Privacy Policy

A Who is responsible for processing your data?

CARINDEX AG is responsible for processing your data collected or received within the scope of our services or cooperation with you or for other purposes as defined in this privacy policy.

The controller is CARINDEX AG, Arnold Baumgartner-Str. 9, CH-2540 Grenchen. For questions and requests concerning data protection, you can reach us via the contact form (subject «Data protection») or by post at the address stated.

B How do we collect your data?

We collect your data either directly from you or receive your data from third parties, such as affiliated companies, authorities, advisors, our service providers, or from publicly available sources.

C Scope, purpose, and legal basis of processing your data

We process only the personal data necessary for the relevant purpose. We do not sell personal data. Google Analytics and our anonymous usage statistics are described in sections F II and C III.

Where the GDPR applies, we base processing on the following legal bases: performance of a contract or pre-contractual measures (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) for the account, listings, payments and enquiries; compliance with legal obligations (point (c)) for the retention of invoices; our legitimate interests (point (f)) in secure, stable operation and the prevention of abuse; your consent (point (a)) for the newsletter. Under Swiss law, processing is lawful if the principles of the FADP are observed; we obtain your consent where the law requires it.

I Visit to our offerings (Log Files)

On every visit, our servers process technical access data: IP address, date and time, the address requested, referrer, browser and operating system details and the status of the response. This data is stored in access logs and serves security, error analysis and the prevention of abuse. It is not combined with other data to identify you and is deleted after a short period.

To protect against abuse, we limit the number of requests per IP address (for example at login, for contact enquiries and when retrieving contact details). The IP addresses counted for this purpose are held in a cache for at most ten minutes and then deleted automatically.

If a technical error occurs while you use the platform, in your browser or on our servers, we record an error report: the error message and technical trace, the page or function affected, browser and operating system details, the time and a technical event identifier. These reports contain no IP address, cookies, names, e-mail addresses or form entries and serve solely the stability of the platform and error analysis. They are processed on our behalf by Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry) in data centres located in the EU (sections E II and G) and deleted after 90 days.

II Registration of a CARINDEX User Account

For a user account we need your name, your e-mail address and a password. On registration, we send a confirmation link valid for 24 hours to this address; the account is activated only after your explicit confirmation. We send invoices, notifications and, at your request, a password-reset link to the same address. Credentials are managed by our own identity service (Zitadel), which we operate on our infrastructure in Switzerland; passwords are stored there exclusively as hashes. The identity service logs sign-in events for the security of your account.

After sign-in, we store a session with the time, IP address and browser identifier and set the session cookie (section F I). The session ends after seven days without renewal or when you sign out.

In your account you can change your e-mail address and password, manage favourites and saved searches, register and remove your payment method and delete your account. The role of your account (private account, dealer, administration) is assigned by CARINDEX; a dealer role is granted only on the basis of an agreement with us.

When you list a vehicle, we process the vehicle details, the price, the description, the photos and the postcode and town of the location. From the postcode we derive the town and approximate coordinates using a local directory of Swiss postcodes so that the listing is found in the radius search; no external geocoding service is queried.

Photos are downsized on upload and stripped of metadata (in particular EXIF data such as GPS coordinates, camera model and capture time). They are stored in a private object store in Switzerland and served exclusively through our servers.

Published listings are public and are indexed by search engines. Visible are the vehicle details, photos, price, postcode and town and the type of seller (private seller or dealer). Your name is not displayed on private listings. The e-mail address of your account is neither published nor disclosed to interested parties. «E-mail seller» opens a CARINDEX contact form. If stored, your phone number is shown only after a click on «Call»; it is not contained in the page source, and the number of retrievals per IP address is limited to make automated harvesting harder.

We relay messages submitted through the seller contact form to you by e-mail, together with the contact details entered by the interested party. That person's e-mail address is used as the reply address and, on request, they receive a copy. We store the enquiry like other contact enquiries. Phone calls, by contrast, take place directly; we do not store their content.

