Terms of Service

1. Agreement and parties

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) are a contract between Cosmic Vista LLC (“Motorsmith”, “we”, “us”) and the business that creates a Motorsmith account (“you”, “your shop”). They cover the website at https://usemotorsmith.com, the application at https://app.usemotorsmith.com, and the customer-facing links the application generates on your behalf, such as online booking, estimate approval, payment and inspection-report links (together, the “Service”).

By creating an account, clicking to accept, or using the Service after the effective date above, you agree to these Terms. If you accept on behalf of a business, you confirm that you have authority to bind it. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Three related documents form part of this agreement:

• The Privacy Policy, which explains what we collect and how we handle it.
• The SMS Program page, which describes the text messages the Service sends.
• The Payment Terms, shown inside the application under Card & Bank Payments, which you accept separately before you take card payments from customers (see section 7).

If these Terms and the Payment Terms say different things about card payments, the Payment Terms control for that subject.

2. Who can use Motorsmith

• Business use only. Motorsmith is built for automotive repair and service businesses. It is not a consumer product, and you may not use it for personal, family or household purposes.
• 18 or older. Anyone who creates an account or is added as a team member must be at least 18 years old.
• United States. We currently offer the Service to businesses located in the United States. Prices are in US dollars.
• Your own compliance. You are responsible for the laws that apply to your shop, including business licensing, written-estimate and consumer-repair rules in your state, tax collection, and employment law for your team.

3. Your account and your team

The person who creates the shop holds the owner account. The owner can invite team members, give them roles, and remove them. What each team member can see and do is set by the roles you assign; the number of users is limited by your plan.

• Give us accurate information about your business and keep it current.
• Keep passwords and one-time codes to yourself. Each person should use their own login.
• You are responsible for everything done under your account, including by your team members and by anyone you let use a login. We act on instructions from any user who has permission to give them.
• Tell us at info@usemotorsmith.com as soon as you suspect someone has accessed your account without permission.
• We may ask you to verify a phone number or email address with a one-time code before certain actions.

4. Plans, pricing and limits

Motorsmith is sold as a subscription. The plans, their prices and what each includes are listed on the pricing page. At the effective date of these Terms they are:

• Starter: $49 per month, or $490 per year (optional add-ons: Labor guide +$29/mo).
• Professional: $119 per month, or $1190 per year.
• Business: $199 per month, or $1990 per year.
• Enterprise: priced by quote.

A yearly plan is billed once at the price of ten months, which is where “two months free” comes from. Prices exclude sales and use taxes, which we add where the law requires.

Limits. Each plan carries limits, for example on users, storage, license-plate lookups, text messages and, on some plans, invoices. They are listed on the pricing page and inside the application. When you reach a limit, the related action pauses until you upgrade, buy an add-on, or the monthly allowance resets. We never delete your data because you hit a limit.

Add-ons. Some features can be bought on top of a plan. The price is shown in the application before you buy, and add-ons bill on the same cycle as your plan unless the purchase screen says otherwise.

Price changes. We may change prices. We will email the owner at least 30 days before a change takes effect, and the new price applies from your next renewal after that notice. If you do not want the new price, cancel before it takes effect.

5. The free trial

Every new shop starts with a 14-day free trial. The trial gives you the Professional feature set so you can see the whole product, with caps on the things that cost real money to run:

• 10 license-plate lookups in total during the trial.
• 2 GB of storage for photos, video and documents.
• Text messaging to customers is not included in the trial.

One trial per business. We may refuse or end a trial when it is being used to avoid paying, for example by opening repeat trials for the same shop.

6. Billing, renewal and cancellation

Subscriptions are billed in advance, monthly or yearly, to the card you put on file. Payments are processed by Stripe. By choosing a plan you authorize us to charge that card for the plan, any add-ons you buy, and applicable taxes.

