Carwow, website terms of use

By using our site you accept these terms

By using our sites, you confirm that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to comply with them. If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our sites. We recommend that you print a copy of these terms for future reference.

There are other terms that may apply to you

These terms of use refer to our privacy policy which also applies to your use of our site. Our cookie policy provides details on how you can change your cookie and privacy preferences at any time.

We may make changes to these terms

We amend these terms from time to time. The amended terms will be posted on this site, and will become effective from the date they are posted. Your continued use of the site after any such post will constitute your acceptance of, and agreement to, any changes.

We may amend and change our sites from time to time.

We may suspend or withdraw our sites

Our sites are made available free of charge. We may update and change our sites from time to time.

We do not guarantee that our sites, or any content on them, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We may suspend or withdraw or restrict the availability of all or any part of our sites for business and operational reasons. We will try to give you reasonable notice of any suspension or withdrawal but this may not always be possible.

You are responsible for ensuring that all persons who access our sites through your internet connection are aware of these terms of use and other applicable terms and conditions, and that they comply with them.

You must keep your account details safe

If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party. Unless caused by our negligence, we will not be liable for any loss you might suffer if a third party gains unauthorised access to your account.

We have the right to disable any user identification code, account or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, and cease dealing with you if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use or if in our reasonable opinion you have used language or conduct that is threatening, abusive, defamatory, discriminatory, offensive, racist or obscene in communications with Carwow employees or car dealers or partners.

If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your user identification code or password, you must promptly notify us at contact@carwow.co.uk, hallo@carwow.de or hola@carwow.es

Uploading photos of your car and providing information

If you use our sites to sell your car, you warrant that any content (including photos) you submit or otherwise provide of your car is are owned by you (the “ Content ”). You grant us an irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, royalty free, non-exclusive, sublicensable and fully transferable licence to use, reproduce, display, sell, modify and edit the Content. You waive any moral rights you may have in the Content. You warrant and represent that you have all rights necessary to grant us these rights. We will not pay you any fees for the Content and reserve the right in our sole discretion to use, remove or edit it at any time. You warrant that the Content (including but not limited to any photos and information provided regarding a vehicle for sale) is true and accurate and that you have the right to sell the vehicle.

You warrant and agree that any and all materials which you contribute to or send us via our sites must:

1. be accurate and complete (where they state facts);
2. be genuinely held (where they state opinions); and
3. comply with all applicable rules and regulations and English law.

You warrant and agree that any and all materials which you contribute to or send via our sites must not:

1. be unlawful, harmful, threatening, slanderous, defamatory, libellous, obscene, harassing or racially, ethnically offensive or otherwise objectionable to us;
2. be a breach of a third parties property, right or intellectual property rights;
3. facilitate or promote illegal activity;
4. be or contain anything which is technically harmful (including, without limitation, distributed denial of attack service, a computer virus, logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms, harmful components, corrupted data or other malicious software or harmful data);
5. infringe the intellectual property rights or other rights of any third party;
6. promote unlawful violence, discriminate based on race, gender, colour, religious belief, sexual orientation, disability; or
7. be incomplete, fraudulent or misleading.

We have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to our site constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, is defamatory or breaches their right to privacy, including, trolling, cyber bullying and harassment. We also have the right to disclose your identity and other information you have provided to us where we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal information with a third party in order to comply with any legal obligation or to enable the Police or Trading Standards to investigate potential illegal activity or where a case of fraud is suspected. We have the right to share information you have provided to us (including but not limited to a copy of your listing submission and any call recordings) with a third party where a case of fraud or misrepresentation is suspected.

We will not be responsible or liable to you or any third party for the content or accuracy of any content posted by you or any other user of our site as defined in Electronic Commerce Directive 2000/31/EC as amended from time to time.

You shall hold harmless and indemnify us and its affiliates, officers, third parties, agents and employees from any claim, action or proceedings arising from or related to any third party claims made against us due to you uploading or providing content or posting comments on our site, including but not limited to any liability or expense arising from claims, losses, damages, judgements, litigation costs and legal fees.

You are solely responsible for maintaining and protecting your content and your account on our site. You are solely responsible and liable for securing and backing up your content.

We have the right to remove any listing you make on our site if, in our sole opinion, your listing does not comply with our content standards.

When you provide us with details of a car you wish to sell we reserve the right (but have no obligation to) to conduct checks (including but not limited to a HPI check).

