About the service
CarLog is operated by CarLog ("we", "us"). It lets vehicle owners, organizations with fleets, garages and technicians keep a shared, chronological maintenance history for vehicles registered in Kenya (cars, pickups, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, trucks and buses): services, repairs, parts, mileage and costs, with reminders when maintenance is due and reports on spending.
It also includes:
- a public vehicle history lookup, for vehicles whose owners choose to share it;
- the Baraza, a moderated community forum with guides from our team;
- a spare parts directory, where shops list parts and prices and buyers compare them and contact the shop;
- a garage and mechanic directory, with ratings from owners whose vehicles they worked on; and
- paid promotion, which lets shops, garages and mechanics appear as sponsored listings.
CarLog is a record-keeping tool. We do not inspect, service or certify vehicles, and a record in CarLog is not proof that work was done or done well.
Your account
- You register with a Safaricom mobile number, which we verify with a one-time code sent by SMS, and a 6-digit PIN. You must be at least 18 years old.
- You register as a vehicle owner, an organization (e.g. a company fleet), a garage, an independent technician or a spares shop, and must give accurate details. Any account except a spares shop account can also open a shop.
- Keep your PIN secret. You are responsible for everything done with your account. Tell us straight away if you think someone else has used it; you can reset your PIN with a code sent to your phone.
- Organization, garage and shop administrators can add staff and technicians to their account and issue them temporary PINs. The organization or shop is responsible for what its members do and for removing members who leave.
- One mobile number can belong to only one account.
Vehicles and ownership
- Only vehicle owners and organizations can register vehicles. You may register a vehicle only if you own it or are authorised to manage it.
- You choose the vehicle's type (car, motorcycle, tuk-tuk, or truck and bus), which decides the services and reminder intervals that apply. Motorcycles and tuk-tuks use KM registration numbers.
- To keep records consistent, we may change the spelling of a make or model to the standard name in our catalogue (for example, "landcruiser" becomes "Land Cruiser").
- Each registration number can be registered once. If a vehicle you own is already registered to someone else, you can submit an ownership claim with supporting documents (such as a logbook or sale agreement). Our administrators review claims and may approve or reject them; their decision on the account record is final, but it does not decide legal ownership of the vehicle.
- When you sell a vehicle you can transfer it by entering the buyer's phone number. The buyer has 7 days to accept. Once accepted, the vehicle, its service history, documents and any remaining subscription move to the buyer, and you lose access to them.
- Making false ownership claims or transferring vehicles you don't own is not allowed.
Service records
- Any registered user except our administrators and spares shop accounts can add a service record to any registered vehicle, for example a garage recording work it did.
- Records entered by the vehicle's owner (or a member of the owning organization) are added to the history straight away. Records entered by anyone else wait for the owner's approval. The owner can correct, approve or reject them; the person who entered a record can edit or withdraw it until the owner decides.
- Approved and rejected records are locked and cannot be edited, so the history stays trustworthy. Corrections are added as new records.
- You are responsible for the accuracy of what you enter, including odometer readings, costs and attached documents. Entering false records, or readings designed to hide a vehicle's true mileage, is prohibited.
- Maintenance schedules and due dates are estimates based on recorded services, intervals and average mileage. They are a guide, not a substitute for the manufacturer's schedule or a mechanic's advice.
Public vehicle history
Owners can choose to make a vehicle's history public, so that anyone (for example, a prospective buyer) can look it up by registration number. The public page shows the vehicle's make, model, year, colour, fuel and transmission, and each approved service with its date, odometer reading, services done, work description and the garage that did it. It never shows owners' names, phone numbers, costs or documents. Public sharing is off by default, can be switched off at any time, and is switched off automatically when a vehicle changes hands.
Subscriptions and payments
- Registering vehicles and the first service record for each vehicle are free.
- After that, adding further service records to a vehicle needs an active subscription for that vehicle, currently KES 100 per vehicle per year. We will show any change to the price before you pay.
- Payments are made with M-Pesa, either by a prompt sent to your phone or by Paybill with the account number shown in the app: CL- followed by the vehicle's registration number (for example CL-KDA123A). Anyone can pay for any vehicle; the subscription always belongs to the vehicle, not the person who paid.
