Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

At Autoza, we value and respect your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your personal information when you use our platform.

By using Autoza, you accept the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree with this policy, please do not use our services.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

• Registration Data: Name, email address, password, phone number
• Profile Data: Profile photo, verification information (ID documents)
• Listing Data: Vehicle information, images, descriptions, prices
• Communication Data: Messages sent through our platform
• Payment Data: Billing information for subscriptions (processed by third-party payment providers)

2.2 Automatically Collected Information

• Usage Data: Pages visited, browsing time, clicks, searches
• Device Data: Device type, operating system, browser, IP address
• Location Data: Approximate location based on IP address
• Cookies and Similar Technologies: Unique identifiers, preferences

2.3 Third-Party Information

If you use third-party authentication services (such as Google), we may receive profile information from those services, as permitted by their privacy policies.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal information to:

• Provide Services: Create and manage your account, publish listings, facilitate communications
• Improve the Platform: Analyse usage, develop new features, optimise the experience
• Security and Fraud Prevention: Detect and prevent fraudulent or illegal activities
• Communications: Send you notifications, updates, and marketing messages (with your consent)
• Customer Support: Respond to your queries and resolve issues
• Trust Score: Calculate and display your reliability score
• Legal Compliance: Meet our legal and regulatory obligations
• Analysis and Statistics: Generate aggregated reports and trend analysis

4. How We Share Your Information

4.1 Public Information

Certain information is publicly visible on the platform:

• Username and profile photo
• Published vehicle listings
• Trust Score and verifications
• Reviews and ratings
• Dealership information (if applicable)

4.2 Service Providers

We share information with third parties who help us operate our platform:

• Hosting and Storage: AWS and Vercel for data and image storage
• Payment Processing: Stripe for subscription payments
• Analytics: Google Analytics 4, Microsoft Clarity
• Advertising: Google Ads, Meta (Facebook + Instagram), LinkedIn
• Tag orchestration: Google Tag Manager
• Communications: Email and notification services (Resend)

Full details of each tracking processor and your opt-out options are in Section 5 below.

4.3 Legal Compliance

We may disclose your information if:

• Required by law or by governmental authorities
• Necessary to protect our legal rights
• Necessary to prevent fraud or illegal activities
• Necessary to protect the safety of users

4.4 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred to the successor entity.

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies for:

• Essential Cookies: Necessary for the basic functioning of the platform
• Performance Cookies: Help improve performance and functionality
• Analytics Cookies: Allow us to understand how the platform is used
• Marketing Cookies: Used to personalise advertisements and content

5.1 Third-Party Tracking Technologies We Use

To understand how visitors use Autoza and to measure the effectiveness of our marketing, we work with the following third-party processors:

• Google Analytics 4 (Google Ireland Ltd.): Aggregated usage analytics — page views, sessions, traffic sources. IP addresses are anonymised before storage.
• Google Tag Manager (Google Ireland Ltd.): Orchestrates the loading of other tracking tags listed in this section. Does not itself collect personal data.
• Google Ads Conversion Tracking (Google Ireland Ltd.):Measures the effectiveness of paid advertising campaigns by recording when an ad click leads to a meaningful action on Autoza (e.g. a dealer signing up).
• Meta Pixel (Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd.): Tracks visits and conversions resulting from Facebook and Instagram advertising. Allows us to build custom and lookalike audiences.
• LinkedIn Insight Tag (LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company):Tracks visits and conversions resulting from LinkedIn advertising.
• Microsoft Clarity (Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd.):Anonymised behavioural analytics — records mouse movements, scrolls and clicks aggregated into heatmaps and session replays for the purpose of improving the website. No personally identifying information is intentionally captured. We do not use Clarity to identify individual visitors.

5.2 Your Choices

A cookie banner appears the first time you visit Autoza, giving you the option to Accept all or Reject non-essential tracking. Your choice is remembered for 12 months. You can change your decision at any time by clearing the Autoza cookies in your browser, which will cause the banner to reappear on your next visit.

You can also control cookies through your browser settings or opt out directly with each processor (Google: safety.google/privacy/ads-and-data; Meta: facebook.com/adpreferences; LinkedIn: linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls/retargeting-opt-out; Microsoft Clarity: privacy.microsoft.com).

Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the platform.

6. Data Security

We implement technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal information:

• Data encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS)
• Password encryption using secure algorithms
• Role-based access control
• Security monitoring and threat detection
• Regular data backups
• Periodic security audits

However, no system is completely secure. We cannot guarantee the absolute security of your information.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information while:

• Your account is active
• It is necessary to provide our services
• It is required to meet our legal obligations
• It is necessary to resolve disputes or enforce agreements

After you delete your account, we may retain certain information in anonymised or aggregated form for analysis and legal compliance.

8. Your Rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018, you have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of your personal information
• Rectification: Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
• Erasure: Request the deletion of your information (the "right to be forgotten")
• Portability: Receive your information in a structured format
• Objection: Object to the processing of your information for certain purposes
• Restriction: Request the restriction of processing
• Withdraw Consent: Withdraw previously given consent

To exercise these rights, contact us at info@autoza.ie. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

9. Protection of Minors

Autoza is not intended for persons under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If we discover that we have collected information from a minor, we will delete it immediately.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can remove it.

10. International Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and stored on servers located outside your country of residence, including in countries that may have different data protection laws.

When we transfer information outside the European Economic Area (EEA), we implement appropriate safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission.

11. Links to Third-Party Sites

Autoza may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. We recommend that you read the privacy policies of each site you visit.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices or for legal reasons. We will notify you of significant changes by:

• A prominent notice on the platform
• An email to your registered address
• Updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page

Your continued use of Autoza after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or about how we handle your personal information, you can contact us:

• Data Protection Officer: Autoza Data Protection Officer
• Email: info@autoza.ie

14. Supervisory Authority

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal information and are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority: