Please do not purchase a service unless you understand the scope, time period, limits, and credit rules below. Mandatory consumer rights that cannot legally be waived still apply.
Acceptance of Terms
By booking, paying for, using, or asking us to begin a paid service, you agree to these Service Terms & Refund Policy and to the specific service description shown at checkout, on your invoice, or in your written engagement.
If there is a conflict between these website terms and a signed written agreement for your specific transaction, the signed written agreement controls to the extent permitted by law.
Independent Position
Independent Car Buying Advisor is presented as an independent buyer-research and advisory service. We are not affiliated with any particular dealership and we do not represent that every seller, auction, lender, inspector, transporter, or third-party provider is affiliated with us.
No dealership inventory is being pushed simply because you use our advisory service. Our research may result in a recommendation to continue evaluating, negotiate, or walk away.
Car Buying Guide / Advisory Service
The $249 Car Buying Guide / Advisory Service is a paid professional-time service, not a refundable deposit toward a vehicle.
- Up to the consultation time shown in the package.
- Defined follow-up support for the stated service period.
- Market-value and listing review based on reasonably available information.
- Vehicle-history review when records are provided or available.
- Deal, fee, financing-structure and add-on review for informational purposes.
- Inspection and negotiation guidance within the package scope.
Once the consultation occurs or research/work begins, the $249 fee is non-refundable, except where a refund is required by applicable law or we expressly agree otherwise in writing.
7-Day Auction Search
The $299 Auction Search Fee purchases a defined research service. It pays our team to intake your criteria, monitor available auction opportunities, review potential matches, compare market information, and communicate serious candidates during the stated seven-day period.
The seven-day period begins when we have received payment and enough vehicle criteria to reasonably begin the search, unless a different start date is confirmed in writing.
- The service does not guarantee that a matching vehicle will appear.
- It does not guarantee that a vehicle will remain available long enough to purchase.
- It does not guarantee a winning bid, final purchase price, condition, transportation time, title outcome, financing, registration, or resale value.
- Search results depend on available inventory, auction-source data, timing, client criteria, budget, and legal eligibility.
How the $299 Credit Works
If you complete an eligible vehicle purchase through our authorized process during the applicable engagement, the $299 Auction Search Fee will be credited toward the separate purchase-assistance, transaction, or commission/service fee disclosed to you before the purchase, where permitted by law.
The $299 is a credit, not cash back. It cannot create a negative balance, cannot exceed the separate eligible fee, has no cash value, and cannot be transferred to another customer or unrelated transaction unless we agree in writing.
If the transaction must be handled by a licensed dealer, autobroker, broker, auction participant, or other authorized third party, the credit applies only if that written transaction arrangement expressly accepts the credit.
If You Do Not Buy a Car
The $299 Auction Search Fee remains non-refundable after the search service begins even if you do not purchase a vehicle.
You are paying for the research team's seven days of time and work—not for a guaranteed purchase result. The fee covers activities such as monitoring inventory, filtering listings, reviewing available condition/history information, market comparison, communications, and candidate screening.
Choosing not to buy, changing your mind, failing to respond, obtaining a vehicle elsewhere, changing your budget, changing your criteria, or not finding a satisfactory vehicle does not convert the research fee into a refundable deposit.
Criteria Changes & Extensions
Your initial criteria should be realistic and sufficiently specific. Material changes to make/model, budget, location, title requirements, mileage, or other core criteria may require restarting or extending the search and may involve an additional fee.
Unless expressly included in writing, unused days do not roll over and the search does not continue indefinitely after the seven-day service period. Any extension must be purchased or approved in writing before additional work begins.
Your Responsibilities
You are responsible for providing accurate criteria, responding in a commercially reasonable time when a time-sensitive opportunity appears, reviewing documents before signing, arranging funds/financing, obtaining insurance, and completing required title/registration steps.
You must independently confirm any fact that is material to your purchase when the source is third-party information. Do not rely on a listing photo, seller statement, history report, auction announcement, or our summary as a substitute for appropriate verification.
No Mechanical or History Guarantee
Vehicle-history databases, auction condition reports, photos, seller disclosures, inspection reports and other third-party information can be incomplete, delayed, inaccurate, or unavailable. We do not warrant that every prior accident, repair, title event, mechanical defect, flood event, odometer issue, lien, recall, or future failure will be discovered.
Any independent mechanic, inspector, body shop, transport company, history-report provider, auction, seller, lender, or other third party is responsible for its own work and representations.
Market Values Are Estimates
Market ranges, suggested offer amounts, projected auction maximums, ownership-cost estimates and similar numbers are opinions based on information available at the time. Vehicle markets can change quickly and actual sale prices vary.
You remain the final decision-maker. Unless a separate legally authorized written arrangement expressly provides otherwise, you decide whether to bid, buy, finance, transport, insure, register, or reject a vehicle.
Availability & Third-Party Rules
We do not promise unrestricted consumer access to every auction or every vehicle. Inventory, eligibility, bidding rights, payment requirements, buyer fees, arbitration rules, release procedures, transportation and title procedures vary by auction and jurisdiction.
Any activity requiring an occupational license or other authorization will be provided only where legally permitted and, when required, through an appropriately licensed or authorized party.
What Your Service Fee Does Not Include
Unless expressly included in writing, our advisory/research fees do not include the vehicle purchase price, auction buyer fees, dealer fees, taxes, title or registration charges, smog/emissions costs, mechanical inspection fees, diagnostic fees, transportation, storage, insurance, financing charges, warranties, repairs, reconditioning, travel expenses, or third-party professional fees.
Appointments & Missed Calls
Appointments may be rescheduled subject to our availability when adequate notice is provided. A missed appointment, late arrival, or failure to provide requested documents may reduce the time available during a reserved session.
Once our team has begun research, reviewed documents/listings, prepared for the consultation, or conducted the scheduled call, the service is considered started for refund purposes.
Billing Disputes
If you believe there is a billing error, contact us first and provide the transaction details so we can review it. A disagreement with our recommendation, failure to purchase a vehicle, or dissatisfaction with auction availability does not by itself mean the agreed research/advisory service was not delivered.
Nothing in this section limits rights that cannot legally be waived.
Educational & Advisory Information
Our service is not legal, tax, accounting, insurance, lending, engineering, or mechanical-repair advice. When a transaction raises legal, tax, licensing, financing, title, structural, or mechanical questions, use an appropriately qualified professional for that issue.
Applicable Law Can Differ
Vehicle-purchase, dealer, autobroker, auction, title, tax, registration, cancellation and consumer-protection rules vary by state and can change. California-specific guidance on this website applies only when relevant to a California transaction.
Nothing in these terms is intended to waive a non-waivable consumer protection or legal right. If a provision conflicts with mandatory applicable law, that law controls to the required extent.
No Guaranteed Outcome
We do not guarantee savings, a minimum discount, a specific auction result, financing approval, vehicle availability, mechanical reliability, resale value, profitability, or that any particular vehicle will meet your personal needs.
Our obligation is to perform the purchased research/advisory scope in good faith using the information and access reasonably available during the engagement.
Changes to These Terms
We may update these website terms prospectively as our services, pricing, auction sources, legal requirements, or operational procedures change. The version associated with your booking or transaction applies unless you agree to a later version.
Last updated: September 10, 2026.