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Membership Agreement

Welcome to the Edmunds Automotive Network! We are glad you have decided to join our community, and we look forward to your participation. Before you begin, however, we ask that you review this Membership Agreement and agree to its terms. It is important that you understand both the services we provide as well as your obligations.

The Edmunds Automotive Network consists of Edmunds.com, Inside Line, CarSpace and AutoObserver.com, and any other Web site that we identify as a part of the Edmunds Automotive Network.

This Membership Agreement is an agreement between you and Edmunds Inc. (referred to in this Membership Agreement as "the Edmunds Automotive Network," "us," "our" and "we"). This Membership Agreement applies to the various communication and personalization tools and services offered on the Edmunds Web sites that are part of our "community" (the "Community Services").

Many of our Community Services are available to all visitors to the Edmunds Automotive Network, while certain of our Community Services are only available to visitors who sign up as Members by agreeing to be bound by this Membership Agreement. However, Edmunds requires that a visitor be not less than 13 years old to become a Member, and by accepting the terms of this Membership Agreement and signing up as a Member, you are representing to Edmunds that you meet this age requirement.

Currently, all Community Services are provided without charge.

The Community Services include our forums, the most established automotive message boards (the "Forums"), as well as the following tools and services:

  • Edmunds' Answers
  • Dealer Ratings & Reviews and Repair Shop Ratings & Reviews
  • the CarSpace Email Service, which is described below
  • friends and group lists and other social networking tools
  • Member activity pages
  • photo albums
  • videos
  • blogs
  • chat areas
  • groups
  • invitees
  • comments

As used in this Membership Agreement:

  • "Members" means you (when you have accepted this Membership Agreement) and the other members of the Edmunds Automotive Network
  • "Postings" means any postings by the Members in the Forums, chat areas, blogs and testimonials
  • "CarSpace Pages" means your personalized pages in CarSpace
  • "CarSpace Email Service" is the free, Web-based email and Member messaging service available only to Members
  • "Content" means all Member-submitted content that is displayed on the Edmunds Automotive Network other than the Postings, including your Forums and CarSpace "profiles," the videos you post and the photos and information on your CarSpace Pages, and any ratings or reviews you submit of vehicles, dealerships or repair shops, but does not include emails or messages that you send or receive through the CarSpace Email Service
  • "Hosts" are the individuals who host, moderate or supervise the Community Services on behalf of the Edmunds Automotive Network, including our staff who participate in Forums and host our Blogs

You acknowledge and agree that by accepting this Membership Agreement and completing the registration process, you are becoming a member of the Edmunds Automotive Network and are agreeing to the following:

General

We reserve the right, in our sole discretion and at any time, to make changes to this Membership Agreement and our other policies concerning the use of the Community Services. (We also reserve the right, in our sole discretion and at any time, to waive or modify any of the terms of this Membership Agreement as they apply to a specific Posting or item of Content or as they apply to a specific Member, without affecting the application of these terms to any other Postings, Content or Members.) Changes will be effective when made and the updated Membership Agreement (or applicable policy) is posted on the Edmunds Automotive Network; provided, however, that no such change shall be applicable to any dispute between you and us that arises prior to the time such change is effective. Accordingly, you should visit this page periodically to review its provisions. As described below, any Member who violates this Membership Agreement may be banned permanently from using some or all of the Community Services.

If any of provision of this Membership Agreement shall be deemed invalid, void or for any other reason unenforceable, that provision shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the balance of this Membership Agreement.

Any content submitted by you to us that does not require you to first become a Member — for example, the submission of a letter to our editors or the posting of an entry in our Consumer Ratings and Reviews — is not governed by this Membership Agreement. However, those items are "Visitor-Submitted Content" and are governed by the terms of our Visitor Agreement that applies to Members as well as to all other visitors to the Edmunds Automotive Network. We encourage you to review our Visitor Agreement, which shall be considered incorporated in and a part of this Membership Agreement. (Accordingly, a violation of the Visitor Agreement would also constitute a violation of this Agreement.)

Community Services Advertisements and Communications

You understand and agree that the Community Services and the pages on which Community Services are provided may include advertisements, and that these advertisements are necessary for us to provide the Community Services. You also understand and agree that we may send you certain communications in connection with the Community Services, such as service announcements and administrative messages, and that you will not be able to opt out of receiving those communications, and that we may send you copies of any periodic newsletters or similar informative communications we send to Members generally (but you will have the opportunity to opt out of receiving future issues at any time). Any communications sent to you personally concerning your participation in the Community Services or related matters are not intended to be made public, and you agree not to post those communications in the Community Services or elsewhere on the Internet.

