Privacy Policy — FuelMath

The short version: FuelMath stores the information you give us to do its job — logging your trips and expenses. We don't sell your data, we don't track your location in the background, and we don't share your information with anyone except the service providers required to run the product. You can export or delete everything at any time.

1. What we collect

Information you provide directly

Account information: Your name and email address, provided via Google OAuth when you create an account. We do not store your Google password.
Trip logs: Dates, starting points, destinations, business purpose descriptions, and mileage for each trip you record.
Expense entries: Category, amount, date, description, and any notes you add for logged expenses.
Receipt photos: Images you choose to attach to expense entries. These are stored in our file storage system and linked to your account.
Vehicle information: Year, make, model, and estimated MPG — only if you enable fuel cost mode in your account settings.
Home base address: A default start address you optionally provide for trip entry convenience.
Preferences: Your default IRS rate selection, report format preference, digest cadence, and delivery day.

Information collected automatically

Usage data: Pages visited, features used, and general interaction patterns within the app. We use this to improve the product.
Device and browser information: Browser type, operating system, and general device category — not fingerprinting data.
Log data: Server logs including IP address, timestamps, and error reports. Retained for security and debugging purposes.

Information from third parties

Google OAuth: When you sign in with Google, we receive your name and email address from Google. We do not receive your contacts, calendar, or any other Google data.
Stripe: If you subscribe to FuelMath Pro, Stripe handles all payment processing. We receive a subscription status and customer ID from Stripe. We do not store your credit card number, billing address, or full payment details — those remain with Stripe.

What we do not collect: FuelMath does not use GPS or background location tracking. Trip mileage is calculated from addresses you enter manually, or via the Google Maps Distance Matrix API at your explicit request. We do not have access to your device's location at any time.

2. How we use your information

To operate the product: Storing and displaying your trip logs, expense entries, and account settings.
To calculate deductions: Applying IRS mileage rates and fuel cost formulas to your logged trips.
To send your digest: Delivering your scheduled mileage summary email via Resend. You can disable this at any time in account settings.
To process payments: Managing your Pro subscription status via Stripe.
To improve the product: Analyzing aggregate usage patterns to understand which features are used and where the product can improve. This analysis is not tied to individual identifiable records.
To respond to support requests: If you contact us, we use your information to respond and resolve your issue.
To comply with legal obligations: We may retain or disclose data as required by law. See Section 5.

We do not use your trip or expense data to train AI models, sell advertising, or share with third parties for their marketing purposes.

3a. Cookies and local storage

FuelMath uses essential session cookies to keep you authenticated while you are logged in. We do not use advertising cookies, cross-site tracking cookies, or third-party analytics cookies.

We may use browser local storage to remember UI preferences (such as your last-used tab or dismissed banners) between sessions. This data is stored on your device and is not transmitted to our servers.

Some third-party services we use — including Google (OAuth) and Vercel (hosting) — may set their own cookies as part of their normal operation. These are governed by their respective privacy policies.

If you disable cookies entirely, you will not be able to remain logged in to FuelMath.

3. How we store your data

Your account data and trip logs are stored in a managed database hosted on infrastructure provided by Vercel. Receipt photos are stored in Cloudflare R2 object storage. Both are accessed only by FuelMath's application and contracted developers who are subject to confidentiality obligations.

Data is stored on servers located in the United States. If you are accessing FuelMath from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

We apply reasonable technical and organizational security measures to protect your data. See Section 8 for more detail.

