Privacy policy

Introduction

Driving Forever Limited ("Driving Forever", "we", "us", "our") runs the website at drivingforever.com, the DF Garage mobile app, and the email communications sent under the Driving Forever brand. This policy explains what personal information we collect about you, why we collect it, who we share it with, and how you can control it.

We operate from New Zealand and handle personal information in line with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020. If you live somewhere else, we still apply the protections below, and nothing in this policy is intended to limit rights you have under your own local law.

Last updated: 26 May 2026.

Who we are

Driving Forever Limited is a company registered in New Zealand.

  • Contact email: drive@drivingforever.com
  • Privacy queries: the same email — your request will reach the person responsible for privacy at Driving Forever.

What this policy covers

This policy applies to everything we do under the Driving Forever brand, including:

  • The website at drivingforever.com, its blog, and any pages we add to it.
  • The DF Garage mobile app for iOS and Android.
  • Shopify customer accounts created through drivingforever.com.
  • Email newsletters and transactional emails.
  • Orders for merchandise or printed cards fulfilled through the site.

It does not cover websites we link out to. Those have their own policies — including our sibling brand Valve Cap Specialists at valvecaps.co.nz, which is operated by us but has its own Shopify store and policies.

What we collect

Information you give us directly

  • Account information: email, password (stored hashed, we never see the plain text), display name / nickname, and any profile details you add such as a bio, avatar, home region, or car clubs.
  • Vehicle and garage data: anything you enter about your vehicles — make, model, year, odometer readings, service history, fuel entries, expenses, photos, notes, moods, reflections, and journal entries.
  • Trading card and listing content: anything you choose to publish, including vehicle photos, narrative copy, pricing if you create a for-sale listing, and the location you attach to the listing.
  • Messages: messages you send to, or receive from, other members through the app.
  • Commerce information: when you buy something through drivingforever.com, we receive the shipping address, billing address, items ordered, and order total. Payment card details are collected by our payment processors, not by us (see "Third-party services" below).
  • Support and feedback: anything you email us or submit through a contact form.
  • Subscriptions: if you subscribe to DF Pro, we receive confirmation of your subscription status and plan from the relevant app store or payment processor. We do not receive your full card details.

Information collected automatically

  • Device and connection data: IP address, device type, operating system, app version, browser type, referring URL, and general location inferred from IP (country / region level).
  • Usage data: the pages and screens you view, features you use, search terms you type on our site, interactions with emails we send, and timestamps of those events.
  • Diagnostics: crash reports and performance logs from the app and site, used to fix bugs and improve reliability.
  • Cookies and similar technologies: see "Cookies" below.

Information from third parties

  • Payment processors confirm whether a payment succeeded, the last four digits of the card, and the card type.
  • Authentication providers (Apple, Google) share your name and email with us if you sign in with them, subject to the controls you set with that provider.
  • App stores (Apple App Store, Google Play) tell us when your subscription starts, renews, lapses, or is refunded, but do not share your card details.

How we use your information

We use personal information only for the purposes below.

  • To provide the services: run your account, sync your garage, deliver published cards and messages, process orders and subscriptions, send order confirmations and shipping updates.
  • To moderate and protect the community: apply banned-word filters, pattern rules, and automated content classification to user-submitted text; review reports from other members; act on terms-of-use breaches.
  • To communicate with you: reply to support enquiries, send service and security notices, and (if you opt in) send our newsletter.
  • To improve what we build: understand how features are used, identify bugs, measure the impact of changes. We rely on aggregated and de-identified data for this wherever we can.
  • To comply with the law: meet tax, accounting, and consumer-protection obligations, respond to lawful requests from regulators or courts.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your data for third-party advertising. We do not train machine-learning models on the content of your garage or messages.

Legal bases

Our primary legal framework is the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and its Information Privacy Principles. Depending on the activity, we rely on one or more of:

  • Performance of a contract — we need the information to deliver what you signed up for (for example, processing your order).
  • Your consent — for example, when you opt in to the newsletter or grant specific app permissions.
  • Our legitimate interests — running a safe, working service, preventing fraud and abuse, and improving what we offer, balanced against your privacy.
  • Legal obligation — complying with tax, accounting, and consumer-law requirements.

Who we share it with

We share personal information only where we need to run the service, and only with providers bound by confidentiality obligations. The current list is below. We'll update it if we change tools.

