Car Registration, Inc. is not a branch of the CA DMV. Services may be obtained from the CA DMV at no additional cost.

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Privacy Policy

"Holy moly you guys are awesome, thank you :)"
– Jared

Effective date: September 23, 2026
Last updated: September 23, 2026
This version replaces the policy dated April 8, 2020.

We at CarRegistration.com respect your concerns about privacy. We value the trust you have placed in us. This privacy policy describes the personal information we collect, how we use it, with whom we share it, how we protect it, and the choices and rights you have. It applies to www.carregistration.com, our phone, chat, email, and text message support, and our office in Elk Grove, California.

CarRegistration.com is owned and operated by Car Registration, Inc., 9701 Elk Grove Florin Rd, Suite 101, Elk Grove, CA 95624. We are a business partner licensed and bonded with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Occupational License 87428, operating under the DMV Business Partner Automation program. Car Registration, Inc. is not the California DMV, and the services we offer may be obtained from the DMV directly at no additional cost.

Notice at collection

This section is our notice at collection under California Civil Code section 1798.100 and 11 CCR section 7012. For each category of personal information we list examples, why we collect it, whether we sell or share it, and how long we keep it. The rest of this policy gives more detail.

  • Identifiers. Examples: name, mailing address, email address, phone number, license plate number, VIN, IP address, and cookie, device, and advertising identifiers. Purposes: complete the DMV transaction or record request you ask for, verify vehicle ownership, communicate with you, prevent fraud, and advertise our services. Sold or shared: yes, limited to online identifiers, IP address, and hashed email addresses disclosed to advertising platforms for cross-context behavioral advertising. Retention: 5 years after your last transaction, plus any longer period our DMV obligations require.
  • Sensitive personal information. Examples: driver’s license or state identification number, copies of your driver’s license or other government-issued identification when a transaction requires them, date of birth, and bank account information when you pay by bank account. Purposes: complete your DMV transaction, verify identity, prevent fraud, and meet legal requirements. Sold or shared: no. Retention: 5 years after your last transaction, then deleted or de-identified, unless the DMV requires a longer period.
  • DMV record information. Examples: registered owner, lienholder, vehicle description, title and registration status, fees due, and other information obtained from California DMV records to process your transaction. Purposes: complete the transaction you authorized and meet our DMV business partner obligations. Sold or shared: no. Retention: the term of our DMV business partner permit plus 3 years after it ends (13 CCR section 225.60), and any longer period the DMV requires.
  • Payment and customer records information. Examples: billing name and address, payment method type, last 4 digits of a card, transaction amounts. Full card numbers are entered directly with our payment processors and are not stored on our systems. Purposes: process payments, prevent fraud, keep required financial records. Sold or shared: no. Retention: 7 years for tax and accounting purposes.
  • Commercial information. Examples: services purchased, transaction history, fees paid, service preferences. Purposes: provide services and support, and market our own services. Sold or shared: yes, purchase and conversion events are disclosed to advertising platforms to measure our advertising. Retention: 5 years after your last transaction.
  • Internet and device activity. Examples: pages viewed, clicks, form interactions, session recordings, referring site, browser and device type, cookies and similar technologies. Purposes: operate and secure the site, analyze and improve it, measure and deliver advertising. Sold or shared: yes, with the advertising and analytics providers listed under “Tracking technologies and advertising.” Retention: 26 months for analytics data; cookie lifetimes are listed in our privacy choices tool.
  • Approximate location. Examples: city or region derived from your IP address. Purposes: fraud prevention, showing relevant content, advertising. Sold or shared: yes, for advertising. Retention: 26 months.
  • Audio and electronic communications. Examples: recorded or monitored support calls, chat transcripts, text messages, emails. Purposes: provide support, quality and training, keep records of transactions and disputes. Sold or shared: no. Retention: 12 months for call recordings; 5 years for chat, text, and email records.
  • Inferences. Examples: preferences drawn from your transactions and site activity to personalize our communications. Purposes: marketing of our own services. Sold or shared: no. Retention: 5 years after your last transaction.

