Privacy4Cars announced new features and the expansion into Europe of its Vehicle Privacy Report tool. After its successful U.S. launch in May 2023, a series of critical media reports and regulatory investigations brought international attention to the importance of automotive privacy. Consumer feedback poured in from across the globe, leading Privacy4Cars to prioritize this major update.
Privacy4Cars doubled the number of vehicles for which consumers can get key privacy facts with the simple input of their automobile’s VIN to about 600 million, making Vehicle Privacy Report 2.0 available now in the U.S., Canada, UK and EU, exclusively on https://vehicleprivacyreport.com.
Its Vehicle Privacy Label, the icon-based tool that shows what data manufacturers collect and share or sell, has expanded to include information about the privacy practices of popular infotainment apps (SiriusXM, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and Amazon Alexa).
A section called Vehicle Privacy Protections was added to help vehicle owners understand what policies their auto finance and insurance companies have to safeguard the personal data in their vehicles — and empower consumers to demand greater protections.
“European residents, while having some of the strictest privacy regulations in the world, will be surprised to see how much personal information is collected, shared and abandoned by companies in the auto space — and how wide the gap between legal requirements and business practices can be,” said Andrea Amico, CEO and founder of Privacy4Cars. “Our research found that four out of five cars in Europe — including UK, Italy and Germany samples — are being resold containing sensitive, unencrypted data of consumers, despite controllers (auto lenders, fleet leasing, insurance and dealerships) having no lawful basis to process it and consequently having an obligation under GDPR and ePrivacy to delete it. Our aim with the expansion of Vehicle Privacy Report is to bring greater transparency to consumers and help them assert their rights — for free. Simultaneously, we look to give opportunities to auto businesses to demonstrate how they make privacy part of their value proposition and better care for their customers.”
Consumers accessed Vehicle Privacy Report’s site nearly 100,000 times since its launch to get their free reports, purely through word-of-mouth. On the B2B side, automotive dealerships have used the technology to prominently display vehicle-specific privacy labels to car shoppers online — with Privacy4Cars currently placing over 1.5 million labels for its partners weekly. These dealerships have successfully leveraged the service to build trust, make fair and transparent disclosures, and make privacy a distinctive standard of care. The company is confident that Vehicle Privacy Report’s expansion will bring similar attention, and successes, in Europe.
The work Privacy4Cars has contributed to the global auto industry doesn’t go without notice: Privacy4Cars recently won the title of 2023 “European Start Up of the Year” by WardsAuto for its prestigious European Informa Tech Automotive Awards. Privacy4Cars was recognized as the standout startup in Europe because of its solution-based privacy approach in the auto space.
