Terms & Conditions

Effective date: [EFFECTIVE_DATE]
Last updated: [LAST_UPDATED]

These Terms & Conditions ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the website fafo-trust.com and any related services (together, the "Platform"), operated by FAFO ("FAFO", "we", "us", "our").

Please read these Terms carefully. They contain important information about your rights and obligations, and about the limits of our responsibility. If you do not agree with them, you must not use the Platform.

1. Definitions

In these Terms, the following words have the following meanings:

2. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing the Platform, creating an Account, publishing a Listing, or contacting a Seller, you confirm that:

1. You have read, understood and accept these Terms;
2. You have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement; and
3. You will comply with all laws that apply to you.

If you use the Platform on behalf of a company or other organisation, you confirm that you are authorised to bind that organisation, and "you" in these Terms means both you and that organisation.

These Terms should be read together with our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal data.

3. Eligibility and Account Registration

3.1 Who may register

You may create an Account only if you are at least 18 years old and are not barred from using the Platform under any applicable law, or by a previous decision of FAFO to suspend or terminate your access.

3.2 Accurate registration details

You agree to provide accurate, current and complete information when you register, and to keep that information up to date. Accounts registered with false, misleading or impersonated details may be suspended or removed.

3.3 One person, one Account

Unless we agree otherwise in writing, each User may hold one Account. Creating additional Accounts to evade a suspension, to inflate the apparent number of listings, or to mislead other Users, is prohibited.

3.4 Account security

You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential and for all activity that takes place under your Account. You must notify us without undue delay at legal@fafo-trust.com if you believe your Account has been accessed without your authorisation.

4. User Responsibilities

As a User of the Platform, you agree that you will:

1. Use the Platform lawfully, honestly and in good faith;
2. Publish only Content that you own or are otherwise entitled to publish;
3. Ensure that everything you publish is accurate and not misleading;
4. Respond to other Users honestly and without harassment;
5. Not use the Platform to arrange or facilitate any unlawful activity;
6. Not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Platform, other Accounts, or any related systems;
7. Not use automated means (including scrapers, bots or crawlers) to extract data from the Platform without our prior written permission;
8. Not interfere with the normal operation of the Platform, including by overloading, disrupting or attempting to circumvent its security or rate limits.

You remain solely responsible for your own decisions, including any decision to buy, sell, travel to view a vehicle, transfer money, or enter into a Transaction.

5. Vehicle Listings and Advertisements

5.1 FAFO is a platform only

FAFO is a marketplace that connects buyers and sellers. We do not own, possess, inspect, test, verify, appraise, warrant, buy or sell any vehicle advertised on the Platform. We are not a party to any Transaction between Users, and we do not act as agent, broker, dealer, escrow provider or representative for any User.

Any contract for the sale of a vehicle is concluded directly and exclusively between the Buyer and the Seller.

5.2 Seller responsibility for Listings

Sellers are solely responsible for the accuracy, completeness and legality of their Listings. By publishing a Listing you confirm, to the best of your knowledge, that:

1. You are the lawful owner of the vehicle, or are authorised to advertise it;
2. The vehicle exists, is genuinely available, and is described accurately;
3. The stated mileage, year, condition, specification, service history, accident history and identification details are true;
4. The vehicle is free of any undisclosed encumbrance, finance agreement, lien, or legal restriction, or that any such matter is clearly disclosed;
5. The photographs show the actual vehicle offered;
6. The advertised price is genuine and stated in good faith; and
7. Publishing the Listing does not infringe any third party's rights.

5.3 Moderation

Listings may be reviewed before or after publication. We may approve, decline, edit, re-categorise, request changes to, or remove any Listing. A Listing that is edited after publication may be returned to review and temporarily withdrawn from search results until it is approved again.

Review is a limited check for policy compliance and obvious irregularities. It is not an inspection, authentication, valuation or endorsement of the vehicle, and it does not make us responsible for the Listing's accuracy.

5.4 Listing duration

Listings remain published for a limited period and may expire automatically. We may archive expired Listings and remove them from public view.

5.5 Promoted Listings

We may offer features that increase a Listing's visibility. Promotion affects placement only. It is not a recommendation, a quality signal, or a statement that a vehicle or Seller has been verified.

6. Prohibited Content and Activities

You must not publish, transmit or facilitate any of the following on the Platform:

6.1 Prohibited Content

• Listings for vehicles that do not exist, are not for sale, or are not in your lawful possession or control;
• Stolen vehicles, or vehicles with tampered, altered or removed identification numbers;
• Vehicles with manipulated odometer readings, or with undisclosed write-off, flood, fire or structural damage;
• Duplicate Listings for the same vehicle intended to dominate search results;
• Deliberately false prices, "bait" pricing, or prices intended to mislead;
• Photographs or descriptions taken from another advertisement or website without permission;
• Content that is defamatory, obscene, hateful, discriminatory, threatening, or that harasses any person;
• Personal data belonging to another person, published without a lawful basis;
• Malware, harmful code, or links to fraudulent or deceptive websites;
• Content unrelated to vehicles, including unrelated advertising and spam.