Carwow as a marketplace: general terms

Carwow is an online platform with various websites where consumers and businesses have the opportunity to buy, lease and sell cars. We do not buy or sell cars. We enable car dealers and other partners to provide you with offers for the sale, lease or purchase of cars through our sites (“Offers”).

If you decide to buy or lease a car from a car dealer or sell a car to a dealer or partner, you will be entering into an agreement with that dealer or partner and not Carwow. We are not a party to that agreement. Any arrangements made between you and third parties which may be introduced to you through the site are at your sole risk and responsibility. You must carefully check the terms of any arrangements or contracts with third parties. All communications between you and any of our dealers or partners are subject to the terms and conditions of that dealer or partner, and we accept no responsibility or liability for any deal, car purchase, payment or disputes that may arise between you and the dealer or partner.

You are solely responsible and liable for any interaction with a third party via our site.

Where you are using the site in order to find a car for purchase, by showing an Offer to you through our sites the dealer is not committed to sell or lease a car for that price, and by viewing or accepting an Offer through our sites, you are not committed to buying or leasing a car from that dealer. We cannot guarantee that you will receive any Offers, or whether any Offers will be issued. We are not obliged to review Offers, but may do so as part of our ongoing commitment to customer service or if you ask us to. We, or the dealer, may choose to edit or remove Offers at any time.

General terms

When you sell your vehicle through our Website marketplace, your vehicle will be purchased by a car buyer. Carwow does not purchase any vehicles itself, nor does it acquire any risk or title to any vehicle made available for purchase via the site. When selling your car we cannot guarantee that you will receive any Offers. There is no guarantee of the sale of your car. The initial valuation quote for your car may not be accurate. Car returns or refunds are entirely between you and the car buyer.

Should you wish to advertise your car for sale on our website you warrant and represent to the following to Carwow and the car buyer:

• you are the owner of the car or have authority from the owner to sell the car in accordance with section 12 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979;
• you are not (directly or indirectly) selling the car in the general course of business;
• you agree to sell the car once the bid is successful in accordance with these terms of use;
• you agree that the description and all information (including but not limited to the mileage, service history and other items listed in this clause) provided in respect of the car uploaded by you to our website (or provided to us verbally) is complete, true, accurate and not misleading; furthermore you agree to indemnify us against all claims, losses, demands, damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal expenses) we may incur in respect of the description of (and information provided about) the car;
• you have provided all details that a prudent car buyer would want to know, including but not limited to mechanical issues, physical defects or damage, and title defects;
• the mileage reading, VIN and engine number on the car are accurate and have not been tampered with;
• the car (i) is registered in the UK and was not used outside of the UK prior to registration; (ii) has not been involved in an accident resulting in total insurance loss; and (iii) is not stolen or cloned.

Carwow reserves the right to reject listings submitted. Carwow is not currently able to list for sale certain modified vehicles (please discuss with us), any vehicles which were used for hire or reward or were previously subject to a write-off or commercial vehicles.

How our sale process works

When you list a car for sale on the site, your listing will specify the minimum price that you are willing to accept for your car (“Reserve Price”). The car will not be sold during the auction if the Reserve Price is not met or exceeded.

In order to bid on your car, the bidder must specify the maximum purchase price which they are willing to pay for it (“Maximum Bid”). The bidder may increase their Maximum Bid at any point whilst the listing is active. Whilst the Maximum Bid does not have to meet the Reserve Price to enable the bidder to bid on your car, their Maximum Bid will not be successful if it does not meet the Reserve Price. No bidder may submit a bid for cars which is less than the sum specified from time to time by Carwow in relation to those vehicles on the Carwow platform. (“Minimum Bid Amount”).

If a Maximum Bid is equal to or below the Reserve Price it will automatically become the highest bid unless another bidder submits a higher bid. If a Maximum Bid is equal to or above the Reserve Price and there is no other bid which meets or exceeds the Reserve Price, that Maximum Bid will win the listing at the Reserve Price.

When there are two different Maximum Bids which exceed the Reserve Price, our system will automatically bid on behalf each bidder in increments of at least £25 (or such other amount as Carwow may determine from time to time) each above the next highest bid up to their respective Maximum Bid.

When there are two bids which meet or exceed the Reserve Price, the listing will be won by the bidder who has outbid the others.

If two bidders enter the same Maximum Bid which:

• equals to the Reserve Price and there are no higher bids, the first bid received will win the listing at the Reserve Price; or
• exceeds the Reserve Price and there are no higher bids, the first bid received will win the listing at the price which is £50 above: (i) the next highest bid if the next highest bid equals to or exceeds the Reserve Price; or (ii) the Reserve Price if there are no other bids or if the next highest bid is below the Reserve Price.

