What we collect
You can read our guides without submitting a rate check. If you use the short form, we collect your first and last name, email, mobile phone number, California ZIP code, vehicle year, make and model, and the contact-consent choice you submit. The detailed quote flow can also collect the driver, household, vehicle, driving-history, existing-insurance and coverage details you enter.
We also record the inquiry reference, quote-session identifier, source page and referral or campaign information, and technical request information such as IP address and browser user agent. Consent records include the disclosure text and version, named seller, choice and timestamp. Browser storage helps retain a quote session and its attribution across visits or retries.
ChatGPT plugin and RateFoundry processing
Do not send a driver-license number or payment details through the plugin. When you request a filing-derived estimate, the plugin processes your disclosed California ZIP area, years licensed, marital status, known rating points, policy term, vehicle year, mileage, use and coverage or deductible choices. Optional SR-22 and discount scenarios are disclosed assumptions. It does not request contact details, a street address, license number, VIN, health information or payment data. The policy-comparison tool processes only the premium, term, limits and deductibles you provide. Profiles and comparisons are processed in memory, not stored as plugin leads.
Estimates are sent server-to-server to RateFoundry, a separate calculation service. Hosting providers process requests to deliver the tools. Payload-free RateFoundry usage records contain request and access identifiers, status, latency, result counts and timestamps; they exclude the profile, ZIP, contact details and complete response and are deleted after 30 days. Access-key administration, expiring quota counters and provider backups have separate operational retention. Cloudflare admission uses an opaque identifier derived from the connection IP for abuse limits; those counters clear after 24 hours of inactivity. OpenAI handles the conversation under its own privacy terms.
No plugin tool submits a lead, accepts contact consent, places a call, files an SR-22, purchases insurance or binds coverage. Choosing the website link opens a separate flow; submitting it is your choice. You can omit optional scenarios, stop using the plugin or contact editor@theratesguy.com about data questions.
How we use it
The Rates Guy uses inquiry information to respond to your request, review the situation you describe, maintain the inquiry and its consent record, and prevent duplicate or abusive submissions. Editorial emails are used to respond to corrections and questions. Website activity and source information help us understand which pages lead to inquiries and diagnose technical problems.
Calls, texts and your consent
The short rate-check form asks for explicit permission for The Rates Guy to call or text you about auto insurance, including through automated technology. The checkbox starts unchecked. Consent is not a condition of purchasing insurance. Message and data rates may apply. A form submission does not purchase or bind a policy. You can withdraw contact permission by telling us during a call, replying STOP to a text, or contacting the desk.
Who handles the information
The Rates Guy team and service providers supporting hosting, inquiry storage, customer communications and website measurement process information for those functions. If you choose to proceed with an insurance transaction, the agent or carrier handling it may request additional information and provide its own disclosures. The short form names The Rates Guy as the contact-consent recipient; it does not name an unrestricted list of marketing partners.
Outbound referrals
When a reader clicks an outbound link to a partner site, that partner may set its own cookies and apply its own privacy policy. The Rates Guy may earn a referral fee from these partners; the fee does not change the reader's rate and is disclosed in the About page.
Inquiry records and privacy requests
Inquiry and consent records are stored separately from public editorial content. Contact information submitted in a rate check is not published in a city guide or news story. You can ask what information we hold, request a correction or deletion, or ask about retention by contacting the desk. Stopping contact does not by itself erase the record of the original consent or request.
Your California privacy rights
California privacy rights may include access, correction, deletion and opting out of sale or sharing, subject to applicable law and exceptions. Send a privacy request to editor@theratesguy.com. We may need to verify your identity before disclosing or changing an inquiry record. Please do not email a driver-license image, payment-card information or other sensitive documents to verify a request unless we have arranged an appropriate process with you.
Data security
Connections to this site use HTTPS. Inquiry records, consent evidence and correspondence require access controls appropriate to the information they contain. No internet transmission or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure.
Questions
Privacy questions go to editor@theratesguy.com.