6.2 Prohibited Activities

• Fraud, attempted fraud, or any deceptive scheme, including advance-fee requests, fake escrow or shipping arrangements, and impersonation of a bank, transport company or of FAFO itself;
• Money laundering, sanctions evasion, or the sale of vehicles whose sale is restricted by law;
• Collecting other Users' contact details for marketing or resale;
• Manipulating reviews, statistics, view counts or search rankings;
• Circumventing a suspension, ban or removal decision;
• Reverse engineering, decompiling, or attempting to derive the source code of the Platform, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by law.

Suspected criminal activity may be reported to the competent authorities.

7. Dealership Accounts

7.1 Professional status

If you sell vehicles in the course of a business, trade or profession, you must register a Dealership Account and must not present yourself as a Private Seller. Misrepresenting professional activity as a private sale is a serious breach of these Terms and may also breach consumer protection law.

7.2 Additional obligations

Dealerships are additionally responsible for:

1. Providing accurate business identification details on request;
2. Complying with all licensing, registration, tax and consumer protection obligations that apply to them;
3. Providing to consumers any pre-contractual information, warranty, withdrawal or guarantee rights required by applicable law; and
4. Ensuring that staff acting under the Dealership Account comply with these Terms.

7.3 Verification badges

We may display a verification indicator on a Dealership profile. A verification indicator reflects a limited administrative check only. It is not a guarantee of the Dealership's solvency, conduct, licensing status, or of the condition or legal status of any vehicle it advertises. We may add, withhold or withdraw such an indicator at any time.

7.4 Consumer rights are unaffected

Nothing in these Terms limits the statutory rights a consumer may have against a professional Seller under applicable law.

8. Communication Between Users

8.1 Messaging

The Platform provides messaging tools so Buyers can contact Sellers. Messages are transmitted through our systems and may be stored, and may be reviewed where necessary to investigate a report of fraud, abuse or a breach of these Terms.

8.2 Conduct

You must communicate respectfully and must not use messaging to send spam, unsolicited advertising, chain messages, phishing attempts, or content that is abusive, threatening or harassing.

8.3 Care when sharing information

Do not share identity documents, banking credentials, one-time passcodes, or copies of vehicle registration documents through the Platform unless you are certain it is necessary and safe to do so. FAFO will never ask you for your password, for a payment, or for a one-time code.

9. Intellectual Property

9.1 Our rights

The Platform, including its software, design, layout, database structure, graphics, and the "FAFO" name and logo, is owned by or licensed to FAFO and is protected by intellectual property law. Nothing in these Terms transfers any of those rights to you.

9.2 Your Content

You keep ownership of the Content you publish. By publishing Content you grant FAFO a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt for formatting purposes, publish and display that Content, for the purpose of operating, promoting and improving the Platform.

This licence lasts as long as your Content is published and for a reasonable period afterwards to allow for backups, caching and legal record-keeping.

9.3 Warranty regarding your Content

You confirm that you hold all rights necessary to grant this licence, and that your Content does not infringe the rights of any third party.

9.4 Reporting infringement

If you believe Content on the Platform infringes your rights, contact legal@fafo-trust.com with a description of the material, its location, and a statement of your rights. We will review and act as appropriate.

10. Suspension and Termination of Accounts

10.1 Our rights

We may, at our discretion and without prior notice where necessary, restrict, suspend or terminate an Account and remove any Listing or Content where we reasonably believe that:

1. These Terms or our policies have been breached;
2. Fraud, abuse, misrepresentation or unlawful activity is occurring or has been attempted;
3. Continued publication would harm other Users, a third party, or us; or
4. We are required to do so by law or by a competent authority.

Where it is lawful and appropriate to do so, we will tell you why we have acted and how you may respond.

10.2 Your rights

You may stop using the Platform at any time and may request deletion of your Account. Please see the Delete My Account page for how to do this and for what happens to your data.

10.3 Effect of termination

Termination does not affect any right or obligation that accrued before it, and the sections concerning intellectual property, limitation of liability, indemnification and governing law survive termination.

11. Limitation of Liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation. Nothing in this section affects the mandatory statutory rights of consumers.

Subject to the paragraph above:

1. The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available". We do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free from harmful components.
2. We are not liable for any loss arising out of a Transaction between Users, including loss arising from a vehicle's condition, provenance, legal status, mileage, documentation, valuation, or from a Seller's or Buyer's conduct, solvency or failure to perform.
3. We are not liable for the accuracy, completeness or legality of Content published by Users.
4. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of business, loss of opportunity, loss of data, or loss of goodwill.
5. Where liability cannot be excluded, our total aggregate liability to you in connection with the Platform is limited to the greater of (a) the total amount you paid to FAFO in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) [LIABILITY_CAP_AMOUNT].

