Privacy policy

Car News 247 is an online automotive news publication. When this policy says “we”, “us” or “our”, it means Car News 247, which is responsible for the personal information described here.

We follow South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). Because we have readers around the world, we also apply the principles of the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Questions about this policy, including for our Information Officer, can be sent to hello@carnews247.com.

When you read the site

You don’t need an account to read Car News 247, and we don’t ask who you are. We count how many times each story is read so we can show “Most read” lists; those counts are stored as totals per story per day and are not linked to you. Our hosting provider also keeps short-lived technical logs (such as IP address, browser type and the page requested) to deliver the site and protect it from abuse.

If you agree to analytics cookies, Google Analytics collects information about how you use the site: the pages you visit, how long you stay, how you arrived (for example from a search engine), your approximate location (country or city), and your device, browser and screen size. It uses a random identifier stored in a cookie rather than your name or email, and we never combine it with information you give us.

When you see adverts

Advertising helps pay for our journalism. We count how many times each advert is seen and clicked; those counts are stored as totals per advert per day and are not linked to you. Adverts booked directly with us are served from our own site and don’t set cookies. When you click one, you pass briefly through our site so the click can be counted, then go straight to the advertiser.

If you agree to advertising cookies, we also show adverts from Google AdSense and other advertising partners. They may collect information directly from your device, such as your IP address, browser and device details, the page you’re on and how you interact with their adverts, and use cookies or similar identifiers to measure and tailor the adverts they show. This happens under their own privacy policies; we don’t receive or share information about you with them.

When you contact us or send an advertising enquiry

• Your name, email address and message, plus the topic and subject you choose.
• For advertising enquiries: your company or brand, website, the services you’re interested in and your campaign type.
• A scrambled (one-way hashed) version of your IP address and your browser type, used only to stop spam and limit repeated submissions. We can’t turn the hash back into your IP address.

When you have a member account

Staff accounts

Members of our editorial team sign in to publish stories. We keep their name, email address, role and a record of the changes they make.

We only use personal information for the purpose it was collected for:

• To reply to you when you contact us or send an enquiry. The legal basis is your consent, which you give by sending the message, and our legitimate interest in answering.
• To provide your membership: signing you in, showing member content, remembering your preferences and, for paid plans, managing your subscription. The legal basis is our agreement with you.
• To send essential service messages, such as sign-in links, security alerts, receipts and important changes to your account or this policy.
• To understand and improve the site: seeing which stories and sections readers enjoy, and fixing pages that don’t work well. We only look at combined statistics, never at individual readers. The legal basis is your consent to analytics cookies.
• To show adverts and report on them: rotating adverts on the site and giving advertisers total view and click counts for their campaigns. Adverts from Google and our partners, and any cookies they use, rely on your consent to advertising cookies; our own counts contain no personal information.
• To keep the site safe: preventing spam, fraud and abuse. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in protecting our readers and our service.
• To meet legal obligations, for example keeping billing records for tax purposes.

• We never sell, rent or trade your personal information.
• We never use it to send you marketing, newsletters or promotional messages.
• We never share it with advertisers. Advertisers who book with us receive only total view and click counts, never information about individual readers or members.
• We never build advertising profiles about you ourselves. Google Analytics’ advertising features are switched off, so our analytics data isn’t used to show you ads. Google and our advertising partners only use advertising cookies if you allow them.

If we ever wanted to offer something like a newsletter, it would be a separate, clearly explained choice that stays off unless you switch it on.

We keep cookies to a minimum: the essentials the site needs to work, plus analytics and advertising cookies only if you allow them. When you first visit, we ask before setting any optional cookies, and rejecting them is as easy as accepting.

