Kick the Tires Privacy Policy

Effective date: 3 April 2026

Kick the Tires ("we", "us", or "our") provides a Chrome extension that helps users evaluate used-car listings by showing reliability insights on supported AutoScout24.ch pages.

This Privacy Policy explains what information the extension collects, how we use it, and how we share it.

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy applies to the Kick the Tires Chrome extension and related website pages that link to this policy.

2. Information We Collect

We aim to collect the minimum information needed to operate, improve, and measure the usage of the extension.

A. Anonymous extension analytics

When you install and use the extension, we collect anonymous product analytics events. These may include:

  • extension installation events
  • activation events when the extension is active on AutoScout24.ch
  • interactions with Kick the Tires badges, such as expanding a badge on a listing page or a vehicle detail page

These analytics events may include information such as:

  • an anonymous installation identifier generated by the extension
  • event type and timestamp
  • marketplace name
  • page type (for example, listing page or detail page)
  • verdict shown by the extension (for example, Recommend, Caution, or Avoid)
  • extension version
  • environment information

B. Limited vehicle metadata derived from the current page

When you expand a Kick the Tires badge, we may send limited vehicle metadata for the currently viewed supported vehicle, if the extension has matched it to our internal vehicle database.

This metadata is limited to canonical fields such as:

  • make
  • model
  • generation

For example, this may be values such as "BMW", "3 Series", and "E46".

We use these fields to understand which supported vehicles users engage with and to improve model coverage and product quality.

C. Approximate location information

Our analytics provider, Mixpanel, may derive approximate location information such as country, region, or city from the IP address associated with the analytics request.

3. Information We Do Not Intend to Collect for Analytics

For routine analytics, we do not intend to send:

  • seller names
  • registration numbers
  • full listing text
  • full vehicle descriptions
  • full page URLs
  • raw search queries

If a vehicle cannot be matched to our internal vehicle data, we omit the optional make, model, and generation analytics fields rather than attempting to send fallback raw page text.

4. How We Use Information

We use the collected information to:

  • operate the extension
  • understand how users interact with the extension
  • measure installs, activations, and feature engagement
  • understand which supported makes, models, and generations are most relevant to users
  • improve verdict coverage, matching quality, and overall product experience
  • monitor performance, debug issues, and prevent abuse

5. Legal Basis / Purpose Limitation

We collect and use information only as needed to provide the extension's user-facing functionality and to measure and improve that functionality.

6. Sharing of Information

We do not sell personal information.

We share limited analytics data with our analytics service provider, Mixpanel, in order to understand installation, activation, and feature usage.

We may also disclose information if required by law or to protect our rights, users, or the security of the extension.

7. Data Storage and Retention

The extension stores an anonymous installation identifier locally in the browser to help recognize the same extension installation over time.

Analytics data sent to Mixpanel is retained according to our Mixpanel account settings and internal business needs.

8. Your Choices

You can stop further collection by uninstalling the extension.

If we later add settings that let users disable analytics, this Privacy Policy will be updated accordingly.

9. Data Security

We take reasonable steps to limit the data we collect and to transmit data securely.

10. International Processing

Our service providers may process data in countries outside your country of residence.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the Effective date above.

12. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, contact us at info@kickthetires.ch.