12. Disclaimer of Vehicle Information Accuracy

All vehicle information on the Platform is supplied by Users, not by FAFO Trust.

We do not verify, and we do not guarantee the authenticity, accuracy or completeness of, any Listing. This includes but is not limited to a vehicle's:

• Condition, roadworthiness and mechanical state;
• Ownership and the Seller's right to sell;
• Mileage and odometer accuracy;
• Accident, damage, write-off, repair and service history;
• Registration, taxation, import and customs status;
• Outstanding finance, lien, encumbrance or seizure;
• Emissions class, technical specification and equipment;
• Identification numbers and documentation.

Before you buy, you must verify independently

Buyers are solely responsible for satisfying themselves about a vehicle before committing to it. We strongly recommend that you:

1. Inspect the vehicle in person, in daylight, at a safe and public location;
2. Obtain an independent professional inspection;
3. Check the vehicle identification number against the registration documents;
4. Obtain an independent history and finance check where one is available;
5. Verify the Seller's identity and their right to sell the vehicle;
6. Never pay a deposit or the purchase price before you have verified the vehicle and the Seller; and
7. Keep a written record of what was agreed.

Where a Listing shows an estimated or indicative price, that estimate is generated automatically from comparable advertisements. It is informational only, is not a valuation or an appraisal, and must not be relied upon as one.

13. Fraud Prevention Notice

Vehicle classifieds attract fraud. Please read this section carefully.

13.1 Common warning signs

• A price far below the market for a comparable vehicle;
• A Seller who refuses to meet, to allow an inspection, or to speak by telephone;
• A Seller who claims to be abroad, in the military, or unable to attend, and who offers shipping through an agent;
• Pressure to pay a deposit quickly to "secure" the vehicle;
• A request to pay by voucher, gift card, cryptocurrency, or an irreversible transfer to a personal account;
• An "escrow", "shipping" or "verification" service proposed by the Seller;
• Communication that moves off the Platform immediately and without reason;
• A message that appears to come from FAFO and asks for payment, credentials, or a one-time code.

13.2 What we will never do

FAFO never holds funds, never operates an escrow or shipping service, and never asks for your password, payment details or a one-time code. Any message claiming otherwise is fraudulent, whoever it appears to be from.

13.3 Reporting

Report suspected fraud immediately through the reporting tool on the Listing, or to legal@fafo-trust.com. If you believe you have been the victim of a crime, contact your local law enforcement authority.

13.4 Our measures are not a guarantee

We operate moderation and automated risk-detection measures, and we act on reports. These measures reduce risk but cannot eliminate it, and are not a guarantee that any Listing or User is genuine.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless FAFO, its officers, employees, contractors and agents against any claim, demand, loss, liability, damage, cost or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or connected with:

1. Your use of the Platform;
2. Content you publish or transmit;
3. Your breach of these Terms or of any applicable law;
4. Your infringement of any third party's rights; or
5. Any Transaction or dispute between you and another User.

This does not apply to the extent the claim arises from our own breach of these Terms, and it does not limit any mandatory consumer right.

15. Changes to the Terms

We may amend these Terms from time to time, for example to reflect changes in the Platform, in our business, or in the law.

Where a change is material, we will give reasonable notice before it takes effect, by publishing the revised Terms on the Platform and, where appropriate, by notifying registered Users. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page always shows when these Terms were last revised.

Continued use of the Platform after a change takes effect means you accept the revised Terms. If you do not accept them, you should stop using the Platform and may request deletion of your Account.

16. Governing Law

These Terms, and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them, are governed by the laws of [GOVERNING_JURISDICTION], without regard to its conflict-of-law rules.

The courts of [COMPETENT_COURTS] have jurisdiction over any dispute, except that:

1. If you are a consumer resident in the European Union or the European Economic Area, you keep the benefit of any mandatory protective provision of the law of your country of residence, and you may bring proceedings in the courts of that country; and
2. Consumers in the European Union may also use the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform.

We encourage you to contact us first at legal@fafo-trust.com so that we can try to resolve the matter directly.

17. General

• Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force.
• No waiver. A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment. You may not assign your rights under these Terms without our consent. We may assign ours in connection with a reorganisation, merger or sale of the business, on notice to you.
• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any policy referenced in them, form the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Platform.
• Language. These Terms are drafted in English. Where we provide a translation, the English version prevails in the event of a conflict, to the extent permitted by law.

18. Contact Information

FAFO
Registered name: [COMPANY_LEGAL_NAME]
Registration number: [REGISTRATION_NUMBER]
Registered address: [REGISTERED_ADDRESS]
VAT / tax identification: [VAT_NUMBER]

Website: fafo-trust.com