Terms of Service

1.1 These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern the use of the website hipo-registry.com (the "Website") and all services offered through it by HiPo Registry (the "Service").

1.2 Deviating terms of the user do not apply unless the provider expressly agrees to them in writing.

1.3 Definitions:

• "User" is any person who creates an account or uses the Service.
• "Consumer" is any natural person who uses the Service for purposes that are predominantly outside their trade, business, or profession.
• "Vehicle entry" is a data record created by a user for a vehicle, including information (e.g. VIN, specifications, photos, documents).
• "UGC" (User Generated Content) is content uploaded/posted by users (text, photos, documents, metadata).
• "Admin review" is the substantive/formal review of an entry by the provider or administrators.
• "Membership" is a paid subscription in the Silver or Gold tier (see Section 9).
• "Verification" is the plausibility and document review of a vehicle performed by the provider (see Section 8).
• "K-Number" is a sequential certificate number (e.g. K-0028) assigned to approved vehicles.

1.4 Where parts of these Terms are provided in English, this is solely for the convenience of international users. The German version shall prevail unless mandatory law provides otherwise.

2.1 The provider and contractual partner is:

2.2 Further mandatory information can be found in the Imprint.

3.1 The Service is an international online registry for Ford Mustang 289 HiPo (K-Code) vehicles, model years 1965–1967.

3.2 Core features (subject to the scope of service offered at any given time):

• free creation of a user account (email + password)
• creating, editing, and submitting vehicle entries (multi-step process)
• uploading photos and verification documents
• admin review of submissions (status: Draft → Pending → Active/Rejected)
• public display of approved vehicle entries in a searchable registry
• paid memberships (Silver, Gold) with extended features

3.3 Visibility tiers: Registry content is shown to varying extents depending on the viewer's status (anonymous / registered / member). What is visible at each tier is shown transparently on the Website; hidden content is indicated by clear hints with options to unlock.

3.4 The provider does not owe any particular outcome (e.g. verification, search engine visibility), but rather the provision of the Service under these Terms.

3.5 No affiliation with Ford: The Service is an independent, privately operated registry. "Ford", "Mustang", and similar designations may be trademarks of third parties. The Service has no official connection to the Ford Motor Company or its affiliates.

4.1 A user account is required to submit and manage vehicle entries.

4.2 Users may only use the Service if they:

• are at least 18 years old or act with parental/guardian consent, and
• provide accurate information during registration.

4.3 Users must keep login credentials confidential and protect them from unauthorized use. The provider must be notified immediately if misuse is suspected.

4.4 The provider may suspend or terminate accounts for cause, in particular for:

• violations of these Terms
• unlawful content
• security risks, abuse, automated attacks, circumvention of protective mechanisms
• repeated false statements or deception attempts

5.1 Users may only post/upload content they have created themselves or for which they hold the necessary rights.

5.2 Prohibited content includes in particular:

• content that infringes third-party rights (copyright, trademark, personality, data protection)
• content containing third-party personal data without a legal basis/consent
• photos with identifiable persons (to be expressly avoided)
• hate speech, glorification of violence, illegal content, fraud, deception
• malware, malicious links, manipulation attempts

5.3 Users warrant that submitted data is correct to the best of their knowledge. Users commit in particular to:

• providing only original factory/vehicle data and verifiable information
• not uploading documents containing unnecessary personal data
• redacting license plates/serial numbers/document details in photos where possible

5.4 The provider is not obliged to fully review user-submitted content for legal or factual accuracy before publication.

6.1 Publicly visible (for approved entries):

• technical vehicle data/specifications (in limited scope)
• a selection of vehicle photos
• a masked VIN (e.g. 5 characters + "****" + 2 characters)
• K-Number (certificate number) once assigned

6.2 Visible to members only (depending on the tier):

• full VIN (after personal unlock via owning a vehicle or via membership)
• full specifications, provenance, verification evidence
• search across the entire registry

6.3 Not public and only for internal admin purposes:

• uploaded original documents (e.g. title, build sheet)
• internal admin notes and audit log information

6.4 Optionally public (only with active user consent):

• owner name
• external forum username
• country of residence

6.5 Users acknowledge that public content may be indexed by search engines, stored/redistributed by third parties, and may persist temporarily in third-party caches/archives after deletion.

