Six rules
Community standards
Six rules. They keep the lot honest.
You confirm you’re 18 or older when you create an account, and you accept the rules before you post, import inventory or message a seller. They apply to every listing, including dealer imports.
The rules
The six rules, word for word.
Rule 1: Only list a vehicle you own or are authorised to sell, with its real VIN.
What this means
The vehicle is yours, or its owner has asked you to sell it. When you enter the VIN, the year, make, model, engine and drivetrain are decoded from it using NHTSA’s public VIN decoder and locked on the listing, so it has to be this vehicle’s VIN.
For example
- Fine: Selling your own car, or your parent’s car with their say-so.
- Not allowed: Listing a car you saw for sale somewhere else.
- Not allowed: Using the VIN from a different vehicle, or a made-up one.
Report it asScam or fraudWrong or misleading detailsRule 2: Prices are real asking prices. No “$1”, no “call for price”.
What this means
The price on the listing is what you’d sell it for, in whole dollars. Buyers filter and sort by price, so it has to be real. If you’re flexible, turn on Open to offers.
For example
- Fine: $28,400 with Open to offers turned on.
- Not allowed: A number you wouldn’t actually take, to show up in more searches.
- Not allowed: “Call for price”, or a different price in the description.
Report it asNot actually for sale / baitRule 3: Keep conversations in the app. Contact details are removed automatically.
What this means
Talk in Throttle until you meet. Phone numbers, emails, links and social handles are removed from listings and messages, so there’s a record if something goes wrong. Dealers can show a business line behind a tap on their dealer page, but listings and messages are cleaned for everyone.
For example
- Fine: “Can I see it Saturday at 10 AM?”
- Not allowed: Spelling out a number, or putting it in a photo, to get around removal.
- Not allowed: Pushing someone to text, call or switch apps before you’ve met.
Report it asTried to move the conversation off the appSharing contact detailsRule 4: No harassment, threats, discrimination or scams of any kind.
What this means
Deal with people the way you’d want to be dealt with. No insults, threats or slurs, and no treating anyone differently because of who they are, such as their race, religion, sex, disability or where they’re from. Scams of any kind means any kind.
For example
- Fine: A low offer. Negotiating is part of buying a car.
- Not allowed: Repeating it, or getting abusive, after a no.
- Not allowed: Asking for a deposit, a wire transfer or a payment-app transfer before anyone’s met.
Report it asHarassment or threatsScam attemptRule 5: Business sellers say so. Posing as a private seller is not allowed.
What this means
If selling vehicles is your business, turn on a business profile under You › Business profile. It’s a free setting on your account, not a second account. Your listings show you as a business, and you get a public page for your inventory. Selling 5 or more vehicles a year is a good sign it’s time.
For example
- Fine: Selling your car this spring and your old truck in the fall.
- Not allowed: A dealer listing cars from the lot as “my wife’s car”.
Report it asDealer posing as a private sellerRule 6: Photos are yours. Stolen photos are removed and repeat offenders are banned.
What this means
Use photos of the actual vehicle you’re selling, taken by you or that you have the right to use. No stock images, no brochure shots, nothing copied from another listing. If your photos turn up on someone else’s listing, report it or send a copyright notice.
For example
- Fine: Daylight photos of your car: front and rear three-quarter, both sides, interior, dash and odometer.
- Not allowed: A clean shot of the same model from a manufacturer’s site or another listing.
Report it asPhotos stolen from another listing
Who can post
Anyone can look. Accounts are for adults.
You don’t need an account to browse. To save vehicles, message a seller or post your own, sign in with your phone number and a text code. Message and data rates may apply.
When you create an account, the app asks you to confirm you’re 18 or older. If you don’t, you’re signed out. The first time you open the Post tab, open the dealer import or tap Message seller, the app shows these six rules to accept. If the rules change, you’ll see the new version and accept it the next time you do any of those.
Throttle is for buying and selling in the United States. If you sell vehicles as a business, rule 5 applies from your first listing.
What you need
- Browse listings
- Anyone
- Save vehicles and searches
- 18+ · signed in
- Message a seller
- 18+ · rules accepted
- Post from the Post tab
- 18+ · rules accepted
- Sell as a business
- Business profile on
- Import inventory
- Business profile on · 18+ · rules accepted
Not allowed
What isn’t allowed.
In a listing
- Anything that isn’t a vehicle. Cars, trucks, SUVs and vans only. No parts, services or other goods.
- Auctions and bidding. Every listing has a fixed asking price.
- Bait. A vehicle that’s already sold, isn’t really for sale or is listed twice.
- Details you know are wrong. Sellers state the title status and mileage; Throttle doesn’t check titles, so they have to be right.
- Photos of a different vehicle. Stock images, brochure shots or photos from another listing.
- Contact details in the description. They’re removed anyway.
- Offensive content, in the text or the photos.
In messages and on your profile
- Scams and fraud of any kind. Fake checks, overpayments, deposits, wire transfers, escrow sites and fake shippers.
- Harassment, threats, hate or discrimination.
- Spam, and repeated messages after someone’s said no.
- Impersonation of another person, a business or Throttle.
- Moving the conversation off the app, or sharing contact details to get around removal.
- Dealers posing as private sellers.
- Automation. Bots, scripts, scraping or bulk messaging.
Enforcement
A person makes the call.
Someone reports it
Any listing, person or message can be reported from the app, with a reason. A person reads every report. We aim to look within one business day.
Or a check flags it
Automatic checks flag a VIN that’s already on another seller’s listing and a private seller who posts a lot of vehicles. When a moderator opens a listing, photos that closely match another listing’s are shown too. A flag is a question, not a verdict.
A person decides
They look at what was reported, in context, and close it or act. No listing is removed and no account is restricted by a flag alone.
What can happen
A note from Throttle, sent as a notification, saying what needs to change.
The listing comes down and a notification tells you why, for example “the photos were not of the vehicle”.
Your active and pending listings come down, and you can browse but not list or message until the date in the notification.
The account can’t post or message, every listing is removed and the profile is hidden.
What happens depends on what happened and whether it’s happened before. Serious scams and threats can lead straight to a ban, and repeat photo thieves are banned, as rule 6 says.
Every moderation action is logged, so an appeal is looked at with the full record.
Appeals
Think we got it wrong?
Email support with the subject “Appeal”. Include the name on your account, the phone number you sign in with and a link to the listing if there is one, then tell us what you think we got wrong.
A person reviews every appeal and replies by email. If we got it wrong, we restore the listing or lift the restriction. A restored listing comes back with a fresh 60 days.
If a listing came down over a copyright notice, use the counter-notice process on the copyright page instead. These standards are part of the terms of service, which cover accounts and termination in more detail.