• Sign-in cookies keep you signed in once you log in (today for staff, and for members once accounts launch). They are essential and removed when you sign out or they expire.
• Your cookie choices are remembered in a cookie named cn247_consent, so we don’t ask on every page. It records only which options you chose and when, and lasts 12 months.
• A short-lived browser note (session storage) remembers that you’ve already opened a story, so a refresh isn’t counted twice. It contains no personal information and disappears when you close the tab.
• Analytics cookies from Google Analytics (named _ga and _ga_*) help us count visitors and see how the site is used. They are only set if you agree, and they last up to two years unless you clear them.
• Advertising cookies from Google AdSense (for example __gads, __gpi and IDE) and from partners whose adverts we show. They measure how adverts perform, limit how often you see the same one and may tailor adverts to your interests. They are only set if you agree. Partner adverts run in a sealed frame that can’t read our cookies or the rest of the page.
• Embedded videos and posts from YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, X, TikTok or Facebook may set their own cookies when you play or view them. Those are controlled by that provider under its own privacy policy.

You can change your mind at any time using Cookie settings, which is also at the bottom of every page. You can also block cookies in your browser settings, install Google’s Analytics opt-out add-on, or manage personalised adverts in Google’s My Ad Center. We don’t use social media tracking cookies. If that ever changes, we’ll update this policy first and ask for your consent.

We share personal information only with trusted service providers who help us run Car News 247, and only as much as they need. They act on our instructions and must keep it secure and confidential:

• Vercel, which hosts and delivers the website.
• Supabase, which provides our database, sign-in system and file storage.
• Xneelo, which provides our email, so we can receive and answer your messages.
• Google, which provides Google Analytics if you agree to analytics cookies, and Google AdSense adverts if you agree to advertising cookies. You can read how Google handles this data in its explanation for partner sites.
• Advertising partners whose adverts we show, only if you agree to advertising cookies. They receive technical information such as your IP address and browser directly from your device when their advert loads, not from us.
• Google or Apple, only if you choose to sign in with them.
• A payment provider, once paid membership launches, to process payments securely.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect someone’s safety, or to defend our legal rights. If Car News 247 were ever sold or merged, your information would only transfer under the same protections described here, and we would tell you first.

Some of our service providers store or process information on servers outside South Africa, for example in the European Union or the United States. When that happens, we make sure your information receives a level of protection comparable to POPIA, through the providers’ data protection terms and recognised safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.

• Contact messages and advertising enquiries: up to 24 months after our last exchange with you, then deleted.
• Member accounts: for as long as your account is open. When you close it, we delete your personal information within 90 days.
• Billing records: for as long as tax law requires (currently five years in South Africa).
• Analytics data: Google Analytics keeps it for 14 months, then deletes it automatically.
• Advert counts: daily totals per advert, kept while we need them to report to advertisers. They contain no personal information.
• Your cookie choices: 12 months, after which we ask again.
• Technical logs: for a short period, usually days or weeks, set by our hosting providers.

You can ask us to delete your information sooner, unless we’re legally required to keep it.

• All connections to Car News 247 are encrypted (HTTPS).
• Access to personal information is limited to the people who need it to do their job.
• Passwords are never stored in readable form, and IP addresses from our forms are stored only as one-way hashes.
• Our database only allows each part of the site to see the information it needs.

No system is completely secure, but if a breach ever affected your personal information, we would notify you and the relevant regulator as the law requires.

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• Tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy.
• Correct information that is wrong or out of date.
• Delete your information.
• Stop or limit how we use it, or object to a particular use.
• Give you your information in a portable format.
• Withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on it.

Email hello@carnews247.com with “Privacy request” in the subject. We may need to confirm your identity first, and we’ll respond within 30 days. There is no charge for reasonable requests.

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, please tell us so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa) or, if you live in the EU or UK, to your local data protection authority.

Car News 247 is written for adult readers. Member accounts are for people aged 18 and over, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us their information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

We’ll update this policy when our site or the law changes, for example when member accounts launch. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If we make a significant change, we’ll highlight it on the site and, for members, let you know by email before it takes effect.

For any question about privacy or this policy, email hello@carnews247.com or use our contact form.