ServNet auctions now have the capability to scrub another part of vehicles that are coming down the lanes at their facilities.

According to the group’s recent newsletter, ServNet recently formed a partnership with Privacy4Cars, which has a platform designed to erase nonpublic personal information (NPI) from vehicles.

And auctions already using the technology praised its capabilities to help them serve consignors and other customers.

ServNet leaders highlighted that Privacy4Cars’ proprietary platform makes it possible to delete NPI from vehicles consigned at the auction, produce comprehensive compliance records that are fully integrated with AutoIMS, and mitigate associated liabilities of data related issues with a Privacy4Cars limited liability warranty certification.

Robert Sullivan, ServNet’s administrative director and certified corporate compliance and ethics professional explained that NPI is a rising compliance and reputation risk for the remarketing business.

“While many data security and privacy laws have been written by regulators with computers and phones in mind, the growing capabilities of vehicles to capture and store personal information makes them fall under those laws,” Sullivan said in the newsletter sent to Auto Remarketing.

“Using car menus is not a documentable process and we found that manuals are hard and time-intensive to use, if they are even available,” Sullivan continued. “Privacy4Cars is easy to adopt, simple to use, and, most importantly, it provides auctions with a certificate confirming that NPI has been deleted from the vehicle and is backed by a warranty.”

Developed by Andrea Amico, an authority on vehicle privacy and cybersecurity, Privacy4Cars offers a standard process that makes data deletion simple and scalable.

Auctions and their personnel can reliably, rapidly and intuitively delete the NPI stored in vehicle systems, complete with receipt of completion and warranty.

“We are very excited to offer yet another service to our customers that we feel is vital in today’s environment,” said Chad Bailey, president of Akron Auto Auction and ServNet’s vice president.

“Knowing that a vehicle can capture a huge amount of personal information, including home addresses, garage codes, previous destinations, call logs, contacts, text messages and the like, we want to ensure that such information is safely and securely wiped clean from each vehicle, ensuring yet another level of customer and consumer satisfaction,” Bailey continued.

Cindy Mitchell is vice president commercial accounts at BSC America’s Bel Air Auto Auction, which has been using the platform for the past year.

“We love the ease of using the application that walks you through the steps needed for each make and model to complete the removal of personal data from the car’s computer,” Mitchell said. “The added assurance of getting the ‘Green Light,’ telling you the removal was successful is also important for us to know.

“Now with the integration of Privacy4Cars with AutoIMS, our customers can see first-hand that personal information has been deleted by looking at the data deletion status and viewing the warranty for data deletion fields in AutoIMS, which is an added plus,” she went on to say.

The Privacy4Cars platform was highlighted in the Remarketing Superheroes webinar recently hosted by AutoIMS and the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA). In that workshop, several industry members pointed out that Privacy4Cars’ centralized and certified records on AutoIMS are the simplest way for consignors to generate reports across their entire remarketing portfolio and prove to their internal auditing (and potentially to third party inquiries) that their policies are being followed, greatly reducing potential legal liabilities and reputation risks.

“Thanks to our partnership with Privacy4Cars, clearing all of the electronic NPI from a vehicle at State Line AA is now streamlined,” said Mark Kuzma, inspections and imaging manager at State Line Auto Auction.

“The Privacy4Cars app provides us with a detailed, vehicle specific, step-by-step process, that ensures 100% success when clearing electronic NPI content for our remarketing partners,” Kuzma added.