Driver & Partner Agreement

1. About this agreement

This agreement is between you (the "Partner" — a driver, chauffeur guide, tour operator, or rental shop; a Partner who drives is also called the "Driver") and Private Driver Tours Sri Lanka ("PDTSL", "we", "us"). You accept it when you register a listing and re-affirm it each time you submit a quote or accept a job through the drivers portal or Driver app; each acceptance is recorded with a timestamp and the agreement version then in force. You are an independent, self-employed contractor: this agreement does not create an employment, agency or partnership relationship, and you are not an agent of PDTSL and have no authority to bind PDTSL. It supplements the platform terms and the driver privacy policy.

2. Definitions

• Listing — your public profile, vehicle details, rate and availability on the Platform.
• Job / Dispatch — a booking request sent to eligible drivers within range for acceptance.
• Booking — a job you have accepted and the traveler has paid a deposit for.
• Commission — PDTSL's fee on completed bookings.
• Payout — the amount PDTSL remits to you from the traveler's deposit.
• Rental — a self-ride bike or tuk-tuk hire you offer as a rental shop or owner.

3. Eligibility and verification

• You must hold a valid Sri Lankan driving licence for the vehicle class you drive, and the applicable SLTDA tourist-driver or chauffeur-guide licence (or other SLTDA licence) that permits you to carry tourists for payment in the vehicle type and seating capacity you operate, and have the legal right to work.
• Every vehicle you use must have a current revenue licence, registration, and any emission, fitness or tourist-transport permit required by law. Its registration class must be appropriate for carrying paying passengers — a vehicle registered and used only for private purposes may not be lawful or insurable for hire work.
• Every vehicle must be insured as set out in section 12 (Insurance). A private-use motor policy, or third-party-only cover, does not meet this requirement.
• When asked, you must provide the full insurance policy schedule (showing the permitted use, the insured vehicle and passenger cover), not only the insurance card or certificate.
• Our operations team reviews your documents to approve your listing and badge tier. Approval is at our discretion, and we may re-check documents at any time.
• Listing approval, badges and "verified" indicators are administrative screening for listing purposes only — they are not an endorsement, certification or guarantee of you or your services by PDTSL, and you must not present them as such.
• You must keep every document valid and up to date, and tell us promptly of any change, lapse or incident that affects your eligibility.

4. Representations and warranties

You represent and warrant, on registration and continuously while listed, that:

• every document you submit is authentic, current, unaltered, and belongs to you or your business;
• you hold, and will maintain for the whole time you are listed, every licence, permit, registration and insurance policy required by Sri Lankan law to provide your services to paying customers;
• you have fully and truthfully disclosed to your insurer that the vehicle is used to carry paying passengers or tourists (or is hired out), and you have not done anything that would allow your insurer to refuse or reduce a claim — such as misdescribing the vehicle's use, letting an unlicensed or unnamed person drive, or carrying more passengers than the vehicle is registered for;
• only you (or a driver who is named on your listing, approved by PDTSL, and meets every requirement of this agreement) will drive a Platform customer;
• you will notify PDTSL within 48 hours if any licence or insurance expires, lapses, is suspended or cancelled, or if its permitted use or passenger cover changes, if you are disqualified from driving, or if you are involved in a material accident or incident while providing services to a Platform customer;
• all information in your Listing is accurate and not misleading.

A breach of these warranties is a material breach of this agreement, and you are solely responsible for all consequences of providing services without the required licences or insurance.

5. Your listing and profile

• Keep your information accurate — vehicle details, languages, daily rate, base location and availability calendar.
• Only upload photos and content you own or have the right to use.
• Photo publishing consent. By uploading photos — of yourself, your vehicles, your tours or your guests — you consent to PDTSL publishing them on your public profile, the website, quotations and documents sent to customers, and PDTSL's social media. Only upload photos of guests who have agreed to be shown. You can ask us to remove any photo at any time, and we will take it down from the Platform.
• You are responsible for the rates and any terms you publish on your listing.

