Privacy Policy

What we collect

When you visit ProblemsByVin, our hosting provider (Vercel) and our analytics provider (Google Analytics 4) automatically collect:

• Your IP address (used to determine general geographic region)
• Browser type and version
• Operating system
• Pages you view and the order you view them
• How long you spend on each page
• The referring website or search query that led you here

We do NOT collect or store:

• Your name, email address, or phone number (unless you contact us directly, in which case we only use it to reply)
• Your VIN, license plate, or vehicle identification information (VIN lookups on this site decode through NHTSA's public API and we do not store the results)
• Payment information (we have no checkout)
• Account credentials (we have no accounts)

How we use this data

• To understand which pages are useful and which need improvement
• To detect and prevent abuse (bot traffic, scraping)
• To comply with legal requirements when applicable

We do not sell your data. We do not share it with advertisers for ad targeting. We do not build behavioral profiles for resale.

Third parties that receive data

• Google Analytics receives anonymized usage data per the Google Privacy Policy.
• Vercel (our hosting provider) receives server logs and request metadata per the Vercel Privacy Policy.
• Affiliate networks (MaxBounty for our Chaiz warranty referral links) receive a click identifier when you click an affiliate link. This identifier confirms whether your visit resulted in a referral and does not transfer your personal information. See affiliate disclosure in our Terms of Use.

Your rights

California residents have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to request information about, deletion of, or opting out of the sale of personal information. Email contact@problemsbyvin.com to exercise these rights. (Note: we do not sell personal information.)

EU and UK residents have rights under GDPR including access, correction, deletion, and data portability. Email contact@problemsbyvin.com to exercise these rights. Our lawful basis for processing is legitimate interest in operating and improving a free informational website.

Opting out of analytics

You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by:

• Installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on
• Using a browser with privacy protection (Brave, Firefox with strict mode)
• Using browser extensions like uBlock Origin or Privacy Badger

Children

This site is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13.

Changes to this policy

If we update this policy, we will change the "Last updated" date above. Material changes will be noted on the homepage for a reasonable period.

Contact

Questions about this policy: contact@problemsbyvin.com