Availability of Community Services

While we make reasonable efforts to ensure that the Community Services are available at all times, we do not guarantee that the Community Services will be uninterrupted or error-free, and we do not guarantee that Members will be able to access or use all the Community Services or all of their features at all times.

We may change, suspend or discontinue any (or all) Community Services, or any of their features, at any time. We may also impose limits on the use of or access to certain features or portions of the Community Services, or restrict your access to any part or all of the Community Services, in all cases without notice to you or liability to us.

We do not guarantee that any of your Content or emails or messages sent or received through the CarSpace Email Service will not be subject to inadvertent damage, corruption or destruction. You are responsible for backing up, on your own computer, any Content and emails that are important to you. You agree that we will not be responsible for any archiving or backup of any such materials, and we will not have any obligation or liability to you if any Content in your account is damaged, lost or corrupted in any way or for any reason, or for the deletion of your emails and Content if your membership is terminated or deactivated.

Member Identification and Use of Registration Data

As part of the registration process, you must select a username and password. You agree to register only once using a single username. The information that you supply during the registration process must be accurate and complete and you agree to not (i) register under the name of another person; (ii) choose a username that constitutes or suggests an impersonation of any other person or entity or that you are a representative of an entity when you are not, or that is offensive; (iii) choose a username for the purposes of deceiving or misleading other visitors and/or the Hosts as to your true identity; or (iv) choose a username that incorporates a solicitation (e.g., yoursitedotcom, dealershipname, isellporsches).

Your Forums profile is only displayed to other Members. Your email address included in your Forums profile will remain private and will not be displayed, unless you change profile settings to request that it be displayed.

Your CarSpace profile contains both required and optional information. Unless otherwise noted, optional information is displayed both to other Members as well as to visitors to your CarSpace Pages. You may elect to not display the required informational on your CarSpace Pages at all, to display it just to your "Friends," or to display it to "Everybody."

For more information regarding our privacy policy, please review our Privacy Statement, which provides that under certain circumstances we may reveal what we know about you.

Keeping Your Personal Information Private

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password. You are responsible for all usage and activity in the Community Services through your username and password, including use of your username and password by any third party. Your account is unique to you and may not be transferred to any third party. You should notify us of any known or suspected unauthorized use of your username and password.

We recommend that you do not give out or display in the Community Services certain personal information, such as your full name, email address, street address, phone number or password, Members should be aware that disclosure of such information raises safety concerns and may result in solicitations from third parties not authorized by the Edmunds Web Sites or other unwanted communications. We disclaim any responsibility or liability arising from your disclosure of such personal information, or any other information, in the Community Services.

Content Management

While we have no obligation to do so, we do monitor the Postings in the Forums and many other areas of Content. However, since not all of the areas that are monitored are done so on a "real time" basis, you may see Postings or Content that violate this Membership Agreement before we do. Please report such items to our Hosts by using the Help link on every page, or the Alert Admin link (where available).

We reserve the right to review all Postings and Content and to remove, or to refuse to display, any Posting or Content in our sole discretion and for any reason. However, we also reserve the right in our sole discretion to display any Posting and Content that is submitted to us (or to decline to remove any Posting or Content), even if it violates this Membership Agreement. Postings in the Forums may be revised during the 30 minutes after they are posted, but may not be revised or deleted by Members after that time. Other Content, including reviews of vehicles, dealerships and repair shops, and related comments, may not be revised or deleted by Members.

You understand that the Postings and Content of the other Members are based on their individual opinion and experience, which may vary significantly from one person to the next. We do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of any Posting or Content, and you agree that we are not responsible for the accuracy of the Postings or Content and will not be liable for any damages incurred as a result of the submission or use thereof.

Member Conduct

We welcome all points of view on automotive matters. However, although interactions within the Community Services occur in cyberspace, everyday manners apply. Please respect and interact with fellow Members as you would in any public arena. Civility and respect underlie the success of an on-line community; if you wish to take issue with the statements of other Members or the Hosts, please engage in healthy, mature debate and not immature behavior or name-calling. While we want to maintain an inviting environment for all visitors, disruptive conduct, such as off-topic comments in a topic-oriented discussion in the Forums, is not allowed. Neither is "spam" (i.e., posting your message in multiple places throughout the Community Services).