6. Dispatch, quotes and bookings

• Jobs starting within your alert radius are offered to you; the first eligible driver to accept wins the job.
• Quotes you submit are your own commercial offers, made by you and not by PDTSL. Accepting a job or having your quote accepted is a binding commitment to provide the service at the quoted rate. A booking is confirmed once the traveler pays the deposit.
• You must honor confirmed bookings, arrive on time, and provide the tour as quoted.
• Read each trip request carefully before quoting, and ask our team on WhatsApp if anything is unclear. Quotes are monitored: a quote that doesn't match the request (wrong dates, route, vehicle, pricing type or inclusions) counts as a mis-quote, and frequent mis-quotes may lead to your account being put on hold.

7. Your customer verification duty

PDTSL transmits customer details as provided by the customer and does not vet travelers. Before accepting a job or submitting a quote, you are responsible for satisfying yourself about the trip — including passenger count, luggage, route and timing feasibility, and any special requirements — and, at pickup, for verifying that the customer and trip match the booking. If something material does not match, contact us before starting; starting the trip is your acceptance of the customer as presented.

8. Commission, payments and payouts

• PDTSL charges a flat 10% commission on completed bookings, deducted from the traveler's deposit. There are no joining, listing or monthly fees, and you cannot pay to rank higher.
• The balance of the deposit is remitted to you in the weekly payout run to your registered bank account.
• The remaining tour price (the balance) is collected by you directly from the traveler at the start of the tour; PDTSL has no responsibility for that collection.
• Quoted prices are in USD. If the traveler pays you any part of the balance in Sri Lankan rupees (LKR), you must convert the USD amount at the USD→LKR exchange rate on the traveler's first day with you. That rate stays fixed for the whole booking and applies to every later cash instalment; you may not re-price the balance at a different rate later in the tour.
• You are solely responsible for your own taxes, social contributions, permits and business costs on your earnings.

9. Standards and obligations

• Maintain valid licences and insurance and a roadworthy, clean vehicle at all times.
• Drive safely and lawfully; never overload, speed, or enter restricted areas at a traveler's request.
• Be punctual, professional and courteous, and do not discriminate against travelers.
• Honor accepted bookings and quoted rates and do not demand extra payments beyond what was agreed.

10. Cancellations and no-shows

Cancelling a confirmed booking or failing to appear harms travelers and the marketplace. Repeated cancellations or no-shows may reduce how prominently your listing appears, and may lead to suspension or removal. If you must cancel, tell us as early as possible so we can re-match the traveler. Losses a traveler suffers from your cancellation or no-show are your responsibility, not PDTSL's.

11. Independent-contractor status

You operate your own transport or rental business and decide which jobs to accept. You are not employed by PDTSL and are not entitled to employment benefits. You are solely responsible for your passengers, your vehicle, your route and operational decisions, and your compliance with all applicable law, including your own insurance, permits and taxes. You have no authority to bind PDTSL, act as its agent, or make representations on its behalf.

12. Insurance

You acknowledge that PDTSL provides no insurance whatsoever — vehicle, passenger, liability, medical or otherwise — for you, your vehicle, or your customers, and that PDTSL does not arrange, broker or recommend any insurance policy.

For every vehicle you operate or hire out through the Platform you must obtain and maintain, at your own cost and from an insurer licensed in Sri Lanka, a motor policy that at a minimum:

• meets the compulsory third-party insurance required by Sri Lankan law;
• expressly permits use of the vehicle for hire or reward — carrying paying passengers or tourists (commercial, hiring or tourist-transport use) or, for rentals, self-drive hire. A private-use policy does not qualify, even if comprehensive;
• includes passenger liability cover for every seat the vehicle is registered to carry; and
• is kept in force, unexpired and in your (or your business's) name for the whole period of every booking.

We strongly recommend comprehensive cover with personal-accident cover for passengers at meaningful limits, as default passenger benefits on many policies are small. Where PDTSL publishes a minimum cover amount for a vehicle type in the portal, you must meet it.

Checking or storing your insurance documents does not mean PDTSL has confirmed that your cover is valid, adequate or will respond to a claim — that remains solely your responsibility. If an insurer refuses, reduces or voids a claim because of how you used, registered, described or drove the vehicle, you bear the full loss, and it falls within your indemnity under section 14. Carrying a Platform customer without insurance meeting this section is a material breach of this agreement and grounds for immediate suspension.

