Terms of Service

Welcome to Garisea. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Garisea platform — including the public website at garisea.com, the Garisea mobile apps for iOS and Android, and any related services (collectively, the “Platform”). By creating an account or using the Platform, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use Garisea.

Francton Limited, operating as Garisea (“Garisea”, “we”, “us”), runs the Platform: a vehicle marketplace that connects buyers in Kenya with dealers, with lenders selling cars they have repossessed, and with licensed lenders, insurers and other automotive businesses (“partners”). Garisea is NOT a party to any vehicle sale, financing arrangement, or insurance contract — those are between you and the seller, lender or insurer.

Dealers using the dealer console at dealer.garisea.com or the dealer side of the app are also bound by the Dealer Terms, and partners using partner.garisea.com by the Partner Terms. Those Terms, and the refund policies they link to, set out plans, payments, renewals, VAT and refunds; these Terms don't repeat them. Where they differ from these Terms, they apply to dealer and partner conduct.

• You must be at least 18 years old to create an account or transact on Garisea.
• You must be legally capable of entering into binding agreements under Kenyan law.
• You must provide accurate, current, and complete information when creating an account.
• You may not use Garisea if you have previously been banned or suspended from the Platform.
• You may not use Garisea on behalf of someone else (e.g. through a shared family account) without that person's informed permission.

To inquire about a vehicle, save favourites, leave a review, or request a test drive or trade-in valuation, you need a Garisea customer account. That includes an enquiry or test-drive request the Garisea Assistant sends for you, which it sends only after you tap Confirm. You can browse listings, read reviews and chat with the Garisea Assistant without signing up.

You can create an account using:

• Email address + password
• Sign in with Apple (iOS)
• Sign in with Google

You're responsible for keeping your password confidential and for everything that happens under your account. Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access. We'll temporarily lock your account after 5 failed login attempts in 30 minutes and email you about it.

You can delete your account at any time in Profile → Settings → Delete Account, on the website or in the app. When you delete your account, we anonymise it straight away, remove your name, email address and phone number from the enquiries and offer claims you sent, remove your contact details from the messages you wrote, and show “Former user” on your reviews. We keep what the law requires, such as the audit log. See our Privacy Policy (Sections 7 and 9).

Garisea is a marketplace facilitator. We list vehicles posted by dealers, and by lenders selling cars they have repossessed, connect buyers with those sellers, and provide tools (messaging, test-drive scheduling, trade-in valuation requests, financing/insurance quote requests).

What Garisea is NOT:

• Not a vehicle seller — we don't own or stock vehicles. The seller is the dealer, or the lender, listing the vehicle.
• Not a party to the transaction — when you buy a vehicle, the sale contract is between you and the seller. Payment, delivery, registration, and warranty are arranged between you and the seller directly.
• Not a financing institution — financing is offered by licensed third-party partners. Garisea is not a credit issuer and doesn't make lending decisions.
• Not an insurance provider — motor insurance is offered by licensed third-party partners. Garisea is not an insurance broker.
• Not a payment service for vehicles — buyers pay Garisea nothing, and payment for a vehicle is arranged off-platform between you and the seller. Dealers and partners pay Garisea for plans, packs and advertising under the Dealer Terms and Partner Terms.

Bank recovery sales. Some cars are listed by a lender selling a car it has repossessed. They are marked “Bank recovery” and the car page names the lender. The lender is the seller, and Garisea isn't a party to the sale. Unless the listing says otherwise, these cars are sold as-is, with no warranty from the lender. Each listing says whether its price is a guide, a reserve or a fixed price, and each sale has a closing date, after which the car comes off Garisea and enquiries are closed. Recovery listings are never promoted or advertised. Read the condition notes, view the car and check its papers before you commit.

Ads and promoted listings. Businesses can pay to advertise on Garisea. Dealers can pay to promote a listing, which can place it higher in search results; a promoted listing shows a “Sponsored” label, and a listing with an active vehicle ad shows “Featured”. Sponsor cards and full-screen ads show “Sponsored” with the advertiser's name. Banners and page takeovers, including the strip above the site header and the strips at the top of a page, are always ads, even where they carry no label.

