General Terms and Conditions for the Use of “partslink24”

General Terms and Conditions of Business (hereinafter referred to as "T&C") of LexCom Informationssysteme GmbH (hereinafter referred to as "LexCom"; refer to the Legal Notice for more contact and company information), Rüdesheimer Strasse 23, 80686 Munich, Germany, for the “partslink24” Internet offering addressed by the domains “partslink24.com” and “partslink24.de” (hereinafter referred to as “partslink24”).

Last update December 2022 (T&C with tracked changes )

(The T&C set out below also include legal information on the rights of consumers pursuant to the statutory provisions on distance selling contracts and electronic business transactions.)

§ 1 Scope of Application

The user accepts these T&C by clicking on a button designed for this purpose during the registration process or by selecting a subscription. Users may access these T&C at any time also after conclusion of the contract by following the "Terms and Conditions" link which is available anywhere on partslink24 (on the top right of the website).
The terms and conditions set out below shall apply to all contracts between users of partslink24 and LexCom relating to the use of partslink24. Users of partslink24 are usually entrepreneurs (§ 14 BGB - German Civil Code); however, the service is also open to consumers (§ 13 BGB). Those provisions of the T&C that relate specifically to entrepreneurs are identified accordingly.
Any deviating, contrary or supplementary T&C shall not become an integral part of the contract unless their validity has been expressly agreed to in writing.

§ 2 Scope of Services

partslink24 offers information of various automotive manufacturers about their genuine spare parts. In addition, users are offered to use the partslink24 platform to make inquiries without commitment relating to genuine spare parts of these automotive manufacturers from providers registered with partslink24 (usually authorized dealers) and these inquiries may result in purchase orders. partslink24 offers an average monthly availability of 98.5%, except for a scheduled maintenance window on Sundays from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (German time) and except for any causes which are beyond the responsibility of LexCom. The use of partslink24 is subject to a charge. The amount of the fees is displayed for the selected product on registration. The prices appear under the "Subscription" field depending on the specific country. If the use of partslink24 should be free of charge during any previously announced pilot phases, its use shall be at the user's own risk.
As part of their subscription, users who are not listed solely as dealers in partslink24 can also install partslink24 on their smartphone as a “Progressive Web App” (PWA). It is installed via a static link or using a QR code, which is available to the user on the partslink24 website along with further information.
LexCom shall not be responsible in the course of rendering its services for (a) the completeness of the spare parts entered into its database (b) the completeness and accuracy of the data and information provided by the manufacturers (including their respective general terms and conditions) since the compilation of these data is beyond the control of LexCom. Whenever any deficiency regarding the data should become apparent, LexCom will immediately inform the manufacturer concerned and make corrected data available.
The “RRP” spare part prices displayed are recommended retail prices specified by the manufacturers. Only the individual seller can provide binding pricing information and publish it in partslink24 at its own discretion. All prices shown can be changed at any time without notice.
The partslink24 concept is understood as an offer to facilitate the flow of information from the manufacturers to the actors in the secondary market such as, for example, authorized car dealers or spare part dealers and brand-independent car repair shops. The parties enter into a business relationship by the buyer sending an inquiry without commitment (clicking the "Send" button on the "Validate&Send" or "Place Order" page) and the seller accepting the inquiry. Any subsequent conclusion of contract, delivery and payment of the spare parts between the users (prospective buyers and dealers) is beyond the responsibility of partslink24.
The scope of parts dealers or sellers available in partslink24 is determined by the manufacturers and/or their importers and national subsidiaries and is usually limited to sellers located in the respective country of the registered user account.
partslink24 itself offers neither spare parts nor information beyond the contents of the database.
partslink24 offers users registering as dealers the option to enter and configure their general terms and conditions, purchasing and shipping modes under the menu option "Administration".

§ 3 Obligations of Spare Part Dealers

Spare part dealers are obliged to process inquiries received via partslink24 with due care and in due time, make inquiring persons aware of any obvious errors and handle the inquiry in the further course of the transaction in accordance with generally accepted business practice. However, there is no obligation to submit a purchase offer in response to an inquiry. If an inquiry should be rejected, the prospective buyer shall be informed accordingly without delay. The same shall apply in case of any changes, replacements or additions in the dealer's offer in relation to the prospective buyer's inquiry. A purchase order with binding effect shall only be created by the prospective buyer accepting an offer from the dealer. The status of inquiries is evident from the status field of "Received orders/offer requests".

