Privacy Policy
What We Collect
When you use VIN Decoder, we may collect:
- Email address and password — when you create an account.
- IP address — to enforce the free daily lookup limit and prevent abuse.
- VINs you decode — logged to track usage and enforce rate limits. Premium users' saved VINs are stored in your account.
- Uploaded history reports — PDF content, the VIN and provider label you enter, notes, and upload date. Reports may contain personal details: only upload documents you are permitted to store.
- Payment information — handled entirely by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
- Browser/device info — standard server logs (user agent, referrer) kept for up to 30 days.
How We Use Your Data
- To provide the VIN decoding service.
- To enforce the free daily lookup limit by IP address.
- To manage your Premium subscription and billing.
- To maintain your saved VIN history (Premium accounts).
- We do not sell your data to third parties.
- We do not use your data for profiling or targeted advertising beyond standard AdSense.
Third-Party Services
- NHTSA — vehicle data is fetched from the U.S. government's public API. No personal data is sent to NHTSA.
- Stripe — processes Premium subscription payments. Subject to Stripe's Privacy Policy.
- Google AdSense — displays ads to free-tier users. Subject to Google's Privacy Policy. Ads are not shown to Premium users.
- Railway — hosts the application and database, including private report uploads.
- History report providers — purchase links open external websites. We do not automatically send uploaded reports or your account details to those providers. Their checkout, privacy and refund terms apply.
- Google search — the optional auction-search link sends the displayed VIN to Google only when you click it. Google's privacy policy applies. Snap.VIN does not automatically search Google or send uploaded reports to it.
Data Retention
Uploaded reports remain in your account until you delete them or request account deletion. Access and downloads require your account session; reports are not publicly shared. Deleting a report removes it from the live database, but infrastructure backups may retain earlier copies under the hosting provider's retention policy. We do not automatically extract or validate the report's findings or VIN association.
Account data is retained while your account is active. Decode logs older than 90 days are purged automatically. You may request deletion of your account and all associated data by contacting us.
Cookies
We use a single session cookie to keep you logged in. Google AdSense may set additional cookies on free-tier pages for ad personalization.
Your Rights
You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data at any time by contacting us. To delete your account, email us from the address on file.
Contact
For privacy questions or data requests, contact: privacy@snap.vin