CarTrace
Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how CarTrace collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects information when you use the CarTrace app, website, vehicle report pages, support services, and related features. It follows a common vehicle-history-report disclosure structure, but it only describes the data CarTrace actually needs for the services we currently provide.
1. Scope
This policy applies to CarTrace vehicle history reports, vehicle lookup features, in-app purchases, account login, notifications, customer support, legal pages, and report pages.
This policy does not cover the independent privacy practices of third-party websites, payment platforms, Apple, Google, RevenueCat, vehicle data providers, or other third-party services. Please review their privacy policies when you use those services.
2. Information we collect
We collect only the information needed to provide the service, maintain accounts, process purchases, generate reports, troubleshoot issues, and protect the service.
| Category | Examples | Main purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Account and login information | Email address, display name, family/given name, user ID, sign-in method, session identifiers, password status | Account creation, sign-in, account security, recovery, and account management |
| Verification and security information | Email code records, password hashes, login IP address, login time, device model, failure reason, fraud-prevention logs | Identity verification, abuse prevention, and login troubleshooting |
| Vehicle lookup information | VIN, selected vehicle model, make/series/model year, order ID, report ID, lookup time, report status | Submitting vehicle lookups, displaying reports, and tracking order status |
| Report content | Vehicle basics, service records, insurance claim records, condition analysis, price information, translation status, PDF/web report URLs | Generating, showing, translating, downloading, and maintaining vehicle reports |
| Purchase and balance information | App Store product IDs, transaction IDs, RevenueCat purchase metadata, purchase time, credit additions, deductions, and returned credits | Purchase verification, credit issuance, purchase restoration, refunds, and reconciliation |
| Device and app information | Device model, OS version, app version, language, country or region, push token, notification status, basic operational logs | Language support, report status notifications, diagnostics, and reliability |
| Camera/VIN scan information | When you choose VIN scanning, the app uses the camera to help read the VIN | Helping you enter a VIN; camera access is not used for advertising profiles |
| Support and feedback information | Emails, feedback, screenshots, attachments, and contact details you send to us | Support replies, issue diagnosis, business requests, and complaints |
3. Information we do not intentionally collect
Unless you voluntarily provide it in a support message, CarTrace does not intentionally collect government ID numbers, passport numbers, driver license numbers, biometric identifiers, precise geolocation, contacts, SMS, call logs, photo library contents, microphone recordings, health information, religious or political views, race, union membership, education or employment history, full payment card numbers, or payment passwords.
We do not currently sell personal information or provide personal information to third parties for cross-context targeted advertising.
4. Sources of information
- Information you provide directly, such as email, VIN, vehicle model selection, and feedback.
- Information generated by your device and app use, such as device model, language, push token, and login logs.
- Information returned by Apple, Google, RevenueCat, and similar login or purchase services.
- Information returned by vehicle report data sources, vehicle information providers, or translation providers.
- Information from service providers that support email, push notifications, hosting, logs, security, and customer support.
5. How we use information
- Create, verify, and maintain your CarTrace account.
- Receive VIN lookup requests and generate, display, and download vehicle history reports.
- Process in-app purchases, report credits, purchase restoration, refunds, and reconciliation.
- Translate report content into the language you choose.
- Send verification emails, report status notifications, service notices, and support replies.
- Diagnose issues, improve reliability, prevent fraud, abuse, and duplicate crediting.
- Comply with legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, and dispute-resolution obligations.
We do not use your report content to deliver third-party targeted advertising.
6. Vehicle reports, VINs, and translation
When you submit a VIN lookup, we may send the VIN, selected model, order information, and related fields needed to generate a report to supported vehicle data sources or service providers. Report availability, completeness, and regional coverage depend on the records available from those sources at the time of lookup.
If you choose a non-Chinese report, we may send the report fields that need translation to a translation provider, such as DeepSeek or another configured translation service. We send only the content needed to generate the selected language version, not for advertising profiling.
Vehicle reports may include data from third parties or multiple channels. CarTrace works to present information accurately, but a report is not a substitute for physical inspection, repair invoices, customs documents, or final determinations by local registration authorities.
7. Purchases, balances, and refunds
CarTrace in-app purchases are processed by Apple and verified through RevenueCat and CarTrace systems. We do not receive or store full payment card information.
We keep records necessary for purchase verification, transaction reconciliation, report credit balances, refunds, duplicate-credit prevention, and support. If a report lookup ultimately fails and meets our return rules, the corresponding report credit is returned to your balance.
8. How we share information
We do not sell personal information. We share information only when necessary to provide the service or when required by law:
- With Apple, Google, and RevenueCat for login, purchase, and transaction verification.
- With vehicle data sources or service providers for VIN, model, order, and lookup fields needed to generate reports.
- With translation providers for report fields needed to generate language versions.
- With email, push notification, cloud hosting, database, logging, analytics, fraud-prevention, and support providers as needed for their services.
- When required for legal process, regulatory requests, dispute handling, security protection, or to protect CarTrace, users, or the public.
Service providers may process information only as needed to provide the relevant service.
9. Notifications, email, and permissions
We may send email verification codes, report completion/failure/refund or service status notifications, support replies, and necessary service emails.
We do not currently send SMS marketing. You can turn off push notifications in your device settings. If push is off, you can still refresh report status in the app.
Camera permission is used only when you choose VIN scanning. You can disable camera access in system settings and continue to enter VINs manually.
10. Cookies, logs, and website access
CarTrace websites, report pages, admin pages, and legal pages may use necessary cookies, local storage, or session information for login state, page display, error diagnosis, and security. We do not currently use these technologies to sell personal information or conduct third-party targeted advertising.
Servers may record access time, IP address, browser or app information, request path, status code, and error logs for security, reliability, and troubleshooting.
11. Retention
We retain information for as long as needed to provide the service and meet legal, payment, tax, fraud-prevention, and dispute-resolution requirements. Account information is generally retained until you delete the account or it is lawfully closed. Order, purchase, balance, refund, and report records may be retained as needed for reconciliation, tax, dispute, support, compliance, and anti-fraud purposes. Operational and security logs are retained for a reasonable period and then deleted or anonymized.
When you delete your account, we stop account access and delete or anonymize information that is no longer needed. Records needed for legal, payment, anti-fraud, audit, or dispute purposes may continue to be retained.
12. Your choices and rights
- View account information, report balance, and report history in the app.
- Disable push notifications or camera permission in device settings.
- Request account deletion in the app.
- Contact us to request access, correction, deletion, or an explanation of how your personal information is processed.
- Object to or request restriction of unnecessary processing, where applicable, although this may affect some features.
We process requests as required by applicable law and may need to verify your identity to protect account security.
13. Children
CarTrace is not intended for children under 13, or under the minimum age required by local law. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child provided personal information to us, please contact us.
14. International processing
CarTrace serves users in multiple countries and regions. Your information may be processed and stored outside your country or region, including in China or in locations where our service providers operate. We take reasonable measures to protect information under this policy.
15. Security
We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect information, including access controls, encryption or hashing for sensitive credentials, audit logs, and monitoring. No online service can guarantee absolute security. Please protect your account, password, email, and device.
16. Third-party services
The CarTrace app, website, or report pages may link to third-party websites or services. Their privacy practices are not covered by this policy. Please review third-party privacy policies before using them.
17. Updates
We may update this policy as our product, laws, or service providers change. The updated page will show a new “Last updated” date. For material changes, where appropriate, we may provide notice in the app, on the website, or by other reasonable means.
18. Contact
For privacy questions, requests, or account data issues, contact us at: