Before the LotLast updated October 14, 2026
Terms of Service
These terms cover your use of Before the Lot at BeforeTheLot.com, which is built and operated by Volocent Labs LLC, a Pennsylvania limited liability company ("Volocent Labs", "we", "us"). By using the site, and when you make a link or sign in, you agree to them. Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and why.
What Before the Lot is
Before the Lot is a free, educational planning tool for buying a car. It helps you work out a budget, organize written offers and quotes, compare numbers, and draft emails you send yourself.
- It isn't advice. Nothing on the site is financial, legal, tax or credit advice, or a recommendation to buy, borrow or sign anything.
- We're not part of your deal. We aren't a lender, dealer, broker or agent. We don't arrange financing, sell cars, or take part in any deal you make.
- Numbers are estimates. Payments, taxes, fees, equity, values, deal grades, the suggested loan amount and price targets are estimates worked out from what you enter and from simple assumptions, such as state base sales-tax rates as of 2026-10-14 and a general depreciation rate. Your lender's and dealer's documents are what count; check them before you sign.
- Outside data is as provided. Vehicle details, recalls, crash-test ratings and fuel economy come from U.S. government sources (NHTSA and fueleconomy.gov) and are shown as they provide them.
Who can use it
Anyone may use the site. You must be 18 or older, or the age of majority where you live, to make a private link or create an account.
Your deal, links and account
- What you enter. You're responsible for what you enter and for the emails you send using our drafts. Don't enter other people's personal information, or contact details in fields that aren't meant for them.
- Share links. Anyone with a share link can view the deal it shows.
- Private links. Anyone with a private link can open and change that deal, so keep it like a password. We can't tell who is using a link.
- Accounts. An account is optional and uses Google sign-in. You can delete it at any time from the Save dialog, which deletes the deals saved to it.
- Retention. Share links last 13 months. A private link's deal is deleted 13 months after its last change. Deals saved to an account stay until you delete them. Don't rely on Before the Lot as your only copy of anything important.
Using the site fairly
Don't misuse Before the Lot. In particular, don't:
- break the law with it;
- try to reach data that isn't yours;
- interfere with its security or availability;
- scrape it or access it in automated bulk;
- overload it;
- resell it, or present it as your own product.
We may limit, suspend or remove access, links or accounts that break these terms or put the service or other people at risk.
Other sites
Before the Lot links to other sites, such as lenders, dealers, offer and history-report services, and ratings publishers. A link isn't an endorsement, and we're not responsible for those sites or what happens there. Their own terms and policies apply. Some versions of Before the Lot are offered with a partner, such as a credit union. The partner's own terms apply to anything you do on its site, including applying for a loan.
Ours and yours
The site, its design, text, illustrations and code belong to Volocent Labs or its licensors. You may use the site for your own personal, non-commercial car shopping, and share its share links. Your deal is yours; you give us permission to store and process it only as needed to run the features you use.
No warranty
Before the Lot is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and accuracy. We don't promise that it will be uninterrupted or error-free, that saved deals will never be lost, or that any estimate is correct.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, Volocent Labs won't be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of money, savings, data or opportunity, arising from your use of Before the Lot or any deal you make. This includes a price, payment, rate or tax that turns out different from an estimate. Our total liability for any claim about the site is limited to $50. Some places don't allow these limits, so they may not all apply to you.
Changes
We may change the site and these terms. If the terms change in a meaningful way, we'll update them here and change the date at the top. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the updated terms.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules.
Contact
Questions about these terms: contact@volocent.com.
Volocent Labs LLC, Pennsylvania