Privacy Policy

The site is operated by KarelCar (“we”, “us”). If you have a question about this policy or your data, email support@karelcar.com or use our contact form.

The short version

• You can use the whole site without an account, and we never ask for your name to look up a vehicle.
• We don’t use advertising or analytics cookies, and we don’t sell or rent personal information.
• We process your IP address for security and rate limiting, and we keep messages you send us for up to 12 months.
• When you click a partner link and leave our site, that partner’s own privacy policy applies.

Information we collect

When you browse

Like every website, our servers receive technical information with each request: your IP address, browser type (user agent), the page requested, the referring page and the time. We use this to deliver pages, to protect the site against abuse and automated scraping, and to enforce usage limits (for example, the number of VIN lookups per hour). Rate-limit counters are held in memory and reset within an hour. Server and security logs may be kept for up to 30 days.

When you use the VIN decoder

The VIN you enter is sent to our vehicle data providers to decode it. We store the VIN together with the decoded vehicle information (year, make, model, specifications and, where available, an estimated market value) so repeat lookups are fast and so we can improve our model pages. We do not link stored VINs to your name, IP address or any other information that identifies you. A VIN identifies a vehicle, not its owner, and we never request owner, title or registration information.

When you click a partner link

Some links to dealers and listing sites are affiliate links (see our Affiliate Disclosure). When you click one, we record the partner, the page you clicked from, the referring URL and the time, so we can understand which pages are useful. We do not store your IP address with this record, and it is deleted automatically after about 13 months.

When you contact us

If you use the contact form we store your name, email address, chosen topic and message, together with your IP address and browser type to prevent spam. We use this only to reply to you and handle your request. Messages are deleted automatically after 12 months.

Location

The “Show dealers near me” button on the dealer map asks your browser for your location. If you allow it, the location is used only inside your browser to sort nearby dealers. It is never sent to or stored on our servers.

Cookies and similar technologies

We do not set cookies for visitors. Site administrators who sign in receive strictly necessary authentication cookies. We don’t use third-party analytics, advertising pixels or cross-site tracking. Affiliate partners may set their own cookies on their websites after you click through to them. That is governed by their policies, not ours.

Who we share information with

• Vehicle data providers, such as the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and commercial VIN decoding and valuation services. They receive the VIN or the year, make and model being looked up, and nothing that identifies you.
• Map tile provider. Pages with a dealer map load map images from a third-party tile server, which receives your IP address and browser information as part of that request.
• Hosting and infrastructure providers that store and serve the site on our behalf, under confidentiality obligations.
• Authorities, if the law requires it, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our users or the public.

We do not sell personal information and we do not “share” it for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined in the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA).

Legal bases (EEA/UK visitors)

We process technical and security data on the basis of our legitimate interest in running a secure, reliable service, and contact messages to respond to your request (your request, or our legitimate interest in answering it).

How long we keep information

• Rate-limit counters: up to 1 hour.
• Server and security logs: up to 30 days.
• Affiliate click records (no IP address): about 13 months.
• Contact form messages: 12 months.
• Decoded VIN records: as long as the vehicle data is useful for the service. They contain no personal information.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example the EEA, UK, California and other U.S. states with privacy laws), you may have the right to access, correct or delete personal information we hold about you, to object to or restrict its processing, and to data portability. To make a request, email support@karelcar.com or choose “Privacy request” on the contact form. We will respond within 30 days and will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. You may also complain to your local data protection authority.

Security

Data is sent over encrypted HTTPS connections, access to our database is restricted, and we keep as little personal information as we can. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work to protect the information we hold.

Children

The site is intended for adults researching vehicles. It is not directed to children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle information, we will update this page and the “Last updated” date above. Significant changes will be highlighted on the site.