Introduction

This website, including its related mobile and online applications (the “Site“), is operated by Cars.com, LLC (“Cars.com“). 

Cars.com strongly supports individual privacy, customer and consumer data rights, and the protection of consumer data.  We value every consumer’s individual right to protect data about that consumer and exercise control over use. We give all consumers the right of access to the data we collect about them and we give all consumers the option to control our use of that data—including correction and deletion upon request. Cars.com only obtains consumer data through lawful and transparent processes and will obtain explicit consent to collection of personal information where required by law. Cars.com’s consumer data usage is overseen by its Data Governance Council comprised of senior executives with reporting authority to the Board of Directors.

This Privacy Policy (the “Policy“) describes Cars.com’s collection, use and disclosure of personal information. This Policy applies to all uses of consumer data by Cars.com and applies to all products and services, including uses in connection with the website located at www.cars.com, all versions of the Site that Cars.com operates (including without limitation any mobile or similar versions), and offline uses of consumer data. Cars.com does not use personal information collected from the Site except for the intended purposes more fully-described in this Policy.

For clarification, this Policy also describes Cars.com’s collection, use, and disclosure practices with respect to any personal information and Usage Data (as defined below) that is provided to Cars.com by parties other than the actual consumers, such as its advertisers, data providers, and third-party distribution partners that display Cars.com vehicle listings.

Please be aware that Cars.com may share information you submit through this Site with affiliates, as described below. However, each affiliate must comply with this Privacy Policy and process data in accordance with our listed procedures. With regard to service providers and other third-parties who perform services on our behalf, we require that these parties process personal information in accordance with this Policy, only as necessary to perform services on our behalf, and in compliance with applicable law. We also require third-parties to safeguard the security and confidentiality of the personal information they process on our behalf by implementing appropriate technical and organizational security measures and confidentiality obligations binding employees who access personal information. 

Please note that this Site contains links to other websites. Cars.com is not responsible for the websites, content or privacy practices of any third-party except as expressly described.By using this Site, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by this Policy and agree that you are subject to the Cars.com Terms of Service and California & Nevada Privacy Notice.

Collection of Personally Identifiable Information

Cars.com is committed to obtaining user data through lawful and transparent means, with explicit consent where required by law. You are not required to provide any personally identifiable information to visit the Site. Cars.com automatically collects Usage Data (as described below) and may collect ZIP codes and other information in connection with your use of the Site (e.g., the type of car you are looking for). Cars.com collects personally identifiable information only when you make it available through your use of the Site. You may be required to provide personally identifiable information to use certain services on this Site, including, but not limited to, the “Email the Dealer/Seller” feature and to purchase and create a “Sell It Yourself” online classified listing (“SIY Ad“) and account (“SIY Account“). In addition, you may submit personally identifiable information through the Site in other ways, including: (a) participating in online surveys, promotions, contests and sweepstakes; (b) subscribing to newsletters, editorial content, or promotional content sent via email, (c) using the Site’s “Feedback” and “More Information” forms; and (d) in connection with other products, services, features, or requests made available through the Site. We also publish toll-free phone numbers for many of the dealerships that list vehicles for sale on the Site. If you dial one of these phone numbers, Cars.com or a service provider operating on Cars.com’s behalf may record the date, time and length of your call and the phone number from which the call originated, along with other information that may be captured. Any Usage Data (as defined in the next section) and/or personally identifiable information resulting from such calls may be used as described in this Policy. The types of personally identifiable information that you provide will depend on the nature of the submission, but could include your name, address, phone number, email address and credit card information. 

Passive Information Collection

The Site automatically collects information and may also customize your visit through technical means, including the following:

Cookies: Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer’s hard drive by computers (or servers) to identify your computer.

Web Beacons: Web beacons (also known as pixel tags, internet tags, clear GIFs, or single-pixel GIFs) are electronic images embedded into a webpage.

IP Address Logs: Cars.com also logs Internet Protocol (IP) addresses – the location of your computer on the internet – and may log device ID and information about your browser or operating system.

