Terms & Conditions

  1. DEFINITIONS.  “Cars.com ” collectively means Cars.com, LLC, DealerRater.com, LLC, Dealer Inspire Inc., Accu-Trade, LLC, CreditIQ, LLC, and each of their parents, subsidiaries and affiliates. “Content” means all content and materials provided or made accessible by Customer to Cars.com , including links, banner ads, videos, vehicle inventory data, text, branding, reviews, photos and images.  “Customer” means a dealership. “DMS” means Customer’s dealer management system.  “DMS Data” means (if applicable) personally identifiable financial information supplied by Customer’s DMS provider on behalf of the Customer and not otherwise collected by or supplied to Cars.com (DMS Data does not include User Data). “Initial Term” means the period specified on the Order Form (or if no such period is specified, 12 months) and which commences upon delivery of a Product. “Laws” means all U.S. federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations, including (where applicable) dealer licensing laws, vehicle advertising laws, the California Consumer Privacy Act, the Federal Do-Not Call rules, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and the Federal CAN-SPAM rules.  “Materials” means all materials and services provided or made accessible by Cars.com to Customer, including websites, software, technology, and other intellectual property, registered or not. “Policies” means the Cars.com advertising policies located online at https://growwithcars.com/advertising-policies, as updated from time to time.  “Product(s)” means the products selected by Customer as set forth in the Order Form or offered through the Cars.com website.  “Sites” means each Cars.com website (and any natural evolution of applicable URLs) and any mobile, private-labeled, co-branded or other versions of such Sites, and any other websites operated by or on behalf of Cars.com , regardless of URL.  “User Data” means any personally identifiable information and financial information related to a user (including first name, last name, address, phone number, email address, social security number, and financial information) received by Customer through a Product.
  2. FEES.  Cars.com’s performance is conditioned upon credit approval of Customer.  Customer authorizes Cars.com to obtain a credit report to determine creditworthiness.  Unless payment is made by credit card or ACH, Customer agrees to pay all fees specified in the Order Form within 30 days of date of invoice.  If payment is made by credit card or ACH, Customer expressly authorizes Cars.com to automatically charge the applicable card or debit the applicable account on a monthly basis during the term of this Agreement (unless otherwise agreed by the parties) and agrees that any fee increase made in accordance with this Section 2 may also be charged/debited in the same manner and Customer will be responsible for any and all third-party fees.  If any fees are not paid by Customer when due, Cars.com may charge and Customer will pay interest on unpaid amounts at the rate of 1.5% per month or the highest rate permitted by law, whichever is less.  Customer agrees to pay all of Cars.com’s costs, including attorneys’ fees, incurred in collecting overdue amounts.  Customer will be solely responsible for payment of any taxes applicable to its payment for and/or use of the Products, other than taxes on Cars.com’s income.  Cars.com reserves the right to increase fees or terminate Product subscriptions with 30 days’ notice to Customer, provided Customer will have the right to terminate the Agreement in such case by providing Cars.com with written notice prior to the end of such 30-day period.  If Customer requests the assistance of Cars.com in any manufacturer co-op advertising program, Customer remains solely responsible for complying with all terms, conditions, and requirements necessary for reimbursement under such program.
  3. TERM AND TERMINATION. Orders cannot be canceled during their Initial Term. Following completion of the Initial Term, this Agreement automatically renews on a month-to-month basis until either party provides at least 30 days’ written notice of termination to the other party, termination to be effective on the last day of the calendar month in which the 30th day falls. Either party may immediately terminate this Agreement in the event the other party is in material breach of this Agreement and such breach is not cured by the breaching party within 30 days of its receipt of written notice. Cars.com reserves the right to modify or discontinue any Product at any time and may suspend performance for Customer’s failure to pay any invoice when due or Customer’s failure to comply with the Policies. If Customer terminates any Product for convenience prior to the end of Initial Term, then Customer will pay Cars.com a termination fee equal to the remaining monthly fee for such Product(s) through the end of the Initial Term.  To be effective, termination must be faxed to 877-707-1947 or emailed to [email protected] using the form provided by a Cars.com sales representative.  Cars.com and Customer may agree to revoke any termination and in this event the Agreement will remain in full force and effect.