The Forums are areas for the exchange of information and advice. Questions asked may be answered within the Forums, but please do not attempt to take the conversation out of the Forums (such as by requesting that an answer be emailed). Such actions deprive other visitors of the benefit of the Forums.

Profanity, Harassment and Other Inappropriate Conduct

You may not submit Postings or Content that are indecent, profane (including masked profanity where symbols, initials, intentional misspellings or other characters are used to suggest profane language), obscene, pornographic, abusive, threatening, misleading, illegal or defamatory, or any material that interferes with the ability of others to enjoy the Community Services. We wish to maintain a family-friendly, "G-rated" environment. Please use this as your guideline when in doubt.

In addition, we do not tolerate Members' harassing, threatening or embarrassing other Members, including harassment or denigration based on age, gender, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability, or the stalking other Members ("cyberstalking"). You agree not to engage in this behavior.

Illegal and Objectionable Activities

We do not allow the promotion of illegal conduct or activities or fraudulent schemes in the Community Services. Specifically, you may not advocate illegal conduct, such as street racing, reckless driving or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. You also agree to not engage in any illegal activity in connection with your participation in or use of the Community Services, and to not impersonate any other person, including any other Member or any Host.

Rights of Third Parties

You may not submit Postings or Content that infringe in any manner on the copyright, trademark or intellectual property rights of any person or entity, or that contain any confidential or proprietary information of any person or entity, or that otherwise violate the legal rights of any person or entity. You may insert hyperlinks in your Postings and Content to permit visitors to access copyrighted material — but, except for quotes of reasonable length, you may not post such materials in the Community Services. You may not use the Community Services to distribute unauthorized copies of copyrighted material, including photos, artwork text, recordings, designs or computer programs.

You may not submit Postings or Content that contain personally identifiable information about other people, such as their phone number, street address or email address, or information about other people that could result in an invasion of their privacy or their harassment.

We disclaim any responsibility or liability for copyrighted materials posted in the Community Services. If you believe that your work has been copied in a Community Service in a manner that constitutes copyright infringement, please follow the procedures set forth in our Visitor Agreement.

You may not harvest or collect information about other Members from the Edmunds Automotive Network, including usernames, or use that information for the purpose of sending unsolicited bulk communications. You may not use or provide to any person or entity, whether or not for a fee, any directory of or information regarding other Members.

Promotions and Solicitations

You agree that, except with our prior consent, you will not upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise use any Community Service to make or distribute any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, contests, sweepstakes, survey requests or promotional materials or implore visitors to take actions that are intended to further a personal purpose. You agree you will not use information supplied within the Community Services to do any of the foregoing, by email or any other method. You agree to not gather public email addresses from Member profiles for any purpose. You agree that your Postings will not promote, link to or encourage others to visit auto Web sites that provide message boards, forums or chats.

If you are describing, in a Posting in Forums, a transaction or dealing with an automobile dealership, you may include the dealership name and its location. However, please do not include the names of any salespeople or their telephone numbers, email addresses or other contact information. If you are posting a review in Dealer Ratings & Reviews or Repair Shop Ratings & Reviews, a different set of guidelines apply; see below.

Including a link in a Posting to another Web site is permissible when appropriate in the context of answering a question posed by another Member, but not for the purpose of promoting other automotive communities or third-party services or products. The Hosts will remove any link they believe does not provide value to visitors.

Links included as a part of your signature line are never permitted and will be removed by the Hosts.

License of Postings and Content to Us

You agree that, by submitting Postings and Content to the Community Services, you are granting to us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable and fully assignable and sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, edit, reformat, create derivative works from, distribute, display and provide to third parties those Postings and that Content throughout the world for any purpose and in any media. You are also granting to us the non-exclusive right to seek to enjoin and/or obtain damages from any third party from the unauthorized use or reproduction of your Postings and Content, as well as the right to attribute your Postings and Content to you and you waive any "moral rights" in your Postings and Content.

You agree that you will not use or reproduce any Posting or Content of any other Member in any manner or in any media, including posting or republishing any Posting or Content of another Member on any other Web site. (You may, however, occasionally reprint or post excerpts, not to exceed 50 words, from a single Posting of another Member if it is clear that the original and full Posting is available within the Community Services.) You may also display a link to, or the address of, the page of the Edmunds Automotive Network on which any Posting or Content appears.

Dealer Reviews & Ratings; Repair Shop Reviews & Ratings

These areas of our Community Services provide you with an opportunity to describe what your experience was like with a dealership or repair shop — and to comment on the experience of others.