§ 4 Registration

To register for partslink24, the user's first step is to enter their customer data, select a password and click “Continue”. In the next step (“Availability of data”), the user is shown additional information about the selected subscription and the range of functions in the selected country. The user acknowledges this information, confirms acceptance of the present T&C and confirms this information by clicking the "Continue" button.
In the next step ("Payment options"), the user is presented a summary of the data that are essential for the registration procedure. The user selects the desired payment method and enters the user's payment data if necessary. By clicking the "Pay now" button, the user accepts LexCom's offer to conclude a user contract, also referred to as a subscription, for the use of partslink24.
If the user has registered to use the “parts data lists” or „MANtime®“, this additional registration is initially free of charge. The registration follows the steps listed in §4, Clause 1 and is completed by clicking “Register now”. Payment details do not have to be entered until a parts data list or „MANtime®“is downloaded.
Registration is only permitted to individuals and legal entities with full legal capacity to contract. If the user is registered by a representative, LexCom shall be entitled to demand proof of power of representation. The details concerning this power of representation shall be defined by LexCom and the representative must be named (e.g. “Managing director” entry in the field “Position”).
LexCom will inform the user about the completion of registration by (non-encrypted) e-mail. Along with this the user will be assigned a partslink24 ID (company ID) and a user name. This partslink24 ID and the user name serve as a unique identification of the user. Furthermore, the user shall be required to verify their e-mail address in partslink24 using a link or code contained in the e-mail in order to activate their account for the first time. The user may change the password at any time while using partslink24. LexCom will never ask a user for the password by e-mail or on the telephone. If a user having administrator rights - usually named "admin" - is permitted to create further users under the same partslink24 ID, the admin user shall conclude a separate partslink24 subscription for these users, register them with true and correct data, and make them aware of their obligations under Section 6 of these T&C, in particular the necessity to maintain secrecy about the access credentials.
A user contract may also be created if the user is invited by LexCom to temporarily use partslink24 free of charge. This may happen either by communication of a pre-configured partslink24 ID (company ID), a user name and a password, or by the user having previously entered their personal details via the Amigo do partslink24 app or by clicking on a link that is sent to the user by email by means of image-text page sending. On the partslink24 homepage, the user will then be prompted to register with their customer data. The user contract is concluded by the user clicking on the "Register" button on completion of the input. Finally, the user will receive an email from LexCom containing their user data.
The user can benefit from partslink24 by optimizing the spare part purchasing process with a dealer after registration and initiating a business relationship with a dealer by submitting an inquiry. The dealer is at liberty to respond to the inquiry and enter into a business relationship or not. This is effected accordingly by processing the inquiry or not. Inquiries can also be sent through illustration-text transmission. This feature allows dealers to e-mail individual catalogue pages from different LexCom applications to their customers via a link (valid for 24 hours). After opening the link, the recipient can either log in with his or her partslink24 login data (if available) or visit the partslink24 catalogue page as a guest. An online order for the parts listed on the page can then be placed with the sender.
LexCom reserves the right to cancel a user's registration at any time without prior notice and disable access for the user in case of any false statements when registering, violation of the duties arising from the user contract (particularly §§ 3 and 6) or misuse of the partslink24 portal.

§ 5 Data Protection and Security

Any and all personal data collected from the user are handled in compliance with the data security legislation that is applicable for LexCom. LexCom is committed to the Privacy Statement.
LexCom reserves the right to anonymise or pseudonymise the data collected from or transmitted by the user and to use the data in this form for the purpose of designing, improving, safeguarding, optimising and supporting the use of partslink24 as agreed in the usage agreement.