4. Third-party services

FuelMath uses the following third-party services to operate. Each has its own privacy policy governing how they handle data:

Google OAuth — Authentication. Google Privacy Policy
Stripe — Payment processing and subscription management. Your payment data is governed by Stripe's Privacy Policy. FuelMath does not store card numbers or full billing details.
Resend — Transactional email delivery (digest emails, export emails). Email content includes your mileage summary data.
Cloudflare R2 — File storage for receipt photos you upload.
Vercel — Application hosting and scheduled jobs (digest delivery timing).
Google Maps Distance Matrix API — Address-to-address distance calculation, triggered only when you explicitly request an address lookup. Your start and end addresses are sent to Google for this calculation. No persistent location data is stored by Google as a result of this API call beyond standard API logging.
FuelEconomy.gov — MPG lookup by vehicle year, make, and model. This is a public government API. No personally identifiable information is transmitted.
Anthropic Claude API — Natural language parsing of trip descriptions and expense entries. Text you enter into the AI input field is sent to Anthropic for processing. Anthropic's data handling for API usage is governed by their Privacy Policy. We do not send your name, email, or account identifiers to Anthropic with these requests.

We do not sell your data to any third party. We do not permit any third-party service to use your data for their own advertising or marketing purposes.

5. When we share your data

We share your data only in the following circumstances:

With service providers: The third-party services listed in Section 4, solely to operate the product.
Legal requirements: If required by law, court order, subpoena, or governmental authority, we may disclose your information. Your trip logs and expense records could be subject to legal process — for example, in a tax audit, legal dispute, or investigation. We will notify you of such requests where legally permitted to do so.
Business transfer: If FuelMath is acquired, merged, or its assets are sold, your data may transfer to the acquiring entity. We will notify users of any such change and provide an opportunity to delete their data before the transfer.
With your consent: We will share your data for purposes not listed here only with your explicit permission.

Important note on tax records: Your FuelMath logs may be requested in the course of a tax audit or legal proceeding. We cannot guarantee the confidentiality of your data in response to a valid legal order. Maintain your own copies of your records — FuelMath's export feature exists for exactly this purpose.

6. Data retention and deletion

We retain your account data and trip logs for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will permanently delete your trip logs, expense entries, receipt photos, and account information within 30 days, subject to technical constraints including backup retention schedules which may extend this period by up to an additional 30 days. Server logs and billing records may be retained longer as required by law or for fraud prevention.

After account deletion, anonymized aggregate data (e.g. total number of trips logged across all users) may be retained indefinitely, but cannot be traced back to you.

You can export all your data at any time from your account settings before requesting deletion. Pro subscribers who cancel their subscription retain access to their data under the free tier indefinitely — your data is not deleted when you downgrade.

7. Your rights

You have the right to:

Access your data: View all trips, expenses, and account information within the app at any time.
Export your data: Download a complete export of your trips, expenses, and account data from account settings (Pro feature).
Correct your data: Edit trip descriptions, purposes, and account details directly in the app.
Delete your data: Permanently delete your account and all associated data from account settings.
Opt out of emails: Disable digest emails at any time from account settings. We may still send transactional emails (receipts, export confirmations) that are necessary to operate the service.

You may also request a copy of your data at any time by visiting your Account settings. Free users may request a data export by contacting us at [email protected] — we will fulfill this request at no charge within 30 days, as required by applicable law.

If you are located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or California, you may have additional rights under applicable privacy law (GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA). These include the right to know what data we hold, the right to deletion, and the right to data portability. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the address in Section 11 or at [email protected].

8. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and access controls limiting who can access production systems. Receipt photos are stored with access controls that prevent public access without authentication.

No system is perfectly secure. We cannot guarantee that unauthorized access, disclosure, or loss of data will never occur. If we become aware of a security breach that affects your data, we will notify you as required by applicable law.

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials secure. FuelMath uses Google OAuth — your Google account security directly affects your FuelMath account security. We recommend enabling two-factor authentication on your Google account.

9. Children

FuelMath is intended for use by adults in a business or employment context. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that a user under 18 has created an account, we will delete that account and associated data promptly.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of the page. For material changes — those that meaningfully affect how we use your data — we will notify you by email before the change takes effect. Continued use of FuelMath after a policy change constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

10a. Severability

If any provision of this Privacy Policy is found to be unenforceable or invalid under applicable law, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

11. Contact

For privacy-related questions, data requests, or concerns, contact us at: [email protected]

We will respond to all requests within 30 days.