To facilitate the free flow of useful information about these businesses, we have established a number of "rules of the road" for posting in these areas. These policies and guidelines are, in some instances, different from those that apply to our other Community Services, and are as follows:

  • Your review should describe what your experience was like, with facts and not fluff. Stay on-topic. We do not publish reviews that do not provide information about the reviewer's personal experience.
  • While we ask that our visitors not post reviews and comments that are defamatory or otherwise inaccurate, and that they refrain from offensive personal descriptions or incivility, we do not we remove a review or comment in response to allegations that it contains defamatory language or inaccuracies, or because it may be "offensive" to some people.
  • While we do permit you to include your frank opinion about the specifics of your experience, we do not permit "name-calling."
  • We do not permit the posting of ads or solicitations, HTML or links, or personal contact information (e.g., phone numbers, email addresses) for you or others; or using ALL CAPS.
  • You may include the name of any salesperson or other individual with whom you dealt but — to reiterate — not his or her telephone number, email address or other contact information.
  • Please note that after a review is submitted, it may not be revised or deleted by you — and we will not do so if requested. However, a reviewer always has the ability to supplement a review by posting a comment to it.
  • A comment can be positive or negative, ask questions and/or provide supporting information. Please be sure to follow all of the guidelines set forth in this Membership Agreement when posting comments.

Dealers and repair shops and their representatives have the ability (if a member of the Edmunds Automotive Network) to comment on the reviews of their businesses. However, we request that any person associated with the business, either personally or professionally, disclose that relationship in his or her comment. If you represent a dealership or repair shop, please visit our Dealer Resource Center and download our Information Sheet; it includes tips on how best to engage and benefit from our Dealer Ratings & Reviews.

We have a policy of not posting a review that we know, or have reason to believe, is not a genuine reflection of a consumer's experience at a dealership or repair shop. We do not, however, remove a review in response to an allegation that it is not genuine unless we are presented with persuasive extrinsic evidence.

Your CarSpace Profile and Pages

As a registered member of the Edmunds Automotive Network, you may have a social networking profile, and personal pages, on CarSpace. Please note that you may not:

  • Sell or otherwise transfer your username (which is both your identity within the Community Services and included in the address of your CarSpace pages)
  • Resell, rent or sublease your CarSpace Pages
  • Solicit for advertisers or sponsors
  • Send unsolicited advertising, promotional materials or commercial solicitations to third parties, including other Members
  • Post sponsorships or third-party advertisements or banners

The CarSpace Web-Based Email Service

The CarSpace Email Service is a Web-based email service is a free application available only to Members and that can be accessed only by visiting Mailbox on www.carspace.com. This Community Service is provided on an AS IS and AS AVAILABLE basis. We disclaim all responsibility and liability for the availability, timeliness, security or reliability of the CarSpace Email Service. We also reserve the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the CarSpace Email Service with or without notice at any time and without any liability to you.

No Spam or Bulk Email

You agree not use the CarSpace Email Service to transmit, either directly or indirectly, or facilitate the transmission of any unsolicited bulk email or unsolicited commercial email. ("Bulk email" means sending the same or substantially similar messages to more than 10 email users in a single day, but we reserve the right to block unsolicited commercial e-mail if a Member objects to receiving such email, even if it is not considered "bulk" email.) Disseminating junk mail, spam, multi-level marketing schemes, pyramid schemes or chain letters is prohibited. Similarly, you may not authorize others to use your account to send unsolicited bulk communications, or cause unsolicited bulk communications to be sent by someone else.

We may use filtering technology or other measures in our efforts to stop unsolicited bulk e-mail and unsolicited commercial email. Such filtering technology or other measures may block, either temporarily or permanently, some email sent to you through the CarSpace Email Service. This may happen even if such email does not violate our policies. We reserve the right to restrict the number of emails that a member may send in any 24-hour period to a number deemed appropriate by us in our sole discretion.

You agree not to engage in any other abuse the CarSpace Email Service. Some specific examples of other prohibited actions are:

  • Forging of any TCP-IP packet header or any part of the header information in an email or message or otherwise putting information in the header designed to mislead recipients as to the origin of the email or message ("spoofing")
  • Using another Web site's mail server to relay mail without the express permission of the other site
  • Using the CarSpace Email Service as an "emailer"

You agree that we may use any legal and technical remedies to prevent unsolicited bulk communications from entering, utilizing or remaining on the CarSpace Email Service.