We do not keep personal information longer than reasonably necessary for the purposes above. You can opt out of sale and sharing at any time by clicking “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” at the bottom of any page.

Definitions

  • “We,” “us,” “our,” and “the Company” mean Car Registration, Inc.
  • “Service” means www.carregistration.com and the phone, chat, email, text message, and in-person services we provide.
  • “Personal information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with you or your household.
  • “Sensitive personal information” has the meaning in California Civil Code section 1798.140 and includes government identification numbers and financial account information.
  • “DMV record information” means information we obtain from California DMV records while processing a transaction, including information covered by the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
  • “Service provider” and “contractor” mean companies that process personal information on our behalf under a written contract that restricts how they may use it.
  • “Third party” means a company that is not a service provider or contractor.
  • “Sell” and “share” have the meanings in California Civil Code section 1798.140. “Share” means disclosing personal information to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising, whether or not for payment.
  • “Consumer” means a natural person who is a California resident.
  • “Cookies” are small files placed on your device by a website. “Similar technologies” include pixels, tags, scripts, software development kits, and local storage.

Information we collect and how we obtain it

Information you provide to us:

  • Contact and vehicle information you enter to get a fee estimate or start a transaction: license plate number, last 5 digits or full VIN, ZIP code, and email address, followed by your name, address, phone number, and the year, make, model, and type of your vehicle.
  • Information required to complete DMV forms and transactions, such as your driver’s license or identification number, signature, date of birth, odometer reading, lienholder details, and other information the DMV requires for the transaction you request.
  • Digital or faxed copies of documents the DMV requires for your transaction, which may include your driver’s license or other government-issued identification, smog certificates, titles, and signed DMV forms.
  • Payment information. Card details are entered directly with our payment processors. If you pay by bank account, we collect your bank account information to process the payment.
  • Information you give us when you contact us by phone, chat, email, or text message, or when you complete a survey.

Information we obtain from the California DMV:

  • Registered owner, lienholder, vehicle, title, and registration status information from DMV records, obtained only to process the transaction or record request you authorize.

Information collected automatically:

  • Usage data such as IP address, browser type and version, device type, operating system, unique device identifiers, pages visited, date and time of visit, time spent on pages, referring URLs, and diagnostic data.
  • Your interactions with the site, captured by cookies and similar technologies, including session recordings made by our analytics providers with sensitive form fields masked.
  • Approximate location derived from your IP address.

Information from other sources:

  • Payment processors (transaction confirmations and fraud signals), advertising and analytics providers (campaign and conversion data), and review platforms (reviews you choose to post).

How we use personal information

We use personal information to:

  • Provide and maintain the Service, including completing the registration, titling, and records transactions you request and verifying vehicle ownership.
  • Manage your transactions and send confirmations, status updates, receipts, and DMV documents.
  • Contact you by email, phone, text message, or chat about your transaction, including security notices.
  • Provide news, offers, and information about our own services, unless you have opted out.
  • Respond to your questions and requests and provide support.
  • Detect and prevent fraud, security incidents, and illegal activity, and protect the rights and safety of our users and the public.
  • Analyze and improve the Service, test new features, and measure and deliver advertising for our services.
  • Comply with our legal obligations, including our obligations to the DMV as a business partner, and enforce our terms.

We use sensitive personal information only to perform the services you request, verify identity, prevent fraud and security incidents, and comply with law. These are purposes permitted by 11 CCR section 7027(m). We do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you, and we do not sell or share it.

DMV record information and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act

As a licensed DMV business partner, we access California DMV records only to complete the registration, titling, and records transactions you authorize, as permitted by the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (18 U.S.C. section 2721(b)), California Vehicle Code sections 1808.21 and 1808.47, the DMV Business Partner Automation program regulations (13 CCR Article 3.6), and our agreements with the DMV.

  • We do not use DMV record information for marketing, surveys, or solicitations.
  • We do not sell DMV record information, and we do not disclose it to third parties except as required to complete your transaction or as otherwise permitted by law. Where redisclosure is permitted, we keep a record of each recipient and the permitted purpose for 5 years and make it available to the DMV on request (18 U.S.C. section 2721(c)).
  • Residence addresses in DMV records are confidential under Vehicle Code section 1808.21. We do not disclose them except as the law allows.
  • We maintain written procedures, access controls, and employee training to protect confidential and restricted DMV information (Vehicle Code section 1808.47; 13 CCR section 225.39).
  • We submit your transaction information to the DMV to process your transaction. The DMV may inspect and audit our transaction records, and we retain those records for the term of our permit plus 3 years after it ends (13 CCR section 225.60).

Vehicle history and driving records

We provide vehicle history and driving record services to vehicle owners and to businesses that partner with CarRegistration.com. Federal and state law limit who may receive these records and for what purpose. Every requester must certify a permissible use under 18 U.S.C. section 2721(b) and California law, and a person requesting their own record must verify their identity. We verify and log each request, provide records only for the certified use, and keep request records for 5 years. Obtaining or using DMV records under false pretenses or for a purpose other than the one stated is a crime under California Vehicle Code sections 1808.45 and 1808.46.

How we share personal information

With the California DMV. We disclose the information needed to process your transaction to the DMV, a government agency. This is not a sale or sharing.

With service providers and contractors. We use companies to host and secure the site, process payments, send email and text messages, provide chat and phone support tools, and analyze how the Service is used. They may use personal information only to perform services for us under written contracts. Current categories and providers: hosting and security (Cloudflare); payment gateway and merchant services (NMI and Sweetbling, which process card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay transactions); email (Mailchimp); text messaging (our text messaging platform); chat (Intercom); phone system and call recording (our phone system provider); analytics and testing (Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, VWO); address lookup (Google Places); reviews (Birdeye); and web fonts (Adobe Fonts).

With advertising and analytics partners, which California law treats as a sale or sharing. We allow advertising platforms to collect identifiers and activity on our site through cookies and similar technologies, and we send hashed email addresses and purchase or conversion events to Google and Meta so we can measure our advertising and reach people who may be interested in our services. We do not send phone numbers to advertising platforms. In the 12 months before the effective date we shared identifiers, internet and device activity, approximate location, and commercial information with these partners: Google (Google Ads, Google AdSense, and Google Analytics advertising features), Meta, Microsoft Advertising, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Mediavine and its advertising partners, Grow.me, Unified ID 2.0 participants, and comScore for audience measurement. See “Tracking technologies and advertising” and “Your right to opt out of sale and sharing.”

With the insurance quote tool on our insurance page. The auto insurance quote tool is provided by NextInsure and connected to the MediaAlpha and QuinStreet insurance advertising marketplaces. When you enter information into the tool, such as your ZIP code, age range, number of drivers, and insurance and homeowner status, you provide it directly to those companies under their privacy policies, and we receive a fee when you click or request a quote. California law may treat this as a sale of personal information, and it is covered by your right to opt out. Our traffic school and parking and toll ticket pages provide information and may link to other companies’ websites; we do not receive a fee for those links.

With websites that refer visitors to us. Websites in our Partners program refer visitors to us through their own links. We pay those partners based on completed transactions. We do not share your name, contact information, or DMV record information with them.

Within our company. We may use information within Car Registration, Inc., including our Expert brand, for the purposes in this policy. We do not use DMV record information to market other products or services.

Business transfers. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, personal information may be transferred. We will provide notice before your personal information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Legal requirements. We may disclose personal information to comply with law, a subpoena, court order, or government request, including DMV audits; to enforce our terms; to protect the rights, property, or safety of Car Registration, Inc., our users, or the public; and to detect, investigate, and prevent fraud or other wrongdoing.

