Gear Africa Terms and Conditions

1. Acceptance of these terms

By accessing or using the Gear Africa app, website, or related services, you agree to these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use the service.

These terms apply to riders, drivers, vehicle owners, partners, and any other person who accesses or uses Gear Africa.

2. About Gear Africa

Gear Africa provides a technology platform that helps users request, arrange, and manage transport-related services. Unless expressly stated otherwise, Gear Africa is not itself a transport provider, carrier, or owner of the vehicles made available through the platform.

Drivers and service providers using the platform may be independent third parties responsible for providing their services safely, lawfully, and professionally.

3. Accounts and eligibility

You must provide accurate, complete, and current information when creating an account. You are responsible for keeping your login details secure and for all activity that occurs under your account.

You may only use the service if you are legally able to enter into a binding agreement in your jurisdiction.

• Keep your profile, contact details, and payment details current.
• Do not create an account using false information or on behalf of another person without permission.
• Do not sell, transfer, or share your account with another person.
• Tell us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access to your account.

4. Ride requests, fares, and payments

When you request a ride or service, you agree to pay the applicable fare, fees, taxes, tolls, surcharges, waiting charges, cancellation charges, or other amounts shown or communicated through the platform.

Fare estimates, arrival times, routes, and availability may change based on distance, demand, traffic, weather, waiting time, driver availability, route changes, or other service conditions.

Payments may be processed by Gear Africa or by third-party payment providers. By requesting a ride or service, you authorize the applicable charge using your selected payment method.

If a payment fails, we may request another payment method, suspend access to some features, or take reasonable steps to recover the unpaid amount.

5. Cancellations, refunds, and no-shows

You may cancel a ride or service request, but a cancellation fee may apply depending on timing, driver progress, waiting time, or applicable service rules.

Refunds, credits, or adjustments may be issued at Gear Africa's discretion, where required by law, or under the applicable service rules shown in the app.

If a rider is not available at the pickup location within the applicable waiting period, the trip may be treated as a no-show and charges may apply.

6. Rider conduct

Riders must use the platform responsibly and treat drivers, support staff, and other users respectfully. Abuse, harassment, discrimination, fraud, threats, violence, unsafe conduct, and illegal activity are not allowed.

• Do not damage vehicles or property.
• Do not interfere with a driver, vehicle, route, or trip safety.
• Do not attempt to avoid payment, misuse promotions, or make fraudulent claims.
• Do not carry illegal, dangerous, or prohibited items.
• Follow applicable road safety, public conduct, and transport laws.

7. Driver and partner conduct

Drivers and service providers using Gear Africa must comply with all applicable licensing, road safety, insurance, vehicle inspection, tax, and transport requirements.

Drivers must provide services in a safe, lawful, respectful, and professional manner. Gear Africa may suspend or remove access where a driver or partner fails to meet platform standards, legal requirements, or safety expectations.

• Maintain valid driving credentials, vehicle documents, permits, and insurance where required.
• Keep vehicles roadworthy, clean, and suitable for the requested service.
• Do not accept trips while impaired, fatigued, distracted, or otherwise unable to drive safely.
• Do not request unauthorized offline payments where the trip is meant to be paid through the platform.
• Do not harass, threaten, discriminate against, or mistreat riders or other users.

8. Safety

Safety is a shared responsibility. Users must act lawfully and responsibly before, during, and after any trip or service.

Gear Africa may use safety-related features such as trip records, location information, ratings, support reports, verification checks, and account reviews to help protect users and improve the service.

In an emergency, you should contact local emergency services immediately before contacting Gear Africa support.

9. Promotions, discounts, and credits

Gear Africa may offer promotions, discounts, referral rewards, or credits from time to time. These offers may be subject to additional rules, expiry dates, location limits, user eligibility, and service availability.

We may withhold, cancel, or reverse promotions, discounts, rewards, or credits where we reasonably suspect fraud, misuse, duplicate accounts, technical error, or violation of these terms.

10. User content and communications

You may be able to submit ratings, reviews, feedback, support messages, profile information, images, or other content through the platform. You are responsible for the content you submit.

You must not upload or send content that is false, illegal, abusive, discriminatory, defamatory, obscene, harmful, infringing, fraudulent, or intended to disrupt the service.

You grant Gear Africa permission to use content you submit for operating, improving, protecting, and promoting the service, subject to applicable law and our Privacy Policy.

11. Privacy and location data

Gear Africa collects and uses personal information as described in our Privacy Policy. This may include account information, contact details, location information, trip information, payment-related information, device information, communications, ratings, and support records.

Location information may be required to match riders and drivers, calculate fares, support safety features, detect fraud, resolve disputes, and improve the service.

By using the platform, you agree that Gear Africa may process personal information in accordance with the Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws.

12. Third-party services

The platform may include or rely on third-party services such as payment processors, maps, messaging tools, identity verification providers, analytics providers, or other integrations.

Gear Africa is not responsible for third-party services that it does not control. Your use of third-party services may be subject to their own terms and privacy policies.

13. Service availability and changes

The service may not always be available in every area, at every time, or for every type of request. Availability may depend on driver supply, location, network access, demand, safety issues, maintenance, legal requirements, or other operational factors.

We may update, suspend, limit, replace, or discontinue any part of the service at any time, subject to applicable law.

14. Suspension and termination

We may suspend, restrict, or terminate your access to Gear Africa if we reasonably believe that you have violated these terms, created risk for other users, misused the platform, provided false information, failed to pay amounts owed, or acted unlawfully.

You may stop using the service at any time. Some obligations, including payment obligations and provisions relating to liability, disputes, intellectual property, and data handling, may continue after your account is closed.

15. Intellectual property

Gear Africa, its name, logo, app, website, software, designs, content, trademarks, and related materials are owned by Gear Africa or its licensors.

You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, reverse engineer, scrape, misuse, or create derivative works from any part of the platform unless we give you written permission or the law allows it.

16. Disclaimers

The service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Gear Africa does not guarantee that the service will be uninterrupted, error-free, always available, or free from delays, defects, or security issues.

Gear Africa does not guarantee the conduct, availability, suitability, or performance of any rider, driver, vehicle owner, partner, or third-party provider.

17. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Gear Africa will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including loss of profits, loss of data, loss of goodwill, service interruption, or business losses.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for fraud, intentional misconduct, or rights that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

18. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold Gear Africa harmless from claims, losses, liabilities, damages, penalties, costs, and expenses arising from your misuse of the service, violation of these terms, violation of law, unpaid charges, user content, or harm caused to another person or property.

19. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction where Gear Africa operates or is registered, unless applicable consumer protection laws require otherwise.

Where possible, you agree to first contact Gear Africa support so we can try to resolve any complaint or dispute informally. If a dispute cannot be resolved informally, it may be handled by the courts or dispute resolution process available under applicable law.

20. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we may notify you through the app, website, email, or other reasonable means.

Your continued use of the service after updated terms become effective means you accept the updated terms.

21. Contact

If you have questions, complaints, safety concerns, or support requests about these terms or the Gear Africa service, contact the Gear Africa support team through the app or website support channels.