Privacy, camera use & terms

Short version: we don't have accounts, we don't have a database, and we don't want your email. Here is exactly what happens.

What we collect

Nothing on a server, because there isn't one.This site is a single static page. There is no backend, no login, no database, and no email capture. The VIN, mileage and ZIP you type stay in your browser and are gone when you close the tab.

The one exception is the URL: when a report runs, the vehicle details are written into the address bar so you can share the link with someone you trust. That happens locally in your browser. If you paste that link somewhere, whoever you paste it to can see it , that's the point of the feature, but it's worth knowing.

Who your browser talks to

When you run a check, your browser , not our server , sends the request directly to:

NHTSA (U.S. Department of Transportation)VIN decoding, recalls, owner complaints and crash-test ratings. Their systems see the request the same way they would if you used nhtsa.gov directly.

Google Fonts and jsDelivrTypefaces, and the barcode-scanning library if you tap Scan. Standard content delivery networks.

We don't see any of it and we don't log any of it. We also can't , there is nowhere for it to be logged.

The camera scanner

The camera never leaves your phone.Tapping "Scan the VIN" asks your browser for camera access. The video is decoded on your device by a library running in your browser. No image, frame or video is uploaded anywhere, by us or by anyone else. Nothing is recorded and nothing is stored. Deny the permission and everything else on the site still works , typing the VIN gives an identical result.

Offline mode

If you install the site to your home screen, your browser caches the pages so the driveway checklist works with no signal. That cache lives on your device. Recall and complaint data is deliberately never cached , stale safety data is worse than none, so those calls always go live.

Terms of use , the honest version

This is reference information, not an inspection.Used Car Informer gathers public federal records and combines them with general, widely-reported information about how specific vehicles tend to fail. It is general reference information for educational purposes. It is not a mechanical inspection, an appraisal, a vehicle history report, a title search, or legal advice, and it is not specific to the individual car in front of you.

Absence of a warning is not a clean bill of health.Our notes cover a growing but finite set of vehicles. "Nothing flagged" means we have no documented pattern on file , it does not mean the car is sound. Any individual vehicle can be far better or far worse than the pattern for its model.

Cost figures are rough estimates.Parts and labor vary enormously by region, shop and configuration. Treat every number here as orientation for a conversation, not a quote.

Always get a pre-purchase inspection.An independent mechanic looking at the actual car beats every database on earth, including this one. Nothing here replaces that, and nothing here should be used to skip it.

Verify at the source.Federal data may be incomplete or out of date. Confirm recalls at nhtsa.gov. Confirm title brands through an NMVTIS-approved provider. Confirm any statute at the state's own site. Laws change and we may not have caught it yet.

Independence.We take no money from dealers, manufacturers, extended-warranty companies or additive makers, and no partner can influence a verdict. There are no affiliate links on this site and nothing here earns a commission. If that ever changes, it will be disclosed on this page first, and it will never apply to anything that could soften a warning.

Not affiliated.We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to NHTSA, the U.S. Department of Transportation, NMVTIS, the Department of Justice, any state motor vehicle department, any manufacturer, dealer, insurer or reporting service. Manufacturer and model names are used only to identify the vehicles being discussed.

Use at your own risk.You make your own buying decisions. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for any loss arising from use of this site.

Donations and how this is funded

Nobody pays for a verdict.This site takes no money from manufacturers, dealers, insurers, extended-warranty companies or additive makers, and no payment of any kind can change what a report says about a vehicle. If voluntary reader donations are added in future, the same rule applies without exception: a donation buys nothing but our thanks. There are no affiliate links on this site and nothing here earns a commission.

Getting something corrected

If you believe something here is wrong , a year range, a failure pattern, a cost band, a statute , we want to know, and we will change it. Accuracy is the only thing this site has. usedcarinformer@gmail.com

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Used Car Informer, operated by MCC LLC · v6.6