Privacy Policy

1. Introduction & Overview

Welcome to CarWallet ("we", "us", or "our"), accessible at https://carwallet.co.za and via our mobile applications on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

We are committed to protecting the privacy and personal information of South African motorists, independent contractors, fleet operators, and business drivers. This Privacy Policy outlines our transparent data practices in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) of South Africa and the Google Play Developer Policies.

2. Information We Collect

CarWallet is built with an offline-first, local-priority architecture. The primary data you enter into the application remains stored securely on your local device. Data collected includes:

• Vehicle Profiles: Make, model, year, registration number, fuel tank capacity, and odometer readings.
• Fuel Refuel Logs: Litres pumped, fuel grade, price per litre, total ZAR amount, refuel date, station name, and optional receipt images.
• Travel Logbook Entries: Starting and ending odometer kilometers, trip dates, destination, purpose (business vs. private), and notes for SARS Section 8(1)(b) travel allowance tax compliance.
• Camera & Image Access: Access to your device camera or photo library is requested exclusively when you choose to photograph or scan a physical petrol station receipt using our AI fuel slip extractor. Images are processed ephemerally and are not sold or harvested.
• Technical Diagnostics: Anonymized app crash logs and performance vitals collected through Google Play Vitals to identify and fix runtime bugs.

3. How Your Information Is Used

Your data is processed strictly for the following functional purposes:

• Extracting receipt totals, litres, and fuel station details instantly via AI Vision slip recognition.
• Calculating real-world L/100km fuel efficiency, running costs, and cost-per-kilometer trends.
• Generating SARS-compliant travel logbook tax deduction summary reports (PDF / spreadsheet exports) upon your explicit request.
• Providing local reminders for upcoming vehicle service intervals and license disc expiry countdowns.

4. Zero Third-Party Data Selling or Advertising

We enforce a strict Zero-Advertising and Zero-Data-Brokering policy:

• We NEVER sell, rent, monetize, or trade your personal data, vehicle registration details, or travel logs to insurance companies, data brokers, or advertising networks.
• CarWallet contains NO third-party advertising SDKs, tracking pixels, or commercial ad networks.

5. South African POPIA Compliance & User Rights

Under South Africa's POPIA legislation, you have the following enforceable rights:

• Right of Access: You can view all records, refuel logs, and vehicles stored in the application at any time directly on your device.
• Right to Rectification: You can edit or correct any inaccurate odometer reading, refuel slip, or vehicle detail directly in the app.
• Right to Erasure (Right to Be Forgotten): You can delete any individual fuel log, vehicle, or clear all app data immediately via App Settings.
• Data Portability: You can export your entire travel logbook and fuel records into standard CSV/PDF formats at any time.

6. Children's Privacy

CarWallet is designed for licensed drivers and vehicle owners aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 18.

7. Security of Your Data

All network communications with our Cloudflare-powered backend are encrypted in transit using industry-standard TLS 1.3 cryptography. Local records are sandboxed within your mobile operating system's protected storage.

8. Contact Information

If you have questions, inquiries, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our POPIA data handling practices, please contact our dedicated compliance team: