Privacy Policy

Information You Provide Directly

• Contact Information: Name, email address, phone number, city/location
• Vehicle Information: Make, model, year, VIN number, engine number, parts required
• Business Information: Business name, address, registration details (for suppliers)
• Communication: Messages, enquiries, feedback, and correspondence
• Marketing Preferences: Consent for marketing communications
• Images: Photos of vehicles or parts (when uploaded)

Information Collected Automatically

• Technical Information: IP address, browser type and version, device information, operating system
• Usage Information: Pages visited, time spent on site, click patterns, referral sources
• Location Information: General geographic location based on IP address
• Cookies and Tracking: See our Cookie Policy section below

Our Operators

We work with the following operators who process personal information on our behalf:

• Supabase Inc.: Database hosting and management (EU region)
• Resend Inc.: Email delivery services (US-based)
• Vercel Inc.: Website hosting and content delivery (Global)
• Meta Platforms, Inc.: Advertising measurement and conversion tracking via Meta Pixel (US/Global). We use the Meta Pixel to measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, and to understand how visitors interact with our website after viewing our ads. Data collected includes page views, button clicks, and form submissions. For more information, see Meta's Privacy Policy.
• Google LLC: Website analytics via Google Analytics 4 (US/Global). Google also acts as the identity provider when you choose Google Sign-In in our mobile app, and delivers push notifications to Android devices via Firebase Cloud Messaging.
• Expo (Exponent, Inc.): Push notification delivery for our mobile application (US-based). Notification text is passed to Expo, which relays it to Apple and Google for delivery to the device.
• Apple Inc.: Push notification delivery to iOS devices via the Apple Push Notification service (US/Global), and app distribution via the App Store / TestFlight.

Cross-Border Transfers

Some of your personal information may be transferred to and processed in countries outside South Africa, including:

• European Union: Database storage via Supabase (adequate level of protection)
• United States: Email services via Resend, advertising measurement via Meta Platforms, analytics via Google (standard contractual clauses)

We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for all cross-border transfers, including standard contractual clauses and adequacy decisions where applicable.

Information the App Collects

• Account Details: Your name, email address, phone number and (optionally) your city, entered when you register. Your city is a free-text field you type yourself.
• Enquiry Details: The vehicle make, whether you need an engine or parts, your message, and where applicable an engine number or VIN.
• Device Information for Notifications: If you allow notifications, we store a push notification token for your device, together with the device name and platform (iOS or Android), linked to your account.

The app does not access your device location. It does not request GPS or location permission, and it does not read your contacts, camera, photos or microphone. Any city we hold is one you typed in yourself.

Signing In with Google

The app offers Google Sign-In as an alternative to an email address and password. If you use it, Google confirms your identity to us and we receive the email address and name associated with that Google account. We do not receive your Google password. Google's handling of that sign-in is governed by Google's Privacy Policy.

Information Stored on Your Device

When you sign in, the app stores an authentication token on your device so that you stay signed in between sessions. On Android and iOS this is held in the operating system's secure storage and in the app's own private storage; in the browser version of the app it is held in your browser's local storage. This token is what identifies you to Engine Finder — treat it like a password, and sign out on any device you no longer control. Signing out removes it, clears the enquiry details held in the app's memory, and stops notifications to that device.

Push Notifications

Suppliers can choose to receive a notification on their phone when a new enquiry arrives for their business. To do this we store a push notification token for the device on our servers, linked to the signed-in account, and pass notification text to Expo, Apple and Google for delivery (see the Operators section above).

• Notifications deliberately carry no customer contact details. The alert names only the type of enquiry, the vehicle and the city — never a customer's name, phone number or email address — because a notification appears on a locked screen to whoever is holding the phone.
• You can turn them off at any time in your device's notification settings, without affecting anything else in the app. Signing out also de-registers the device.

What Suppliers See in the App

When a supplier opens an enquiry in the app, they see the customer's name, phone number, email address, city and message, and can call, WhatsApp or email that customer directly. As set out in the "Information Sharing and Disclosure" section above, each supplier is a separate business and an independent responsible party for the personal information they receive. Supplier access is restricted: enquiries are only visible to the business they were sent to, sales agents see only the enquiries assigned to them, and contact details are hidden once an enquiry is more than 14 days old.

Deleting Your Account

Customers can delete their Engine Finder account themselves at enginefinder.co.za/delete-account. Deleting your account removes your login and your saved contact profile, and de-registers your devices from notifications. Enquiries you have already submitted, and any records we are required to keep for legal, tax or dispute-resolution purposes, are retained for the periods set out in the "Data Retention" section above; suppliers who already received your enquiry hold their own copy, and you would need to contact them directly.

App Stores

The app is distributed through the Apple App Store (including TestFlight) and as an Android application. Apple and Google collect their own information about downloads and installations under their own privacy policies, which we do not control. The app itself contains no advertising software, no advertising identifier, and no third-party analytics or crash-reporting service.