Privacy policy

Last updated 3 October 2026

RumFuel helps you find cheaper fuel, keep a mileage log for HMRC and your employer, and get safety camera alerts. This policy explains what we collect, why, and your rights under UK data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

Who we are

RumFuel is the data controller for your information. Contact us at support@rumfuel.co.uk.

What we collect and why

• Account details: your email address, name if you give it, and your password (stored only as a secure hash). Used to run your account. If you turn on 2-step verification we store its secret encrypted.
• Location while you use the app: used to show fuel prices, chargers, speed limits and cameras near you. Not stored unless it is part of a trip.
• Trips (only if you turn on automatic trip logging, or add trips yourself): the route, distance, times and the vehicle used. The app collects location in the background, even when it is closed, only while automatic trip logging is on. Routes are cut out near your home and any privacy zones you set, and trip start and end points are stored only to about 100 metres. Your speed is not stored unless you turn that on. Used to produce your mileage log, reports and claims.
• Vehicles: number plate and details such as make and fuel type. We look plates up with the DVLA Vehicle Enquiry Service.
• Fuel receipts: photos you choose to upload. We send the image to Anthropic's Claude AI service to read the litres, price and VAT; Anthropic does not use it to train its models.
• Dash cam (only if you turn it on): video, and sound only if you choose, recorded by your phone's camera while drive mode or navigation is open, plus the motion sensor to spot hard braking. Footage stays on your phone: it is never uploaded to us. Recordings are overwritten every few minutes unless you save a clip; saved clips (with the time, place and speed) stay on your phone until you delete them or share them yourself.
• Help spot traffic (only if you turn it on): while you navigate or use drive mode, the app sends how fast traffic is moving on the roads you pass, to show queues to other drivers. Nothing is sent within about 1 km of where a drive starts or ends, or near your saved places. We store only a road square of about 100 metres, a direction, a 5-minute time slot and a speed, with no name, account, trip or device attached, and delete these after two hours. A long-run "normal speed" for each road square is kept, also with nothing linking it to anyone.
• Reports you send: wrong-price reports and mobile camera van reports, with their location.
• Purchases: if you subscribe, the app store tells us (through RevenueCat) which plan you have. We never see your card details.
• Device and security data: a notification token if you allow price alerts, and a log of sign-ins and security changes (time, device and IP address) to protect your account.

Our legal bases are: providing the service you asked for (contract), your consent (background location, notifications, speed data, helping spot traffic), and our legitimate interest in keeping accounts secure and the service working.

What we never do

We don't sell your data. We don't use your trips or location for advertising. Team managers on a Business plan see only the business trips you share with them: never your routes, personal trips or speeds.

Ads

The free version shows a small banner ad on some lists (never while you drive). Ads are served by Google AdMob. Before any ad is shown, where the law requires it, we ask for your consent: if you agree, Google may use your device's advertising ID and similar data to choose ads; if you don't, you see non-personalised ads. You can change your choice at any time in Settings → Ad privacy choices, and any paid plan removes ads. We never give AdMob your trips, routes or account details. See how Google uses data from apps that use its services.

Who we share data with

Only the services we use to run RumFuel, each under a contract that protects your data:

• Render (app server, Frankfurt, EU), Supabase (database, London, UK) and Cloudflare (receipt photos, and nightly database backups kept for 30 days, Western Europe)
• Anthropic (reading receipt photos)
• DVLA (vehicle lookups, number plate only)
• RevenueCat, Apple and Google (subscriptions)
• Expo (delivering notifications) and our email provider (account emails)
• Sentry (crash reports from the app, stored in Germany; no names, emails or locations)
• Google AdMob (ads shown to free users; see below)
• Google Maps (map display on Android) and Apple Maps (on iPhone)
• OpenStreetMap Nominatim and postcodes.io (the approximate start and end point of a trip — never inside your privacy zones — to show it as a street name)
• Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent, only if you connect them, to send your mileage claims

Fuel prices come from the UK Government's Fuel Finder scheme and contain public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Maps, speed limits and fixed camera locations use © OpenStreetMap contributors.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and trips until you delete them or your account. HMRC may ask you to keep mileage records for up to 6 years, so export your reports before deleting. Security logs are kept for up to 12 months. Fuel price history is not personal data.

Your rights

You can see, correct, export (Account → Privacy & your data → Download my data) and delete your data at any time. You can also object to or restrict how we use it, and withdraw consent: for example, turn off trip logging in Settings. To delete everything, see Delete your account. If you're unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Children

RumFuel is for drivers aged 17 and over.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll tell you in the app.