Last updated August 18, 2026
AutoHound, LLC builds software that collision repair shops use to manage repairs and communicate with their customers.
Who this policy covers
This policy covers two groups, and our role is different for each.
If a repair shop is fixing your vehicle. The shop decides what information to collect about you and why, and uses AutoHound to do that work. We handle that information on the shop's behalf and on its instructions; we do not decide how it is used and we do not use it for our own purposes. Separately from the shop's own retention choices, AutoHound applies its own retention limit to ordinary records. We may delete those records once they are more than 7 years old, subject to the shorter and longer retention rules below. Start with Information the shop records about you.
If you use AutoHound at work. If your shop gave you a login, we hold information about your account directly. See If you use AutoHound at work.
Information the shop records about you
When you do business with a repair shop that uses AutoHound, the shop records what it needs to perform your repair: your name, phone number, email, mailing address, vehicle details (including VIN and license plate), insurance claim references, repair photos, payment records, any authorization or delivery form you sign, and messages you exchange with the shop.
How it is used
This information is used solely to manage your repair and keep you informed about it, including status updates, pickup notifications, and replies to your questions. It is not used for advertising.
Public booking requests
Some repair shops that use AutoHound publish a public booking page where anyone may propose a vehicle drop-off day. When you submit a request, you provide your name, a phone number and/or email address, a vehicle description, an optional note, and the proposed day.
This information is shared only with the specific repair shop whose booking page you used so it can respond to your request. It is not sold, shared with any other party, or used for marketing.
You receive one confirmation of your submission. The confirmation is sent by text message only if you explicitly checked the SMS consent box. Otherwise, it is sent by email if you provided an email address. This is a one-time transactional message, not a subscription.
If the shop declines the request or does not act on it, the request and its personal information are automatically deleted within approximately 60 days after the proposed drop-off day has passed. If the shop accepts the request, the information becomes part of that shop’s customer records and is governed by the rest of this policy.
If you checked the SMS consent box, a record of that consent, including the date, time, and the phone number that consented, is retained even after the request itself is deleted. This record is retained as legal evidence of consent to receive text messages. Text messaging is additionally governed by that shop’s SMS Terms & Conditions.
Text messaging
With your consent, the shop may send you SMS text messages about your vehicle repair (status updates, pickup notifications, appointment reminders). Consent is recorded before messaging begins. You can opt out at any time by replying STOP, and re-subscribe by replying START if you previously opted in. See our Text Message Program page for full details.
Message frequency varies with the status of your repair. Typically, a few messages are sent over the course of a repair order. Message and data rates may apply.
No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties.
Sharing
We use a small number of vetted service providers to operate AutoHound, including hosting and data storage, payment processing, text-message delivery, email delivery, error monitoring, and address lookup. Each may process information only as needed to provide that service to us, under contract, and may not use it for its own purposes. A current list of these providers is available to shops on request.
Information is also shared, where applicable to your repair, with your insurance carrier. It is never sold, and it is never shared for cross-context behavioral advertising.
Accounting integrations
A repair shop may connect its own accounting software, such as Intuit QuickBooks Online, to AutoHound. When a shop enables such a connection, invoice, payment, and customer records are transmitted to that provider at the shop's direction, and the provider's own privacy policy governs the data it receives. AutoHound stores only the encrypted credentials needed to maintain the connection, transmits no data for advertising purposes, and the shop can disconnect the integration at any time from its settings. QuickBooks and Intuit are registered trademarks of Intuit Inc.
Address autocomplete
When shop staff type a street address into AutoHound, the partial address text may be sent to Google's Places service to suggest completions. Only the address text being typed is transmitted. Names, phone numbers, and other customer information are never transmitted, and Google's privacy policy governs its handling of that text. Shops operate without this feature when it is not configured.
If you use AutoHound at work
When your shop creates your account, we hold your name, work email, and role, along with the security material that protects the account: a hashed password, your two-factor settings and, if you enroll in SMS two-factor, a phone number, and a hashed PIN if your shop uses shared devices. We record sign-ins and keep a log of actions taken in the shop's account, so your shop can answer "who changed this."
We use this only to operate the service, secure it, and support you. We do not sell it, and we do not use it for advertising.
Your shop administers your account, including that activity log, which is the shop's business record. If you want to see or correct information we hold about you directly, contact us using the details below. Support access can also include signing in as you; see Keeping information secure. The start of any such session is recorded in your shop's activity log.
Keeping information secure
Each shop's data is isolated at the database layer, connections are encrypted in transit, passwords are hashed, and two-factor authentication is available. Technicians are not shown financial fields. Our Security page describes this in more detail.
A limited number of authorized AutoHound staff can access shop accounts to provide support and investigate problems. That can include signing in as one of the shop's users in order to see what that person sees and reproduce an issue they have reported. We record the start of every such session in the shop's activity log. We use this access only to operate, secure, and support the service.
Backups are taken daily, stored offsite in encrypted form, and kept for 30 days. A record removed from the live system may remain in a backup for up to 30 days after its removal.
Retention, correction, and deletion
Repair records are retained by the shop as its business records, for as long as the shop needs them for warranty, tax, insurance, and liability purposes.
AutoHound also applies its own outside limit. Once a record is more than 7 years old, we may delete it at any time and without notice. We reserve that right rather than promise it. Nothing obliges us to keep a record for the full 7 years or to delete it when the record reaches that age.
Some information is cleared automatically much sooner:
- Sign-in sessions are cleared within days after they expire.
- In-app notifications are cleared after about 90 days.
- Routine activity-log entries are cleared after about a year.
- Photos attached to a repair order the shop voids are cleared after about 30 days.
While your shop's account is open, we keep some records for longer than 7 years, and some indefinitely, because they can be evidence in a later dispute. These records include:
- Proof that a customer agreed to be contacted, and any later opt-out.
- Payment and estimate records.
- Signed authorization and delivery forms.
- Records showing that documents or photos were deleted or altered.
- Significant activity-log entries, such as changes to money, access, documents, or consent.
On a shop's instruction, we can permanently remove personal details, including name, phone, email, and address, from a customer record while retaining the repair and payment history the shop is required to keep. Once removed, that personal information cannot be restored.
To review, correct, or request deletion of information about your repair, contact the repair shop performing your work. The shop decides what it must retain. You can also reach us at the details below and we will route your request.
If a shop stops using AutoHound, the shop is responsible for exporting its records before its access ends. After access ends, we are not obliged to keep, restore, or provide those records. We remove the shop's records from our active systems within 90 days after access ends. Copies in our encrypted backups expire within 30 days after that. Beyond that point, we keep only what the law requires us to retain.
Your privacy rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal information, and to opt out of its sale or use for targeted advertising. We do not sell personal information, and we do not use it for targeted advertising or profiling.
We apply the same process to everyone who asks, wherever they live:
- About a repair: contact the shop that performed the work, or contact us and we will route the request to them.
- About your AutoHound login: contact us directly.
We will acknowledge a request within 45 days. If we decline it, you may appeal by emailing [email protected] with "Privacy appeal" in the subject line; we will respond to an appeal within 60 days. Residents who disagree with the outcome of an appeal may submit a complaint to their state's attorney general or privacy regulator, such as the Texas Attorney General.
Changes to this policy
We will update this page when our practices change and revise the "last updated" date above. If a change materially affects how information about you is handled, we will notify shops through the application.
Contact
AutoHound, LLC · 5900 Balcones Drive, Suite 100, Austin, TX 78731 · [email protected] · (888) 477-0652