Simple, anonymous website statistics

ShiftyMechanics uses privacy-conscious, first-party statistics to understand whether the website and repair calculator are useful.

What is counted

We count anonymous browser sessions, page views and broad actions such as opening the calculator, completing an estimate, comparing a quote, searching for a mechanic, sharing the site, clicking an advertisement or beginning a sponsorship enquiry. Signed-in owner activity and common bots or automated browsers are excluded.

For completed estimates, we count the selected country, listed vehicle make and model, five-year vehicle age range, powertrain, vehicle type and repair category. Custom make or model text is recorded only as “Other”.

How sessions stay anonymous

Your browser creates a random session code and keeps it in temporary session storage. It rotates after 30 minutes of inactivity. ShiftyMechanics stores only a one-way hash of that random code and the session start day, solely to avoid counting repeat actions as extra visitors. Old hashes are pruned after they fall outside the rolling reporting window when analytics next runs.

What is not stored

These statistics do not store your name, email address, phone number, IP address, exact location, suburb or town, GPS coordinates, quote amount, estimated price, custom vehicle text or a persistent visitor identifier. ShiftyMechanics does not use third-party analytics cookies or fingerprinting.

Location and external links

If you type a location or use your device location, it is handled in your browser to help create a nearby-mechanic search. ShiftyMechanics does not add it to its analytics. If you choose to open Google Maps or another external website, that service applies its own privacy terms.

How the information is used

Daily totals are combined into aggregate reports to improve vehicle coverage, repair estimates, website usability and advertising decisions. They are not used to identify or profile individual visitors.

Contact

Questions about privacy can be sent to davidrburridge@icloud.com.