For dealers, the company name, address and, where available, the website of the dealer profile are also published. We import dealers' vehicle stock on their behalf from a source named by the dealer (stock feed or dealer profile on another platform).

Deactivated listings remain stored in your account until you delete them. For billing, we keep the periods during which each listing was published (section C V).

III Use of our offerings as a registered user

To improve the search, we count which makes are clicked on the home page and which search criteria and search suggestions are used. These counts contain no IP address, no cookie, no account identifier, no free-text input and no postcodes; they allow no conclusions about individual persons and are evaluated only in aggregated form (for example for «Others searched for»).

For sellers, we count listing views, phone-number reveals and successfully relayed enquiries per listing and day. To recognise repeated views, we derive a temporary hash from the IP address and browser identifier together with a server-side secret and the current day. This identifier remains valid for at most 24 hours and is not stored in the listings database. The statistics stored there contain only aggregate counters.

IV Use of Mobile Applications

This feature is not offered on the current platform; the corresponding data processing does not take place.

V Purchase / Acquisition of a Paid Offering

Private sellers register TWINT as a payment method before first publishing a listing. Creating and editing a draft does not require TWINT. Registration and all charges are handled by our payment service provider Datatrans AG, Zurich. For this we redirect you to the Datatrans payment page (pay.datatrans.com) and transmit a reference to your account, the amount (CHF 0.– on registration) and the currency. Confirmation in the TWINT app takes place with TWINT AG, Zurich. We do not receive your TWINT credentials or the phone number registered with TWINT.

Datatrans transmits to us a reference to the registered payment method (alias) and a masked identifier for display in your account. We use this reference to trigger the monthly charges and the close-out invoice (see Terms and Conditions, section 4). For each invoice we store the billing period, the listings with their active days, the amount, the status of the charge and the Datatrans transaction reference. We send you the invoice by e-mail.

We retain invoices and payment records for ten years in accordance with Art. 958f of the Swiss Code of Obligations, including after the deletion of your account; the payment method reference is removed when the account is deleted. The processing of data by Datatrans and TWINT is governed by their own privacy policies (datatrans.ch, twint.ch).

VI Contacting Customer Service or via Contact Form

Via the contact form you send us your name, your e-mail address, optionally your phone number, your message and, where applicable, the number of the listing concerned. We store the enquiry in our database and forward it by e-mail to our support team for handling. We retain enquiries for as long as necessary for their handling and as evidence of their resolution.

When you write to a seller through the contact form on a listing or a dealer profile, we forward your message to that seller by e-mail, together with your e-mail address and, if you provide them, your name and phone number, so that they can reply to you. Your e-mail address serves as the reply address. On request we send you a copy to your own address. The seller's e-mail address is not given to you and is never displayed. We store the enquiry like other contact enquiries. To prevent abusive sending we check the submission with Cloudflare Turnstile (section E II).

VII Participation in Contests or Competitions (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Events“)

This feature is not offered on the current platform; the corresponding data processing does not take place.

VIII User Surveys and Market Research

This feature is not offered on the current platform; the corresponding data processing does not take place.

IX Marketing and Analytical Purposes

For the newsletter we store your normalized e-mail address, selected language and subscription status. We first send you a confirmation link; you receive the newsletter only after your explicit confirmation. You can unsubscribe at any time through the link in every newsletter, the supported one-click unsubscribe or via the contact form. The CARINDEX contact form, seller contact form and newsletter sign-up are checked with Cloudflare Turnstile to prevent abuse.

The general newsletter is sent through Mailchimp (The Rocket Science Group LLC, USA). After your confirmation, we transmit your email address and language to Mailchimp; website unsubscribe requests are also transmitted. An opt-out recorded by Mailchimp remains authoritative for its mailings. Mailchimp also processes this data in the USA. Further information is available in Mailchimp’s privacy statement.

