Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible for your data

The controller of your personal data is Chi Yung Lee, a sole trader trading as AI Plate Checker (“we”, “us”, “our”).

• Business: Chi Yung Lee, trading as AI Plate Checker
• Address: 66 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NA, United Kingdom
• Email: feedback@aiplatechecker.co.uk
• ICO registration number: ZC215125

We are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer. For any privacy question or request, email the address above.

2. Vehicle data is about vehicles, not you

The vehicle information shown on the Service — MOT history, tax status, specifications, and the checks in a paid report — comes from official UK sources including the DVLA and DVSA, and from licensed vehicle-data providers. It contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

These records describe a vehicle. We do not receive or display the name, address or contact details of any current or previous keeper, and we do not attempt to identify who owns or has owned a vehicle. Where a VIN is shown it is partially masked. The personal data we do collect is about you as a user of the Service, and is described below.

3. What personal data we collect

• Registration numbers you look up — every time you run a check. A registration identifies a vehicle, not you, but we record that a lookup was made from your device so we can run, cache and secure the Service.
• Saved cars — when you save a vehicle to your Saved Cars list. This list is stored only in your own browser and is not sent to our servers; clearing your browser data removes it.
• Email address — when you buy a report (to send your receipt and report link), send a report to yourself, contact us, or opt in to updates.
• Payment information — when you buy a report. Card details are entered directly into, and processed by, our payment processor Stripe. We receive confirmation of payment, the last four digits of the card and your email; we never see or store your full card number.
• Order and report records — when you buy a report: which registration, when, the price paid, and the report generated for you.
• Technical and usage data — automatically when you use the Service: IP address, browser and device type, operating system, pages visited, referring page, timestamps and error logs.
• Support messages — when you email us: your email address and whatever you tell us.

We do not collect special-category data (such as health or ethnicity), and we do not ask for or store your name, home address or phone number unless you choose to include them in a message to us.

4. Why we use your data and our lawful basis

Each purpose below is matched to its lawful basis under Article 6 of the UK GDPR:

• Running the free checks you request (registrations, technical data) — legitimate interests: providing the Service you have asked to use.
• Generating and delivering a paid report, taking payment, and sending your receipt (registration, email, payment and order records) — performance of a contract with you.
• Remembering your saved cars and preferences (saved cars, technical data) — legitimate interests: making the Service work as you expect.
• Answering your questions and handling complaints or refund requests (email, support messages, order records) — legitimate interests; performance of a contract where it concerns a purchase.
• Keeping the Service secure, preventing abuse and bulk scraping, and fixing errors (technical data, lookup logs) — legitimate interests: protecting the Service and its users.
• Understanding how the Service is used so we can improve it (aggregated technical and usage data) — legitimate interests: improving the Service.
• Sending you product updates by email (email) — consent: only if you opt in; you can unsubscribe at any time.
• Keeping accounting and tax records (order and payment records) — legal obligation.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered your interests and rights and concluded that our use of the data is proportionate and what you would reasonably expect. You can object at any time (see “Your rights”).

5. Automated decisions and AI

The Service uses automated systems, including AI models, to produce condition scores, verdicts and estimates. These outputs are about vehicles, not about you. We do not use your personal data to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you, and we do not profile you.

The vehicle data we send to AI providers to generate this content does not include your email, payment details or any other personal data about you.

6. Who we share your data with

We share personal data only with service providers who process it on our behalf, under contract, and only for the purposes above. They cannot use it for their own purposes. We do not sell personal data and we do not share it with advertisers.

• Stripe — payment processing and fraud prevention (email, payment details, order amount).
• Vercel — hosting and serving the website (technical data, lookup requests).
• Turso — database storage (order and report records, purchase email).
• Cloudflare — domain and DNS (technical data).
• Resend — sending receipts, report links and replies (email address, message content).
• The DVLA, DVSA and licensed vehicle-data providers — supplying vehicle records (the registration number you look up; no data about you).
• AI model providers — generating scores, verdicts and estimates (vehicle data only; no data about you).

We may also disclose personal data where the law requires it, to enforce our Terms, or to protect the rights, property or safety of us, our users or others. If the business is sold or transferred, your data may pass to the new owner on the same terms as this policy.

7. International transfers

Some of the providers above process data outside the UK, including in the United States. Where that happens we rely on safeguards recognised under the UK GDPR — a UK adequacy regulation, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses — so your data receives equivalent protection.

8. How long we keep your data

• Purchased reports — available to you for 60 days from purchase, after which the report link expires. The underlying order record is kept as below.
• Order and payment records — 6 years from the end of the tax year of purchase, as required by UK tax law.
• Email used for a purchase — as part of the order record, as above.
• Marketing email list — until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete your address.
• Support messages — for as long as needed to deal with the matter and any follow-up.
• Technical and usage logs — only as long as needed to run, secure and improve the Service.
• Saved cars — stored in your browser until you remove them or clear your browser data.

9. Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access — ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data;
• Erasure — ask us to delete your data, unless we must keep it (for example, tax records);
• Restriction — ask us to stop using your data while a query is resolved;
• Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to marketing at any time;
• Portability — receive data you gave us in a machine-readable format;
• Withdraw consent — where we rely on consent, at any time, without affecting earlier processing.

To exercise any right, email feedback@aiplatechecker.co.uk with “Data request” in the subject line. We may ask you to confirm the email address the request relates to. We will respond within one month, or tell you if we need longer for a complex request. There is no charge unless a request is clearly unfounded or excessive.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would appreciate the chance to resolve your concern first.

10. Cookies and similar technologies

We use a small number of strictly necessary and functional cookies and browser storage to keep the site working, keep it secure, remember your theme and preferences, and keep your saved cars. These do not require consent under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

When you pay, Stripe sets its own cookies on the checkout page for payment processing and fraud prevention.

We do not use advertising cookies, third-party tracking cookies or cross-site analytics cookies. If we ever introduce non-essential cookies we will ask for your consent first. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but parts of the Service may then not work.

11. Children

The Service is intended for adults buying or researching vehicles. It is not directed at anyone under 18 and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has given us personal data, email us and we will delete it.

12. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit (HTTPS), access controls, and reputable hosting and payment providers. No internet service can be completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security, but we will notify you and the ICO where the law requires if a breach affects your data.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top shows the current version. If a change materially affects how we use your data, we will show a prominent notice on the Service or email you if we hold your address.

14. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data: email feedback@aiplatechecker.co.uk, or write to AI Plate Checker, 66 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NA, United Kingdom.