GERZMO is in early access; we may update these terms as services switch on.
Privacy policy
This policy explains what personal information GERZMO collects through this website and the GERZMO app, wherever you live, why, where it's stored and what you can do about it. GERZMO is run from New Zealand, so we follow the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, and we also respect the privacy laws of the places our users live. If you're in the United States, our US privacy notice adds US-specific details.
1. Who we are
GERZMO is operated by Gersmo Automobile.
- NZBN
- Not provided
- Postal address
- Not provided
- Contact
- gersmo.com
Our privacy officer is the GERZMO founder.
2. What GERZMO does
Owners register a car for use and choose what it can be used for: food pickup, passenger trips, or sharing with another driver. Owners approve every request. GERZMO is in early access: every use is not switched on yet, so no trips run and no payments are taken. Each use is switched on only once it's legal and insured where the car is.
3. What we collect
- Owners registering a car: your name and email address; your car's make, model, year, colour and seats; its number plate (licence plate); the country and area where it's kept; the uses you choose; the days it's usually free; an optional daily price and its currency; photos; and any notes you add.
- People sending a request: your name, email address and mobile number, the car and dates you request, and your confirmation that you hold a full driver licence that lets you drive where the car is kept.
- Early-access sign-ups (US page): what that form asks for, as set out in the US privacy notice.
- If you contact us: your contact details and what you tell us.
- Spam and abuse protection: when you send a registration or request, the app keeps a one-way scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address with a request count. It can't be turned back into your IP address. Our hosting provider also processes standard technical information, such as IP addresses, to deliver and secure the site.
- Usage information: aggregate visitor statistics from Netlify Web Analytics, such as pages visited, the website that referred you and your approximate country. These come from our host's server logs, not from cookies, and we only see totals, not individual visitors.
- MetaMask (optional): if you choose to connect MetaMask, the website shows your public wallet address. It's read-only: the address isn't stored or sent to us.
What we don't collect now: GERZMO doesn't take payments, so we don't collect card or bank account details. We don't collect driver licence numbers or ID documents. Before any use is switched on, drivers' licences and some car documents (for example registration, safety certificates such as a New Zealand Certificate of Fitness, and insurance) may need to be checked. We'll update this policy before we collect any of those, and we'll only collect what's needed.
4. Cookies, analytics and your device
GERZMO doesn't use advertising or tracking cookies, and we don't track you across other websites. To understand how many people visit and which pages are useful, we use Netlify Web Analytics. It produces aggregate statistics, such as pageviews, the pages visited, the websites that referred visitors and approximate location, from our host's server logs. It doesn't use cookies or store anything on your device, and we only see totals, not individual visitors. Like most web hosts, our hosting provider Netlify keeps server access logs, including IP addresses, for less than 30 days for security and troubleshooting. We don't use any other analytics tool, and we'll update this policy before we add one. The app saves information about your own registrations and requests in your browser's local storage, so you can manage them on that device. Our hosting provider, Netlify, may add a small badge to the site that remembers in local storage whether you've closed it. You can clear local storage in your browser settings at any time.
5. Why we use your information
- To check registrations before they appear in the app. Your number plate helps us confirm the car is real and, later, that its registration and safety checks are current.
- To show approved cars and pass requests to owners.
- To contact you about your registration or request, including when a use is switched on where you live.
- To prevent spam, fraud and abuse.
- To measure site usage in aggregate and improve GERZMO.
- To answer your questions and help with problems.
- To meet our legal obligations in the places we operate. For example, in New Zealand, sharing a car with another driver for money is treated as a rental service, which comes with record-keeping rules once it's switched on.
We don't sell your personal information, and we don't use it for advertising.
6. Who sees and receives it
- Everyone: approved registrations are public. Anyone can see a car's make, model, photos, country, area, uses, availability and price. The number plate and the owner's name and email address are never shown publicly.
- Owners and people sending requests: the owner of a car you request sees your first name and dates. Full contact details are shared between them only when needed, once a use is switched on.
- Our service provider: Netlify, Inc. (United States) hosts the website and app, stores the information on our behalf, and provides our visitor statistics (Netlify Web Analytics) and server logs.
- An insurer: once insurance for a use is in place, we may share what's needed to provide cover or deal with a claim.
- When the law requires it: for example, to a transport regulator or the police where legally required.
7. Where it's stored: outside your country
Our host, Netlify, is based in the United States. Your information is stored and processed in the United States and possibly other countries where Netlify operates, so it may be processed outside your country, including outside New Zealand. This includes the aggregate visitor statistics and server logs (with IP addresses, kept for less than 30 days) described in section 4. Netlify processes it only on our behalf, to provide its hosting and analytics services to us. The privacy laws in those countries may differ from yours. We take reasonable steps to make sure your information is protected in a way that's comparable to the protection you'd get under New Zealand law.
8. How long we keep it
- Registrations, plates and photos: until you delete the registration. Deleting it also deletes its photos and requests. If we decline a registration in review, we delete it within 90 days.
- Requests: 2 years after the requested end date, then deleted.
- Records the law requires: once a use is switched on, we keep the records the law requires where the car is, for example 3 years for New Zealand rental records and 7 years for New Zealand tax records.
- Messages you send us: 2 years after we last hear from you.
- Hashed IP request counts: deleted at least once every 12 months.
9. How we protect it
We take reasonable steps to protect your information from loss, misuse and unauthorised access. The site and app use encrypted connections (HTTPS). Access to stored information, including number plates, is limited to the GERZMO founder. The key that lets you manage your registration is stored only in hashed form. If a privacy breach is likely to cause serious harm, we'll tell you and the relevant privacy regulator, as the law requires.
10. Your crypto and your wallet
GERZMO never holds your crypto assets and will never ask for your recovery phrase (seed phrase) or private keys. If anyone claiming to be GERZMO asks for them, don't share them. MetaMask is optional and isn't needed to register a car or send a request.
11. Information we get from other people
Sometimes we may get information about you from someone else, for example an owner telling us about another driver, or, once a use is switched on, a licence check. When that happens, we'll tell you that we have it, why, who it came from and what your rights are, as required by New Zealand's information privacy principle 3A, unless a legal exception applies.
12. Your rights
Wherever you live, you can ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Depending on where you live, you may have more rights under local law, and we'll handle your request under that law.
To ask, contact our privacy officer (the GERZMO founder) at gersmo.com. We'll respond as soon as we can, and within 20 working days (or sooner if your local law requires).
If you're not happy with how we handle your request, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in New Zealand at privacy.org.nz, or to the privacy regulator where you live.
13. Changes to this policy
We'll update this policy before we change what we collect or how we use it, for example before any use is switched on, and show the new date at the top of this page.