X Fraud Prevention, Disputes, and Legal Processing Obligations

We may also process your data collected and processed according to Chapters CI-CIX for fraud prevention or in the event of a dispute, which is in our legitimate interest according to applicable data protection law to protect our business and enforce or assert any claims from us. Likewise, we may process your data to fulfill our legal obligations in accordance with applicable data protection law.

D Profiling and Personal Profiles

We do not create personality profiles or make automated individual decisions with legal effects. Google Analytics and our anonymous usage statistics are described in sections C III and F II.

E Disclosure of Your Data to Third Parties

We collaborate with other companies or individuals and may engage other companies or individuals to process and store data in accordance with this privacy policy. These may include shareholders of CARINDEX AG including their subsidiaries, other third parties, or data processors contracted by us. These third parties may have access to your personal data or usage data, but only to the extent necessary to fulfill the tasks assigned by us or to achieve the purposes described in this privacy policy.

The disclosure of your data remains subject to mandatory legal obligations.

I. Disclosure to Partners

Account data is not shared with partners or shareholders for their own personalised advertising. Recipients and purposes needed to operate the service are listed in the following section.

II. Disclosure to Service Providers

We operate the platform, the database, the identity service, the cache, the object store for photos and the backups on infrastructure located in Switzerland. The following companies process personal data on our behalf or receive it for the performance of the contract:

We conclude contracts with processors that oblige them to confidentiality, data security and processing only in accordance with our instructions. Beyond that, we disclose personal data only if you have consented, if we are legally obliged to (for example to authorities or courts) or if it is necessary to enforce our claims.

We obtain vehicle master data (makes, models, technical data) from auto-i-dat ag; no personal data is transmitted in the process.

III. Disclosure to Other Third Parties

Apart from the disclosure of your data as described above, we will only disclose your data if you have expressly consented to it in accordance with applicable data protection law, if there is a legal obligation to do so, or if it is necessary to enforce our rights, especially to enforce claims from the contractual relationship, which represents a predominant interest of ours.

In the event of a sale, merger, or other reorganization of some or all of our company“s assets, personal data may be transferred, sold, or otherwise shared with third parties as part of such transaction or reorganization.

F Use of Cookies, Tracking and Analysis Tools, as well as Plug-Ins and other Integrations of Third-Party Offerings

I. Cookies

Alongside technically necessary and functional cookies, carindex.ch uses Google Analytics cookies (_ga and _ga_*) to distinguish browsers and sessions. These may be stored for up to two years and renewed on further use. Our integration does not enable advertising cookies.

The platform also uses your browser’s Local Storage or Session Storage. Favourites can be transferred into your account when you sign in; the last search and return link are also sent to the platform through the cookies listed above.

You can delete or block cookies and local storage in your browser settings. Without the session cookie, signing in is not possible; the search continues to work.

While registering TWINT, you are on the Datatrans payment page; the cookies and privacy policy of Datatrans apply there.

II. Tracking and Analysis Tools

On carindex.ch we use Google Analytics 4 to analyse page views and usage. Technical browser and device data and cookie identifiers are transmitted to Google; processing abroad, including in the USA, is possible. Google Signals and personalised advertising are disabled in our integration. Our own anonymous counters are described in section C III.

III. Plug-Ins and other Integrations of Third-Party Offerings

On the home page we show articles from AUTOMOBIL REVUE and REVUE AUTOMOBILE. We retrieve the articles server-side; however, the associated preview images are loaded by your browser directly from the AUTOMOBIL REVUE image service, which is delivered via a content delivery network of Amazon Web Services. Your IP address is transmitted to that service; a transfer to countries outside Switzerland and the EU cannot be ruled out. No further data is transmitted.

Vehicle photos and dealer logos are served from our own object storage through our website. Viewing these images does not connect to the image servers of the previous CARINDEX system.

You open links to external websites (for example dealer websites, automobilrevue.ch or the map search Google Maps) deliberately; their operators are responsible for data processing on those websites.

G Transfer of Personal Data Abroad

We store your personal data in Switzerland. Disclosure abroad takes place only in the cases described in sections K, F III and E II: when your browser loads external images, when e-mails are sent via Resend, Inc., when technical error reports are transmitted to Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry), when free-text search queries are analysed by OpenAI, LLC, and when form submissions are checked for abuse by Cloudflare, Inc. Resend and Sentry process this data in data centres located in the EU; the EU member states ensure an adequate level of data protection according to the decision of the Swiss Federal Council. OpenAI processes the text of the search query in the USA; Cloudflare processes the technical data of the form check on its global network. For transfers to the USA and to other countries without adequate data protection we rely on the statutory exceptions or on appropriate safeguards, in particular the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission and recognised by the FDPIC.

For persons in the EU and EEA: Switzerland is covered by an adequacy decision of the European Commission.

The use of Google Analytics described in F II and the Have I Been Pwned password check described in I may also result in disclosure abroad.

H How Long Do We Store Your Data?

When you delete a listing, we retain its number, original creation and publication dates, and the vehicle details needed to recognise it (in particular an available chassis number) within your account. This prevents the same vehicle receiving a new publication date when it is listed again. This separate record contains no images, description or contact details and is deleted when you delete your account.

• Account access: until account deletion. Your name, e-mail address, available phone number, account and provider identifiers and available profile images are then retained securely for fraud prevention.
• Sessions: seven days after the last renewal or until sign-out.
• Listings, photos and their association with the seller: deactivated on account deletion and retained for fraud prevention; publication periods remain available for billing.
• Invoices and payment records: ten years (Art. 958f Swiss Code of Obligations).
• Contact and seller enquiries: 13 months for handling and fraud prevention, then deletion of the database records. Copies in email mailboxes and backups follow their respective retention policies.
• Access logs and IP addresses used for abuse prevention: a short period (section C I).
• Technical error reports: 90 days (section C I).
• Backups: overwritten in rotation; deleted data disappears with the backup cycle.
• Anonymous usage statistics: without reference to persons, indefinitely.

When you delete your account, your listings are deactivated, sessions, favourites, saved searches and the payment method reference are deleted and accrued listing days are invoiced. For fraud prevention, listings and identifying information, including their association with your name, remain in a protected record. The identity record contains no passwords, sign-in or payment tokens and is not displayed in public profiles. Invoices remain subject to statutory retention obligations.

I How Do We Protect Your Data?

We take appropriate technical and organizational measures to conscientiously protect your data from loss, destruction, falsification, manipulation, or unauthorized access. We operate secure data networks that comply with the current technical standards. Our security measures are continuously adapted and improved in accordance with technological developments.

When you register as a user with us, access to your user account is only possible after entering your personal password. You should always treat payment and access information confidentially and close the browser window when you have finished communicating with us, especially if you share the computer with others.

Our employees and the service companies commissioned by us have been obligated by us to maintain confidentiality and comply with data protection regulations.

The connection to the platform is encrypted with TLS. Passwords are stored only as hashes, the object store for photos is not publicly accessible, access to servers and databases is restricted to authorised persons, and the platform applies a strict Content Security Policy and access limits against automated abuse. Regular backups protect against data loss. When you set a password we also check whether it appears in known data breaches: for this we send the first five characters of a hash value to the Have I Been Pwned service (Superlative Enterprises Pty Ltd, Australia); the password itself and your account data never leave our systems.

J What Rights Do You Have Regarding Your Data?

According to applicable data protection law, you have the following rights:

Right to information:

You have the right to know at any time whether and which personal data we process about you.

Right to correction of your data:

You are entitled at any time to have your personal data corrected if you notice that we are processing incorrect data about you.