  4. CONTENT. (a) Customer grants Cars.com a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable, license to access, edit, store, enhance, modify, adapt, translate, copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, publish, perform and display publicly, prepare derivative works of, and otherwise use Content, and to sublicense such rights through multiple tiers.  Cars.com reserves the right to modify the Sites and Products, and to edit or reject any Content or portion thereof from use on the Sites or Products in its sole discretion and without notice.

    (b)Customer approves access by Cars.com to Google Analytics and the use and analysis of related data. If gaining access to historical analytics, Cars.com will update the retention period to ‘Do not automatically expire’ for data in GA which is associated with cookies, user identifiers, or advertising identifiers (these controls do not affect most standard reporting but may have an effect on aggregated reporting).
  5. DMS ACCESS.  (a) If Customer requests that Cars.com extract Content from a DMS, Customer will provide Cars.com with all user names, passwords, and other information necessary for Cars.com and any agents and contractors working on Cars.com’s behalf to access the DMS and extract Content.  In the event of such request, Customer expressly consents to Cars.com and its agents and contractors accessing and extracting Content from the DMS on an ongoing basis until such consent is revoked with written notice to Cars.com.  Subject to applicable Laws, Cars.com will have a reasonable period of time to cause such revocation.

    b) Cars.com agrees to implement and maintain appropriate safeguards to protect Customer’s DMS Data where obtained pursuant to this Agreement for so long as Cars.com, LLC has access to the same. Except as has been specifically authorized by Customer in writing, Cars.com agrees not to disclose Customer’s DMS Data to third parties, other than as necessary for such parties to provide attribution reporting and/or the Products and Materials to Customer, or as otherwise required by law.
  6. MATERIALS, PRODUCTS AND USER DATA. Customer may use the Materials solely as necessary for it to use the Products for their intended purpose. Customer will not use or permit the use of the Products in any unauthorized manner.  Materials and Products will remain the sole and exclusive property of Cars.com and its licensors. When contacted regarding a listing, Customer agrees to respond to users in the manner requested by the user within 4 business hours. Customer agrees to protect User Data in accordance with applicable Laws and use User Data solely to fulfill user requests and to provide customer service to the user.  
  7. REPRESENTATIONS. Each party represents and warrants to the other party that it has the right and full power and authority to enter into this Agreement and fully perform its obligations hereunder.  Customer represents and warrants that: (a) it will comply with the Policies and all applicable Laws, (b) it has the right and necessary authority to grant the rights with respect to the Content, (c) the Content is free of any viruses, Trojan horses, or other malware, and (d) the Content and vehicle listings do not and will not contain or link to any information or material that: (i) is false, deceptive, misleading, libelous, defamatory, outdated, inaccurate, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate, (ii) infringe or violate any right of a third party, including intellectual property rights, rights of privacy and publicity, and contractual rights, and/or (iii) violate any applicable Laws.
  8. HOLD HARMLESS. Each party will defend and indemnify the other party and its respective member(s), parent(s), subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, agents, and vendors from and against any and all claims, demands, damages, liabilities, costs and/or expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to any third-party claims alleging breach of its respective representations and warranties.
  9. DISCLAIMER. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED IN SECTION 7 ABOVE, NEITHER PARTY MAKES ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT.  CARS.COM DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT PRODUCTS OR LISTINGS WILL BE FREE OF ERRORS. IN NO EVENT WILL CARS.COM BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, EVEN IF SUCH DAMAGES ARE FORESEEABLE. IN NO EVENT WILL THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF CARS.COM EXCEED THE AMOUNT ACTUALLY PAID OR PAYABLE BY CUSTOMER UNDER THIS AGREEMENT IN THE 3 MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE EVENTS GIVING RISE TO THE LIABILITY. CARS.COM MAKES NO GUARANTEES WITH RESPECT TO THE SECURITY OR THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PRODUCTS AND/OR RELATED FUNCTIONALITY.
