Privacy policy
What happens to the VIN you type, what PlateVIN stores, and when analytics and ads load. The VIN goes from your browser to NHTSA and never to this site.
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The short version
The VIN you type is sent from your browser to NHTSA, not to PlateVIN. We have no server that receives, stores or logs VINs and no accounts. Analytics and advertising scripts are not loaded until you accept them in the cookie banner.
What is sent to NHTSA
When you press Decode, your browser requests vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov and sends the VIN in the address of the request. NHTSA, like any web server, receives your IP address and browser details with it. To list recalls, the browser then requests api.nhtsa.gov with the make, model and model year that the decode returned; the VIN is not part of that request. NHTSA is responsible for how it handles these requests and describes its practices on its own website.
What is stored in your browser
PlateVIN stores nothing about your lookups: the VIN, the result and your history are held in memory on the page and disappear when you leave or reload it. The only entry written to your browser is your cookie choice, stored by the consent banner so that it does not reappear on every page.
Analytics and advertising
If you accept, we load an analytics script (Plausible or Google Analytics, depending on how the site is configured) to count visits and see which pages are read, and Google AdSense to show ads. These providers may set cookies or read identifiers in your browser and receive your IP address and the page you view. They do not receive the VIN you type into the tool, because it is not sent anywhere except to NHTSA. If you reject, none of these scripts load and the tool works the same.
Google describes how it uses data from sites that use its services at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Hosting and server logs
The site is served as static files by its hosting provider, which keeps technical logs such as IP address and requested address for security and operation. The VIN is never part of a request to the site, so it does not appear in those logs. PlateVIN does not read the logs for tracking.
Your rights and contact
Under the GDPR you may ask what personal data is held about you, and ask for correction or deletion. PlateVIN holds no VINs. For analytics or ad data the provider you consented to is the controller; for requests to NHTSA, contact NHTSA. For anything else write to jonathan.holmlidh@gmail.com.