DealerTrustReviews (“we,” “our,” or “us”) operates an independent automotive intelligence and dealer verification platform. We are committed to safeguarding the privacy and personal data of every consumer, reporter, and visitor accessing our directory and services. This Privacy Policy details our practices concerning data collection, usage, disclosures, and your statutory privacy rights.

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1. Information We Collect

We collect information through voluntary submissions on our website, correspondence via email, and automated tracking technologies necessary for platform operation:

• Voluntary Reports and Inquiries: When you submit a dealership review, report a suspected scam, or contact our verification team, we may collect your name, email address, transaction summaries, transaction dates, wire transfer amounts, and related supporting evidence (such as invoices or IC3 complaint numbers).
• Newsletter Subscriptions: If you subscribe to our scam alert bulletin, we collect your verified email address to deliver periodic notifications and fraudulent seller alerts.
• Automated Log Data: Like most online platforms, our servers automatically record standard metadata including IP addresses, browser types, referring/exit pages, access timestamps, and device identifiers to protect against DDoS attacks and automated scraping.

2. Confidentiality of Whistleblower & Scam Reports

Protecting consumers who report fraudulent automotive schemes is core to our mission. Any personal contact information submitted alongside a fraud alert or dealer report is strictly confidential. When reports are audited and published to alert the community, all identifying personal markers (including sender phone numbers, residential addresses, and private banking identifiers) are redacted and kept strictly private.

3. How We Use Collected Information

• To audit, verify, and document complaints against fraudulent auto sellers, phantom showrooms, and deceptive brokers.
• To maintain the accuracy and integrity of our dealership scorecards and community directory.
• To send email notifications, alert updates, or follow-up verification questions regarding submitted reports.
• To detect, prevent, and mitigate fraudulent submissions, abuse, or unauthorized access to our infrastructure.
• To comply with applicable legal obligations and lawful information requests from civil or criminal authorities.

4. Cookies and Security Technologies

DealerTrustReviews utilizes standard cookies and session tokens to preserve search preferences, caching protocols, and responsive interface states. Furthermore, our contact endpoints incorporate spam and abuse prevention tools (including Google reCAPTCHA) to prevent bot-assisted spam and DDoS abuse. You can configure your browser to decline cookies, though certain interactive filtering features on our directory may require session memory to function correctly.

5. Information Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, rent, monetize, or lease your personal data to third parties or automotive marketing aggregators. We only disclose information under the following limited circumstances:

• Service Providers: Trusted third-party infrastructure partners who assist in technical hosting, secure database backups, and transactional email routing under strict non-disclosure obligations.
• Legal Requirements: When mandated by court subpoenas, warrants, or applicable federal and state laws to investigate fraud, wire schemes, or criminal activity.

6. Data Retention and Security

We deploy standard industry-grade SSL/TLS encryption across all transmission points. Server data is isolated and protected by active firewall safeguards. We retain investigative submissions only for as long as necessary to substantiate directory records or until requested for removal under valid consumer rights.

7. Your Rights and Data Choices

Depending on your jurisdiction, you maintain specific rights regarding your personal information, including the right to request a copy of the data we hold about you, request corrections to erroneous entries, or request permanent deletion of your submission records. To exercise these rights, email our team directly.

8. Contacting Our Privacy Team

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, wish to request data deletion, or require clarification regarding how your report is handled, all official communications are received exclusively through our digital desk: