Terms of use

1. Who we are

Dealership.nz is operated by Hamish Palmer, a sole trader based in Australia, trading as Dealership.nz ("we", "us", "our"). You can reach us at help@dealership.nz.

2. What Dealership.nz is, and what it isn't

Dealership.nz is an advertising marketplace. Private sellers and registered motor vehicle traders list vehicles for sale in New Zealand, and buyers contact them through the site.

We are not a party to any sale. We don't own, sell, inspect or value the vehicles, we don't hold deposits or payments, and no sale is completed through the site: buyers and sellers agree a sale between themselves. We don't verify listings, so we can't promise that a listing is accurate or that a vehicle is as described.

Make, model and year lists come from the NZ Transport Agency's Motor Vehicle Register open data. Market comparisons, registration counts and similar figures are estimates for guidance only.

3. Your account

You must be at least 18 to use an account. Give accurate details and keep them up to date. Keep your password and any two-factor backup codes private: you're responsible for what happens under your account. One account per person or business, unless we agree otherwise.

You can delete your account at any time from your security settings. We may suspend or close an account under section 14.

4. Listing rules (everyone)

You can list cars, utes, vans, trucks and motorcycles. Motorhomes, caravans, trailers, boats and machinery can't be listed.

When you list a vehicle:

• You must own it, or be authorised to sell it, and it must be available to buy.
• Describe it accurately and honestly: year, make, model, odometer, condition and price. Tell buyers about known faults or damage, and whether money is owing on it (a security interest on the Personal Property Securities Register).
• Photos must be of the actual vehicle and must be yours to use.
• The price must be your real asking price. You can leave it blank so buyers ask, except that a dealer's used vehicle needs its full price (section 6).
• Where Vehicle Emissions and Energy Economy Label information is available for the vehicle, show it in the listing, as EECA's labelling rules require of private sellers and traders.
• No duplicate listings, no listings for vehicles you can't legally sell (including stolen vehicles), no advertising for other goods, services or websites, and no requests for payment outside a normal sale between the two of you.
• Nothing misleading, unlawful, discriminatory, offensive, or that infringes anyone else's rights. The Fair Trading Act 1986 applies to what you say about a vehicle.

We may change how a listing is formatted, and we may hide or remove a listing that breaks these rules, has been reported for review, or appears to be stale or no longer for sale.

5. Private sellers

Private accounts are for people selling their own vehicles. If you sell vehicles as a business, you are a motor vehicle trader under the Motor Vehicle Sales Act 2003 and must register as one and use a Dealership account. The Act treats you as a trader if, for example, you sell more than six vehicles, or import more than three, in a 12-month period. A private account can have six vehicles go live in any 12 months; after that, further listings need a Dealership account unless you show us you're selling your own vehicles.

6. Dealerships (motor vehicle traders)

If you use a Dealership account:

• You must be registered on the Motor Vehicle Traders Register, show your MVT registration number on your Dealership page, and keep your trading name, address and contact details accurate.
• Every used or demonstration vehicle you list must have a complete Consumer Information Notice (CIN) under the Consumer Information Standards (Used Motor Vehicles) Regulations 2008. You can fill in the CIN on the listing or link to your own. Keep it up to date, and give buyers the copy the regulations require at the time of sale. The site won't publish a used or demo vehicle without one, but the CIN's accuracy is your responsibility.
• Your listed price is the full cash price including GST and the cost of registration and licensing to put the vehicle on the road.
• Show the Vehicle Emissions and Energy Economy Label information where it's available.
• You're responsible for complying with the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, the Fair Trading Act 1986, the Motor Vehicle Sales Act 2003 and any other law that applies to your sales, including for listings you send through our API.

API. API keys belong to your account: keep them secret and revoke any you no longer need. Use the API only to manage your own stock and show it on your own channels, and stay within the published rate limits. We may suspend or revoke a key that is misused or puts the service at risk.

7. Buying safely

Before you buy, see the vehicle in person, check the plate and VIN match the paperwork, consider an independent pre-purchase inspection, and check the Personal Property Securities Register for money owing. Be wary of anyone who asks for a deposit before you've seen the vehicle, says they're overseas, or wants payment through a shipping or "escrow" service. Buying from a registered dealer gives you rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 that a private sale doesn't. Report anything suspicious with the "Report this listing" link.