• Refunds. Fees are non-refundable and we do not prorate for cancelling mid-period, except where the law requires or where these Terms say otherwise. If we discontinue the Service or remove a core feature you paid for, we refund the unused part of any prepaid period.
• Failed payments. If a charge fails we retry and notify the owner. If the subscription is still unpaid 14 days after the due date the account becomes read-only; after 30 days we may close it.
• Billing questions. Tell us about a billing error within 60 days of the charge and we will look into it and correct any mistake on our side.
• Upgrades and downgrades. Upgrades take effect immediately and are charged pro rata for the rest of the period. Downgrades take effect at the next renewal. If a downgrade would put you over a limit of the smaller plan, the related actions pause until you are within the limit.

7. Taking card payments from your customers (Stripe)

The Service lets you take card and bank payments from your customers, including by payment links sent by email or text. Payments are processed by Stripe, Inc. To use this feature you open a Stripe connected account through the application. That account is governed by the Stripe Connected Account Agreement (which includes the Stripe Services Agreement), a contract between you and Stripe that we are not a party to and cannot change.

What it costs. Card payments are processed by Stripe at Stripe's published rate: 2.9% + 30¢ per card payment and 0.8% (max $5) on bank transfers. We add no markup. The exact rates in force are shown in the application before you enable payments.

The Payment Terms control. Everything about payments between you and us, including fees, payout timing, refunds and how fees are handled on a refund, disputes and chargebacks, negative balances, holds, goods you may not sell through the Service, and tax forms, is set out in the Payment Terms inside the application (Card & Bank Payments, then Payment terms). They are issued by Cosmic Vista LLC, governed by the law of Texas like these Terms, and you accept them separately before payments are switched on. Each version of the Payment Terms carries its own version number; when it changes you will be asked to accept the new version before continuing to take payments.

• We are not a bank, a money transmitter or a payment processor. We do not hold your funds; Stripe does, and Stripe pays them out to you.
• You are the seller to your customers. Refunds, disputes and chargebacks on your sales are your responsibility and are charged to your connected account as the Payment Terms describe.
• Card numbers are entered on Stripe-hosted fields and never pass through our servers.

8. Your customers’ data and your media

You own it. The repair orders, customer and vehicle records, estimates, invoices, inspection photos and videos, notes, documents and everything else you or your team put into the Service (“Shop Data”) belong to you. We do not claim ownership of any of it.

What you let us do with it. You give us a limited, non-exclusive license to host, store, copy, transmit and display Shop Data, only as needed to run the Service for you: for example, to show an inspection report to the customer you send it to, to build a PDF, to process a payment, to keep backups, and to comply with the law. That license ends when the data is deleted, subject to backup cycles. We may also use data that does not identify you or your customers, such as how often features are used, to run and improve the Service. We do not sell Shop Data.

Your responsibilities.

• You have the right to upload what you upload, and to give us the license above.
• You collect your customers’ information lawfully and tell them how you use it. We process Shop Data on your instructions; you are the business your customers have a relationship with.
• Inspection photos and videos are of the vehicle and the work. Do not record people, documents or property you have no right to record.
• You handle your customers’ privacy requests about Shop Data. We help you do that, as described in the Privacy Policy.

Customer-facing links. Booking, estimate approval, payment and inspection-report links can be opened by anyone who has the link, and some of them ask the viewer to confirm a code sent to the customer’s phone or email. Send links only to the customer they belong to.

Feedback. If you send us suggestions, we may use them without owing you anything.

9. Text messages

Account and support texts from Motorsmith

Program name. Motorsmith.

What it sends. Account and support messages to a shop’s account holders: onboarding, billing and renewal notices, and replies to questions you text us. Support replies are sent only in answer to a text you sent first. The program sends no marketing. Verification codes for sign-in, sign-up and password reset are delivered by a separate verification service and are not part of this program.

