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Privacy Policy

Question
What is CARFAX's privacy policy?

Answer
CARFAX never releases your personal information to any third party. For a full discussion of CARFAX's privacy policy read bellow:

• Free CARFAX Report - Get Unlimited 30 days trial used car history report

CARFAX is an authorized TRUSTe web site

CARFAX is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program.

TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build users' trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. Because this web site wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe. By displaying the TRUSTe trustmark, this web site has agreed to notify you of:

What personally identifiable information of yours or third-party personally identification is collected from you through the web site
The organization collecting the information.
How the information is used.
With whom the information may be shared.
What choices are available to you regarding collection, use and distribution of the information.
The kind of security procedures that are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information under CARFAX control.
How you can correct any inaccuracies in the information.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact us by email. If you do not receive acknowledgment of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact TRUSTe at http://www.truste.org/users/users_watchdog.html. TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with the Web site to resolve your concerns.

CARFAX Privacy Policy
Updated October 14, 2002

At CARFAX, we are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information we collect to process orders and to provide a more useful and personalized experience on our site. Please read on for more details about our privacy policy. Note: This policy only applies to www.carfax.com.

• What information do we collect? How do we use it?
• How does CARFAX protect customer information?
• What about Cookies?
• Will CARFAX disclose the information it collects to outside parties?
• How does CARFAX allow customers to update or change the information it collects?
• CARFAX Safe Teen Drivers Program
• Privacy update policy
• Contact Information
• Your consent.

What information do we collect? How do we use it? (back to top)
When you order CARFAX Vehicle History Reports, we require your name, mailing address, e-mail address, credit card number, and expiration date. This information allows us to process your order and deliver your reports to you.

For each CARFAX Vehicle History Report you request, you will also enter the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). This is the unique 17-character identification number that is used to search our database for information about the vehicle's history. Once you enter the VIN of a vehicle, the CARFAX report will appear on screen and an email version of the same CARFAX Report will be sent to you via email for your records.

You may be asked to complete brief surveys while on the CARFAX web site. These surveys help us to better understand how you are using the information, and help us to develop better products and services for you. These surveys may be administered by CARFAX or by a third party.

You may receive periodic email communications from CARFAX that include special offers and promotions related to the used car buying and ownership process. Should you choose to "opt-out" of receiving these email communications, you will only receive the email communications that contain the CARFAX Reports you order. To unsubscribe to any of our communications or have any questions about our services or our products, please click here to contact us.

We also track user traffic patterns to uncover ways in which we can improve the site and make it easier to use. We do not track what individual users read, but rather how many customers look at each page.

How does CARFAX protect customer information? (back to top)
When you place an order with CARFAX, we offer the use of a secure server. All information you enter is encrypted via a secure sockets layer (SSL) before it is sent over the Internet to our secure servers. Furthermore, all of the customer data we collect is protected against unauthorized access.

What about Cookies? (back to top)
"Cookies" are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer's hard drive. Cookies enable us to provide customized and convenient features to you on your initial and subsequent visits to CARFAX.com. Our cookies do NOT contain any personally identifying information. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies. Even if you have set your browser to refuse cookies, you will still be able to access and use the CARFAX.com site.

CARFAX uses a reputable third party, such as WebSideStory, to collect and accumulate other anonymous data that helps us understand and analyze the Internet experience of our visitors. For example, we accumulate visitor data relating to referring domains, the type of browsers used, operating system software (e.g. Windows 95 vs. 98), screen resolutions, color capabilities, plug-ins, etc. We also record number of visits, paths taken and time spent on sites and pages. This information may be stored in a cookie on your computer's hard drive. However, none of this information is personally identifiable and we only share this information in the aggregate, reflecting overall Web site or Internet usage trends.

CARFAX also uses a reputable third party, such as DoubleClick, to serve the advertisements that you see on the pages of our Web site. To help deliver advertisements and promotions that you may be more interested in receiving, a cookie is stored on your computer's hard drive to track general user preferences. Again, none of this information is personally identifiable and we only share this information in the aggregate, reflecting overall Web site or Internet usage trends. If you would like to know more about the information gathering practices and "opt-out" procedures of our third party advertising server, please click here.

Will CARFAX disclose the information it collects to outside parties? (back to top)
CARFAX does not sell, trade, rent, or otherwise transfer your personal information to others, except as outlined in this privacy policy. CARFAX may release customer information when necessary to comply with state and federal laws. We may share non-personal, non-individual statistical or demographic information in aggregate form with our marketing partners, advertisers, or other third parties for research purposes. We never share information about specific individuals with any third party, except as outlined in this privacy policy.