Cookies allow Cars.com to recognize you when you visit the Site, to personalize your experience and generally to serve you better. For example, if you enter your name, address or ZIP code on one of the Site’s forms, it may be stored in a cookie, so you do not have to enter it again on other forms on the Site. Cookies and web beacons can tell us what advertising you have seen on the Site, which allows Cars.com to offer you a more diverse selection of advertising information and may also be used together to measure the effectiveness of Cars.com advertising campaigns. Cookies, web beacons and IP addresses are also used to compile data regarding Site usage (e.g., what website you came from, what pages of the Site you visit, how long you were on the Site, what type of browser you are using, what website you went to). Web beacons may also be included in emails sent by Cars.com to determine when and if such emails are opened or forwarded. You can disable cookies or otherwise manage them through tools provided with your browser software and with third-party software packages. If you turn off cookies, many of the Site’s features will not work as well or at all. Information regarding use of our Site and services that is collected and/or aggregated by or on behalf of Cars.com through the use of such technical means or otherwise is referred to in this Policy as “Usage Data.“

Information Use

Personally Identifiable Information: Personally identifiable information collected by Cars.com through your use of the Site (including without limitation through your submission of an email address to receive promotional or other communications via email, or through you providing a mobile number to submit a lead or to receive coupon(s) or other communications via call, text or SMS) may be stored on servers or in a cookie on your computer and may be used by Cars.com for the purposes listed below.  Please note that in most cases the primary purposes for use of personal information are the submission and transmittal of lead data and powering targeted advertising and user experiences; however, although Cars.com does not track exact numbers, personal information of most users is also used for the purposes listed below as secondary purposes:

  • To submit and transmit lead data to Cars.com advertisers.
  • To provide targeted advertising both on the Site and on third-party advertising platforms (for example, in connection with our FUEL advertising product).
  • To power individualized or targeted user experiences across the Site and to improve those experiences.
  • To engage in attribution and analytics modeling such as lead scoring and performance reporting to advertisers.
  • To confirm or fulfill a request that you make (e.g., in order to send you a price quote or other information you have requested, Cars.com may share your contact information and content interests with a participating Cars.com dealer and/or manufacturer).
  • To deliver coupons and other marketing communications via text or SMS, which, by providing your mobile number to Cars.com, you have expressly consented to receive.
  • To follow up on any request that you have previously made (e.g., Cars.com may contact you to determine whether the dealer and/or manufacturer responded to your original request).
  • To communicate with you regarding the Cars.com service (e.g., Cars.com may send you emails or call you to confirm a price quote request or to notify you that you have received a lead regarding a vehicle you have advertised or to request that you participate in a survey).
  • To send promotional materials, newsletters or other content via email, text message, or otherwise. If you no longer wish to receive a particular email newsletter or other promotion from Cars.com, you must follow the opt-out instructions included in such email newsletters, text messages, and promotions.
  • To permit third-parties (to whom Cars.com may disclose personally identifiable information specifically for direct marketing purposes) to send you promotional or informational messages, but if contact is via phone or SMS only if you have first affirmatively agreed to receive such messages. You agree that the seller or other third-party may use an autodialer to text or call, and that a portion of any call may be pre-recorded.
  • To manage Cars.com’s business and its relationships with affiliates, customers, and other third-parties to which Cars.com may disclose personally identifiable information pursuant to this Policy.
  • To assist in Site administration, analysis, research, development, optimization and other internal purposes, including, without limitation, to compile Usage Data.

Usage Data: Usage Data is used by Cars.com for administrative, analytical, research, optimization and other purposes. For example, Cars.com may use statistical analyses of Usage Data in order to measure interest in the various areas of the Site, for development purposes and to inform advertisers and partners in aggregate and anonymous terms about consumers who click on their advertising or other messages. IP addresses are also used for systems administration and troubleshooting purposes.

Your use of Cars.com products or services will not be limited if you opt out of receiving telemarketing calls or texts.  However, you agree that Cars.com may send to you, and you cannot opt out of, communications of a transactional or relationship nature, including, but not limited to, communications regarding fraudulent or illegal activity, the status of your SIY Account, changes to this Policy or the Cars.com Terms of Service, as well as communications to confirm, fulfill and follow up on your SIY Account registration or a request submitted through the Site.