Consent is optional. You opt in by ticking the separate text-message box on the Register form at https://app.usemotorsmith.com/sign-up. It is not a condition of using the Service, and your account is created whether or not you tick it. We send one confirmation when you opt in.

Frequency. Message frequency varies: a confirmation when you opt in, a few account notices in a typical month, and one reply per question you text us.

Opting out and help. Reply STOP to any message to opt out; you will get one confirmation and no further texts. Reply HELP for help, or contact support at info@usemotorsmith.com.

Cost and delivery. Message and data rates may apply. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your mobile number, and the SMS Program page describes every message in full.

Texting your customers

The Service can send text messages to your customers, for example appointment confirmations and reminders, from a phone number we control under the Motorsmith program described on the SMS Program page. Every message leads with your shop name. For the purposes of the law, you are the sender of messages the Service sends to your customers, and you are responsible for having the right to send them.

You must:

• Get each customer’s express consent before they are texted, as required by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the CTIA messaging principles and your state’s law.
• Use the consent wording the Service provides, on the public booking page and in the customer record, and never pre-tick a consent box.
• Record consent you collect in person or by phone truthfully in the customer record, and only after the customer actually gave it.
• Not upload or import phone numbers that have not consented.
• Honor opt-outs. The Service processes STOP automatically and will not text a number that has opted out; do not try to work around that.
• Keep messages to the appointment or transaction they relate to. The Service is not for marketing texts.
• Respect quiet hours. By default the Service does not send between 9 PM and 8 AM in your shop’s time zone; if you change that window, the consequences are yours.

Messages draw on the text allowance included in your plan or credits you buy. We may suspend texting for your account, without refund of credits, if carriers complain, opt-out rates spike, or we reasonably believe consent was not obtained. Texting depends on carrier registration and networks we do not control, so it may be unavailable at times and we do not guarantee delivery.

10. Acceptable use

Use the Service to run your shop, and only that. You may not:

• Break the law, or help anyone else break it, using the Service.
• Upload anything you do not have the right to upload, or anything that infringes someone else’s rights.
• Upload malware, or probe, scan or test the security of the Service without our written permission.
• Access another shop’s account or data, or try to.
• Copy, modify, reverse-engineer, resell, sublicense or build a competing product from the Service.
• Scrape the Service or use automated tools to pull data out of it, other than exports we provide.
• Work around plan limits, for example by opening multiple trials for one shop or sharing one login among many people.
• Send messages through the Service that are unlawful, deceptive, harassing or unconsented.
• Use vehicle, labor or plate-lookup data for anything other than serving the customer in front of you.
• Interfere with the Service or put an unreasonable load on it.

11. Third-party services and data sources

Some parts of the Service rely on other companies. Card payments are covered in section 7. In addition:

• Vehicle data, labor guide and license-plate lookups are sourced from third-party providers and shown to help you write estimates and identify vehicles. Labor times are guides, not a promise of how long a job will take; vehicle records can be incomplete or wrong. Check before you rely on them, and before you quote a customer. Availability of these sources is outside our control, and their terms may apply to your use of the results.
• Parts ordering is coming and is not part of the Service today. When it launches it may carry its own terms, which we will show you before you use it.
• The Service may link to websites and services we do not operate. We are not responsible for them.

12. Our intellectual property

The Service, including its software, design, documentation, the Motorsmith name and logo, belongs to Cosmic Vista LLC or our licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark and other laws. For as long as your subscription is active and you follow these Terms, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service for your shop. No other rights are granted. Open-source components included in the Service are licensed under their own terms.

13. Availability, support and changes to the Service

• Availability. We work to keep the Service up and fast, but we do not guarantee it will be uninterrupted or error-free. We schedule maintenance outside typical shop hours where we can and notify you of planned downtime that we expect to be significant.
• Support. Email support at info@usemotorsmith.com. Business plans get priority support and onboarding. Support covers using the Service; it does not cover repairing vehicles, legal or tax advice.
• Changes. We add, change and occasionally remove features. If we remove a feature that is central to a plan you pay for, we give at least 30 days’ notice. Features labelled beta or preview are offered as-is and may change or disappear without notice.
• Keeping current. Use a supported, up-to-date browser. Some features, such as VIN scanning and inspection video, need camera access on your device.