- A subscription runs for 12 months from the day payment is confirmed. Paying again before it ends extends it from the current end date. Subscriptions do not renew automatically; we remind you before one ends.
- When a subscription lapses, new service records and maintenance reminders stop for that vehicle. Its existing history, documents, reports and public page remain available.
- Payments are not refundable, except where we charged you in error or you paid twice for the same period; contact us and we will refund or credit the amount.
- If a Paybill payment can't be matched to a vehicle, our administrators match it manually once you give us the M-Pesa transaction code.
- Spares shops pay a separate yearly listing fee, described under Spare parts shops.
Reminders and messages
We send SMS messages and in-app notifications about your account: verification codes, service records waiting for your approval, decisions on records you submitted, maintenance coming due, warranty expiry, subscriptions ending, payments, vehicle transfers and ownership claims, decisions on your Baraza posts, and your shop's approval and listing. Replies to Baraza topics you follow are shown in the app only. These are part of the service. Reminders are a convenience: we don't guarantee they will arrive on time, and you remain responsible for maintaining your vehicle.
Acceptable use
You must not:
- enter false, misleading or fraudulent records, or tamper with a vehicle's mileage history;
- impersonate another person, garage or organization, or use another person's phone number;
- upload documents you have no right to share, or that contain malware;
- scrape or bulk-query the public vehicle history (lookups are rate-limited), or copy shop listings and prices in bulk, or try to access data you are not entitled to;
- list parts you don't sell, at prices you won't honour, or describe fake or used parts as genuine or new;
- interfere with the service, its security, or other users.
The Baraza community
The Baraza is CarLog's public forum, where members ask questions and share experience about vehicles. Anyone can read it; posting needs an account. What you post there, including your name, account type and any photos, documents or video links, is public and may appear in search engines.
When you post in the Baraza:
- Be helpful and respectful. No insults, harassment, hate speech or threats.
- Keep experiences with garages and mechanics fair, honest and factual. Describe what happened; don't make accusations you can't support.
- No advertising or selling. Don't post prices for your own services or parts, phone numbers, M-Pesa numbers or links to shops. Garages are recognised by their verified badge instead.
- Don't share anyone's private information. Blur number plates and faces in photos if you don't want them shown.
- Only upload photos and documents you have the right to share.
- Advice in the Baraza comes from members, not from CarLog, and may be wrong. Check with a qualified mechanic before acting on it. Posts marked Guide are written by our team.
New topics and replies, and changes to them, are checked by our administrators before they are published. We may decline a post that breaks these rules and will tell you why. Members can report posts. Our administrators may unpublish posts, close topics to new replies, stop members from posting, or deactivate accounts that break these rules, without notice. There are limits on how many topics and replies a member can post in a short time.
Spare parts shops
Shops can list the parts they sell, with prices, on their own public page. CarLog is a directory: we don't sell parts, take orders or handle payments for them. Buyers contact the shop directly, and any sale is between the buyer and the shop. Always confirm the price, condition and fit with the shop before you pay.
If you list a shop:
- It must be a real business that you run or are authorised to represent. Our administrators check each shop before its page goes public, and may ask for more details.
- List only parts you actually sell, at your real prices, and describe their condition honestly: genuine, OEM, aftermarket or used. Don't list fake or counterfeit parts.
- Keep prices up to date. Prices not updated for a while are shown to buyers as possibly out of date.
- Your shop's name, location, business phone and WhatsApp number are shown publicly so buyers can reach you.
- Your first 20 products are free to list. Listing more needs a yearly listing fee, currently KES 500 per shop per year, paid by M-Pesa prompt or by Paybill using your shop's account number (CL-SHOP followed by its number, shown in the app). It runs for 12 months, doesn't renew automatically, and paying early extends it. The fee is for the listing, not a guarantee of sales, and isn't refunded if your shop is suspended for breaking these terms. If the paid period ends, products over the free number are paused until you renew.
- You can upload your products from a spreadsheet. You are responsible for what it contains, as if you had entered each product yourself.
