Privacy Policy

MotorMatch Technologies Inc. has designated a Privacy Officer responsible for our compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial privacy laws.

• Privacy Officer: contact privacy@motormatch.ca
• Email: privacy@motormatch.ca

We collect only what we need for the purposes below. We do not sell personal information.

2.1 Account information

Email, password (bcrypt-hashed), first and last name, optional phone number and profile photo, and — if you use them — Google or Apple sign-in identifiers and a locale preference (en/fr).

2.2 Listing and transaction information

When you list a vehicle: VIN, make/model/year/trim/mileage/price, photos, and the city, province, postal code, and (optional) precise coordinates of the vehicle. Dealer accounts also publish business address, hours, licence info, and website. We store messages between buyers and sellers, your saved searches, and your favourites.

2.3 Device, technical, and usage information

IP address, User-Agent and device/OS, login events, in-app analytics (page views, searches, clicks), push notification tokens (only after you grant permission), and approximate location derived from IP. Precise GPS location is collected only in the foreground and only with your permission. We do not use background location and do not use cross-app tracking identifiers for advertising.

2.4 Payment information

Web purchases run through Stripe, Inc. — Stripe collects and stores your card details; we never see your card number or CVV. We store only the Stripe customer ID, subscription ID, and the amount/product/date of each purchase for invoicing and tax records. On iOS and Android, AI token bundles are purchased through Apple and Google's billing systems.

2.5 AI feature inputs

Vehicle data and photos you submit to AI Copywriter or Photo Studio are sent to our AI providers (Google Gemini for text, OpenAI for images) for processing. Your name and contact details are not included. Our providers are contractually prohibited from training their models on your inputs.

2.6 Crash and error diagnostics

Non-personalised stack traces and device model only — no user input or message bodies.

By creating an account you consent to the collection and use of the data in Section 2.1 and 2.3 for the purposes listed. Optional fields are only collected when you actively provide them.

Marketing notifications (CASL). Marketing push notifications and marketing emails (product announcements, recommended listings, newsletter) require your express, opt-in consent. The signup form does not pre-check the consent box. You can grant or withdraw consent at any time in Settings → Notifications; we record the timestamp, IP address, user-agent, and method of every consent change for audit purposes.

Transactional notifications. Notifications you implicitly request by using a feature (a buyer messaging you, a price drop on a car you favourited, a saved-search match) are sent without separate marketing consent. You can still mute them per channel in Settings.

Withdrawing consent. You can withdraw consent at any time. Some consequences are unavoidable — for example, withdrawing account-creation consent means we cannot continue to provide you an account.

We collect the minimum information needed for the purposes in Section 2. We do not collect government IDs, banking credentials, biometric data, your contacts, your wider photo library, microphone audio, calendar, or health data.

5.1 We disclose data to:

• Other users, where you have published it — listings, dealer profiles, messages you send.
• Stripe (US) — web payments.
• Apple and Google (US) — mobile in-app purchases.
• Amazon Web Services — Montréal ca-central-1 region — hosting and storage at rest.
• Railway (US) — application hosting in transit.
• Resend (US) — transactional and (with consent) marketing email delivery.
• Expo, Apple APNs, Google FCM — push notification delivery.
• Google Maps and Places APIs — address autocomplete and map tiles.
• Google Gemini API — AI Copywriter inputs.
• OpenAI Image API — Photo Studio inputs.
• NHTSA vPIC (US public API) — VIN decode.
• CARFAX Canada — vehicle history reports (when you click through).
• Government, regulatory, and law enforcement bodies — as legally required.
• Acquirers in a merger, acquisition, or sale of MotorMatch — with prior notice and your right to delete.

5.2 Cross-border transfers

We host the database in the AWS Montréal region, but several processors above are in the United States. By using the Platform you acknowledge that your personal information may be processed outside Canada and may be subject to lawful access by foreign authorities. We use industry-standard contractual safeguards (DPAs, Standard Contractual Clauses where applicable) with our cross-border processors.

5.3 Retention

• Active account data: until you delete the account.
• Inactive accounts (no sign-in for 36 months): deleted automatically after notice.
• Vehicle listings: until you delete them, or 24 months after marked sold.
• Messages: 24 months after last activity in the conversation.
• Login events, audit logs: 24 months.
• Crash diagnostics: 90 days.
• Marketing consent records: 3 years after withdrawal (CASL audit requirement).
• Financial records (token purchases, subscriptions, invoices): 6 years, as required by the Income Tax Act and Excise Tax Act.

Most of your personal information is editable in the app: Settings → Profile, your listings, Settings → Notifications, and your saved searches. For anything that cannot be edited in the app, email privacy@motormatch.ca.

• TLS 1.2+ in transit; AES-256 at rest.
• Passwords stored as bcrypt hashes with a per-password salt — we never store plaintext passwords.
• Production-data access restricted to authorised engineers with multi-factor authentication.
• Administrative access is logged for audit.
• We never store credit card numbers. Stripe handles card data under PCI-DSS.

This policy is published at motormatch.ca/privacy and in-app via Settings → Privacy. We will notify you of material changes by email and in-app banner at least 30 days before they take effect.

• Access: Settings → Privacy → Download my data delivers a JSON archive within 30 days.
• Correction: edit in the app, or email privacy@motormatch.ca.
• Deletion: delete your account at any time from your account settings.
• Withdraw consent: any time, effective within 10 business days (CASL maximum).
• Portability: structured JSON archive on request.

You can delete your account at any time from your account settings. If you need help, contact us.

We send a confirmation email, deactivate the account immediately, and after a 14-day grace period we anonymise or delete your personal information as follows: account fields, favourites, saved searches, preferences, and push tokens are erased; active listings are removed from search; messages have your name redacted and content erased after 24 months; dealer reviews you wrote are kept with author replaced by "Deleted user"; financial records are retained for 6 years with your name replaced by an opaque tombstone ID, as required by Canadian tax law.

If you have a question or concern about how we handle your personal information, we want to hear from you — contact us and our Privacy Officer will look into it. We acknowledge privacy inquiries within 5 business days and aim to resolve them within 30 days.

At any time, you can also reach out to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca, 1-800-282-1376) for free, independent guidance on privacy matters. Residents of Quebec may also contact the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec.

The Platform is intended for users 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe we have, email privacy@motormatch.ca and we will delete it promptly.

Apple App Store — Data linked to you, used for app functionality: Email, Name, Phone, Photos, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics. Not used for tracking. No third-party advertising. No data sold.

Google Play Data Safety — Personal info, Photos, Location (approximate; precise only with permission), App activity, Financial info (purchase history; payment methods handled by Apple, Google, and Stripe), App info and performance. Encrypted in transit and at rest. You can delete your account at any time from your account settings.

See the version history in docs/legal/privacy-policy.md. We will notify you in-app and by email of material changes at least 30 days before they take effect.

Privacy Officer: privacy@motormatch.ca. General: info@motormatch.ca.