8. Messages, enquiries, offers and reviews

Messages and enquiries are between you and the other member. We store them to deliver them, and we may read them to investigate a report, suspected fraud or a breach of these terms. You can block or report anyone you're messaging. When a seller accepts a dealer's trade offer, the two of you can see each other's email address so you can arrange things directly.

Trade offers are invitations to talk, not binding agreements. Reviews must be honest and based on a real dealing with the seller; we may remove reviews that are fake, abusive or break these terms.

Don't spam, harass or threaten other members. Don't scrape the site, access it by automated means other than our API, or try to get around rate limits, security or these terms.

9. Fees and billing

• All prices are in New Zealand dollars. We are not registered for New Zealand GST, so no GST is added.
• Private sellers: your first live listing is free. Each further live listing is $5 per month, billed monthly in advance for that listing. It stops immediately if you mark the car sold or delete the listing; if you unpublish it, it ends at the close of the month you've paid for, and republishing before then continues it.
• Dealership plan: $50 per month, billed monthly in advance, for unlimited listings, a dealership page and API access. It renews until you cancel from the Billing page, and continues to the end of the period you've paid for. If the plan ends, listings beyond the free allowance are unpublished.
• Advertising spots (dealerships): the featured spot at the top of the dealership directory is $500 and the spot in the directory's sidebar is $250, each for 30 days, paid up front. One dealership holds each spot at a time, first come, first served: a spot doesn't renew and there's no waiting list. It shows your dealership as it appears on your dealership page (name, logo, cover photo, tagline, location, rating and newest cars), labelled Featured or Sponsored; you can't supply separate advertising. It only shows while your Dealership plan is active. Unused days aren't refunded if your plan ends or we take your page down under section 14; if we can't show the spot for a reason of our own, we'll refund the days it was missing.
• Payments are processed by Stripe. If a payment fails we'll try again; listings that depend on it may be unpublished until it's paid.
• Fees aren't refunded for part months, except where the law requires a refund or we close your account without cause (section 14).
• We'll email you at least 30 days before a price change affects you.

10. Your content

You keep ownership of the listings, photos, messages and reviews you post. You give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, copy, resize, format and display that content to run the site and promote your listings and dealership, including in search engines, our feeds, dealers' website embeds and the advertising spots. The licence ends when you remove the content, except for copies held briefly in backups or caches, and messages the other member has already received. You confirm you have the rights to everything you post.

11. Our site and third-party data

The site's software, design and catalogue compilation belong to us. Vehicle reference data is derived from the NZ Transport Agency Motor Vehicle Register open data, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Locality data comes from Matthew Proctor's New Zealand postcode dataset (public domain). Maps use OpenStreetMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Third-party data is provided "as is".

12. Availability

We work to keep the site running and your data safe, but we don't promise uninterrupted or error-free service. We may change, add or remove features. If we make a change that substantially reduces what a paid plan includes, you can cancel and we'll refund the unused part of the period you've paid for.

13. Liability

Consumers. If you use the site as a consumer (not for a business), nothing in these terms limits your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 or the Fair Trading Act 1986, or any other rights the law says can't be excluded.

Business users. If you use the site for a business, including every Dealership account, you agree that you're acquiring our services for the purposes of a business, that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 doesn't apply (section 43), and that sections 9, 12A, 13 and 14(1) of the Fair Trading Act 1986 don't apply (section 5D). We both agree that's fair and reasonable, because you choose how to use an advertising service in your own trade.

As far as the law allows: we aren't responsible for dealings between members, the accuracy of listings, the condition or ownership of any vehicle, or what other members do. We aren't liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for lost profits, revenue or data. Our total liability to you is limited to the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose, or $100 if you paid nothing.

If you use the site in trade, you agree to indemnify us against third-party claims, fines and costs arising from your listings or from your breach of these terms or the law.

14. Suspension and closure

We may remove content, unpublish listings, or suspend or close an account if you break these terms, if we reasonably suspect fraud or unlawful activity, if a payment is overdue, or if the law requires it. Where it's safe to, we'll tell you why and give you a chance to fix the problem. If we close a paid account without cause, we'll refund the unused part of the period you've paid for.

15. Changes to these terms

We'll post updated terms here with a new date. For material changes we'll email account holders at least 30 days before they take effect. If you keep using the site after that, the new terms apply; if you don't agree, you can close your account.

16. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by New Zealand law, and New Zealand courts have non-exclusive jurisdiction. If something goes wrong, please contact us first at help@dealership.nz so we can try to sort it out. Smaller claims can go to the Disputes Tribunal.