← Back to spots
Sponsorship Terms

Terms of Sponsorship

Version 1.0 · Last updated · Fairfax County, Virginia

Please read section 6 before you pay. It explains exactly what happens to your money if the car is damaged, sold, stolen, or off the road — including the parts that are not refundable. These terms are a plain-language agreement, not a substitute for your own legal advice.
Contents
  1. Who this agreement is between
  2. What you are buying
  3. The six-month term
  4. Payment
  5. Artwork and installation
  6. If the car becomes unusable
  7. Cancellation and refusal
  8. Content standards
  9. Trademarks and content use
  10. Exclusivity
  11. What is not promised
  12. Limitation of liability
  13. Taxes and records
  14. Governing law and disputes
  15. Changes to these terms
  16. Contact

01Who this agreement is between

This agreement is between the owner and operator of FixTheSTI.com (“the Owner,” “I,” “me”) and the business or individual purchasing advertising space (“the Sponsor,” “you”).

The vehicle is a 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, privately owned and personally driven in Fairfax County, Virginia and the surrounding Northern Virginia area. This is a personal fundraising project, not an advertising agency, a fleet media company, or a registered vehicle-wrap business.

Placing an order, paying an invoice, or supplying artwork means you accept these terms.

02What you are buying

You are buying the right to display your artwork on one identified panel on the passenger side only of the vehicle, for a fixed six-month term, at the price shown for that panel on FixTheSTI.com at the time of purchase.

Available panels are the front fender, the front door (whole, or upper or lower half), the rear door (whole, or upper or lower half), and the rear quarter. Panel boundaries shown on the site mark the usable decal area and are approximate. Final size and exact placement are confirmed with the professional installer before anything is printed, and small adjustments may be needed to fit body lines, creases, handles, and existing trim.

The driver-side, hood, roof, trunk, glass, and all interior surfaces are not for sale and are not part of this agreement.

03The six-month term

Your six months does not begin when you pay. It begins on the official installation date, which is the same date for every sponsor in the campaign. All sponsors launch together and finish together.

The installation date is set once enough spots are sold to fund the repair and schedule the installer. I will give you at least seven days' notice of the confirmed date. If the campaign does not reach the funding needed to proceed, see section 7.

At the end of the term the decals are removed at my cost. You may renew if we both want to, at a price agreed at the time. There is no automatic renewal and no automatic rebilling.

04Payment

Payment is processed through Stripe. I do not see, handle, or store your card or bank details. You will receive a proper invoice and a receipt for your records.

ACH bank transfer is preferred

Card and ACH are both accepted, but ACH is preferred and is the default option on invoices. Card processing takes roughly 2.9% plus 30¢ of every payment; ACH is a fraction of that. On a $1,500 placement the difference is about $40 that goes into the car instead of into fees. If you can pay by ACH, please do. ACH transfers typically settle in 4–5 business days; card payments clear immediately.

Deposit and balance

Unless we agree otherwise in writing:

StageAmount
Deposit — reserves your panel50%
Balance — due before installation50%

A panel is only reserved once the deposit clears. Until then it stays listed as available and may be sold to someone else. If the balance is not paid by the installation date, the deposit is treated as a production fee under section 6 and the panel is released.

The production fee

20% of your total fee is a non-refundable production fee. It covers design preparation, printing, materials, and professional installation labour — costs that are spent once, at the start, and cannot be recovered.

The remaining 80% is the media fee, which pays for the exposure itself and is the only portion that can be pro-rated or refunded.

Before artwork goes to print, the production fee is refundable. Once printing has started, it is not.

05Artwork and installation

You supply the artwork. Please send vector files (.ai, .eps, or .svg) or a PNG at least 3000px on its longest edge with a transparent background. Artwork is due no later than fourteen days before the installation date. Late artwork may mean your panel is installed in a later batch, without extending your term.

I will send you a mockup showing your artwork on the panel for written approval before printing. Once you approve it, that is what gets printed.

Installation is done by a professional wrap installer using removable vinyl. You warrant that you own or are licensed to use everything in the artwork you supply, and that it does not infringe anyone else's rights.

Decals are not changed mid-term. If you want new artwork during your six months, you pay for reprinting and reinstallation.

06If the car becomes unusable

This is a single privately owned car that is driven daily. It can be damaged, stolen, or taken off the road. This section says exactly what happens if it is.

What counts as unusable

The vehicle is treated as unusable if it is declared a total loss by an insurer, is stolen and not recovered within thirty days, is sold or transferred, or is non-operational for more than thirty consecutive days.

