Privacy

Who we are

Switchyard Automotive provides software that dealerships use to see, govern and answer requests from automated vehicle-buying agents. This page says what information Switchyard handles, why, who can see it, and how long we keep it. It is written for dealership staff, for people whose messages reach a dealership that uses Switchyard, and for anyone who contacts us.

What we collect and why

• Dealership accounts. The name, work email, role and a one-way hash of the password of each dealership user, so they can sign in and so every action is attributed to a named person. We never see or store the password itself.
• A copy of the dealership's sales inbox. A dealership chooses to send Switchyard a copy of messages that arrive at its sales address. We store the sender, recipients, subject, text and sanitized HTML of those messages, and attachment names and sizes but not attachment contents, so the dealership can see which messages came from automated agents and, when it chooses to, answer them by its rules. The dealership's own inbox still receives every message; Switchyard never has the dealership's mailbox password and never changes or withholds its mail.
• Inventory, prices and rules. Vehicles, prices, fees, floor prices, incentives and policies the dealership enters, so quotes and counteroffers can be prepared. These are the dealership's data and are shown only to its own users.
• Agent requests over our API. When a buying agent connects directly, we store the requests it makes, the quotes and counteroffers exchanged, and, if the agent accepts a quote, the buyer contact it gives so the dealership can reach the buyer. We do not verify a buyer's identity; the agent asserts it.
• Demo requests. If you ask for a demo, we store the name, email, dealership, phone and message you give us, the network address and browser the request came from (to detect abuse), and we email those details to the person who answers demo requests.
• Operational records. An append-only log of what happened to every message and quote: who acted, when, under which settings. Dealership administrators can read and export their own log. It never contains passwords, secrets or buyer contact details.

What we do not do

• We do not send your messages, inventory, prices or any other data to an AI model provider. Switchyard classifies and sorts messages with its own rules, on our own servers.
• We do not sell, rent or share your information with anyone for their own purposes. The only third party that processes it is our hosting provider, Amazon Web Services (United States), which runs our servers, database, email delivery and sign-in services on our behalf and only for that purpose.
• We do not use tracking cookies, analytics scripts or advertising on this site. Signed-in users receive one session cookie and one security cookie, both needed to use the application and nothing else.
• We do not reply to a person's message. Only messages from automated agents are ever answered, and only when the dealership has turned that on.

Who can see what

A dealership's users see their own dealership's data and nothing of any other's. Switchyard staff can see counts and settings needed to run the service and to help a dealership that asks; every staff action is recorded with the reason. A buying agent receives only the quote and negotiation it is part of, never a dealership's floor prices or rules.

How long we keep it

Message copies and records are kept while the dealership uses Switchyard and deleted on its instruction when it leaves. Raw copies of inbound mail are deleted from our mail storage after 30 days; the parsed message stays with the dealership's records. Demo requests are deleted after 12 months, or sooner if you ask. The operational log cannot be edited by anyone, including us.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Passwords are stored only as salted hashes. Agents use short-lived credentials that a dealership can revoke at any time. Access is limited by role, and the record of actions is append-only.

Your choices and contact

To see, correct or delete information about you, or to ask anything about this page, email armard@switchyardauto.com. If you are a buyer whose message reached a dealership that uses Switchyard, that dealership is the party you contacted; we will help it answer you.

Changes

When this page changes we update the effective date above. Material changes are announced to dealership administrators by email.