§ 6 User's Obligations

Conditional on full payment of the fees due, LexCom shall grant the user the non-exclusive right to use partslink24 for the duration of the contract. The user shall neither lease, lend, sell or sublicense partslink24 itself or the rights of use thereof, nor provide, assign or transfer the aforementioned to third parties, nor copy partslink24 or authorise others to copy partslink24, whether in whole or in part, except in cases expressly permitted here.
The user confirms that the information provided when registering for and using partslink24 is true and complete. The user is also obliged to enter any changes (company master data, billing data and user data) immediately under Administration.
The user confirms that the input and messages submitted by the user do not violate any legal provisions or rights of third parties and that they will not have any adverse effects on the data or the data processing system of LexCom. In particular, the user is prohibited to offer or request information or data that would violate any criminal-law or other legal provisions or the commerce of which is prohibited or subject to permission.
It is not permitted for users to reproduce, to save in other media, to distribute or to change the information, data, drawings, specifications and documentations ("partslink24-material") integrated in partslink24. This does not apply to the information provided in the “parts data lists” or „MANtime®“. However, any authorisation to reproduce or replicate this information must be negotiated directly with the manufacturer concerned.
Access to the partslink24 material by means of automated processes (e.g. robots, spider tools, etc.) or in any other way that deviates from natural user behavior is prohibited. Printing and saving individual pages is only permitted for personal use.
It is not permitted to integrate partslink24 into the user’s own software products / online services or into software products / online services of third parties, whether by framing or otherwise.
The complete or partial reverse engineering of partslink24 is not permitted.
The use of partslink24 – in particular the vehicle identification number query function – is exclusively for the purpose of identifying spare parts in connection with an underlying customer order. This is particularly the case when the vehicle owner/holder enters a chassis number of his own vehicle or when a commissioned service provider (e.g. a car company, assessor) enters a chassis number received from the customer in the context of an order for the purpose of fulfilling the customer order. Use for any other purposes – in particular for the resale of data or the acquisition of vehicle information without a corresponding customer order – is prohibited and leads to the responsible user account being blocked and extraordinary termination of the subscription*.
Furthermore, partslink24 – in particular the vehicle identification number query function – is used primarily for the purpose of identifying the spare parts required for a vehicle and obtaining them from partslink24. The user will use partslink24 only to an extent that does not significantly exceed the customary scope of use** for this purpose. If the usage goes beyond this purpose and/or the usual scope of use**, LexCom reserves the right to restrict or block access to partslink24, or to grant access only against payment of a usage-based fee, which will be specified to the user during use or registration.
Use of partslink24 will only be permitted with individual licences; a separate subscription must be concluded for each generated user who works with partslink24. The user data generated as part of the user administration (username, name and e-mail address) must be assigned individually and allocated to a specific user. The user must not share this personal access data (esp. user name and password) with third parties or pass them on to third parties.
The user may only register for one partslink24 account at a time.

§ 7 Prices and Conditions for partslink24

The fees charged can be viewed on the partslink24 homepage***.
All prices listed are gross prices and possibly include the applicable VAT, depending on the residence or the registered office of the recipient of service (EU/Third countries).
Minimum durations and notice periods for subscriptions can be viewed on the partslink24 homepage***. Other products or services are subject to payment according to the price list for the use of partslink24***. Ordinary termination of the subscription, subject to the notice period, may be initiated by the partslink24 user after logging in under "Administration -> Administer subscriptions", or by LexCom with submission of a notification to the user.
LexCom shall provide the user with invoices for the prices to be paid for the subscription in text form (PDF format).
All fees shall be settled by either credit card or direct debiting, depending on the user’s location. It is the responsibility of the user to ensure that the account or the credit card maintains an adequate balance and that all credit card or bank data are up to date and correct. In the event of a failed booking / reversal, LexCom may demand that the user reimburses the actual costs incurred. If settlement is made by prepayment, all fees incurred for the bank transfer shall be at the user’s charge. The user will be cleared and enabled when the amount is credited to the account of LexCom.
Should a dealer’s status as an authorized dealer or authorized service facility of a vehicle brand be revoked, the dealer may terminate the partslink24 user contract to the end of the month during which the status was revoked. Compliance with this period of notice depends on the date the e-mail is sent to abo@partslink24.com specifying this reason. If the dealer selected the annual advance payment method, the dealer can only terminate the user contract at the regular end of the contract term.