Disclosures for a business purpose in the 12 months before the effective date: identifiers, sensitive personal information, DMV record information, payment and customer records information, commercial information, internet and device activity, and communications, disclosed to the DMV and to the service providers and contractors listed above.

We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

Tracking technologies and advertising

We and our partners use cookies, pixels, tags, scripts, and similar technologies. Some are ours. Others are placed by third parties, which may collect information about your activity over time and across other websites and services.

Types of cookies we use:

  • Necessary or essential cookies (session cookies, administered by us). These are required to provide the Service, keep your transaction in progress, and prevent fraudulent use. Without them the services you ask for cannot be provided.
  • Preference and consent cookies (persistent cookies, administered by us and our privacy choices provider). These remember your privacy choices and settings so you do not have to re-enter them.
  • Analytics and performance cookies (persistent cookies, administered by third parties). These help us understand traffic and how the site is used, including through session recordings, and to test new pages and features. The information may be linked to a pseudonymous identifier for your device.
  • Advertising cookies (persistent cookies, administered by third parties). These deliver, measure, and personalize advertising for our services on other sites and sync identifiers among advertising partners.

Providers currently in use. Links are current as of the effective date.

Browser controls. Most browsers let you refuse new cookies, notify you when a cookie is set, and delete existing cookies through the help menu. If you block necessary cookies, you may not be able to complete a transaction.

Do Not Track. We do not respond to browser Do Not Track signals because there is no common standard for them. We do honor Global Privacy Control signals, described under “Opt-out preference signals.”

Calls, chat, email, and text messages

Calls. Calls with our team may be recorded or monitored for quality, training, verification, and record keeping. We tell you at the start of each call that it may be recorded. If you do not want a call recorded, tell us and we will help you by email or chat instead. Call recordings are kept for 12 months.

Chat. Our website chat is provided by Intercom. Chat conversations are recorded and stored by us and by Intercom as our service provider so we can respond to you and keep records.

Email. We send transactional emails about your transaction to the address you provide. We send marketing emails about our own services to people who have used our services or asked to hear from us, and you can unsubscribe at any time using the link in each email or by contacting us. Our email service provider is Mailchimp.

Text messages. If you provide your mobile number and opt in, we send text messages about your transaction and, with separate consent, offers about our services. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to cancel and HELP for help. Consent to receive text messages is not a condition of purchase. No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties.

Payments

We accept cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay through our payment gateway and merchant services providers, NMI and Sweetbling. Card details are entered directly with those providers, which handle them under their own privacy policies and the PCI DSS standards managed by the PCI Security Standards Council. We receive confirmation of payment, billing details, and the last 4 digits of your card, and we keep transaction records for tax, accounting, and DMV purposes. If you pay by bank account, we collect and use your bank account information only to process that payment and any related refund.

How long we keep personal information

We keep personal information for the periods listed in the notice at collection, then delete or de-identify it, unless a longer period is required. Longer periods apply to records we must keep for the DMV Business Partner Automation program (the term of our permit plus 3 years after it ends), redisclosure records required by the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (5 years), tax and accounting records (7 years), and records needed to resolve disputes, prevent fraud, or comply with a legal hold. Usage data is generally kept for a shorter period unless we need it to strengthen security or improve the Service.

How we protect personal information

We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information, as required by California Civil Code section 1798.81.5 and our DMV business partner obligations, including encryption of data in transit, access controls, authentication credentials for DMV systems, employee training, and vendor contracts. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a security incident affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by California Civil Code section 1798.82.

Where we process personal information

We process personal information in the United States. If you use the Service from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your location.

