Last updated October 8, 2026.
The short version: you can use every page and tool on MettaCar without giving us anything. We only collect personal details when you choose to give them, and the only one we keep is your email address.
Who this site is for
MettaCar is intended for visitors in the United States.
If you just browse or use the tools
No ads, and we don't ask who you are. We use Google Analytics to count visits, which sets cookies (see below). Apart from that, we don't load fonts or scripts from other companies.
Visit counts and cookies (Google Analytics)
To see which pages and tools are useful, we use Google Analytics 4, a service from Google. It sets two cookies in your browser, named _ga and _ga_ followed by an ID, which let it recognize your browser on later visits. They last up to 2 years.
Google Analytics records which pages you view, the site you came from, your browser, operating system and device type, your approximate location, and the campaign tag on links we post elsewhere. We also send it clicks on links to our reports and successful signups, with the car each one was for, and which version of a page you saw when we test a new layout. We never send it your email address or anything you type into a form. Google receives your IP address, as any website you visit does, and uses it to work out your approximate location.
Google keeps the detailed visit data for 14 months. We don't use Google Analytics for advertising: it isn't linked to Google Ads, Google's advertising features for it are turned off, and our account doesn't share its data with Google's other products.
If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, Google Analytics doesn't load at all. It also doesn't load for visitors from the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway.
Google's description of how it uses this data is here: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services. To stop Google Analytics on every site, you can install Google's opt-out browser add-on, or block cookies in your browser.
Google Analytics doesn't load on the page that delivers your report download or on the page where you unsubscribe.
Do Not Track
Our site doesn't respond to Do Not Track signals. It does respond to Global Privacy Control (see above). Google Analytics is the only third party that collects information about your visits on our site.
If you ask to hear when a report is ready
We keep your email address, which car you asked about, and when you signed up. We don't ask for your name.
We use it to send you a welcome email the first time you sign up, and one email when each report you asked about is ready. We only email you about the reports you asked for.
If you send us a message
The contact form sends your email, your name if you give it, and your message straight to our email inbox (hosted by Google). We don't keep a separate copy, and we use it only to reply.
Where it's kept
We store this ourselves on Amazon Web Services in the US, and send our emails with Amazon's email service. No email marketing company is involved. We never sell your email. The only companies that handle it are the ones named on this page, and only to run these features.
How long we keep it
We keep your signup. If you unsubscribe, we mark it and stop sending you report alerts, for every car. We keep that mark so we can make sure of it. If you previously unsubscribed and sign up again, we'll send a link to confirm you want back on the list, and nothing else unless you click it. We also keep a scrambled version of your email address so we never send you a second welcome email.
Unsubscribe or ask about your data
Every report-alert email has an unsubscribe link. One click and you won't get any more report alerts from us. To ask what we hold about you, or to have it deleted, send us a message through the contact form.
Tools that talk to other sites
A few tools fetch public data straight from US government sites in your browser:
- VIN decoder, recall lookup and owner complaints: the VIN, or the year, make and model you enter, goes to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (nhtsa.gov) to look up the vehicle, its recalls and complaints.
- MPG calculator: the car you pick goes to fueleconomy.gov to get its EPA rating.
Those sites receive your IP address along with what you type, as any website you visit does. We never see or store it. Their own privacy policies apply.
Saved on your device
The used car inspection checklist saves your OK/Issue marks in your own browser, so they're still there if you come back. They never leave your device. Clearing your browser data removes them.
Server logs
We don't turn on access logs for the website. Our host, Amazon CloudFront, has to process your IP address to deliver each page, and it shows us only total traffic numbers, never who visited.
The small service behind our forms keeps technical logs for 14 days. They record errors and which part of the service was used, not your email address.
To stop abuse of our forms, we keep a scrambled version of your IP address and delete it automatically within a few days.
Changes
If this page changes, the date at the top changes too.