If your car is not sold during the original auction, it will be automatically listed as a second chance offer as follows:

• its original Reserve Price will be the price at which your car can be bought right away (“Buy It Now Price”);
• each Maximum Bid (if any) submitted during the original listing will be used to ascend from;
• if no bids were placed during the original listing, the Minimum Bid Amount will be used to ascend from;
• new dealers can submit offers on your car;
• increments of at least £25 (or such other amount as Carwow may determine from time to time) each will be applied in the offer process;
• the car will be sold as soon as an offer meets the Buy It Now Price;
• any offers below the Buy It Now Price will be presented to you and you must accept such offers to proceed;
• Full details of the expiry date and time for each listing will be posted on our site but all bids and transactions shall be subject to these terms of use.

You reserve the right to end a listing at any time without prior notification to the bidders.

We reserve the right to refuse or remove bids and/or suspend, cancel or extend listings at our absolute discretion. Carwow may change the bidding process at any time. You agree with Carwow that you shall at all times act in good faith with bidders.

Once the bid has been successful, we will be in touch or will put you in touch with the car buyer directly to finalise vehicle inspection, collection and payment. If your car is purchased via our service then it must be collected from you directly at the buyer’s sole cost.

Unless the car buyer chooses to use our document collection service, no bank or other financial details should be shared via our site. We encourage all sellers and buyers to correspond via the Carwow platform but we accept that sometimes correspondence will be made via a phone conversation.

Carwow SmartPay

Some buyers may use our Carwow SmartPay functionality to manage payments when purchasing your car. Carwow SmartPay is a payment service provided by a third party, Airwallex (UK) Limited (for more information about Airwallex, please visit www.airwallex.com). You do not need to have a Carwow SmartPay Account in order to sell a car to a buyer using Carwow SmartPay, and the Carwow SmartPay functionality is only available to certain buyers where offered by us and Airwallex. Please see our FAQ here for more information.

Please note that we do carry out a bank details validation check to ensure the bank details provided are active and are available to take payment. We use Experian as a third party provider to carry out this validation check all data will be processed subject to our Privacy Policy.

If you sell a car, the buyer may use Carwow SmartPay to arrange payment of the agreed price to you, and/or where there is outstanding finance, to the relevant finance house. This will not change anything for you or the finance house; payments will still be made to the bank account or finance house’s bank account you have nominated, but the payment will be processed by Airwallex.

Confirm your payment was successful: ensure you check that the payment has been correctly applied to your account and that the finance has been cleared. Where you encounter any issues please contact the buyer in the first instance and raise the issue with our Support Team via Email: hello@carwow.co.uk or Telephone: 0204 586 4000. Please see the Consumer Support Article for more information.

"Negative equity" refers to a situation where the outstanding finance (loan) on a car is higher than the car's selling price.

If the car you are selling is in negative equity and you have agreed to pay an amount towards outstanding finance in order to complete the sale, your payment may be requested through and made to a Carwow SmartPay Account. Where you have provided the negative equity payment and the sale is subsequently cancelled, the buyer is responsible for ensuring they return the funds to you under the contract of sale entered into with you.

If you agree a price adjustment which involves you paying an amount towards outstanding finance (or making an additional payment), payment of this amount may also be requested through and made to a Carwow SmartPay Account. No more than one price adjustment can be made throughout the transaction when settling negative equity.

Collection

The car buyer or their agent or our collection company will inspect your car prior to the transfer of payment. The car buyer shall be entitled to withdraw its bid if upon inspection the information or photos disclosed by you in your listing was incomplete or inaccurate or you have engaged in fraudulent or misleading behaviour (and no price adjustment can be agreed) or there is outstanding finance which has not been fully disclosed or your car fails the test drive. You do not have to consent to the test drive, however refusing may result in the car buyer withdrawing its bid. You do not have to accept an amended purchase price. Please remove any loose items from your car ahead of the inspection and test drive. Where the buyer uses the Carwow collection service please note that Carwow or Carwow’s collection company (or the car buyer using Carwow’s collection company) will not be responsible for any incidental damage to windscreens or tyres caused during the test drive, as the damage would occur whoever was in charge of the car.