7.1 Review process: Submitted vehicle entries are reviewed by the provider/administrators. The provider decides at its own discretion based on objective criteria (e.g. completeness, plausibility, rule compliance).

7.2 No entitlement to approval: There is no legal right to approval or publication of a vehicle entry.

7.3 Rejection: In case of rejection, the provider may provide a reason. There is no entitlement to a specific level of reasoning detail; mandatory disclosure obligations remain unaffected.

7.4 Edit Requests: After approval, changes to vehicle entries can only be made via an "Edit Request" function. The provider may approve or reject changes.

7.5 Duplicate/Shared VIN: If the system detects the same VIN in multiple submissions, admins are notified and affected users may be informed. The provider decides on further action. The provider is not an arbiter of ownership/possession and assumes no liability for resulting disputes.

7.6 The provider may subsequently block, correct, or remove vehicle entries if required for compliance with these Terms, security, or legal conformity.

8.1 A verification("Admin Verified") is a plausibility and document review based on user-provided information, photos (e.g. VIN plate, engine stamp, warranty plate) and, where applicable, additional evidence.

8.2 Verifications are part of the membership. Per 12-month cycle, members may use the verification slots included in their tier (Silver: 1, Gold: 4 — current values shown on the membership page). Slots reset on the 12-month anniversary regardless of billing interval (monthly or yearly). Unused slots expire at the end of the cycle and do not roll over.

8.3 Important notice: An "Admin Verified" designation is not a guarantee of originality/authenticity, complete accuracy, market value, or suitability for purchase decisions. The Service is an informational registry.

8.4 The provider may subsequently change or revoke a verification if new information emerges, abuse is suspected, or the requirements are no longer met.

8.5 K-Number (certificate number): Approved vehicles receive a sequential K-Number that may be publicly verifiable. It refers to the review status documented in the system, not a legally binding proof of ownership or authenticity. An assigned K-Number is generally not reassigned; subsequent changes occur only in justified exceptional cases by the provider.

8.6 K-Number reservation (Gold only): Gold members may reserve a specific available K-Number in advance. Reservations are personal, non-transferable, and end automatically upon termination of the membership (see Section 9.7) or account deletion.

9.1 Tiers and features

The provider offers paid memberships in the Silver and Gold tiers. Current prices, features, and verification slots are shown transparently on the membership page; the conditions displayed there at the time of contract conclusion are authoritative.

9.2 Contract conclusion (button solution, Section 312j(3) BGB)

By clicking the button labeled "order with obligation to pay" (or an equivalently labeled button), the user submits a binding offer to conclude a paid membership contract. The contract is formed upon confirmation by the provider, or upon successful payment via the payment service provider.

9.3 Prices and VAT

As a small business pursuant to Section 19 of the German VAT Act (UStG), no VAT is charged or shown. Prices may be displayed and charged in different currencies (e.g. USD, EUR) depending on the country.

9.4 Billing periods

Memberships are billed monthly or yearly, at the user's choice. The price is due in advance at the start of each billing period.

9.5 Minimum term (MVLZ) for monthly billing

Monthly-billed memberships have a minimum term of twelve (12) months from contract conclusion. The contract may be terminated at the earliest at the end of this minimum term; the right to extraordinary termination for cause remains unaffected. Yearly billing has no minimum term beyond the booked annual period.

9.6 Automatic renewal

After the billing period (or after the MVLZ) expires, memberships renew automatically for an indefinite period. They may then be terminated at any time with a notice period of one month to the end of any month (Section 309 No. 9(b) BGB). Fees already paid for periods not yet used are refunded pro rata.