CARFAX uses an outside credit card processing company to bill you for services. This credit card processing company does not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

Please note, the CARFAX.com web site contains links to other web sites. CARFAX is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these web sites. In addition, CARFAX partners with other businesses and organizations across the Internet. In many cases, you may access CARFAX through a link at one of our partner's websites. By entering the CARFAX website through one of our partner's websites, you signify your understanding that CARFAX is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these web sites. Further, its also possible that by entering through a partner's website and using the CARFAX website, you maybe allowing the partner's site to view any information you provide.

How does CARFAX allow customers to update or change the information it collects?

You may update or change the information pertaining to your account by contacting CARFAX, please click here to contact us. To unsubscribe to any of our communications or have any questions about our services or our products, please click here.

CARFAX Safe Teen Drivers Newsletter

To signup for our newsletter, we collect your email address. If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter or CARFAX mailings, you can unsubscribe here.

CARFAX Tell a Friend Program
If a user elects to use Tell A Friend service for informing a friend about our site, we ask them for the friend's name and email address. CARFAX will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting them to visit the site. The information is used for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email. CARFAX does not store this information.

Privacy update policy

CARFAX will post notice of material changes to our privacy statement 30 days prior to implementation.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us by visiting our Help Center and submitting a question.

Your consent

By using this site, you signify your assent to the CARFAX Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this policy, please do not use our site. Should we change the way in which we use your personal information, we will get your consent before using your information in this new way.

Auto News: Sweetened consumer incentives, enhanced vehicle lineups and an improving U.S. economy lifted new car and truck sales in last November, automakers reported - source: Business AP. Most analysts predicted sales of new cars and trucks to rise last month from October and a year ago thanks to hefty showroom bargains, which are likely to continue for the remainder of the year. Many automakers also improved incentives to end 2002 as they tried to meet year-end sales goals. Also helping, analysts and automakers said, is a strengthening economy that bodes well for business heading into 2004.

Since more people buying new cars, there are also more used cars offered for sale on the market. With Internet growing popularity consumers has been using Internet as the source for searching information, shopping products and services. Lemon History Check has been providing free CARFAX vehicle history report service via Internet since December 1996 - Carfax history. Consumers have been using CARFAX vehicle history report since 1996, which was the first year it is made available to consumers. With the Internet access, consumers can gain the same instant access to vehicle history reports, which was already available to used car dealers via fax since 1986.

The CARFAX database is the most comprehensive and accurate vehicle database in North America, containing 2.36 billion vehicle history records that are updated monthly - source, data provided and its meaning. Each record reveals information about a car's history, such as an odometer reading, date a salvage/junk title was issued, or if it was a rental car. The following are the data reported:

• Totaled in an accident / Salvaged
• Flood damage
• Odometer rollbacks
• Lemon histories
• Junked Titles
• State emissions inspection results
• Lien activity, and/or
• Vehicle use (taxi, rental, lease, etc.)
• Over the last year, CARFAX has added several enhancements to its report and to its user websites to better serve the needs of used car buyers and sellers. The Safety and Reliability Report is free with the purchase of Unlimited CARFAX History Reports and includes information such as: crash test results, safety recalls, reliability ratings, warranty information and more.
• CARFAX vehicle service report provide Safety data on the specific make, model, and year.
  This information will help you select a vehicle model that meets your expectations for safety and security. - Safety & Reliability Report
  • Crash Test Results - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provides 3 different ratings - full-width frontal crash test, side impact crash test, and rollover resistance. The frontal crash test indicates how well the safety features and restraints will protect an occupant in a head-on collision. The side-impact test conveys the chance of a severe chest injury, while the rollover resistance rating estimates the risk of rolling over in a single vehicle crash
  • Crashworthiness - Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) uses a frontal offset crash test to estimate the crashworthiness of a vehicle. These results are good indicators of how a frontal impact will structurally impact this Year, Make, Model.
  • Low Speed Damage Repair - IIHS conducts four 5 mph crash tests to assess bumper performance. These results convey how well this model's bumpers will protect the car body from damage in low-speed collisions.
  • Injury, Collision, & Theft rating index - sourced from the IIHS, Highway Loss Data Institute.
  • Safety Recalls - Print out of the manufacturer recall date, units potentially affected, NHTSA campaign number, defective part or component, and description of the recall campaign.
• Reliability data are shown on your CARFAX report.- Safety & Reliability Report
  Use this information to check how reliable a vehicle model is before you buy.
  • J.D. Power and Associates Power Ratings
  • Original Manufacturer Warranty
  • Reviews & Opinions
  • Awards. - Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds, Polk Automotive, and J.D. Power and Associates.

   

• get Unlimited 30 days trial CARFAX vehicle history report