  • Shopify Inc. — hosts our website, processes payments, stores customer accounts and orders. Shopify privacy policy.
  • Stripe, via Shopify Payments, for card processing where applicable. Stripe privacy policy.
  • Google (Firebase) — authentication, database (Firestore), crash reporting, and hosting for the DF Garage app. Firebase privacy policy.
  • Apple — App Store distribution, sign-in with Apple, and subscription billing for iOS users. Apple privacy policy.
  • Google Play — distribution and subscription billing for Android users. Google privacy policy.
  • RevenueCat — manages subscription entitlements for DF Pro. RevenueCat privacy policy.
  • OpenAI — classifies user-submitted text (display names, bios, vehicle copy, messages) against abuse categories. We send the text; we do not send your identity. OpenAI privacy policy.
  • Expo — delivers push notifications to your device. Expo privacy policy.
  • Email delivery provider — sends transactional email and, if you opt in, our newsletter. Currently Shopify Email. We will update this policy if we change providers.
  • Accounting and tax providers — Xero and our accountants receive commerce records as needed for GST, income tax, and company reporting.

We may also share information where required by law, to respond to a valid legal request, to protect the safety of our members or the public, or as part of a business transfer (merger, acquisition, sale of assets) — in which case we'll notify you and keep this policy in force until a new one is published.

International transfers

Several of our providers are based outside New Zealand, and your information may be stored or processed in the United States, Europe, or elsewhere. We choose providers that offer privacy protections at least as strong as New Zealand's, and we rely on their contractual commitments to protect your data in transit and at rest.

How long we keep it

  • Account and garage data: kept while your account is active. When you delete your account, we remove your data from our live systems within 30 days. Some data may remain in encrypted backups for up to 12 months before being overwritten.
  • Published cards and listings: deleted when you unpublish or delete your account.
  • Order records: retained for at least seven years, because New Zealand tax law requires it.
  • Support messages: kept for up to three years so we can reference past conversations with you.
  • Analytics and logs: retained for up to 14 months in identified form, longer in aggregated form.

Deleting your DF Garage account

Open the app → Settings → Delete account. This permanently removes your account, published cards, member profile, photos, and vehicle data. Some records may be retained briefly for legal or backup purposes (see "How long we keep it" above), then deleted.

If you can't open the app, email drive@drivingforever.com and we'll delete your account for you.

Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your information: HTTPS everywhere, password hashing via Firebase Authentication, least-privilege access to production systems, and auth-gated database rules. No system is perfectly secure, so we also ask you to choose a strong password, keep it to yourself, and tell us quickly at drive@drivingforever.com if you think your account has been accessed by someone else.

Your rights

Under the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 you have the right to:

  • Access the personal information we hold about you.
  • Correct information you believe is wrong.
  • Request deletion of your account and associated data. You can do this yourself from the DF Garage app's Settings screen, or by emailing us.
  • Export your vehicle data in a portable format (CSV export is available from the DF Garage app).
  • Withdraw consent for any processing that relied on your consent (for example, unsubscribing from the newsletter), without affecting processing we have already done.
  • Complain to the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner if you are not happy with how we've handled your information — privacy.org.nz. We'd appreciate a chance to resolve it first.

To exercise any of these rights, email drive@drivingforever.com. We'll respond within 20 working days.

Cookies and similar technologies

drivingforever.com uses cookies for three purposes:

  • Essential cookies that make the site work — keeping you signed in, remembering your cart, preventing fraud.
  • Preference cookies that remember settings you've chosen.
  • Analytics cookies that measure how the site is used, in aggregate.

You can clear cookies or block them through your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies will break parts of the site. The DF Garage mobile app does not use browser cookies, but relies on secure device tokens to keep you signed in.

Marketing communications

We only send marketing emails if you've opted in. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link. Transactional messages (order updates, security notices, service changes) are separate and will continue even if you unsubscribe from marketing.

Children

Driving Forever is intended for people aged 13 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, email us and we will delete it.

Third-party links

Our site and app link to other websites (partner clubs, circuits, manufacturer pages, news articles). We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. Check their policies before handing over personal information.

Changes to this policy

We'll update this policy as our services change or the law requires. When we make material changes, we'll let you know by email or an in-app notice, and we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top. Continued use of the site or app after an update means you accept the updated policy.

Questions

Send privacy questions, access requests, or complaints to drive@drivingforever.com and we will reply.