Privacy Policy

CarCostBreakdown.com ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website at carcostbreakdown.com (the "Site").

CarCostBreakdown.com provides a free car ownership cost calculator covering depreciation, insurance, fuel, maintenance, taxes, and financing for 60+ countries. Our calculator uses live data from automated pipelines (exchange rates, fuel prices, CPI inflation, NHTSA recall data, and EV incentives) to produce cost estimates. This policy explains how your interaction with these tools is handled.

Please read this policy carefully. If you disagree with its terms, please discontinue use of the Site. This policy was last updated on May 2026 and applies to all users of the Site worldwide.

We collect information in the following ways:

Information You Provide Directly
We do not require account creation to use the calculator or any feature of the Site. If you contact us via email or our contact form, we collect your name, email address, and the content of your message.

Calculator Inputs (Non-Personally Identifiable)
When you use our car cost calculator, you enter inputs such as vehicle make/model/year, country, fuel type, and annual mileage. These inputs are processed entirely in your browser and are not stored on our servers. We may collect aggregate, anonymised statistics (e.g., "Toyota Camry is the most-searched model") to improve the tool — this data cannot identify you individually.

Information Collected Automatically
When you visit the Site, we automatically collect certain technical information including: IP address (anonymised), browser type and version, operating system, referring URLs, pages visited, time spent on pages, and calculator usage patterns in aggregate (non-personally identifiable form).

Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to maintain calculator state during your session (e.g., your selected currency and country) and to analyse aggregate usage patterns. See our Cookie Policy for full details.

We use the information we collect to:

• Operate and improve the Site and calculator functionality
• Analyse aggregate usage patterns to identify popular features and fix bugs
• Improve our data pipelines (fuel prices, CPI data, NHTSA recalls, EV incentives, exchange rates)
• Respond to your enquiries and support requests, including data correction requests
• Send transactional emails if you have contacted us (no marketing emails without explicit consent)
• Comply with legal obligations
• Protect against fraudulent or illegal activity

We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. We may share information in the following limited circumstances:

Service Providers: We use Google Analytics (analytics), Cloudflare R2 (data storage for our automated pipelines), and Vercel (hosting). These providers are contractually obligated to protect your data and may not use it for their own purposes.

Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or governmental authority, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of CarCostBreakdown.com, our users, or the public.

Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, user information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via a prominent notice on the Site.

Aggregate Data: We may share anonymised, aggregated data (e.g., "X% of users calculate costs for EVs in Europe") in published research or press releases. This data cannot identify you individually.

We use the following types of cookies:

Essential Cookies: Required for the calculator to function (e.g., maintaining your currency selection and calculator state during a session). These cannot be disabled without breaking core functionality.

Analytics Cookies: Google Analytics cookies (anonymised IP) help us understand aggregate traffic patterns, popular pages, and calculator usage. You can opt out via Google's opt-out browser add-on.

No Advertising Cookies: We do not use advertising networks, retargeting pixels, or third-party tracking for advertising purposes.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling non-essential cookies will not affect your ability to use the calculator. See our full Cookie Policy for details.

We retain data for the following periods:

• Session data (calculator inputs): Cleared when you close your browser. We do not store individual calculator results on our servers.
• R2 pipeline data (fuel prices, CPI, NHTSA, EV incentives, exchange rates): Stored in Cloudflare R2 and updated on automated schedules (daily, weekly, or monthly). This is aggregate public data, not personal data.
• Analytics data: Retained for 26 months in Google Analytics (anonymised).
• Contact correspondence: Retained for up to 3 years from the date of last contact.
• Server logs: Retained for up to 90 days for security and debugging purposes.

After the applicable retention period, data is securely deleted or anonymised.

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

All Users
• Right to know what personal data we hold about you
• Right to request correction of inaccurate data
• Right to request deletion of your personal data

EU/EEA Residents (GDPR)
• Right of access (Article 15)
• Right to rectification (Article 16)
• Right to erasure / "right to be forgotten" (Article 17)
• Right to restriction of processing (Article 18)
• Right to data portability (Article 20)
• Right to object to processing (Article 21)
• Right to lodge a complaint with your national supervisory authority

California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)
• Right to know about personal information collected, disclosed, or sold
• Right to delete personal information
• Right to opt-out of the sale of personal information (we do not sell personal information)
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising your rights

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@carcostbreakdown.com. We will respond within 30 days (GDPR) or 45 days (CCPA).

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

• HTTPS encryption for all data in transit
• Secure hosting infrastructure (Vercel) with access controls
• Cloudflare R2 storage with restricted API key access for our data pipelines
• Regular security reviews and updates
• Minimal data collection (we only collect what is necessary)

No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

The Site may contain links to third-party websites (e.g., manufacturer sites, government data sources such as the U.S. Energy Information Administration, World Bank, NHTSA, and IRS). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and encourage you to review their privacy policies.

Third-party services we use:
• Google Analytics: Anonymous traffic analytics. Google Privacy Policy: policies.google.com/privacy
• Vercel: Hosting infrastructure. Vercel Privacy Policy: vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy
• Cloudflare R2: Object storage for our automated data pipelines (fuel prices, CPI, NHTSA, EV incentives, exchange rates). Cloudflare Privacy Policy: cloudflare.com/privacypolicy

We do not integrate with social media tracking pixels or advertising networks.

The Site is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or 16 in the EU). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child, please contact us immediately at privacy@carcostbreakdown.com and we will delete it promptly.

CarCostBreakdown.com is operated from the United States. If you are located outside the US, your information may be transferred to and processed in the US, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

For EU/EEA users, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) and other appropriate safeguards for international data transfers where required by GDPR.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, by posting a notice on the Site. Your continued use of the Site after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

For privacy-related questions, requests, or complaints:

Email: privacy@carcostbreakdown.com
Response time: Within 5 business days (30 days for formal GDPR/CCPA requests)

For general enquiries, visit our Contact page.