Because we're a facilitator and not the seller, we don't guarantee the accuracy of listings, the quality or condition of vehicles, the truthfulness of dealer claims, or the outcome of any transaction. Verify everything independently before transacting — inspect the vehicle in person, do a test drive, request the logbook, run a KRA-stamped TIMS check.

Sellers — dealers, and lenders selling repossessed cars — are solely responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and legality of their vehicle listings, including:

• Make, model, year, mileage, fuel type, transmission, body type, condition
• Price, currency, financing terms (if quoted)
• The payment methods they accept
• Whether import duty has been paid
• Photos and video walkthroughs
• Vehicle history disclosures (accidents, service, modifications)
• Title status (logbook, NTSA registration, customs clearance for imports)
• Availability (whether the vehicle is sold, reserved, or still active)

Badges and labels. A “Verified” badge on a dealer means we reviewed business documents the dealer gave us, such as its registration certificate. Dealers apply and pay a fee for the badge, and many don't hold one. Garisea lists a dealer as an “Official Dealership” for a brand only while it holds an approved authorised-brand badge for that brand, which we check against documents the dealer gave us; if that badge is revoked or expires, the Official listing is removed. A “Verified” label on an individual car is set only by Garisea; a dealer can't add it to its own car. None of these is a guarantee of any vehicle or of the dealer's conduct, by Garisea or by a brand.

Apart from that label, we do not verify individual listings. If you suspect a listing is fraudulent, misleading, or violates our Acceptable Use Policy, choose Report listing from the menu (⋮) on the listing page and our trust & safety team will review within 24 hours.

When you decide to buy a vehicle from a dealer (or a lender) you found on Garisea, the transaction is between you and that seller. Garisea facilitates discovery and initial contact but is not a party to the sale. You and the seller agree your own terms — price, payment method, delivery, registration transfer, warranties. If something goes wrong after you buy, see our Returns & Refunds page.

Contacting a seller. Tapping Call or WhatsApp on a listing first sends the seller an enquiry with your details. We show you a dealer's phone number only when the dealer's plan covers that enquiry; otherwise the dealer replies to you in Garisea.

How you can pay. The payment methods shown on a car page are the ones the seller chose. If the seller hasn't chosen any, none are shown. Garisea doesn't process, hold or guarantee any payment for a vehicle.

Special and duty-free prices. Some distributors and Official Dealerships offer prices for certain buyers: diplomats and international-organisation staff with an exemption, fleet buyers, or NGOs and UN agencies. The dealer gives these prices on request. Garisea doesn't check whether you qualify; eligibility and the paperwork are between you, the dealer and the authorities. A car marked “Duty not paid” was imported duty-free: unless you are exempt, you must pay the import duty to KRA before it can be registered in your name. Ask the dealer for the amount.

Offers after you buy. If a dealer records that you bought a car you enquired about on Garisea, or you confirm that you bought one after the dealer marked it sold, you may see offers for your car from service, parts, tyre and detailing businesses, and from banks and insurers (motor cover and car finance only), on Garisea for 60 days. We check each offer before it appears, but the business makes the offer, and its terms are between you and that business. When you claim an offer, we send that business an enquiry with your name, email address, phone number and the car, and give you a code to show them. The code works once, only at that business, and only while the offer runs. You can cancel a claim you haven't used.

If a dealer doesn't respond. When you contact a dealer about a vehicle through Garisea and they don't respond within a reasonable time, Garisea may share your inquiry — including the contact details you provided — with one or more other dealers who have a similar vehicle, so you still get help finding the car you want. We'll let you know when we do this. You can opt out of being connected to alternative dealers, or ask us to delete your inquiry, at any time by contacting support. Any resulting conversation is a direct buyer-dealer interaction that Garisea is not a party to.

We strongly recommend:

• Inspect the vehicle in person before paying.
• Test drive the vehicle.
• Verify the logbook is in the dealer's name and matches the vehicle's chassis number.
• Run a TIMS check at NTSA to confirm there's no outstanding chattels mortgage or theft report.
• Get every commitment (price, included accessories, warranty terms) in writing before paying.
• Use traceable payment methods (M-Pesa with full reference, cheque, EFT) — avoid large cash payments without a receipt.