13. Sole responsibility and release

The contract for every tour, transfer or rental is between you and the customer; PDTSL is not a party to it. You are solely responsible and liable for the services you provide, including the safety of passengers, the condition and legality of your vehicle, and the acts of anyone you engage to assist you. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you release PDTSL from all claims arising out of your provision of services, and PDTSL's aggregate liability to you for any claim arising from the Platform is limited to the commission and payouts relating to the affected booking; PDTSL is not liable to you for indirect or consequential loss or loss of profit.

14. Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless PDTSL, its directors, staff and agents from and against all claims, demands, losses, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) brought by passengers, customers or any third party arising out of or connected with your services, your vehicle, your rental fleet, your breach of this agreement, or your violation of any law — except to the extent caused by PDTSL's own fraud or negligence in operating the Platform.

15. Incidents and information sharing

You must report to PDTSL, promptly and in any event within 48 hours, any accident, injury, police matter or serious complaint involving a Platform customer. You acknowledge that PDTSL may share your records — including identity, licence, insurance and booking information — with police, insurers, regulators, courts or other competent authorities in connection with any incident, investigation or legal process.

16. Rental-shop and operator obligations

If you list rentals or operate a fleet, you additionally warrant that:

• every vehicle or bike you hire out is roadworthy, legally registered, and insured under a policy that expressly permits self-drive hire to tourists (see section 12);
• helmets are provided with every bike or scooter, and safety equipment is in usable condition;
• checking that a hirer holds a licence or International Driving Permit valid for the vehicle class is your duty, and hiring to unlicensed riders is at your sole risk;
• deposits and damage claims are handled fairly, documented, and settled directly between you and the hirer — PDTSL is not involved in and not responsible for them;
• any drivers or staff you engage under your listing meet all the requirements of this agreement, and you are responsible for their acts and omissions.

17. Reviews

Travelers may review completed tours. Reviews are moderated for abuse, discrimination and personal data before appearing on your profile. We do not edit the substance of honest reviews and do not accept payment to remove them.

18. No off-platform solicitation

For travelers introduced to you through the Platform, you agree not to arrange or settle their bookings off-platform to avoid commission, and not to solicit them to book directly in a way that bypasses our fees. This keeps the marketplace fair for every driver.

19. Acceptable use

Do not submit false information, create fake bookings or reviews, manipulate rankings, or interfere with the Platform. Do not misuse another person's account or data.

20. Data and privacy

How we handle your personal data — including your documents, location and payout details — is set out in the driver privacy policy.

21. Intellectual property and content licence

You grant PDTSL a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display and publish your listing, photos and profile content in connection with the Platform — on the website, in quotations and documents sent to customers, and on PDTSL's social media (see the photo publishing consent in section 5). The licence for a photo ends when you delete it or ask us to remove it. The Platform, its software and the Serendib brand remain owned by PDTSL or its licensors.

22. Suspension, termination and consequences of breach

We may suspend your listing immediately, without prior notice, if your licence, registration or insurance appears to have expired, lapsed or not to meet section 12, until you provide valid documents. We may also suspend or remove your listing for breach of this agreement, expired or invalid documents, unsafe conduct, persistently low ratings, or fraud. Where a breach involves fraud or causes loss to PDTSL or a customer, we may withhold payouts connected to the fraudulent activity and recover from you the losses your breach caused. You may deactivate your profile at any time from the portal, subject to completing any bookings you have already accepted. The release, indemnity, and incident-reporting obligations survive termination.

23. Acceptance and version

This agreement carries the version identifier 2026-10-17. Your acceptance is recorded with a timestamp when you register, and re-affirmed each time you submit or confirm a quote or accept a job. When we update this agreement materially, you will be asked to accept the new version in the portal before continuing to use it; we will give reasonable notice of material changes.

24. General

This agreement is governed by the laws of Sri Lanka and is subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Sri Lanka. To the extent permitted by law, any claim against PDTSL must be brought within 12 months of the event giving rise to it. It is the entire agreement between us on its subject matter. If any provision is held unenforceable, it is to be read down to the minimum extent necessary and the remainder stays in effect. Questions? hi@privatedrivertourssrilanka.com.