In practice: for monthly billing, cancellation typically takes effect at the end of the current month; for yearly billing, the unused remaining period is refunded pro rata starting from the following month.

9.7 Cancellation via the cancellation button (Section 312k BGB)

Consumers may end the membership at any time via the dedicated cancellation button on the Website (logged-in area, under "Membership → Cancel now"). An immediate electronic confirmation in text form is sent automatically by email. Alternatively, cancellation may be declared informally by email to [email protected].

9.8 Payment processing via Stripe

Payments are processed via Stripe Payments Europe, Limited. Stripe's terms apply additionally. The provider may make a restricted Stripe customer portal available for managing invoices, payment methods, and tax details; for MVLZ compliance reasons, cancellation of the membership is handled exclusively through the Service (see 9.7) and not through the Stripe portal.

9.9 Payment failure, tier changes, coupons

If a payment fails, the provider may suspend access to paid features until the payment is recovered. Stripe sends payment-related notifications (e.g. failed direct debits, 3-D Secure prompts) directly to the email address on file. Tier changes (upgrade/downgrade) are available within the membership management and are billed pro rata. Coupon codes may be time-limited, contingent, or subject to conditions; abusive use may lead to suspension.

9.10 Effects of termination

Upon termination of the membership (by cancellation, expiry, withdrawal, or suspension), membership-dependent features expire (e.g. search, full VIN access, K-Number reservation, open verification slots). Verifications already issued and K-Numbers already assigned generally remain in place, unless they are revoked under Section 8.4.

This section only applies to consumers for paid services in distance selling.

10.1 Withdrawal instructions

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen (14) days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period is fourteen days from the day of contract conclusion.

To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us of your decision by a clear statement (e.g. by email or letter):

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send the notice before the deadline expires.

10.2 Consequences of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we will refund all payments received from you in connection with this contract without undue delay and no later than fourteen days from the day we receive notice of your withdrawal. We will use the same means of payment used in the original transaction; no fees will be charged.

10.3 Commencement before expiry of the withdrawal period (digital service)

The membership is a digital service. If, during the order process, you expressly request that performance begin before the withdrawal period has expired and at the same time acknowledge that you lose your right of withdrawal upon full performance (Section 356(4) BGB), the following applies:

• If you withdraw after performance has commenced, you must pay a proportionate amount for the services provided up to the point of withdrawal (compensation under Section 357a BGB).
• The right of withdrawal expires as soon as the service has been fully performed and you expressly consented to performance beginning, and acknowledged the loss of your right of withdrawal.

Unless you expressly request and acknowledge this, performance only begins after the 14-day withdrawal period has expired.

10.4 Model withdrawal form

11.1 The provider endeavors to maintain high availability but does not guarantee uninterrupted accessibility. Maintenance, security updates, disruptions, or capacity limits may cause outages.

11.2 The provider may adapt, develop, restrict, or discontinue features insofar as this is objectively justified and reasonable for users. If a change to features results in a material deterioration of paid membership benefits, the affected user has a right of extraordinary termination.

12.1 The provider is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, as well as for damages resulting from injury to life, body, or health.

12.2 In case of slightly negligent breach of material contractual obligations (cardinal obligations), liability is limited to the typically foreseeable damage.

12.3 Otherwise, liability for slight negligence is excluded to the extent permitted by law.

12.4 For user-generated content (UGC), the provider assumes no warranty for accuracy, completeness, or legality. "Admin Verified" is a plausibility check, not a guarantee (see Section 8).

12.5 Liability under mandatory statutory provisions (in particular ProdHaftG) remains unaffected.

13.1 Users shall indemnify the provider against justified third-party claims arising from content posted by the user or from violations of these Terms, to the extent the user is responsible.

13.2 Indemnification includes reasonable costs of legal defense. The provider will inform the user of such claims.

14.1 Users retain all rights to their own content and may use it freely outside the Service. No exclusive license is granted.