Children

The Service is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16, and we do not have actual knowledge that we sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16 years of age. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Your California privacy rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act gives you the following rights, subject to legal exceptions:

  • Right to know. You can request the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources, our purposes, the categories of personal information we sold, shared, or disclosed, and the categories of recipients. Requests cover the 12 months before your request. You may ask for information collected on or after January 1, 2022 beyond that period.
  • Right to delete. You can request that we delete personal information we collected from you. We may keep information needed to complete your transaction, comply with our DMV, Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, tax, and other legal obligations, detect security incidents and fraud, or exercise or defend legal claims.
  • Right to correct. You can request that we correct inaccurate personal information.
  • Right to opt out of sale and sharing. See the next section.
  • Right to limit use of sensitive personal information. Because we use sensitive personal information only for the purposes permitted by 11 CCR section 7027(m), we do not offer a separate limit option.
  • Right to non-discrimination. We will not deny you services, charge different prices, or provide a different level of service because you exercised these rights. We do not offer financial incentives in exchange for personal information.

How to submit a request. Call us toll-free at (888) 722-7734, email [email protected], visit our office at 9701 Elk Grove Florin Rd, Suite 101, Elk Grove, CA 95624, or write to PO Box 1863, Elk Grove, CA 95759.

How we verify requests. We match the information you provide against records we hold, such as your name, email address, phone number, license plate, and VIN. For requests for specific pieces of information or for deletion we may ask for additional information, and we may require a signed declaration under penalty of perjury. You do not need to create an account to submit a request. We do not verify opt-out requests, although we may ask for information needed to apply your choice.

Authorized agents. You may designate an agent to submit a request on your behalf by giving the agent signed written permission. We may ask you to confirm the agent’s authority or verify your identity with us directly.

Timing. We respond to requests to know, delete, or correct within 45 days of receipt, free of charge, and may extend once by an additional 45 days with notice. We honor opt-out requests as soon as feasible and no later than 15 business days after we receive them.

Your right to opt out of sale and sharing

We do not sell personal information in exchange for money. Because we allow advertising and analytics partners to collect personal information through cookies and similar technologies on our site, we send certain identifiers to advertising platforms, and we receive a fee when you use the insurance quote tool, California law treats those disclosures as sales or sharing. You can opt out at any time by:

  • Clicking “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” at the bottom of any page, switching the toggle off, and clicking Save + Exit. The choice is stored in a cookie for the browser you use, so you will need to repeat it on each browser or device, or after clearing cookies.
  • Sending an opt-out preference signal from your browser, described below.
  • Calling us toll-free at (888) 722-7734 or emailing [email protected]. If you give us your email address or phone number, we will apply the opt-out to our records as well as your browser.

When you opt out we stop selling and sharing your personal information, we notify the partners that received it and direct them to do the same, and we will not ask you to opt back in for at least 12 months. Opting out does not stop advertising; it stops the use of your information to personalize it.

Opt-out preference signals

We treat a Global Privacy Control signal from your browser or device as a request to opt out of sale and sharing for that browser or device, and we process it the same way as a request made through the link above. If we can associate the browser with you, for example because you have given us your email address, we apply the opt-out to our records as well. Learn how to enable the signal at https://globalprivacycontrol.org.

Shine the Light

California Civil Code section 1798.83 lets California residents ask us once a year whether we disclosed personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes. To make a request, email [email protected] with “Shine the Light request” in the subject line.

Accessibility

If you need this policy in another format because of a disability, contact us and we will provide it.

Links to other websites

The Service may contain links to websites that operate independently of CarRegistration.com and are not under our control. We provide those links for your convenience. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we suggest you review them. We are not responsible for information provided by or collected through those sites.

Changes to this policy

Our services and information practices will change over time, and we review this policy at least every 12 months. When we make material changes we post the new version with a new effective date and, where we have your email address, notify you at least 30 days before the change takes effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date means the updated policy applies.

Contact us

Car Registration, Inc.
9701 Elk Grove Florin Rd, Suite 101, Elk Grove, CA 95624
Mailing address: PO Box 1863, Elk Grove, CA 95759
Toll-free: (888) 722-7734
Phone: (916) 236-3169
Email: [email protected]

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