  10. CONFIDENTIALITY. Customer agrees not to disclose to any party or use for any purpose any non-public business, technical, or other information relating to or provided by Cars.com, including the terms of this Agreement and Cars.com’s trade secrets, marketing plans, business plans, product plans, pricing, financial information, software, and intellectual property. Customer agrees not to sell, lease, license, rent, transfer, or otherwise provide User Data to third parties (other than disclosing User Data to third parties as necessary for such parties to provide the permitted services on behalf of Customer) or use User Data in any other unauthorized manner, including spam, junk mail, or direct marketing.
  11. ADDITIONAL AUTOCORRECTED TERMS.  This Section only applies if Customer has selected “Yes” to the AutoCorrected opt-in on Order Form. CARS.COM DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT AUTOCORRECTED OR ANY LISTINGS WILL BE FREE OF ERRORS. CUSTOMER WAIVES ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AGAINST CARS.COM, WHETHER DIRECT OR THIRD-PARTY, RELATED TO AUTOCORRECTED AND/OR ITS ACCURACY OR ERRORS CONTAINED THEREIN OR CAUSED THEREBY. IN NO EVENT WILL CARS.COM BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO AUTOCORRECTED OR THE AUTOCORRECTED OPT-IN, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, FINES, OR REGULATORY PENALTIES, EVEN IF SUCH DAMAGES ARE FORESEEABLE. Customer will hold harmless Cars.com and its respective member(s), parent(s), subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, agents, and vendors, and defend and indemnify the same from and against any and all claims, demands, damages, liabilities, costs and/or expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to Customer’s breach of the AutoCorrected Opt-In and/or this Section 11.
  12. CLAIM YOUR STORE (CYS) PAGE. This section applies if the Customer utilizes the Claim Your Store Page offered by Cars.com. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, by becoming an approved dealership through the CYS Page, the Customer agrees to the following, which is a partial list, in addition to these Terms and Conditions, of the kinds of activities that are prohibited on or through the use of CYS: (a) submitting Content that is patently offensive to the online community, such as content that promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual; (b) engaging in activities or submitting Content that could be harmful to minors; (c) engaging in activity or submitting Content that harasses or advocates harassment of another person; (d) engaging in activity that involves the transmission of “junk mail” or unsolicited mass mailing or “spam” to Cars.com users or others; (e) engaging in activity or submitting Content, or promoting information, that is fraudulent, false or misleading or promotes illegal activities or conduct that is abusive, threatening, obscene, defamatory or libelous; (f) submitting Content that contains restricted or password-only access pages, or hidden pages or images; (g) submitting Content that displays pornographic or sexually explicit material of any kind; (h) submitting Content that provides instructional information about illegal activities such as making or buying illegal weapons, violating someone’s privacy, or providing or creating computer viruses; (i) using the Site’s lead forms and/or toll-free numbers to advertise or promote products and services to Cars.com advertisers; (j) using any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site; or (k) taking any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Cars.com’s hardware and software infrastructure (collectively, “Prohibited Activities”).
  13. DISPUTE RESOLUTION. Customer and Cars.com agree that all disputes, actions or controversies between Customer and Cars.com or its affiliates and subsidiaries which may  arise out of or relate to any of the Services provided by Cars.com , must be first resolved by negotiation of the parties acting in good faith. If after at least ninety (90) days following receipt of written notice of the dispute such dispute has not been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties, either party may invoke the dispute arbitration mechanism as follows:  the parties shall engage in non-binding mediation, using the services of an impartial, neutral mediator located in Cook County, Illinois, as selected by mutual agreement of the parties. Mediation is voluntary once commenced, and either party may withdraw from the mediation process at its sole discretion at any time. The fees of the mediator shall be borne equally by the parties. If the parties are unable to agree on a single mediator or to resolve the issues through mediation, to the extent permitted by law, then the matter shall be settled by binding arbitration under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. Unless the parties can agree on a single arbitrator, the matter shall be heard by a panel of three arbitrators, one selected by each party and the third selected by the two arbitrators so appointed. Judgment upon any award rendered by the arbitrator(s) shall be final, and may be entered into any court having jurisdiction.
