Data Use & Compliance

Last updated: 20 August 2026

This page sets out how Automotive Data Group LLC (“ADG”, “we”) sources, handles and is permitted to use vehicle data. It is written for two audiences: clients who need to know what happens to their inventory files, and data providers evaluating us as a licensee.

1. Who we are

Automotive Data Group LLC is a limited liability company formed in the State of Wyoming, United States, on 29 December 2025 under filing ID 2025-001852807, with its principal office at 1021 E Lincolnway, Suite 9615, Cheyenne, WY 82001. Our Certificate of Organization is published on our company page and the filing is verifiable through the Wyoming Secretary of State.

2. What we are, and what we are not

ADG is a data services and marketing company. We enrich, analyse and present vehicle data on behalf of clients, and we build our own analytical products from public sources.

We are not a data broker, a consumer-facing report vendor, or a reseller of raw licensed datasets. We do not operate a pay-per-report consumer product.

3. Sources we use

Public sources. We make routine use of publicly available United States federal data, including the NHTSA Product Information Catalog and Vehicle Listing (vPIC) VIN decoding database, NHTSA safety recall records, and United States Census Bureau international trade statistics. These sources are used in accordance with their published terms.

Licensed sources. Where a client engagement requires depth that public sources do not provide, we obtain data under a written licence from the provider concerned. Licensed data is used strictly within the scope of that licence.

Client-supplied data. Clients provide inventory files, feeds and listing exports. This data belongs to the client throughout.

4. How licensed data is handled

  • Licensed data is used only for the purpose stated in the applicable licence and only for the client engagement it was obtained for.
  • We do not resell, sublicense, syndicate or otherwise redistribute raw licensed data.
  • We do not build a permanent derivative database from licensed data unless the licence expressly permits it.
  • Attribution and display requirements imposed by a provider are honoured in every output that reaches an end user.
  • Access credentials are held in a secrets manager, scoped to the minimum necessary, rotated on personnel change, and never committed to source control.
  • Where a provider imposes caching, retention or rate limits, we implement them technically rather than relying on convention.

5. Personal data

Vehicle specification data — the make, model, equipment and manufacturing details encoded in a VIN — is not personal data. Vehicle history data can be, because in many jurisdictions it relates to an identifiable person.

Our position:

  • We do not collect, request or store personal data about vehicle owners.
  • We do not attempt to associate a VIN with a named individual.
  • Where a client engagement touches data that may constitute personal data under the GDPR or comparable law, we act as a processor on the client’s documented instructions under a written data processing agreement, and we do not determine the purposes of that processing.

6. Client data

  • Client files are processed for the agreed engagement and no other purpose.
  • Client data is not used to train models, enrich other clients’ datasets, or build products for resale.
  • Files are retained only as long as the engagement requires, and are deleted on request.
  • We do not disclose client data to third parties except to subprocessors necessary to deliver the service, each bound by equivalent obligations.

7. Our free public tools

Our VIN decoder queries a public federal database through our own endpoint. We do not log the VINs entered, we do not associate lookups with visitors, and we do not build a dataset from them. The endpoint applies rate limiting to protect the upstream source.

8. What our data is not suitable for

Decoded specification describes a vehicle as manufactured. It does not establish title status, accident history, odometer accuracy or ownership. Nothing we publish should be relied on as a vehicle history report. For title history in the United States, use a provider approved under the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System.

9. Reporting a concern

If you believe data has been used outside these terms, or you are a provider with a compliance question, write to compliance@automotivedatagroup.com. We respond to substantiated concerns within five business days.