Garisea provides in-app messaging so you have a record of pre-sale communication. Once a sale is agreed, you're free to communicate off-platform. Garisea has no visibility into off-platform interactions and is not responsible for outcomes there.

Garisea lists licensed lenders and motor insurers in Kenya. When you ask for a quote:

• if you choose a lender or insurer, we send your request only to that partner; and
• if you choose “No preference”, we may share your request with up to 5 licensed partners that can serve the vehicle. One of them may see it first, for a short time, before the others. If the car is a bank recovery sale, the lender selling it may see your finance request first.

We share your contact details and the details of your request so partners can contact you with options. Our Privacy Policy (Section 6.2) explains what each partner receives.

How we order partners. When you have chosen a vehicle, we list lenders and insurers by what you would actually pay for it, lowest first; partners that don't cover a vehicle of that age are shown last. Otherwise we list them by the rate they advertise. A partner's paid plan only breaks ties; a higher position can't be bought.

Financing quotes are not pre-approvals or commitments. Final approval, interest rate, and terms are at the partner's sole discretion based on their underwriting criteria. Garisea isn't a party to the loan agreement.

Insurance quotes are subject to the partner's underwriting and risk assessment. The insurance contract, if you accept a quote, is between you and the insurer.

Partners may have their own privacy policies — review them before accepting any quote. Garisea is not responsible for partner conduct beyond the initial referral.

You can review dealers, vehicles and partner businesses. Anyone may review a dealer or a car; you don't need to have sent an enquiry first. You can review a partner business only after you have contacted it through Garisea. Your review shows your name and profile photo. Garisea's admins moderate reviews and may remove any review that breaks these rules, is fake, or isn't about a genuine experience. Reviews must be:

• Honest — reflect your actual experience.
• Based on first-hand experience — don't review dealers you haven't actually interacted with.
• Free of personal attacks, hate speech, or threats — critique the experience, not the person.
• Free of confidential information — don't post phone numbers, ID numbers, or other personal data of dealer staff.

By posting a review, message, photo, or any other content (collectively, “User Content”), you grant Garisea a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence to host, display, reproduce, and modify it for the purpose of operating and promoting the Platform. This licence ends when you delete the content (except where the content has been re-shared beyond our control or is required to be retained by law). If you delete your account, your reviews stay published under “Former user” and the licence continues for them.

You represent that User Content you post is your own, you have the right to share it, and posting it doesn't violate anyone else's rights (copyright, privacy, defamation).

We may moderate, hide, or remove User Content that violates these Terms, our Acceptable Use Policy, or applicable law. Take-down requests for IP infringement are handled per our DMCA / IP Takedown procedure.

You agree not to:

• Post false, misleading, fraudulent, or stolen content.
• Use Garisea to harass, threaten, defame, or impersonate any person.
• Scrape, crawl, or automatically harvest data from the Platform without our written permission.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from the Platform.
• Bypass authentication, rate limits, or other security measures.
• Interfere with the Platform's normal operation (e.g. denial-of-service, mass-account creation, fake leads).
• Use the Platform for any illegal purpose, including selling stolen vehicles, vehicles imported in violation of Kenyan law, or vehicles with tampered chassis numbers / odometers.
• Use Garisea to launder money, finance terrorism, or facilitate corruption.
• Solicit Garisea users to take their transaction off-platform specifically to avoid platform fees if you're a dealer (dealer-specific rule — see Dealer Terms).

The full conduct rules are in our Acceptable Use Policy.

Every listing, dealer profile, message, and review on Garisea can be reported. On a listing or dealer page, Report is in the menu (⋮). Choose it, pick a reason, and our moderation team reviews within 24 hours. Take-down on confirmed violations is same-day during business hours.

You can also Block any dealer (customer side) or any customer (dealer side) from your dealer profile, inquiry thread, or lead detail screen. Blocking stops the other party from messaging you and removes their messages from your inbox. They can still see your public listings (blocking is for direct interaction, not visibility). Unblock anytime from Profile → Blocked Users.