Mobile-specific information we may collect

Cars.com collects mobile information such as your device and hardware IDs and device type, the request type, your carrier, your carrier user ID, and the content of your request, which does not by itself identify you, though it may be unique or consist of or contain information that you may consider personal. Cars.com may collect geo-location information (this may include when you use location-based products and services on the Site, and/or turn on location-based services on your mobile device). This information may reveal your actual location, such as GPS data, or it may not, such as when you submit a partial address to look at a map of the area. All requests may be sent through your mobile carrier’s network and your carrier may have access to it. For information regarding your carrier’s treatment of your information, please consult your carrier’s privacy policies. 

You may disable the collection and use of your location data through browser, operating system or device-level settings. Consent concerning use of location data may be withdrawn at any time by contacting our customer support team at:

Phone: 312.601.5000
Email: Privacy@cars.com

Additional options for deleting and opting out of information use may be found at Cars.com’s California & Nevada Privacy Notice.

Information Sharing

Cars.com shares the personally identifiable information that you provide with third-parties in the following cases:

  1. Affiliates. Cars.com may share your personally identifiable information with affiliates in a manner consistent with this Policy.
  1. Leads and Requests. If you submit a lead or request information or services through the Site, you agree that Cars.com may share personally identifiable information with third-parties as may be necessary to provide such information to or perform such services for you. For example, if you use the Site’s “Email the Dealer” form in a vehicle listing to request a price quote from a dealership, Cars.com will share the information you entered with that dealership (or its designee). If that vehicle listing was provided by an automobile manufacturer on behalf of a dealer, Cars.com may also share the personally identifiable information you submit as part of the request with the automobile manufacturer and/or its affiliates. Similarly, if through the Site you request additional information from a financial institution, Cars.com will share your information with that institution. Personally identifiable information also may be included in reports to these third-parties, but only when you have intended to submit the information to the third-party as described above. After the information is provided to such third-parties, the subsequent use or disclosure of such information is subject to those third-parties’ privacy policies and practices and Cars.com does not control their subsequent use or disclosure of information.
  1. Sweepstakes/Promotions. In the event that you participate in a sweepstakes, contest or other promotion on the Site that is sponsored by Cars.com and a third-party, Cars.com reserves the right to share personally identifiable information collected in conjunction with the sweepstakes, contest or promotion with the third-party. After the information is provided to such third-parties, the subsequent use or disclosure of such information is subject to those third-parties’ privacy policies and practices.
  1. Direct Marketing. Except as provided herein, it is Cars.com’s general practice not to disclose personally identifiable information of our customers to third-parties specifically for the third-parties’ direct marketing purposes. If you are 18 years of age or older and have affirmatively agreed to receive third-party direct marketing materials, Cars.com may share personally identifiable information with third-parties for direct marketing purposes. Although Cars.com will notify all third-party direct marketers that the information provided to them is confidential, the subsequent use or disclosure of such information is subject to those third-parties’ privacy policies and practices.
  1. Service Providers. Cars.com may work with third-parties that provide services on its behalf, including, among others, providers of analytical, attribution, development, promotional, research, credit card processing, technical and other services. For example, Cars.com may ask that a third-party conduct an online survey or sweepstakes or send newsletters on its behalf. Similarly, if you make a payment to Cars.com by credit card, Cars.com may share your personally identifiable information and credit card information with a third-party in order to process credit card transactions, or such information may be collected directly by the credit card processing service provider on Cars.com’s behalf. In such cases, Cars.com asks that the third-party maintain your personally identifiable information as confidential and use the information only to perform the services specified by Cars.com.
  1. Email List Opt-Outs. In the event Cars.com sends promotional emails to you on behalf of third-party advertisers and you inform Cars.com you wish to opt out of future promotional emails from a particular third-party, Cars.com may share your email address with that third-party so the third-party may add you to its opt-out lists.
  1. Other. Cars.com expressly reserves the right to release any personally identifiable information or other information you provide to third-parties under the following circumstances: (a) when required by law or legal process, (b) to investigate and/or take action against illegal activity, suspected abuse or unauthorized use of the Site, (c) to protect the property or safety of our users or others, (d) to enforce our Terms of Service and (e) in connection with any sale or other transfer of ownership of all or a part of Cars.com. Further, if you make any personally identifiable information publicly available on the Site, Cars.com reserves the right to disclose such information to third-parties, including, without limitation, insurance companies and Cars.com’s affiliates and third-party distribution partners.

