Privacy Policy

Information We Collect

Account Information

We process account information such as your user identifier, email address, authentication information, and information needed to maintain your signed-in session. Sign-in providers may process information under their own privacy terms.

Vehicle Information

You may provide vehicle information including make, model, model year, engine, transmission, mileage, VIN, service history, symptoms, and maintenance details. This information helps CarFixMate provide more relevant explanations and recommendations.

VIN Identification and NHTSA vPIC

When you save a vehicle, its VIN is stored locally on your device with that vehicle. If you choose VIN identification, the VIN and any model year you provide are sent directly from the app to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) vPIC service to decode vehicle information. This lookup is user initiated, does not pass through CarFixMate servers, and manual vehicle entry remains available.

Diagnosis and User-Submitted Information

Diagnosis requests may include free-form diagnosis text, recent relevant conversation context, vehicle information, selected symptoms, and related AI-generated responses. Do not submit unnecessary personal, confidential, financial, health, or other sensitive information in vehicle diagnosis messages.

Photos and Warning-Light Images

If you choose warning-light image diagnosis, we process the image and any optional note you provide for that requested feature. Camera or photo access is used when you invoke the relevant feature. Images should show the warning light or vehicle information needed for the request and should not include unrelated people or sensitive material.

AI-Assisted Processing

After you accept the in-app AI data-sharing disclosure and request an AI diagnosis, the diagnosis information described above is sent to CarFixMate servers hosted on Railway and to OpenAI to provide the response you requested. OpenAI processes that information under its own terms and privacy practices. CarFixMate does not ask you to submit information unrelated to the vehicle guidance request.

Related Repair Videos and YouTube

CarFixMate may show related repair or educational videos using YouTube services. Video playback, requests, and associated technical information may be processed by Google and YouTube under their own terms and privacy practices. CarFixMate does not control YouTube’s data processing.

Subscription and Purchase Information

Apple processes App Store purchases and StoreKit subscription transactions. CarFixMate may process subscription status, entitlement, transaction, and usage information needed to provide paid features, restore access, apply limits, and protect against misuse. CarFixMate does not receive your full payment card number through the App Store purchase flow.

Usage and Operational Information

We may process limited operational information such as request identifiers, diagnosis usage records, subscription checks, error information, and security events needed to operate, troubleshoot, secure, and improve the service.

How We Use Information

We use information to provide AI-assisted vehicle guidance, authenticate users, maintain accounts, apply usage limits and subscription entitlements, respond to requests, maintain security, prevent abuse, troubleshoot errors, improve reliability and user experience, and comply with legal obligations.

Service Providers

CarFixMate uses selected service providers including Supabase for authentication and database services, Railway for CarFixMate server infrastructure, OpenAI for AI-assisted response generation, Apple for application distribution and StoreKit transactions, Google and YouTube for related video services, and NHTSA vPIC for user-initiated VIN decoding. Providers process information under their own terms and privacy practices.

Local Data

Vehicle and diagnosis information saved locally by the app may remain on your device until you delete it, remove the app data, or delete your account where the app provides that option. Local data is subject to the security and access controls of your device.

Data Retention

The app keeps locally saved vehicle and diagnosis information on your device until you delete it or delete your account in the app. We do not state fixed retention periods for Railway, Supabase, OpenAI, Apple, Google, YouTube, or NHTSA because provider retention settings are not controlled or proven by this application code.

Data Deletion

You may delete locally saved information using the relevant in-app controls and may request deletion of your account and associated personal data through the account deletion option provided in the application, where available, or by contacting support@carfixmate.app. Some records may be retained when legally required or necessary for fraud prevention, security, accounting, or dispute resolution.

Security

We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards appropriate to the information and services involved. However, no internet-based system, device, or transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Children's Privacy

CarFixMate is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information, please contact us so we can review the request.

International Processing

Supabase, Railway, OpenAI, Apple, Google, YouTube, NHTSA, and other service providers may process information in countries other than your country of residence. Applicable safeguards are used where required by law.

Changes to This Policy

This policy may be updated from time to time. The effective date shown above will be revised when material changes are made. The current version will be available through the CarFixMate website or app links.

Contact

Questions or privacy requests may be sent to support@carfixmate.app.