The Garisea name, logo, designs, software, and all original content published by Garisea (excluding User Content posted by users) are owned by Francton Limited and protected by Kenyan and international copyright, trademark, and trade-secret laws.

You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or create derivative works of any part of the Platform without our explicit written permission. You may share links to public pages on social media or via direct messaging — that's encouraged.

If you believe content on Garisea infringes your intellectual property, see our DMCA / IP Takedown Notice procedure for how to file a takedown notice.

Garisea is provided “as is” and “as available.” We don't warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free of viruses. We don't warrant the accuracy, completeness, or legality of dealer listings, financing offers, insurance quotes, or user reviews. Use of the Platform is at your own risk. To the maximum extent permitted by Kenyan law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

Estimates, comparisons and guides. Running-cost estimates, price comparisons (such as “Great price” or “Fair price”), finance and insurance estimates, and our guides are general information worked out from data we hold, which may be out of date or incomplete. A price comparison sets a listing's asking price against similar cars listed on Garisea. None of these is a quote, a valuation or advice. Charging-point details come from the energy businesses that run them, and the charging page lists only points run by businesses on Garisea, not every charger in Kenya. A running-cost estimate names the source of its figures, and any business that sponsors it is labelled as a sponsor. Check anything that matters with the seller, lender, insurer or operator before you rely on it.

To the maximum extent permitted by Kenyan law, Garisea, Francton Limited, and its directors, employees, contractors, and affiliates will not be liable for:

• Any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill.
• Loss arising from your transaction with any dealer, financing partner, or insurance partner introduced through Garisea.
• Loss arising from your reliance on any vehicle listing, dealer description, review, or other User Content.
• Unauthorised access to your account caused by your failure to keep your credentials confidential.
• Service interruptions due to maintenance, outages at our hosting and infrastructure providers, or force majeure.

Our total aggregate liability for any direct damages, whatever the cause, is limited to the greater of (a) any amount you paid to Garisea in the 12 months immediately before the event giving rise to the claim (for buyers, this is typically zero since buyers don't pay Garisea directly), or (b) KSh 5,000. This limit does not apply to liability that can't legally be limited under Kenyan law (e.g. death or personal injury caused by our negligence).

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Francton Limited and its directors, employees, and affiliates from any claim, demand, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your breach of these Terms, your User Content, your use of the Platform, or your transaction with any dealer or partner introduced through Garisea.

You can close your account at any time from Profile → Delete Account.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Platform if you breach these Terms, our Acceptable Use Policy, or applicable law; if you engage in fraudulent or abusive behavior; or if your account is dormant for more than 24 months. Where possible we'll notify you and give you a chance to appeal, but we reserve the right to act immediately when the Platform or its users are at risk.

Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (Intellectual Property, Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Governing Law, Dispute Resolution) will survive.

We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes to our service, sub-processors, applicable law, or business model. Material changes will be communicated by email at least 14 days before they take effect, with an in-app notice. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent revision. Continuing to use Garisea after a Terms update means you accept the updated Terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Kenya. Any dispute arising from or relating to your use of Garisea will first be addressed through good-faith negotiation between you and Francton Limited. Email [email protected] with a clear description of the issue and what you'd like to see happen.

If informal resolution fails, the dispute will be submitted to mediation in Nairobi, Kenya. If mediation also fails, the dispute will be referred to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Kenya, with the High Court in Nairobi as the primary venue.

Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking urgent injunctive relief from any competent court.

• Entire agreement. These Terms (together with the Privacy Policy, Acceptable Use Policy, Cookie Policy, Returns & Refunds page, and DMCA notice referenced) constitute the entire agreement between you and Garisea about the Platform, and supersede any prior agreements.
• Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full effect.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce a right or provision in any one instance doesn't waive our right to enforce it later.
• Assignment. You may not transfer your account or obligations under these Terms without our written consent. We may assign these Terms to a successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• Notices. We send notices to the email address on your account. You give notice to us at [email protected].
• Force majeure. Neither party is liable for failure to perform under these Terms due to events beyond reasonable control (e.g. natural disaster, war, government action, internet backbone failure, sub-processor outage).

• Legal, support, and trust and safety: [email protected]
• Francton Limited, operating as Garisea.