Please note that the messages that Cars.com sends to you to confirm, fulfill or follow up on a request may incidentally include promotional material or other content from Cars.com or its partners. Cars.com reserves the right to share Usage Data with any third-party for any reason.

SIY Ads

When purchasing an SIY Ad, it is important to note that any information you choose to include in an SIY Ad may be made publicly available via the Site and other media in which Cars.com vehicle listings are published, including third-party Web sites and print publications. You are required to include at least your phone number and, optionally, an email address to allow users to contact you regarding your SIY Ad. As such, you may receive unsolicited phone calls and emails from third-parties. Except for required information, you should not include any contact or other information in an SIY Ad that you do not want other parties to see or use. If you require assistance to access, verify the accuracy of, or change the personally identifiable information in your SIY Ad account, or to remove your SIY ads, please contact our customer support team at: 

Phone: 312.601.5000
Email: Privacy@cars.com

Review Platforms and Message Boards

Cars.com also may offer review posting platforms, message boards, bulletin boards, chat rooms, comments areas or other forums (“Forums“) on the Site for use by visitors who are 18 years of age or older. Any information you disclose when posting a message in these Forums may become public. You should not include any information in your posting that you do not want other parties to see or use. Moreover, if you post any messages in the Forums that include your email address or phone number you may receive unsolicited emails or calls from third-parties.

Email a Page

The Site offers you the ability to email certain pages of the Site to a friend or other third-party. If you choose to use the “Email a Page” functionality, your name, email address and any message you are allowed to include will be visible to the recipient of the email. The “Email a Page” functionality is for informational purposes only and may not be used for any unlawful purpose, including any harassment or threats. Information collected by Cars.com through the “Email a Page” functionality shall be used in accordance with this Policy.

Changes to this Policy

We reserve the right to update and periodically amend this Policy at our discretion and at any time. If we make changes to this Policy, amendments will be posted online and the date of update will be included.  Your continued use of Cars.com and its affiliated sites after any such update indicates your agreement to the same.

Security and Protection Against Data Breach

Your personally identifiable information is one of our most valuable assets. We take steps to keep it physically secure in our data centers and it is accessible only to authorized personnel as needed to perform operations governed by this policy. As such, we have external independent audits conducted regularly to ensure data security and assess, identify and address data security risks including use of industry standard cybersecurity protections.  For example, when Cars.com collects credit card information from you, Cars.com uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption, the industry standard for protecting privacy in web transactions. Additionally, all current and new-hire Cars.com employees receive regular security and privacy training. Please keep in mind that despite these measures, Cars.com cannot guarantee or warrant 100 percent security of its servers and databases nor that personally identifiable information that you submit through the Site will not be intercepted or otherwise disclosed. However, in the event of a data breach or material policy change, Cars.com will notify affected customers.

In the past year, we have not incurred any monetary losses related to data breaches or legal proceedings associated with user privacy, nor have we had any data breaches impacting consumer personal information.  The number of law enforcement requests for personal information received by Cars.com in any given year as well as the number of users whose information was requested is confidential; however, over the past ten years the number of such law enforcement requests has averaged fewer than ten per year.  Cars.com provides requested information in all cases where it is in receipt of a duly-issued subpoena or other court order. As of the date of this Policy, Cars.com has not received any governmental requests to remove or block content on its site.

Children

Cars.com believes that it is especially important to protect children’s privacy online. Cars.com does not knowingly collect or use any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 and Cars.com does not knowingly provide any personally identifiable information, regardless of its source, to any third-party for any purpose whatsoever from visitors younger than 13 years old. No information should be submitted to or posted at Cars.com by visitors younger than 13 years old.

This Site contains links to other sites. While Cars.com encourages our business partners to adopt privacy policies that build users’ trust and confidence in the internet, Cars.com is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of websites linked to the Site or any third-party products or services offered through the Site.

Notice to California Residents – Your California Privacy Rights

If you are a California or Nevada resident, state law may provide you with additional rights regarding our use of your personal information. To learn more about your California or Nevada privacy rights, please visit Cars.com’s California & Nevada Privacy Policy.