Right to deletion of your data:

If the processing of your data is no longer necessary, for example, because you no longer have a contractual relationship with us or because you no longer agree to the processing of your data, you may request the deletion of your personal data. We will delete your personal data provided that we have no other obligation (e.g., legal retention obligation) or overriding interest (e.g., in connection with legal proceedings) in storing or processing your personal data for a certain period. In this case, we will only keep your data for these purposes and will not process it in any other way. Deletion of your personal data may result in you no longer being able to receive or use the services you have registered for.

Right to restriction or blocking of the processing of your data:

You have the right at any time to restrict or block the processing of your data, provided that we have no other obligation to store and process your data for a certain period.

Right to data portability:

Under certain conditions, you have the right to request that we provide you or a third party designated by you with your personal data in a common format or to hand over your data to you in a common format.

Right to object:

You can object to the processing of your data for marketing and analysis purposes, as well as the transfer of your data within the CARINDEX AG according to Chapter CIX, at any time via the contact form. Such an objection does not completely exclude the collection of personal data but only for marketing and analysis purposes and for the transfer of your data within the CARINDEX AG according to Chapter CIX.

Furthermore, you can object to any data processing based on our legitimate interest via the contact form, if you can provide reasons arising from your particular situation.

Revocation of your consent:

You have the right to revoke any consent given at any time. If we receive notification that you are withdrawing your consent, we will no longer process your personal data for those specific purposes, unless there is another legitimate interest. Revoking your consent does not affect data processing carried out before the revocation.

Complaint to a supervisory authority:

Furthermore, you have the right to lodge a complaint regarding data processing with the competent supervisory authority. In Switzerland, this authority is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner. You can lodge your complaint with the supervisory authority at your place of residence, workplace, or the location of the alleged data protection violation. You can exercise your rights at any time by sending a written notification and providing appropriate proof of your identity to the address below.

Please use the email account with which you registered with us to facilitate identity verification. Additionally, we reserve the right to verify your identity by requesting a copy of your passport, a copy of the front and back of your ID card, a copy of your Swiss driver's license, or by other means. In connection with your contact to exercise your rights, we may correspond with you.

Please note that the granting of your rights may be partially denied or restricted for legal reasons or based on data protection law. If legally required or permitted, we will inform you of the reasons for our decision.

How can you contact us?

If you have any questions regarding the processing of your data, wish to request information, or apply for the deletion of your data, please contact our data protection officer via the contact form.

The contact details of our data protection officer are as follows:

CARINDEX AG

Data Protection Officer

Arnold Baumgartner-Str. 9

2540 Grenchen

Switzerland

Changes to this privacy policy

The current privacy policy published on our website applies at all times. We update this privacy policy to reflect the latest measures concerning the use and protection of personal data. Any significant changes to the privacy policy will be communicated to registered users via email to the email address provided during registration or through a corresponding notice at an appropriate location after logging into the user account.

Please revisit this privacy policy at regular intervals to stay informed about what we do with your personal data and how you can exercise your rights.

K Favourites, saved searches and AI features

Without an account, your browser stores favourites, the comparison list and recently viewed vehicles locally on your device (section F I); this data is not transmitted to us. With an account, we store your favourites in your account; on sign-in, locally stored favourites can be transferred to the account.

We store saved searches with their name, search criteria and chosen frequency in your account. Notifications about new matches are sent exclusively to the e-mail address of your account; you can change the frequency and delete saved searches at any time.

For the free-text search (the «Find a vehicle» field on the homepage and in the vehicle search) we transmit the text you enter to OpenAI, LLC, San Francisco, USA, where a language model derives search filters from it (for example make, model, price or equipment). Only the search text is transmitted – no account data, no IP address and no cookies. Please do not enter personal data in the search text. OpenAI does not use API requests to train its models. Retention for abuse prevention is governed by the configured provider’s contractual terms. If the derivation fails, the text is used as a plain keyword search.

When AI features for listing descriptions are enabled, we send the description text and the vehicle details needed for processing to the configured AI provider. Translations are labelled as AI output and the original remains available. Seller revisions are saved only after explicit acceptance. Please do not enter personal data in descriptions.