14. Disclaimer of warranties

15. Limitation of liability

16. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless Cosmic Vista LLC and its owners, employees and contractors from any claim, loss, liability, damage and expense, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to: Shop Data; text messages or other communications you send through the Service; the repairs, services and goods you sell to your customers; your breach of these Terms; or your violation of any law or of anyone’s rights. We will notify you promptly of a claim and may take part in the defense with our own counsel at our expense. You may not settle a claim that admits fault on our behalf without our written consent.

17. Suspension, termination and getting your data out

By you. Cancel your subscription at any time as described in section 6. To close the account entirely, email info@usemotorsmith.com from the owner’s address.

By us. We may suspend or end your access if you breach these Terms, do not pay, use the Service in a way that creates legal or security risk for us or others, or leave the account unused for more than 12 months after we have emailed a warning. Where we reasonably can, we give notice and a chance to fix the problem first; where the law or a security threat requires, we act immediately.

Getting your data out. While your account is active, and during the 30-day read-only window after a trial ends or a subscription is cancelled, you can print and export reports from the application. On request during that window we will also provide a copy of your Shop Data in a common machine-readable format, with your original photos, videos and documents.

Deletion. 30 days after an account ends we delete its Shop Data from our live systems, and it leaves our backups on their normal cycle within 90 days after that. We keep what the law requires us to keep, for example payment and tax records, and data that no longer identifies you or your customers.

Sections 7 through 9 (as to past activity), 12, and 14 through 21 survive the end of this agreement.

18. Governing law and where disputes go

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas and applicable federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

Talk to us first. If you have a dispute with us, email info@usemotorsmith.com with the details. We will try to resolve it with you informally within 30 days before either of us goes to court.

Courts. Any dispute that is not resolved informally will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Texas, and you consent to their jurisdiction. Either party may bring a qualifying claim in small-claims court, and either party may seek an injunction in any court to protect its intellectual property or confidential information.

19. Changes to these Terms

We may change these Terms. For material changes we will email the owner and show a notice in the application at least 30 days before the new Terms take effect; for minor changes, such as clarifications, we update the version and effective date at the top of this page. If you keep using the Service after a change takes effect, you accept it. If you do not agree, cancel before the effective date. Earlier versions are available on request to info@usemotorsmith.com.

20. General terms

• Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, the SMS Program page and the Payment Terms are the whole agreement between you and us about the Service and replace any earlier discussions.
• Assignment. You may not transfer this agreement without our written consent. We may transfer it in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of the business, and will tell you if we do.
• Notices. We send notices to the owner’s email address on the account. You send notices to info@usemotorsmith.com and, for legal notices, by mail to Cosmic Vista LLC, 9425 Rolater Road, Apt 338, Frisco, TX 75035.
• Force majeure. Neither of us is liable for failing to perform because of events beyond our reasonable control, such as natural disasters, power or network failures, carrier outages, or acts of government. Payment obligations are not excused.
• Severability and waiver. If a court finds part of these Terms unenforceable, the rest stays in force. Not enforcing a term is not a waiver of it.
• Relationship. We are independent contractors. Nothing here creates a partnership, agency or employment relationship, and there are no third-party beneficiaries.
• Export and sanctions. You confirm that you are not on a US government restricted-party list and will not use the Service in violation of US export or sanctions law.
• Electronic agreement. Accepting these Terms by clicking or by using the Service has the same effect as signing them.

21. Contact

Cosmic Vista LLC
9425 Rolater Road, Apt 338, Frisco, TX 75035
Email: info@usemotorsmith.com

You can also use the contact form on our website.