Notice to European Residents

This Site is intended for use solely in the United States and Canada by U.S. and Canadian residents. Cars.com makes no claims that the Site is appropriate for use outside of the United States or Canada. Cars.com does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from residents of the European Union. If you believe that we may have any information from or about an EU resident, please email us at feedback@cars.com or use our online feedback form. No information should be submitted to or posted at Cars.com by any EU resident.

Collection of Information by Third Parties

As noted above, affiliates, third-parties who place advertisements on this website, and other third-party service providers may collect and use information about your visits to and use of this website through the use of cookies, pixels, web beacons and other similar technologies. For example, we work with companies that collect statistical information regarding Site usage and provide related analytical services. We may work with third-party advertising companies that use cookies and web beacons to serve advertisements when you come to the Site and to generate statistics and metrics related to the delivery of such advertisements. We also may work with third-party advertising platforms and networks that use cookies, web beacons and other technologies to collect non-personally identifiable information about your visits to and interactions with this Site and other websites in order to provide targeted emails and other advertisements about goods and services of interest to you across networks of websites (which may or may not include this Site). These third-parties may also use this information for determining or predicting the characteristics and preferences of their respective advertising audiences, for measuring the effectiveness of their advertising and for other purposes. 

Third-party service providers may also collect information from your devices and may combine personal and non-personal information about you with information from other sources including your visits to this and other websites, mobile websites and/or mobile applications across your various devices. These activities may enable them to identify you in order to provide content and advertisements about goods and services of interest to you across those various devices. 

If you would like to obtain more information about the practices of some of these parties, or if you would like to make choices about their use of your information, please click here: 

http://www.aboutads.info/choices/

More information and additional consumer choice options may be found at this link:

http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp 

Canadian users may find information and consumer choice options at this link:

https://youradchoices.ca/

Information and opportunities to opt out of information use and recognition services of our partners Adobe and LiveRamp may be found at these links:

https://marketing.adobe.com/resources/help/en_US/sc/implement/opt_out.html

Information and additional consumer choice options regarding mobile device tracking may be found at these links:

IDFA limit ad tracking:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202074

AAID reset and opt-out:

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6048248?hl=en

Cars.com adheres to the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising. For more information please visit http://www.aboutads.info.

Consumer Requests

Cars.com respects your control over your information and, upon request, we will confirm whether we hold or are processing information that we have collected from you.  Additionally, all consumers may request that we edit, correct or delete personal information we have collected about them.

Please note that under certain circumstances we may not be able to fulfill a request, such as if the request interferes with regulatory obligations, impacts legal matters, we cannot verify your identity, or the request involves disproportionate cost or effort; but in any event we will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe and provide you an explanation.

Regarding personal information about you that we have obtained or received for processing on behalf of a separate, unaffiliated entity—which determined the means and purposes of processing—all such requests should be made to that entity directly. We will honor and support any instructions they provide us with respect to your personal information.

If you wish to exercise your rights to view, correct, or delete information we may have collected about you, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Phone: 312.601.5000
Email: Privacy@cars.com 

Additional information regarding our use of your personal information (as well as options for deleting, correcting, and/or opting out of information use) may be found at Cars.com’s California & Nevada Privacy Notice.

Privacy and Consumer Data Dispute Resolution

If you are a consumer and have an unresolved privacy or consumer data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please contact our third-party dispute resolution provider, TrustArc, at:

https://feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request

Any contact via this form is free of charge. TrustArc is based in the United States.

All other disputes remain subject to the Cars.com Terms of Service. Please see the same for more information.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, the ways in which we collect and use your personal information, your choices and rights regarding such use, or wish to exercise your rights under California, Nevada or other state law, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Phone: 312.601.5000
Email: Privacy@cars.com 

For general questions, you may also email us at feedback@cars.com or use our online feedback form.

Finally, you may also mail us at:

Cars.com, LLC
Attn: Privacy at Customer Care
300 S. Riverside, Suite 1000
Chicago, IL 60606

©2021 Cars.com, LLC, 300 S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 1000, Chicago, IL 60606

Last Updated — November 30, 2021