Terms of use

What this service is

KowskiCars is a listing and introduction service for private-party used cars in the Chicago metropolitan area. A seller publishes a car. A buyer finds it. The two of them deal with each other directly.

Kowski Labs LLC is not a dealer, a broker, an escrow agent, an auctioneer or a lender. It does not handle, hold, transmit or refund any money that moves between a buyer and a seller. It does not take title to any vehicle. It does not inspect, test, warrant, certify or guarantee any vehicle listed here, and nobody from KowskiCars has seen any of them.

Who may use it

An account holder is at least 18 years old, is a private individual and not a licensed dealer, and passes the identity check described in the privacy policy before listing a car or messaging anyone. Browsing and searching are open to anyone with no account at all.

Cars sell for cash here. There is no financing product, no payment plan and no escrow on this site, and a listing that advertises one is not a listing this service supports.

Dealers

This marketplace exists because dealers post as private sellers elsewhere. Two listings run at a time per account. More than three cars in a year goes to a person for review. An account that behaves like a dealership comes down, and so do its listings.

Illinois law sets its own threshold for when selling cars makes somebody a dealer who needs a license. That threshold is the law's business and not ours, and the limits above are not legal advice about it.

What a seller is responsible for

A listing is the seller's statement about the seller's own car. The seller owns the car or is authorized to sell it, the VIN is the VIN on the vehicle, the mileage is what the odometer reads, the title status is stated honestly, an existing lien is disclosed, and the photographs are of that car.

Federal and Illinois law both require a written odometer disclosure at the point of transfer, and a title transfer is between the two parties and the Illinois Secretary of State. KowskiCars is not part of either.

What we do not know about a car

Vehicle records shown here come from federal and manufacturer sources and are incomplete by nature. A record can show that a car has a problem. No record can prove that a car does not.

Listings carry a plain statement of which checks have and have not run against that specific car. Nothing here is a condition grade, a valuation or a recommendation.

Things we sell

Two of them, and neither is a car. The Seller Kit is a one-off purchase for one listing: a week of Front Page placement and a code for a CarBluff Seller Pass. Paid placement makes a listing more visible for a fixed period and changes nothing else about it, including whether it is marked as verified.

Stripe processes the payment. A problem with a purchase goes to help@kowskicars.com and a person answers it.

Conduct

Accounts that post a car they do not have, reuse a VIN across identities, solicit payment before a car is seen, ask for a deposit to hold a vehicle, or use this site to reach people for something other than buying and selling a car, are removed. So are listings for anything that is not a car.

An account can be suspended while something is looked at. An appeal reaches a person rather than a form.

Disclaimer and risk

This service is provided as it is. Kowski Labs LLC does not warrant that a listing is accurate, that a seller is who they say they are beyond the result of the identity check, that a car is roadworthy, or that any sale completes.

Meeting a stranger, inspecting a vehicle, agreeing a price and handing over money are decisions made by the two people involved. What is known about how these sales go wrong is written down on the checks page, as facts rather than instructions.

Governing law

These terms and any dispute arising out of them are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. Kowski Labs LLC is an Illinois limited liability company, and this service operates in Illinois only.

Changes

A changed version of these terms gets a new version number and a new effective date at the top of this page. The biometric consent is versioned separately, and changing its words never changes what an earlier signature said.

Reaching us

Every route in is on the contact page.