Short interruptions do not trigger anything

Routine maintenance, repairs, and ordinary downtime of thirty days or less do not entitle you to a refund. Instead the clock pauses and your term is extended by the number of days the car was off the road. This includes the clutch replacement this campaign is funding.

Make-good first, refund second

My obligation is to deliver six months of exposure — not to keep one specific car on the road. If the vehicle becomes unusable, I will offer, in this order:

If none of those can be delivered within sixty days, you get a cash refund of the unused media portion, pro-rated by whole months remaining. The production fee is not refunded, because that money has already been spent on printing and installation.

A worked example

You buy the front door for $1,500. That is $300 production and $1,200 media, or $200 of media per month.

The car is written off after two months, with four months unused. No replacement vehicle is available within sixty days. Your refund is 4 × $200 = $800.

Honesty about the money

You should know that sponsorship money is spent on repairing the car, usually well before your six months are up. I keep a reserve against refunds where I can, but I am one person, not an insured media company. My total liability to you is capped at what you actually paid me — see section 12.

07Cancellation and refusal

If you cancel

Before artwork goes to print, you get a full refund including the production fee. After printing starts but before installation, you get the media portion back and the production fee is retained. After installation, section 6 applies.

If the campaign does not go ahead

If not enough spots sell to fund the repair and the campaign is called off, every sponsor is refunded in full, including the production fee, provided nothing has been printed.

If I refuse or remove your artwork

I may decline any sponsor before installation, for any reason, with a full refund. I may also remove artwork mid-term if it breaches section 8, if it becomes unlawful, or if displaying it exposes me to legal risk. In that case you are refunded the unused media portion only.

08Content standards

This car is parked outside a family home and driven past schools. I will not display artwork that is sexually explicit; promotes hate, harassment, or violence against any group; advertises weapons, tobacco, vaping, or cannabis; promotes gambling, payday lending, crypto tokens, or get-rich-quick schemes; is political campaigning or election material; is misleading or fraudulent; or impersonates another brand.

I also will not display artwork that could be mistaken for emergency services, law enforcement, or official vehicle markings, or anything that obstructs lights, plates, mirrors, or glass.

These judgements are mine, made in good faith, and are final. If I decline your artwork you get a full refund under section 7.

09Trademarks and content use

You keep all rights in your logo and artwork. You grant me a limited licence to reproduce it on the vehicle, on FixTheSTI.com, and in photos and videos documenting the build and campaign, for the term and afterwards as part of the project's archive.

I keep all rights in photos, videos, and written updates I produce. You may repost content in which your decal appears on your own channels with credit to @manueldriven. You may not sell it, use it in paid advertising, or imply I endorse your products.

10Exclusivity

Panels are sold individually and there is no category exclusivity by default — two sponsors in the same industry may appear on the same car. If you want category exclusivity, ask before you buy; it is available for an additional fee and has to be agreed in writing.

11What is not promised

I am selling space and a six-month term. I am not selling impressions, reach, leads, sales, or any performance outcome, and none of those are guaranteed.

I do not promise a minimum number of miles driven, a minimum number of days parked in public, any particular route or geography, or any specific amount of social media coverage. I will drive the car normally, as I always have.

Vinyl on a daily-driven car in Virginia weather will pick up road grime, salt, and sun. I will keep it reasonably clean, but ordinary wear is expected and is not a defect.

12Limitation of liability

My total liability to you under this agreement, for any reason, is limited to the total amount you actually paid me. I am not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential losses, including lost profits, lost business, or reputational harm.

Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

13Taxes and records

Prices are exclusive of any applicable taxes. You are responsible for your own tax position, including whether this expense is deductible for your business. I am responsible for reporting this income.

Stripe issues an invoice and receipt for every payment. If your business needs a W-9 or additional paperwork before it can pay a supplier, ask and I will provide it.

14Governing law and disputes

This agreement is governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Any dispute is subject to the courts of Fairfax County, Virginia.

If something goes wrong, email me first. I would much rather sort it out directly than through anybody's lawyer.

15Changes to these terms

The terms that apply to you are the ones published on the date you paid your deposit. I may update these terms for future sponsors, but changes do not alter an agreement already in place. This page shows a version number and date so you can tell which version you agreed to. Keep a copy of your receipt.

16Contact

Questions before you buy are welcome, and questions about section 6 especially so.

Email: sponsor@fixthesti.com
TikTok: @manueldriven
Location: Fairfax County, Virginia