Buyers can report listings. We may take down listings or suspend shops that break these terms, for example for fake parts, misleading prices or complaints that a shop can't be reached.
Garage and mechanic profiles
- Garages and independent mechanics have a public profile in the directory once they give their town. It shows the business name, location, business phone and WhatsApp, opening hours, services, the makes they specialise in and a logo.
- Unless you switch it off, your profile shows how many service records you logged that owners approved. It never shows customers, vehicles or prices.
- Keep your profile accurate. We may hide profiles that are misleading, inactive or the subject of repeated complaints.
Ratings and reviews
- A vehicle's owner can rate the work of a garage or mechanic on a service record they approved, with 1 to 5 stars and an optional comment. You can't rate your own work, and each job can be rated once (you can change your rating).
- Stars count straight away. Written comments are checked by our administrators before they are published. Your first name, the first letter of your last name, the vehicle's make and model and the service are shown with your rating; your plate, phone number and costs are not.
- Ratings must be honest and based on your own experience. Don't post false, abusive or defamatory comments, or rate a business in return for payment.
- Businesses can report a rating they believe is unfair. We may remove ratings that break these terms; we don't remove a rating only because it is negative.
Promotions and sponsored listings
- Live shops and listed garages and mechanics can pay to be promoted: shown as Sponsored on the home page, at the top of matching parts, shop and garage searches, and on related Baraza vehicle pages. Prices are currently KES 200 for 7 days and KES 500 for 30 days, paid by M-Pesa.
- Sponsored listings are advertising, not a recommendation by CarLog. They are always labelled, and they never change the order of normal search results, ratings or the price comparison between shops.
- A promotion starts when payment is confirmed (or when an earlier one ends) and stops automatically. We don't promise a number of views or customers.
- We may stop a promotion early, without refund, if the shop or business breaks these terms. Otherwise promotions aren't refundable, except where we charged you in error.
Your content and documents
You keep ownership of the records and documents you add. You allow us to store, process and display them as needed to run CarLog: for example, showing a garage's record to the vehicle's owner, keeping history with a vehicle when it is transferred, and showing approved records on the public page if the owner shares it. Documents uploaded with service records (receipts, invoices, inspection reports, warranties, photos) are stored privately and shown only to the vehicle's owner, the person who uploaded them and our administrators. What you publish in the Baraza, and shop pages, product details and photos, are public. See our Privacy policy for how we handle personal data.
Availability and liability
- We work to keep CarLog available and your data safe, but we provide it "as is" and can't promise it will always be uninterrupted or error-free.
- Information in CarLog is entered by its users. We are not responsible for the accuracy of records, the quality of work done by garages or technicians, or decisions you make (for example, buying a vehicle) based on a vehicle's history. Have a vehicle inspected by a qualified mechanic before buying it.
- We are not a party to work agreed between owners and garages or mechanics, or to sales between buyers and spare parts shops. Ratings reflect owners' opinions, not ours. We don't guarantee a shop's prices, stock, the quality or authenticity of its parts, or that a part fits your vehicle, or the quality of a garage's work, and we are not responsible for any loss from a purchase or repair.
- Advice in the Baraza, including our guides, is general information and not a substitute for a qualified mechanic.
- To the extent the law allows, our total liability to you for any claim is limited to the subscription, listing and promotion fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under the Consumer Protection Act, 2012 or other laws that cannot be excluded.
Suspension and closing accounts
We may suspend or deactivate an account, stop a member from posting in the Baraza, suspend a shop, or remove records, posts or listings that break these terms or put other users at risk. Organizations and shops can remove their own members. You can ask us to close your account at any time. Service history attached to vehicles is part of each vehicle's record and stays with the vehicle; see the Privacy policy for what happens to your personal data.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms as the service changes. The date at the top shows the current version. If we make a significant change, we will tell you in the app or by SMS before it takes effect; continuing to use CarLog after that means you accept the new terms.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of Kenya. Disputes that we can't resolve together will be handled by the courts of Kenya.
Contact us
Questions about this page, or requests about your data, can be sent to CarLog through our Contact us page. We reply by SMS to the number you give. For a request about your data, send it from the phone number on the account it relates to.