§ 8 Consumers' Right of Withdrawal

Consumers (private users) have the right of withdrawal for a period of fourteen days subject to the following provisions (the right of withdrawal is excluded for traders / business users):

Right of withdrawal

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day of the conclusion of the contract. To exercise the right of withdrawal, you must inform us (LexCom Informationssysteme GmbH, Rüdesheimer Str. 23, D-80686 Munich, Germany, Telephone: +498954715111, Fax: +498954715175, Email: abo@partslink24.com) of your decision to withdraw from this contract by an unequivocal statement (e.g. a letter sent by post, fax or e-mail). You may use the attached model withdrawal form, but it is not obligatory. You can also electronically fill in and submit the model withdrawal form or the online contact form on our website [www.partslink24.com]. If you use this option, we will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.

Effects of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse to you all payments received from you, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract. We will carry out such reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.

If you requested to begin the performance of service during the withdrawal period, you shall pay us an amount which is in proportion to what has been provided until you have communicated us your withdrawal from this contract, in comparison with the full coverage of the contract.

§ 9 Notices and Declarations

According to the nature of the platform, the sales contracts initiated via partslink24 are concluded by means of electronic communications. This involves that the declarations of intent are usually made via e-mail.
The users recognize the unrestricted validity of declarations of intent made in this manner subject to the following clauses:
1. In the e-mail message, common information must neither be suppressed nor circumvented by anonymization, i.e. the message must include the name and the e-mail address of the sender, the time the message was sent (date and time) as well as a repetition of the sender’s name at the end of the message. Unless proven otherwise, an e-mail message received according to the criteria of this clause shall be deemed to originate from the other party.
2. All messages shall be phrased in German or English language and the associated “Contact” module must be used.
The user is obliged to take note of the messages addressed to the user at least once a week.
Please direct any messages or declarations regarding these T&C to agb@partslink24.com.

§ 10 Limitation of Liability

LexCom shall be liable to the user without limitation in case of intent or gross negligence for any damage caused by LexCom or its legal representatives or persons employed in performing obligations.
As to ordinary negligence, LexCom shall be liable without limitation in case of injury to life, limb or health. In all other respects, LexCom shall only be liable insofar as the company should have violated an essential contractual duty. Essential contractual duties are obligations that must be fulfilled for proper performance of the contract, whose breaching would jeopardise achievement of the purpose of the contract and on whose observance the contracting party may duly rely. Liability in such cases shall be limited to the foreseeable typically occurring damage.
Furthermore, if and insofar as LexCom gives the user access to partslink24 free of charge, LexCom’s liability for all cases of slight negligence is excluded.
Liability pursuant to the provisions of the product liability legislation shall remain unaffected.

§ 11 Indemnification

The user shall indemnify LexCom against any and all claims asserted by other users or other third parties against LexCom for any violation of their rights by contents published by the user on partslink24. The user shall bear all reasonable costs incurred by LexCom as a result of any violation of a third party's rights, including any reasonable expenses incurred for legal defence. All other rights as well as any claims for damages on the part of LexCom shall remain unaffected. The user shall be at liberty to prove that LexCom has actually incurred lower costs.
If the user's contents should violate any rights of any third party, the user shall at the election of LexCom either procure the right to use the contents for LexCom at user's own expense or revise the contents in such a way that they are not subject to property rights.

§ 12 Provisions Related to the P2B regulation

The provisions of this § 12 ensure that LexCom is in compliance with particular requirements of the EU regulation 2019/1150 of 20 June 2019 to promote fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services (“P2B regulation”), insofar as these requirements are not already met by other provisions of these terms and conditions.

