1. Report Disclaimer

What the report is

Each report compiles publicly available and third-party information for the year, make, and model you specify, including:

• Estimated market values (retail, private-party, trade-in) generated from a depreciation model based on the vehicle's age and region. These are estimates, not certified appraisals, and may differ materially from what a specific vehicle actually sells for.
• Open recalls sourced live from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recall database.
• Common known issues aggregated from NHTSA owner complaints and from publicly indexed search results, including Google AI Overview content (retrieved via SerpAPI). This content is generated and aggregated automatically.

What the report is NOT

• Not a vehicle history report. It does not include title status, accident history, lien information, prior owners, or odometer verification. For those, use a service such as Carfax or AutoCheck.
• Not a pre-purchase inspection. It cannot detect mechanical condition, prior collision repair, frame damage, or current safety status. We strongly recommend a pre-purchase inspection by a qualified, licensed mechanic before buying any used vehicle.
• Not a guarantee. Vehicle valuations, "common issues" summaries, and recall data are provided "as is," may contain errors or omissions, and may be out of date by the time you read them. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information in any report.

No professional advice

Nothing in a report or on this website constitutes legal, financial, mechanical, or insurance advice. You are solely responsible for your purchasing decisions. We are not liable for any loss, damage, repair cost, or other harm resulting from reliance on a report.

2. Terms of Service

2.1 Acceptance

By accessing this website or purchasing a report, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2.2 What you are buying

You are buying a one-time digital report (or comparison report) generated for the vehicle(s) you specify, delivered on the success page after payment and emailed to the address Stripe collects at checkout. The report contains the categories of information described in Section 1.

2.3 Acceptable use

• You agree to use the Service only for your own personal, non-commercial vehicle research, unless we agree otherwise in writing.
• You agree not to scrape, resell, redistribute, or build a competing product from our reports.
• You agree not to attempt to access the Service in any way other than through the interface we provide, and not to interfere with its operation.

2.4 Accuracy of information you provide

You are responsible for entering the correct VIN or Year/Make/Model/Trim. Reports are generated from what you submit; we cannot refund a report because the wrong vehicle was entered.

2.5 Pricing & payment

Prices are listed on the home page and are charged in U.S. dollars. Payments are processed by Stripe; we never see or store your full card number. Sales tax may be added where applicable.

2.6 Intellectual property

The website design, code, branding, and the format of our reports are owned by ShopSmartCarReports. The underlying data (NHTSA recalls and complaints, Google search content) belongs to its respective sources and is used under fair use / API terms.

2.7 Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim arising from your use of the Service is limited to the amount you paid us for the report at issue. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, including lost savings, repair costs, or losses from purchasing a vehicle.

2.8 Changes

We may update these Terms at any time by posting a revised version on this page. Continued use of the Service after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

2.9 Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the State of North Carolina, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the Service will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in North Carolina, and you consent to personal jurisdiction and venue in those courts.

3. Privacy Policy

3.1 What we collect

• Vehicle details you submit (VIN, Year, Make, Model, Trim, Engine, ZIP code) so we can build your report.
• Email address, collected by Stripe at checkout, so we can deliver your report.
• Payment information (card number, billing address) — collected and processed entirely by Stripe. We never receive or store your full card number.
• Server logs (IP address, user agent, request paths, timestamps) for security, debugging, and abuse prevention.

3.2 How we use it

• To generate and email your report.
• To provide customer support and respond to refund or dispute inquiries.
• To detect and prevent fraud and abuse of the Service.
• To comply with our legal and tax obligations.

3.3 Third-party services we use

The following third parties receive limited information so the Service can function. Each operates under its own privacy policy:

• Stripe — payment processing (stripe.com/privacy).
• NHTSA APIs (vPIC, recalls, complaints) — receive only the vehicle details needed for the lookup, no personal information.
• SerpAPI / Google Search — receives the vehicle search query (Year/Make/Model), no personal information.
• Email delivery (configured SMTP provider, e.g. Gmail / SendGrid) — receives your email address and the rendered report HTML in order to deliver it.
• Hosting provider — the server that runs this app may log standard request data.

3.4 What we do not do

• We do not sell your personal information.
• We do not rent or trade your email address with third parties for their marketing.
• We do not place advertising trackers from ad networks on this site.

3.5 Cookies

This site uses only the minimum cookies needed for the checkout flow to function (set by Stripe on its hosted checkout page). We do not use third-party advertising cookies.

3.6 Your rights

Depending on where you live (e.g. California under CCPA, the EU/UK under GDPR), you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or export your personal information, and to opt out of certain processing. To exercise any of these rights, email us at the address in Section 6 and we will respond within the timeframes required by applicable law.

3.7 Data retention

We retain order and email records for as long as required to provide support, handle refunds and disputes, and comply with tax and accounting law (typically up to 7 years). Server logs are retained for a shorter, security-driven window.

3.8 Children

The Service is intended for adults (18+). We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

4. Refund Policy

4.1 Exceptions we will honor

We will issue a refund (or regenerate the report at no charge) if any of the following happens:

• Duplicate charge: you were billed twice for the same report due to a system error.
• Failed delivery: the report failed to generate or never arrived in your email and we cannot resolve it within a reasonable time.
• Unauthorized charge: you can demonstrate that the charge was not authorized by you (in which case Stripe's chargeback / dispute process also applies).

4.2 What is not refundable

• You entered the wrong VIN, Year, Make, Model, Trim, or ZIP and received a report for the wrong vehicle. Please double-check before clicking "Pay."
• You disagree with a market-value estimate or the list of "common issues" surfaced for your vehicle. The estimates and issue lists are aggregated from third-party sources as described in Section 1.
• You changed your mind after the report was generated.

4.3 How to request a refund

Email us using the address in Section 6 within 14 days of your purchase, with your order email, the date of purchase, and a brief description of the issue. We aim to respond within 3 business days.

5. Affiliate Disclosure

5.1 Programs we link to

• Auto loan / refinancing partners — if you apply for or fund a loan through a linked offer, we may earn a referral fee.
• Insurance comparison partners — if you request a quote or bind a policy through a linked offer, we may earn a referral fee.
• YourMechanic and other inspection providers — if you book a pre-purchase inspection through a linked offer, we may earn a referral fee.

5.2 How this affects you

Affiliate links never change the price, rate, or terms you receive from the partner. You always have the option to navigate to any partner directly without using our link. Our editorial recommendations — for example, telling you to get a pre-purchase inspection — do not depend on whether a particular partner pays us.

5.3 Independence

We are not owned by, and do not act as the agent of, any lender, insurer, or repair provider. Information about partners is provided as a convenience; review their own terms and privacy policies before doing business with them.

6. Contact

For support, refund requests, privacy questions, or any other inquiry related to these policies, please contact us at:

Email: [email protected]

Please include your order email and the approximate date of purchase so we can find your record quickly.