Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 24, 2026

HCAC Ventures, LLC ("we," "us," or "our") operates the Check Engine Insights mobile application (the "App"). This Privacy Policy explains what information the App collects, why, who it is shared with, and the control you have over it.

Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account we collect your email address. Passwords are handled by Amazon Cognito and are never visible to us.

Vehicle Information

When you connect an OBD-II adapter or add a vehicle manually, we collect:

  • Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), make, model and year — read from the vehicle or entered by you
  • Sensor readings from your vehicle (engine RPM, speed, coolant temperature, fuel trims and similar parameters), with timestamps
  • Diagnostic trouble codes and their freeze-frame data — the sensor snapshot the vehicle records at the moment a fault occurs

Vehicle speed is read from the vehicle's own sensor as a diagnostic parameter. The App does not request or receive your device's location, and Bluetooth is declared as not being used to derive location.

Technical Diagnostics

  • Adapter session logs — records of how your OBD-II adapter behaved during a connection (adapter name, commands sent, responses, errors). These exist so we can diagnose connection failures, which vary widely between adapters and vehicles.
  • Crash and error reports — collected through Sentry when the App encounters an error, so we can fix it.
  • AI usage records — the number of tokens consumed when you generate a diagnostic report, used for cost tracking. This records volume, not content.

The App does not record your screen and does not collect your IP address, advertising identifiers, contacts, photos, microphone or precise location.

Purchases

Purchases made in the App are processed by Apple through In-App Purchase. We never see or store your payment card details. We receive a confirmation that a purchase occurred, along with a transaction identifier, so we can unlock what you bought and honour refunds. Subscriptions purchased through our website are processed by Stripe, who likewise handle payment details directly.

How We Use Your Information

  • To show you live and historical data from your vehicle
  • To generate diagnostic reports explaining your vehicle's fault codes
  • To look up recalls and technical service bulletins for your vehicle
  • To deliver reports by email when you request them
  • To unlock purchases you have made and to process refunds
  • To fix crashes and adapter connection problems

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

AI-Generated Reports

When you request a diagnostic report, we send your vehicle's fault codes, recent sensor readings, and vehicle details including the VIN, make, model and year to Anthropic, which generates the analysis. Your email address and account identifier are not included, so the analysis is not linked to you personally. Anthropic does not use data submitted through its API to train its models.

Reports are guidance to help you understand your vehicle and have a better-informed conversation with a mechanic. They are not a substitute for inspection by a qualified technician.

Who We Share Information With

We share information only with the service providers needed to operate the App, and only what each one needs:

  • Amazon Web Services — hosting, authentication and database storage (United States, us-east-2 region)
  • Anthropic — generating diagnostic reports, as described above
  • Apple and RevenueCat — processing and validating in-app purchases
  • Stripe — processing website subscription payments
  • Sentry — crash and error reporting
  • MailerSend — delivering reports you ask us to email
  • NHTSA (US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) — we submit your VIN or vehicle description to look up recalls and service bulletins

We may also disclose information where required by law, or as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets — in which case we will notify you before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Deleting Your Account

You can permanently delete your account from inside the App at any time: open the Account screen and choose Delete Account.

Deletion is immediate and irreversible. It removes your account, your vehicles, your recorded sensor readings, your fault-code history, your adapter session logs, your purchase records and your sign-in credentials. We retain only a record that an account with that identifier was deleted, which contains no personal information and exists so that late payment notifications cannot recreate a deleted account.

Purchases already made through Apple cannot be refunded by us; refund requests go to Apple. If you would prefer we delete your account on your behalf, email support@checkengineinsights.com.

Data Retention

Data stored on your device is pruned automatically: readings and fault codes that have been uploaded are removed after 30 days, and anything not yet uploaded is kept for up to 90 days so it is not lost.

Data stored in our cloud is retained for as long as your account exists, so your vehicle's history remains available to you. Deleting your account removes it, as described above.

Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete your personal information, and to object to or restrict how it is processed. Account deletion is available directly in the App. For any other request, email support@checkengineinsights.com and we will respond within 30 days.

If you are in California, we do not sell or share your personal information as those terms are defined by the CCPA, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit using TLS. Passwords are managed by Amazon Cognito and never stored by us. Authentication tokens are held in your device's secure keychain. Access to production systems is restricted to authorised personnel. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

International Users

Our systems are operated in the United States. If you use the App from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed there, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

Children's Privacy

The App is not intended for children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the new policy on this page and update the "Last updated" date above. Material changes will be communicated in the App.

Contact Us

Questions about this policy or your data: support@checkengineinsights.com

HCAC Ventures, LLC