due to unforeseeable circumstances, such as for example war or war-like events, hostilities, uprising or civil war, arrest, confiscation or obstruction by government bodies or other persons, road blockades, quarantine measures as well as strikes, lockouts or work stoppages which the coach company is not responsible for. In case of cancellation due to force majeure or due to considerable complication, hazard or impairment, The coach company shall be obligated at the ordering party’s request to drive the ordering party and its passengers back; in this case, the ordering party shall be entitled to be driven back by the means of transportation agreed upon in the contract only. The additional costs for return transportation in case of cancellation due to force majeure shall be borne by the ordering party.
b. If the coach company cancels the contract, the coach company shall be entitled to appropriate remuneration for the services already provided and still to be provided under the contract, in particular for return transportation, provided the latter is still of interest to the ordering party in spite of the cancellation.
§ 7 Liability.
1. The coach company shall be liable for the proper performance of transportation as part of the duty of care of a prudent businessman.
2. The coach company shall not be liable for impairments of performance due to force majeure (particularly unforeseeable mechanical breakdowns) as well as any considerable complication, hazard or impairment due to unforeseeable circumstances, such as for example war or war-like events, hostilities, uprising or civil war, arrest, confiscation or obstruction by government bodies or other persons, road blockades, quarantine measures as well as strikes, lockouts or work stoppages which the coach company is not responsible for.
3. The regulations on return transportation shall remain unaffected.
§ 8 Limitation of liability.
1. The coach operator’s liability in case of property damage claims under the contract is limited to three times the rental fee (cf. § 4 above), and liability per passenger affected is limited to that passenger’s share of three times the rental fee. If claims for damages resulting from unlawful acts are asserted, the coach operator shall be liable for up to EUR 4,000 per passenger affected in case of property damage. If the share of three times the rental fee attributable to a single passenger exceeds these amounts, liability shall be limited to the share in three times the rental fee attributable to that person.
2. § 23 of the Public Transport Act shall remain unaffected. Liability for property damage is thereby ruled out if losses exceed EUR 1,000 per person transported.
3. The limitations listed in nos. 1 and 2 above shall not be valid if the damage to be assessed can be attributed to intent or gross negligence.
4. The coach company shall not be liable for damage caused exclusively by the wrongful act of the ordering party or one of the ordering party’s passengers.
5. The ordering party shall hold the coach company and all persons engaged in order processing harmless from all claims based on one or the circumstances described in § 2 no. 3 letters a to e.
§9 Luggage and other items.
1. An average amount of luggage and – upon consultation – other items are included in transportation
2. The coach company shall not be liable for damage caused exclusively by the wrongful act of the ordering party or one of the ordering party’s passengers.
§ 10 Conduct of the ordering party and passengers.
1. The ordering party shall be responsible for its passengers’ conduct during the transport. All instructions issued by the on-board personnel must be complied with.
2. Passengers who do not comply with the reasonable instructions issued by the on-board personnel despite being admonished to do so may be excluded from transportation if their disregard of instructions causes a hazard to the safety or the organisation of operations or to fellow passengers or if it is unacceptable for the coach company to continue transportation for other reasons. In such cases, the ordering party shall not be entitled to assert recourse claims against the coach company.
3. All complaints should first be addressed to the on-board staff and to the coach company, if the on-board staff is unable to remedy the situation by making reasonable efforts.
4. The ordering party shall be obligated to cooperate in remedying defective performance within reasonable limits in order to prevent or minimise any possible damage.
§ 11 Place of jurisdiction and place of fulfilment.
1.Place of fulfilment
The registered office of the coach company is the sole place of fulfilment in relation to businessmen, legal entities under public law or public-sector funds.
2. Place of jurisdiction
a. The registered office of the coach company is the place of jurisdiction if the ordering party is a businessman, a legal entity under public law or a public-sector fund.
b. If the ordering party does not have a domestic place of general jurisdiction or if the ordering party relocates its domicile or its usual place of residence abroad after the contract enters into force, or if its domicile or usual place of residence is unknown at the time the legal proceedings are instituted, the registered office of the coach company shall likewise be the place of jurisdiction.
3. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany prevails for the contractual relationship.
§ 12 Invalidity of individual provisions
1. The invalidity of individual provisions of this contract including these general terms and conditions of rental coach transport shall not result in the invalidity of the entire contract.
2. Cancellation
a. If considerable changes to the services as agreed upon which are not deemed acceptable to the ordering party become necessary, the ordering party shall be – notwithstanding further claims – entitled to cancel the contract. In such cases, the coach company shall be obligated to transport the ordering party and its passengers back, at the ordering party’s request, although the ordering party shall be entitled to be driven back by the means of transportation agreed upon in the contract only. If any additional costs are incurred with respect to return transportation in case of cancellation due to force majeure, they shall be paid by the ordering party.
b. The ordering party’s right to assert any further claims shall be excluded if the necessary service changes are due to circumstances beyond the control of the coach company.
c. If the ordering party cancels the contract, the coach company shall be entitled to appropriate remuneration for the services already provided and still to be provided under the contract, in particular for return transportation, provided the latter is still of interest to the ordering party in spite of the cancellation.