If we find, at our absolute discretion, that you have misrepresented your vehicle or provided misleading information or have otherwise acted in bad faith in the use of our service, then we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your Carwow account. The car buyer must pay for your car promptly following its collection, and payment shall be made directly to you.

The car buyer may ask you to sign their purchase contract. Please review these terms carefully. Carwow is not party to this contract of sale. We are not obliged to assist in any disputes between sellers and bidders or car buyers. The seller and the car buyer arrange payment and we shall have no liability in the event that payment is made by the car buyer but the car is not delivered or is not as described or the listing details were inaccurate. Where there has been fraudulent misrepresentation (for example mileage tampering) and the purchase has gone through, the car buyer may be entitled to seek to rescind the contract of sale, and claim compensation from you.

Car check service

The Carwow Car Check is owned and run (pursuant to a commercial agreement) by Motor Data Limited, Company number 09346806, a company incorporated in England whose registered office is at 128 Kemp House, City Road, London, EC1V2NX (“Motor Data”). When you purchase a Motor Check your contract is with Motor Data Limited. Carwow Limited and its subsidiaries do not contract with you and shall have no liability to any customer for goods or services sold by Motor Data on or through this website or otherwise or for any motor check.

Sometimes we offer, or make available through our site, special offers which may be governed by additional or alternative terms and conditions with us, or other third parties (including third party privacy policies). Where you take up any such offer, please review these additional terms and conditions carefully.

How you may use material on our sites

We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our sites, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved. Some material on our site may be subject to the copyright rights of our partners.

You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our sites for your personal use and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to content posted on our sites.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.

Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our sites must always be acknowledged.

You must not use any part of the content on our sites for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.

If you print off, copy or download any part of our sites in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our sites will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

Do not rely on information on these sites

The content on our sites is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our sites.

Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our sites, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our sites is accurate, complete or up to date.

We are not responsible for websites we link to

Where our sites contain links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. Such links should not be interpreted as approval by us of those linked websites or information you may obtain from them.

We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.

Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

We make this site available for United Kingdom residents over the age of 18 only. We have sites in Germany and Spain available to residents of those countries.

If you are a consumer:

• The contract of sale when you sell or purchase a car is between you and the relevant dealer. Consequently, we are not liable to you for any act or omission of the relevant dealer.
• We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors and for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
• Please note that we only provide our sites for domestic and private use. You agree not to use our sites for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity or any indirect or consequential loss or damage.
• If defective digital content that we have supplied, damages a device or digital content belonging to you and this is caused by our failure to use reasonable care and skill, we will either repair the damage or pay you compensation limited to a maximum of the value of a like for like replacement of the device or digital content.

If you are a business user:

• We exclude all implied conditions, warranties, representations or other terms that may apply to our sites or any content on it.
• We will not be liable to you for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:
  • use of, or inability to use, our sites; or
  • use of or reliance on any content displayed on our sites.
• In particular, we will not be liable for:
  • loss of profits, sales, business, or revenue;
  • business interruption;
  • loss of anticipated savings;
  • loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation; or
  • any indirect or consequential loss or damage.
• If you are using our Sites on behalf of a business, that business accepts these Terms and Conditions. The business will indemnify and hold harmless us and our affiliates, officers, agents and employees from any costs, claims, actions, demands, damages or expenses (including reasonable legal expenses) arising from or related to the use of the sites or breach of these Terms and Conditions.
• If you are a trader acting in the course of your business, you are not permitted to pass yourself off as a private seller.

How we may use your personal information

We use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy.

We are not responsible for viruses and you must not introduce them

We do not guarantee that our sites will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.

You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform to access our sites. You should use your own virus protection software.

You must not misuse our sites by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our sites, the server on which our sites are stored or any server, computer or database connected to our sites. You must not attack our sites via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 or relevant local laws. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our sites will cease immediately.

We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, trojan, distributed denial-of-Service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, mobile, tablet device, apps, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our sites or to you downloading any content on it, or on any website linked to our sites.

Which country's laws apply to any disputes?

If you are a consumer, please note that these terms of use, their subject matter and their formation, are governed by English law. You and we both agree that the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction except that if you are a resident of Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in Northern Ireland, and if you are resident of Scotland, you may also bring proceedings in Scotland.

If you are a business, these terms of use, their subject matter and their formation (and any non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by English law. We both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Unenforceable provisions

If any provision of these terms of use shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable under applicable law, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these terms of use and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Our trade marks are registered

Carwow and the Carwow logo are registered trade marks of Carwow Ltd. You are not permitted to use them without our approval.