Advertisements

As consideration for using the CarSpace Email Service, you agree that the we may display ads and other information adjacent to and potentially related to the content of your email. Relevant ad serving uses a completely automated process that enables us to effectively target dynamically changing content, such as email. No human will read the content of your email in order to target such advertisements or other information without your consent, and no email content or other personally identifiable information will be provided to advertisers as part of the email service.

Storage Limits; Management of CarSpace Content

You are provided a maximum of 50MB of storage for your CarSpace emails and your Content (which includes images stored in photo albums or elsewhere on your CarSpace Pages). When this amount has been reached, no additional emails may be received or sent and no additional Content may be added to your CarSpace Pages. In addition, emails will be automatically deleted from the CarSpace Email Service on the following schedule: all email in your "Trash" that is older than seven days; all email messages stored in "Sent Mail" that is older than 30 days; and all emails in your "Inbox" older than 180 days.

It is your responsibility to maintain emails and Content within the 50MB limit and to save or backup email files from the CarSpace Email Service prior to the time that they are automatically deleted by us.

Your Use of our Trade Names

You understand that you may use our "Trade Names" solely for the purposes of identifying your membership in the Edmunds Web Sites — and for no other purpose. (Our Trade Names include "Edmunds," "Edmunds.com," "Inside Line," "InsideLine.com," "CarSpace" and "Carspace.com" and all variants of those names.) You acknowledge that we own and reserve all right, title and interest in and to our Trade Names, and that we reserve the right to disapprove any use by you or by others of our Trade Names. You agree that if requested by us, you will promptly terminate all use of any of our Trade Names, and that we may so request if any use of any of our Trade Names is not in accordance with the terms of this Membership Agreement, does not meet the high standards of quality established by Edmunds Inc. with respect to the use of our Trade Names, or would expose Edmunds Inc. to any risk of liability or loss.

You agree not to (i) take any actions that would adversely affect our rights in our Trade Names, or (ii) file any application or other document with any governmental authority to register any corporate name, trade name, trademark, service mark, certification mark, collective mark or other similar designation that includes any of our Trade Names or any confusingly similar names, or (iii) take any other action that is inconsistent with our rights in our Trade Names (or aid or abet any third person in doing so).

Termination of Membership

Please be aware that your membership may be revoked if you fail to abide by the terms of this Membership Agreement. In the event this should occur, you agree not to re-register as a Member of the Edmunds Automotive Network. Furthermore, you acknowledge that we reserve the right to take action — technical, legal or otherwise — to block, nullify or deny your ability to submit Postings and Content. You understand that we may exercise this right in our sole discretion.

We also reserve the right to disable or terminate a Member's account, without notice, if there is a period of extended inactivity.

If your membership is terminated or deactivated by us, both your emails and your Content will be deleted and your username and email address associated with your account may be given to another Member without notice to you.

Community Security; Violations of Law

Violations of system and network security are prohibited, and may result in criminal and civil liability. Examples of system and network security violations include the following:

  • Any automated use of the system, such as using scripts to add friends
  • Use of software that allows your account to stay logged on while you are not actively using the account
  • Unauthorized access to or use of data, systems or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without the express authorization of the owner of the system or network

We may investigate incidents involving such violations, any violations of this Membership Agreement that may constitute or have the potential to constitute violations of law, and any activity by Members on the Edmunds Automotive Network that constitute or may constitute violations of law. You understand that we may report any such activity to, and cooperate with, law enforcement, with or without receipt by us of a subpoena or other legal process.

Representations and Warranties

You represent and warrant to us that all of the information provided by you to us to register as a Member and participate in the Community Services is correct and current; and that you have all necessary right, power and authority to enter into this Membership Agreement and to perform the acts required of you hereunder.

Damages; Indemnification

You agree that you will be responsible for any damages resulting from any violation of this Membership Agreement. You further agree to indemnify and hold Edmunds Inc. and our subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, agents, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your breach of this Membership Agreement, or any violation of any law or the rights of a third party that occurs in connection with your use of the Community Services.

Choice of Law and Forum; Attorneys' Fees

This Membership Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, excluding its conflicts of law rules. You agree that, unless expressly waived by us or we bring an action in a different jurisdiction, the exclusive jurisdiction for any claim or action arising out of or relating to this Membership Agreement or use of the Community Services shall be in the state or federal courts located in the County of Los Angeles, State of California, and you further agree and submit to the exercise of personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purpose of litigating any such claim or action. You also agree that in the event of any action to enforce or interpret this Membership Agreement, the prevailing party shall be entitled to collect its reasonable attorney fees.

Revised January 20,2010