Privacy policy

Who we are

CarLog is operated by CarLog, the data controller for the personal data described here. We process it in line with the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019 and its regulations.

What we collect

When you register and use your account

Identity and contact: your name, Safaricom mobile number, and email address if you give one.
Account details: account type (owner, organization, garage or technician), the organization or garage you belong to, its name and location, and your role in it.
Security: your 6-digit PIN, stored only in scrambled (hashed) form so no one, including us, can read it; one-time verification codes, which expire after a few minutes; and the date you accepted our terms.

About vehicles

Registration number, make, model, year, colour, fuel, transmission, VIN/chassis and engine numbers, mileage and notes.
Ownership history (who owned the vehicle and when), ownership claims with any documents you attach, and vehicle transfers, including the phone number of the buyer you transfer to.
Service records: dates, odometer readings, services done, work descriptions, parts, labour and costs, who entered and approved them, and uploaded receipts, invoices, inspection reports, warranties and photos.
Maintenance schedule settings and the reminders sent.

In the Baraza (community forum)

Topics and replies you post, with any photos, documents and video links, the topics you follow, replies you mark as helpful, and reports you make.

Spare parts shops

For shops: the shop's name, town, address, map link, business phone and WhatsApp numbers, email, opening hours, logo, staff accounts, and the products, prices and photos you list.
For buyers: reports you make about listings. We don't record when you call or message a shop; that happens on your phone.

Garage and mechanic profiles, ratings and promotions

For garages and independent mechanics: the profile details you give (name, town, area, map link, business phone and WhatsApp, email, opening hours, services, makes, logo) and the number of approved service records you logged.
For owners who rate a job: the stars, any comment, and which service record it was about.
Counts of page views and taps on Call or WhatsApp for shops, products and businesses, so they can see how their listing is doing. We count each visitor once a day using a note in their browser session; we don't record who the visitor was.
Promotions you buy and their payments.

Payments

For subscriptions paid with M-Pesa: the phone number used, amount, M-Pesa transaction code, time, the vehicles paid for and Safaricom's confirmation message. We never see or store your M-Pesa PIN.

Technical data

IP address and browser details, used to keep you signed in, limit repeated login attempts and vehicle lookups, and keep the service secure; and server logs, which can include payment confirmations and messages sent.

How we use it

To create and secure your account and verify your phone number.
To keep each vehicle's maintenance history, schedules, reports and documents, and to let garages record work for owners to approve.
To work out when maintenance is due and send you reminders and other notices by SMS and in the app.
To process subscription payments and match Paybill payments to vehicles.
To handle ownership claims and vehicle transfers, and to prevent fraud, such as false records or mileage tampering.
To show a vehicle's public history when its owner chooses to share it.
To support you, and to meet our legal and tax obligations.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for advertising.

Legal basis

Performing our contract with you (the Terms of use): running your account, records, reminders and payments.
Your consent: making a vehicle's history public. You can withdraw it at any time by switching public sharing off.
Legitimate interests: keeping vehicle histories accurate and complete when vehicles change hands, preventing fraud and keeping the service secure.
Legal obligations: keeping payment records and responding to lawful requests.

Who can see what

Vehicle owners (and members of an owning organization) see their vehicles' full details, history, costs and documents, including the name of the garage or person who entered each record.
Garages and technicians who look up a vehicle by its plate see only its make, model, year, colour, fuel and transmission, and its subscription status. They see the records they submitted, but not the owner's name, phone number or other records.
Later owners see the vehicle's service history, but earlier owners appear as "Previous owner", not by name.
In a transfer, the buyer sees the seller's name and the seller sees the buyer's phone number.
The public, only if the owner shares a vehicle's history: the vehicle's description and its approved services, odometer readings and garage names. Never owners' names, phone numbers, costs or documents.
Everyone, for garages and mechanics: a listed profile, its rating and job count, and ratings with published comments, shown with the owner's first name and initial, the vehicle's make and model and the service. Never the plate, phone number or costs.
Everyone, for spare parts shops: a shop's page, business contacts and products are public once the shop is approved. Staff names and phone numbers are not shown.
Everyone, in the Baraza: posts are public. Your name, account type (and your garage's name, if you post as a garage member) appear next to what you write. Who reported a post is never shown.
Our administrators can see account, vehicle, claim and payment details to run the service, verify garages, resolve ownership claims and match payments.

Safaricom (M-Pesa): to take payments, we send your phone number, the amount and a payment reference, and receive the payment confirmation.
SMS providers: to deliver codes, reminders and notices, we share your phone number and the message.
Hosting and infrastructure providers who store data on our behalf under contract. Where data is held outside Kenya, we use the safeguards the Data Protection Act requires.
Authorities, when the law requires it, or to protect users against fraud.

How long we keep data

Account data is kept while your account is open. When you ask us to close it, we remove or anonymise your personal details, except what we must keep by law.
Vehicle history stays with the vehicle, including after it is sold or your account is closed, because it is the vehicle's maintenance record. Records you entered are then no longer linked to your name.
Payment records are kept for as long as tax law requires (currently at least five years).
Verification codes expire after a few minutes. Logs are kept for a limited period for security and troubleshooting.

How we protect it

PINs are stored hashed; sign-in and lookups are rate-limited; phone numbers are verified with one-time codes.
Uploaded documents are stored privately and served only to people allowed to see them.
Access is limited by role: owners see their vehicles, submitters their records, administrators what they need to run the service.

If a data breach is likely to put you at risk, we will tell you and the Data Commissioner as the law requires.

Your rights

Under the Data Protection Act, 2019 you have the right to:

be informed about how your data is used (this policy);
access the personal data we hold about you;
have inaccurate data corrected. You can edit your name and email in Settings, and vehicle details on the vehicle's page;
have data deleted, subject to the retention reasons above;
object to processing, and withdraw consent (for example, by switching off public history);
get your data in a portable format. Owners can export service records as CSV from Reports.

To use these rights, contact us (details below). If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (odpc.go.ke).

Cookies and device storage

We use only the cookies needed to run CarLog: a session cookie that keeps you signed in, and a security token that protects forms. Your light or dark appearance choice is saved in your browser. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies.

Children

CarLog is for people aged 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect data from children.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when the service changes. The date at the top shows the current version, and we will tell you about significant changes in the app or by SMS.

Contact us

Questions about this page, or requests about your data, can be sent to CarLog through our Contact us page. We reply by SMS to the number you give. For a request about your data, send it from the phone number on the account it relates to.