Limitation, suspension and termination: LexCom reserves the right to temporarily restrict or terminate partslink24 for users under the following conditions:
1. In the event of a violation of the obligations from § 6 of these terms and conditions.
2. If the user is either in arrears with the payment of the subscription fees (§ 7) or a considerable part of the subscription fees for two consecutive due dates or if the user is in arrears with the payment of the subscription fees in a period that spans more than two due dates by a figure that amounts to the subscription fees for two months.
In the cases stated here, LexCom will notify the user by email in good time before or at the same time as the measure takes effect.
Ranking: As part of a user’s search for dealers/sellers of spare parts for the purpose of initiating orders, the user is shown the dealers/sellers who are relevant for his order according to the following criteria:
1. If the user had already selected a dealer for a certain brand, this dealer will be displayed as selected the next time this brand catalogue is opened. If this dealer also works for another brand and the user has not yet selected a dealer for this other brand, the dealer will also be displayed in the catalogue for the other brand.
2. If the user is looking for a dealer via the dealer search function, those dealers with whom he has placed orders in the past are marked with a yellow stamp and listed.
3. In the case of a dealer search, dealers with whom there was no previous business relationship are sorted alphabetically or numerically in ascending order according to the criteria name, country, state/canton/district, city, postcode, street.
4. In the dealer search, the user can also filter by name, country, state/canton/district, city, postcode and street. In these cases, the criteria and sorting a) to c) apply accordingly.
5. Otherwise there is no qualitative ranking in the sense of the P2B regulation. Dealers/sellers have no way to directly or indirectly influence a ranking within partslink24 for a fee.
Access to data after the end of the contract: LexCom hereby points out that user data may continue to be stored by LexCom after the end of the contract in accordance with the data protection laws applicable to LexCom, if this is permissible due to legal or other retention requirements or out of a legitimate interest.
Access to data during usage: LexCom hereby points out that business users have access to their own data stored in partslink24 (whether with or without personal reference) or to that of other users as follows:
1. Within order processing according to § 2.3, the (personal) data for the users involved in the order are transmitted and stored.
2. As part of the promotion of sales, business users receive the contact details of potential buyers (other users), provided they have given their prior consent.
Internal complaints management system: LexCom has set up an internal complaints management system that meets the requirements of the P2B regulation. The corresponding contact information can be found on the partslink24 website (Legal notice). Information from LexCom on the functioning and effectiveness of the internal complaints management system is also available here.
Mediation: In the event of complaints from users that cannot be resolved using the means of the internal complaints management system specified in the P2B regulation, LexCom is willing to work together with at least the following mediators in order to achieve an out-of-court settlement of any disputes with business users relating to the provision of partslink24 and corresponding complaints:
1. Lawyer Jutta Pertenais, Pertenais Law Office, Husstraße 113, D-12489 Berlin; Tel.: +49 (0) 178 460 5257; e-mail: info@kanzlei-pertenais.de.
2. Lawyer Dr. Philipp Höttler, LL.M., Hoflacher Strasse 6, 82223 Eichenau, Germany; Tel.: +49 (0) 172 7378310; E-mail: info@kanzlei-hoettler.de.

§ 13 General Provisions / Legal Venue / Applicable Law

German law shall apply, excluding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). If the user is a consumer, the applicability of binding provisions of the legislation valid in his place of residence shall remain unaffected.
The place of performance for all mutual services and payments under the contract shall be Munich, Germany.
If and to the extent a user is an entrepreneur, the legal venue shall be Munich, Germany.
The present T&C are published in German language and in various other languages. In case of doubt, the German version shall be authoritative for the interpretation of the T&C.
LexCom reserves the right to amend these T&C at any time and without having to state any reasons for such amendments. The user will be made aware of any amendment by means of an electronic notification while using partslink24. Should the user not object to the amendment within a period of four weeks after receipt of the notification, the amended clauses shall be deemed accepted. “In the event of an objection by the user, LexCom is entitled to cancel the subscription with one (1) week’s notice to the end of the month.”
Excluded from the right of amendment according to this clause are regulations which affect the main performance obligations of the contracting parties and which therefore significantly change the relationship between main and counter performance obligations, as well as other fundamental changes to the contractual obligations which are equivalent to the conclusion of a new contract. For such changes an explicit contractual agreement is required
LexCom is neither obliged nor willing to participate in a dispute resolution procedure before a consumer arbitration board.

* Only valid for searches for Porsche models

** The individual customary scope of use is based on empirical, anonymous analyses of partslink24 use

*** For the detailed prices and subscription periods, please refer to the information provided in the menu "Subscription".