14.2 By uploading, the user grants the provider a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to the submitted content (photos, texts, documents, metadata). The license includes in particular the right to:

• store, back up, and technically process the content (e.g. format conversion, scaling, compression, thumbnails, caching);
• make the content publicly accessible, reproduce, and distribute it within the Service — in line with the visibility tiers in Section 6;
• use the content for external promotion of the Service, in particular in newsletters, on the provider's own social-media channels, in press releases, "Featured Vehicle" posts, and as banner/hero imagery on the Website — in each case in editorial relation to the Service and with attribution (e.g. K-Number / forum username) where customary;
• create and publish anonymised statistics and aggregate analyses derived from the content.

14.3 Sub-licensing or transfer of the license is permitted only to processors (e.g. hosting providers, CDN, email service providers) and to legal successors of the provider in the context of a corporate transfer. Licensing the content to third parties for their own promotional or commercial purposes outside the Service is not permitted.

14.4 Termination: If the user deletes content, deletes their account, or withdraws a granted consent, the license ends to that extent for the future. The following exceptions remain unaffected:

• technical backups for up to 90 days after deletion;
• newsletter, social-media, or press content already published, and any third-party archives thereof, which the provider can no longer withdraw;
• anonymised statistics and aggregates that do not allow conclusions about any single content item;
• statutory retention obligations and evidence preservation in pending proceedings.

14.5 The provider may hold its own rights (in particular sui generis database rights under Sections 87a et seq. UrhG) in the compilation and structure of the registry. These do not affect the users' rights to their individual content items.

15.1 The free usage contract (account without membership) runs for an indefinite period and can be terminated by the user at any time by deleting their account.

15.2 The paid membership may be ended in accordance with Section 9 (in particular 9.5–9.7).

15.3 The provider may terminate the contract for cause without notice, in particular for serious or repeated violations of these Terms.

15.4 Upon account deletion, personal account data is deleted/anonymized in accordance with the privacy policy. Public, purely vehicle-related registry data may continue to exist in anonymized form as part of the historical registry. Any active membership backed by a Stripe subscription is cancelled without exception when the account is deleted; existing MVLZ commitments are aligned to the end of the MVLZ.

16.1 Reporting illegal content (Art. 16 DSA): Illegal content can be reported by email to: [email protected]

To enable efficient processing, reports should (where possible) contain:

• a reason why the content is considered illegal
• the exact location (URL)
• name and email of the reporting party
• a statement that the information is complete and correct to the best of their knowledge

16.2 Statement of reasons (Art. 17 DSA): If content is removed/blocked or accounts are restricted, the affected user receives — where possible and legally permissible — a statement of reasons with information on available remedies.

16.3 Internal complaint handling (Art. 20 DSA): Users may appeal moderation decisions by email within six months of notification. The provider reviews appeals carefully, promptly, and objectively and communicates the outcome.

16.4 Out-of-court dispute resolution (Art. 21 DSA): Users may turn to a certified out-of-court dispute resolution body; a list of such bodies is maintained by the European Commission and the German Bundesnetzagentur. The provider is, however, not obliged to participate (see also Section 18.5).

Information on the processing of personal data can be found in the Privacy Policy. It is not part of these Terms but applies supplementarily.

18.1 German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). For consumers, this choice of law applies only insofar as it does not deprive them of the protection of mandatory provisions of the law of the state of their habitual residence.

18.2 For consumers, the statutory places of jurisdiction apply. For merchants/entrepreneurs, Aachen is the exclusive place of jurisdiction where permissible.

18.3 Should individual provisions of these Terms be or become wholly or partially invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall remain unaffected.

18.4 The provider may amend these Terms for the future if this is required for objective reasons (e.g. new features, alignment with case law/legislation). Users will be notified of material changes by email at least 30 days before they take effect and will be given a special right of termination. For paid services already concluded, the terms valid at the time of contract conclusion apply.

18.5 Online dispute resolution & VSBG: The European Commission provides an online dispute resolution platform (ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr). The provider is not obliged and not willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board (VSBG).