  14. CLASS ACTION WAIVER. CARS.COM AND THE CUSTOMER  AGREE THAT ANY DISPUTES, CLAIMS AND/OR CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING IN ANY WAY TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OR THEIR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SITE AND/OR ITS PRODUCTS OR SERVICES (“CLAIMS”) MAY ONLY BE BROUGHT IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND IN THE NAME OF AN INDIVIDUAL PERSON OR ENTITY AND THAT CLAIMS MUST PROCEED ON AN INDIVIDUAL AND NON-CLASS AND NON-REPRESENTATIVE BASIS. CARS.COM AND THE CUSTOMER AGREE THAT CLAIMS OF TWO OR MORE PERSONS MAY NOT BE JOINED OR CONSOLIDATED IN THE SAME CLAIM UNLESS ARISING FROM THE SAME TRANSACTION. FURTHERMORE, THE PARTIES  AGREE THAT NEITHER PARTY MAY PURSUE THE CLAIMS IN ARBITRATION AS A CLASS OR COLLECTIVE ACTION, AS A PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ACTION OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. CLAIMS MAY NOT BE PURSUED IN ANY COURT OTHER THAN TO ENFORCE THE ARBITRATOR’S AWARD. THE ARBITRATOR SHALL HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO AWARD RELIEF ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL AND NON-CLASS AND NON-REPRESENTATIVE BASIS.
  15. ASSIGNMENT. Cars.com may assign its rights and duties under these Terms and Conditions at any time to any party without notice. The Consumer may not assign these Terms and Conditions without the prior written consent of Cars.com. These Terms and Conditions shall be binding on and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors and permitted assigns. Should any provision of these Terms and Conditions be held to be void, invalid, unenforceable or illegal by a proper legal authority, the validity and enforceability of the other provisions shall not be affected, and the invalid or unenforceable term shall be replaced with a valid provision that best embodies the intent of this Terms and Conditions so that the Terms and Conditions shall remain in full force and effect.
  16. GENERAL. Each party will be and act as an independent contractor. Customer may not assign all or any part of this Agreement without Cars.com ’s prior written consent. Customer consents to receipt of marketing and promotional materials from Cars.com via facsimile, email, and otherwise. This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties regarding the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements, amendments, representations, and understandings of the parties, whether written or oral, with respect to the subject matter hereof. These Terms and Conditions may be changed at any time and Client will be notified of any such changes by an updated posting of the new Terms and Conditions at this URL (or any successor URL). Handwritten changes to the Agreement made by Customer will have no effect; subsequent performance by any party will evidence only assent to the unaltered terms of this Agreement. Failure of either party to insist upon strict compliance with this Agreement will not be considered a waiver of later enforcement of such terms and conditions or any other terms and conditions. Headings are for convenience only and have no interpretive effect; as used in this Agreement “including” means “including without limitation.” If any sentence, section or provision of this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, that sentence, section or provision will be eliminated, and the remainder of the Agreement will remain in full force and effect. Except for payment obligations, neither party will be liable to the other party for failure to perform by reason of a force majeure event or any other cause beyond such party’s reasonable control. This Agreement is governed in all respects by the laws of the State of Illinois without reference to its conflicts of laws principles; the parties agree that all claims arising under or related to this Agreement will be brought exclusively in a federal or state court in Chicago, Illinois and consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts. Sections 2, 4 and 6-16 will survive any termination or expiration of this Agreement.

Updated 05.15.2023