Privacy

Last updated October 4, 2026

WrenchProof is a free site where people share car repair fixes and say whether they worked. This page lists everything we keep about you and why. Questions, a copy of your data, or deleting your account: privacy@wrenchproof.net.

If you sign in

You sign in with Google. We ask Google only for your basic profile and email address (the openid, email, and profile permissions). We never see your Google password. We keep:

• Your Google account ID: a number Google gives us so we recognize you next time.
• Your email address: also used to recognize you. It's never shown to other people, and we don't send you email.
• The display name you choose: shown publicly next to what you post. Change it any time on your account page.
• Your account status (active or suspended) and the date you joined.

Google also sends us your name and profile picture. We use your name only to suggest a display name when you sign up, and don't store it or your picture.

What you post

Fixes you post, and your "Did this work?" answers with any note you add, are public, under your display name with the date. Anyone can read them without signing in.

Cookies

We use one cookie, wp_session. It's signed so it can't be tampered with, and it expires 14 days after your last visit. It's set when you open the sign-in page or a page with a form, and holds:

• a random security code that protects our forms from other websites;
• the page to return to after signing in, and short-lived codes used during Google sign-in;
• once you're signed in, your account number and display name;
• while you're choosing a display name for a new account, your Google account ID, email address, and suggested name, for up to 15 minutes.

No analytics, advertising, or tracking cookies, and no ads.

VIN lookups

When you look up a VIN, we send it to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to decode it. We don't save VINs in our database. The VIN is part of the page address, so it appears in our web server log (below).

YouTube videos

Some fixes include a YouTube video. It plays from youtube-nocookie.com, so when one loads, YouTube (Google) receives your IP address and browser details under Google's privacy policy.

Logs

Our web server logs each request: your IP address, the time, the page address, and your browser type. Codes in the Google sign-in return address are removed before logging. The app also logs errors. Both logs are kept for 14 days, to keep the site secure and fix problems, then deleted.

Backups

We back up the database every night. Backups are encrypted and kept for about a month (31 days with Backblaze, 4 weeks with DigitalOcean). The Backblaze copies are locked so nobody can delete them early, so something you delete stays in the backups until they expire.

Who else handles data

• DigitalOcean hosts the site and stores one set of backups.
• Backblaze stores our encrypted backups. They can't read them.
• Google handles sign-in and YouTube videos.
• NHTSA decodes VINs.

We don't sell or share your information with anyone else.

Your choices

Email privacy@wrenchproof.net from the address you sign in with to get a copy of your data or to delete your account. For now we handle these requests by hand, and answer within 30 days.

Children

WrenchProof isn't meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly keep information about them.

Changes

If this page changes, the date at the top changes too.