Privacy Policy

Account and membership information. We collect information such as your name, email address, username, profile photo, biography, login details, preferences, and membership status. Membership applications may also include your city, region, country, cars you own, interests, and reasons for joining. If you use a social sign-in provider, we receive the profile and account information that provider makes available through the sign-in process.

Vehicle and collection information. When you use garage, valuation, watchlist, or ownership features, we process the information you enter, including VINs, specifications, mileage, location, purchase or sale prices, ownership history, modifications, service records, notes, photos, and documents. Transfer features may include a recipient’s email and documents you choose to share. Please provide information about other people only when you have the right to do so, and remove unnecessary personal or financial details from uploads.

Communications and contributions. We collect support requests, survey responses, saved searches, alert preferences, community posts, comments, reports, and other submissions. For Color Lab, this includes your design, uploaded reference images, color name, optional display name, email, votes, and any marketing choice you make. Newsletter, waitlist, and referral features collect contact details and signup or referral information.

When you access Backroad, our systems and service providers process technical and usage information such as IP address, browser and device information, approximate location inferred from network information, pages visited, referring URLs, search queries, interactions, timestamps, and diagnostic or security logs. The information collected depends on the feature and the provider involved.

We also obtain vehicle, listing, auction, sales, dealer, and market information from public sources, data providers, and users. Those records can contain VINs, images, seller or dealer contact details, locations, or other information that may relate to a person. We use this information to build vehicle histories and market intelligence. You can contact us about a record that contains your personal information or that you believe is inaccurate.

We use information to operate accounts and memberships; provide valuations, market analysis, search, comparisons, garage and community features; save preferences; deliver requested alerts; review membership applications; process your submissions; and respond to requests. We also use information to maintain and improve the service, understand usage, troubleshoot problems, prevent fraud and abuse, enforce our terms, and comply with legal obligations.

Product and market improvement. We may use vehicle and ownership inputs you provide, including service records, purchase or sale prices, and location, to train, test, and improve Backroad valuation models and market analysis. This helps us understand how vehicle characteristics and market conditions relate to values.

Personalization. We may use your searches, saved cars, preferences, and interactions to tailor the Backroad experience for you, such as surfacing more relevant vehicles, market information, and alerts.

We send service communications, such as account verification, security messages, requested alerts, and responses to applications. We also send newsletters or marketing communications according to your choices and applicable law. You can unsubscribe from marketing messages without closing your account; essential service messages may still be sent.

Automated models and AI help us interpret searches, process vehicle information and documents, and produce estimates and explanations. Depending on the feature, relevant inputs may be processed by our own systems or an AI service provider. Avoid including passwords, payment information, or unrelated sensitive personal information in searches and uploads. Valuation and AI outputs are estimates, as explained in our Terms of Use.

Service providers. We use providers for authentication, hosting, storage, email delivery, analytics, error monitoring, maps, and AI processing. These include Clerk for accounts, Vercel and Amazon Web Services for infrastructure, Resend for email, Vercel Analytics for usage measurement, Sentry for error reporting when enabled, and Mapbox for maps. AI features may use Anthropic when configured. Providers receive the information needed for the functions they perform; their own privacy policies also describe their handling of information, including when you interact with them directly.

We do not sell or rent personal information as owner or contact lead lists to third parties for soliciting, marketing to, or contacting vehicle owners or other enthusiasts.

Your sharing choices. Information you post in community areas or publish through Color Lab can be visible to other users or the public, including your selected display name and contribution. Color Lab does not display your email with your public design. Private garage records are not published merely because you add them to your account. Using an ownership-transfer or sharing feature discloses the selected information to the recipient. Public contributions can be copied by others, and we cannot control copies outside our service.

Other disclosures. We may disclose information to professional advisers; when required by law, legal process, or a valid government request; to protect rights, safety, and security; to investigate abuse; or in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of all or part of the business, subject to applicable protections. We may also disclose information at your direction or with your consent.

Backroad and its providers use cookies and similar browser storage for sign-in, security, preferences, saved interactions, and referral attribution. We use analytics to understand page visits and product interactions, and diagnostic tools to identify errors. Map and sign-in providers may receive device, network, or usage information when their services load or you interact with them. Their collection may occur across other services that also use those providers.

You can manage cookies through your browser settings and clear local or session storage. Blocking essential storage may prevent sign-in or other features from working. Browser Do Not Track signals do not currently change how Backroad operates. Other privacy choices, including requests under applicable law, can be made by contacting us as described below.

How long information is kept depends on its purpose, your use of the service, legal requirements, and the need to resolve disputes, prevent abuse, and maintain business records. Account, application, and contribution records do not all have the same automatic expiration period. Contact us to request deletion; we will assess the information and any applicable exceptions rather than promise that closing a login instantly erases every associated record.

Deletion may be subject to limited retention for security, legal obligations, dispute resolution, or backup recovery. Public vehicle or sales records obtained independently may remain even after an account is removed, subject to applicable law. We use technical and organizational measures designed to protect information, but no internet service or storage system can guarantee absolute security.

You can update available profile and notification settings in your account, remove supported saved items, and use unsubscribe links in marketing emails. To request access, correction, a copy of your information, deletion of your account and associated information, or help with a public contribution, email hey@thebackroad.io with “Privacy request” in the subject. Describe your request and the account or record involved. Do not send passwords or complete payment details.

Depending on where you live and whether the relevant law applies to us, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or receive a portable copy of personal information; object to or restrict processing; withdraw consent; or opt out of certain disclosures, targeted advertising, or profiling. These rights can have exceptions. We may need to verify your identity and, for an authorized agent, their authority. We will respond within the time required by applicable law and explain if we cannot fulfill a request. You may appeal a decision by replying to our response, and you may contact your local privacy regulator. We will not unlawfully discriminate against you for exercising privacy rights.

Backroad uses infrastructure and providers in the United States and other countries. Your information may be processed outside the country where you live, where privacy laws may differ. Where applicable law requires protections for an international transfer, those requirements apply to our processing.

Where European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or similar data-protection law applies, Carlytics Inc. is responsible for the processing described in this policy. The legal basis depends on the activity: providing a service you request or taking steps toward a contract, our legitimate interests in operating and securing the service where not overridden by your rights, compliance with legal obligations, or consent where required. You may withdraw consent for future processing by contacting us, without affecting processing already lawfully performed.

Backroad accounts and memberships are intended for adults aged 18 or older. Our service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us so we can investigate and take appropriate steps, including deletion where required.

Backroad links to listings, auction houses, dealers, partners, and other third-party services. Their privacy practices and terms govern information you provide to them. A link or listing on Backroad does not mean we control or endorse that third party’s handling of your information.

We may update this policy as our services or practices change. We will post the revised policy here with an updated date and provide additional notice, or obtain consent, when required by law. Material changes may also be communicated through the service or by email. Changes will not override protections that applicable law requires for information already collected.

Our Terms of Use explain the rules for using Backroad.