Effective date: July 17, 2026.
CarLoanCheckup is built so the two most private things you might type here — your VIN and your income — never reach us. That is how the tools are built, not a promise buried in legalese. This page explains what that means in practice. Then it covers the formal policy: what we log, cookies, third parties, your rights.
The short version: what we don't collect
The VIN checker runs in your browser. When you enter a VIN, your browser calls the NHTSA vPIC API directly. The request goes from your device to the federal VIN database and nowhere else. We never receive your VIN, so we cannot store it. A repeat lookup of the same VIN comes from your browser's session cache, not from any server of ours.
The MAGI calculator is fully client-side. Your income, filing status, and interest figures stay on your device. They are never sent to us. We can't see them, so we can't store them.
There are no accounts and no signup. We never ask for an email address. You can use every tool here without giving us any personal data, and we don't sell personal data. The technical details are on the methodology page .
What we do collect
Server logs. Like nearly every website, our host keeps standard server logs: IP address, browser type, pages requested, timestamps. We use them for security and debugging only.
Analytics. We measure page-level traffic: which pages get visits, and how many, in aggregate. That data is not tied to tool inputs. VINs and income figures never show up in it, because they never leave your browser.
Cookies and consent. As of July 2026 this site shows no ads and runs no lead widgets. Before any ad unit or lead widget goes live here, a consent banner ships with it. Nothing that sets marketing cookies loads without your choice first.
Do Not Track. We do no cross-site tracking. So today there is nothing for a Do Not Track signal to switch off on our side. If consent tooling arrives with future ad widgets, it will honor opt-out signals such as Global Privacy Control.
Third parties
Affiliate links. Some outbound links (refinance offers, for example) are affiliate links that carry a tracking parameter. If you click one, the partner's network records the click. Their site runs under their privacy policy, not ours. Every such link is disclosed above the button. Pay from partners never changes a checker verdict or a calculator number ( editorial policy ).
Lead and display networks. None are live today. When one launches, this policy and the consent banner update first.
Government sites. Pages here link to IRS.gov and NHTSA.gov. Both have their own privacy policies. One detail worth knowing: the VIN check request travels from your browser straight to NHTSA. It never touches our servers, so that request falls under the Department of Transportation's privacy policy.
Your rights
Whatever state you live in, we extend the CCPA-class baseline. You can ask what personal data we hold about you, and ask us to delete it. You can opt out of sale or sharing — though we don't sell or share personal data for cross-context ads in the first place. Using a right never changes how the site treats you. Honest expectation: since tool inputs never reach us, most requests will end with "we found nothing keyed to you beyond server logs." We'll say that plainly, and answer within the timelines your state's law sets.
Changes to this policy
Updates appear on this page with a new effective date. A big change, like the first ad network going live or a new analytics tool, gets a dated note at the top of this page. No silent edits.
Contact
Privacy questions and rights requests go to our privacy mailbox.
Who runs this site: about . What this site is and isn't: disclaimer .