Terms of Use

1. The Service

Auction Intel is an independent data aggregator that indexes publicly available auction listing data published by third-party Australian vehicle auctioneers — including Pickles Auctions, Manheim Australia, Insurance Auto Auctions (IAAI) Australia, Grays and Slattery Auctions — and presents that data through a unified search, VIN history report, deal-scoring engine, live-auction monitor and personal watchlist. Auction Intel is not a vehicle auction operator, vendor, broker, agent, intermediary, bidder, valuer, financier, transporter, registry or inspection service. We do not sell vehicles, take bids, accept escrow, broker title transfer or hold any vehicle, money or financial instrument on your behalf.

We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or partnered with any of the auction operators or third-party sources we index. All trademarks, logos and trade names of those operators belong to their respective owners and are used here solely for the purpose of identifying the source of indexed listings (nominative fair use).

2. Eligibility and account registration

To create an account you must be at least 18 years of age, an Australian resident, and legally capable of entering into a binding contract. Some Service features require sign-in via a single-use magic link delivered to a verified email address. You agree to provide accurate, current and complete information during registration, to keep your contact details current via your profile page, and to maintain the confidentiality of your sign-in link. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. Account credentials (magic links) are personal, non-transferable and may not be shared.

We may verify or refuse any account registration at our sole discretion. Providing false, misleading or third-party contact details, or registering on behalf of someone without their authorisation, is a material breach of these Terms.

3. Licence to use the Service

Subject to your continuing compliance with these Terms, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable, royalty-free licence to access and use the Service for your own internal, non-commercial research and decision-making purposes — including evaluating vehicles you may purchase, sell, repair, recycle, finance, insure, or transport. This licence is granted on the scope and the conditions set out in these Terms; any use outside that scope is unauthorised.

4. Prohibited uses

Without limiting any other clause of these Terms, you must not and must not attempt to:

• ·access the Service or any part of the underlying data by automated means (including scraping, crawling, headless-browser harvesting, screen-scraping, AI agents, or any form of unauthorised programmatic access) beyond the documented public-API rate limits applied to your account;
• ·bypass, disable, circumvent or interfere with any rate limit, hourly quota, captcha, authentication mechanism, security feature or access control implemented by the Service;
• ·copy, reproduce, redistribute, sub-licence, republish, syndicate, mirror, frame, scrape-and-resell, sell, lease, lend, host as a service, or make available to any third party any portion of the Service or its underlying data, whether in original form or as a derivative work;
• ·use the Service to train, fine-tune, evaluate or otherwise improve a machine-learning model, dataset or commercial competing product without our express prior written permission;
• ·use the Service in connection with any unlawful activity, including the sale, export or import of stolen vehicles, vehicles obtained by fraud, vehicles with tampered VINs, or vehicles otherwise subject to PPSR encumbrance or law enforcement seizure;
• ·use the Service to harass, defame, threaten, stalk or otherwise harm any person, vendor, auctioneer or third party;
• ·attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise derive the source code, underlying algorithms, scoring models, scraping schedules or data pipelines of the Service, except to the extent that the law of the Commonwealth of Australia expressly authorises such activity and any such authorisation cannot be waived by contract;
• ·introduce any virus, malware, denial-of-service traffic, worm, trojan, time-bomb or other harmful code to the Service, or use the Service as a vector to attack any other system;
• ·impersonate any person or entity, misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, or forge headers / authentication tokens;
• ·use the Service in a manner that breaches any applicable Australian Commonwealth, State or Territory law, including (without limitation) the Australian Consumer Law, the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth), or any state-based motor vehicle, written-off-vehicle or dealer-licensing legislation.

5. Rate limits, quotas and fair use

Free-tier access to the Service is subject to per-hour rate-limits applied to API endpoints including VIN look-ups and listing URL checks. The applicable quotas are displayed on your dashboard and may be revised from time to time. We reserve the right to reduce, suspend or revoke quota at our discretion if we reasonably believe a user is abusing, sharing, or attempting to circumvent quota. Paid tiers (where offered) carry their own terms which form part of the agreement between us when you subscribe.

6. Data accuracy disclaimer

The Service relies on third-party data sources that change without notice. Auctions move quickly; listings get amended, withdrawn, re-categorised or back-dated by their originating auctioneer; WOVR status can change between scrape windows; damage descriptions may be incomplete or inaccurate at the source. We make commercially reasonable efforts to keep our index current, but to the maximum extent permitted by law:

• ·"No WOVR found" is not a clean-title certificate. It means we have no record of a written-off declaration in our index. The Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR), administered by the Australian Financial Security Authority, is the authoritative source for clean-title verification. You must obtain a PPSR certificate before relying on title status for any purchase decision.
• ·Damage descriptions and odometer readings are reproduced from the auctioneer's listing. We do not physically inspect vehicles. Always physically inspect a vehicle (or engage a licensed pre-purchase inspector) before bidding.
• ·Hammer prices, deal scores, comp averages and recommended bids are statistical estimates produced from historical data and current listing data. They are not financial advice, valuation advice, or a guarantee of future hammer price. Actual auction outcomes will vary.
• ·Sale timing (auction start, lot close, anti-snipe extensions, rollovers) is sourced from the auctioneer and may change without notice. Always cross-check against the source site before relying on any displayed time.

7. Intellectual property

All software, source code, design, layout, copy, scoring models, VIN-indexing methodology, normalisation logic, taxonomy decisions and the compilation, structure and selection of the Service's database constitute the intellectual property of Auction Intel or its licensors. Australian copyright and database compilation rights apply. Nothing in these Terms transfers any of that ownership to you.

Trademarks, trade names, logos and listing photographs of third-party auction operators (Pickles Auctions, Manheim Australia, IAAI Australia, Grays, Slattery Auctions) and of vehicle manufacturers belong to their respective owners and are used solely for identification.

8. User-supplied content

Saved listings, watchlist entries, profile details and any other content you submit to the Service remain yours. By submitting such content you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable licence to host, store, transmit and display that content solely for the purpose of operating the Service for you. You warrant that any content you submit is accurate, lawful and does not infringe a third party's rights.

9. Australian Consumer Law

Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy conferred on you by the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)) or any other applicable consumer protection law that cannot be lawfully excluded. Our Service comes with consumer guarantees that cannot be excluded under Australian Consumer Law. For any failure to comply with a major consumer guarantee, you are entitled to a remedy as set out in that law. For minor failures, our liability is limited (at our option) to the resupply of the relevant service or the payment of the cost of having the relevant service resupplied.

10. Limitation of liability

Subject to Clause 9 (Australian Consumer Law) and to the maximum extent permitted by law:

• ·The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We make no representation or warranty, express or implied, that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, error-free, or that any defect will be corrected.
• ·We exclude all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity, except to the extent that such exclusion is prohibited.
• ·We are not liable for any indirect, consequential, special or punitive damages, loss of profit, loss of opportunity, loss of business, loss of revenue, loss of anticipated savings, loss of goodwill, loss of data, or any third-party claim arising out of or in connection with your use of the Service, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such loss.
• ·To the extent any liability cannot be excluded, our total aggregate liability to you for all claims arising out of or in connection with the Service in any twelve-month period is limited to the greater of (a) the fees paid by you to us in the preceding twelve months, or (b) AU$100.

You expressly acknowledge that the Service is an informational tool and is not, and is not a substitute for, professional advice from a licensed vehicle inspector, motor dealer, registered valuer, qualified mechanic, lawyer, accountant, finance broker or insurer. Decisions you make based on the Service (including bidding on, purchasing, financing, insuring, registering, repairing, recycling or selling any vehicle) are made entirely at your own risk and responsibility.

11. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Auction Intel, its operator, employees, agents, contractors and successors from and against any claim, demand, action, proceeding, loss, damage, cost (including legal costs on a full-indemnity basis), expense or liability arising out of or in connection with: (a) your breach of these Terms; (b) your wrongful or negligent act or omission in using the Service; (c) any third-party claim that your use of the Service has infringed that third party's rights; or (d) any vehicle, bid, purchase, repair or sale you undertake whether or not in reliance on the Service.

12. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms, have engaged in conduct that may damage the Service or other users, have remained inactive for an extended period, or if we are required to do so by law. On termination, your licence to use the Service ceases immediately. Clauses that by their nature should survive termination (including without limitation Clauses 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14) survive.

13. Changes to the Service and these Terms

We may modify, add to or remove features of the Service at any time. We may update these Terms from time to time; the version date at the top of this page identifies the current version. Material changes will be notified by email to the address on your account and/or by a banner displayed on the site. Your continued use of the Service after a change takes effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

14. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of South Australia and the Commonwealth of Australia. The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of South Australia and the courts of appeal therefrom in respect of any dispute, proceeding or claim arising out of or in connection with the Service or these Terms.

15. Severability and entire agreement

If any provision of these Terms is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision is severed and the remaining provisions continue in full force. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Auction Intel in respect of the Service and supersede any prior agreement, understanding or representation, whether oral or written.