Date Last Revised: 09/13/2005

Autobytel Inc. ("Autobytel") understands your concern with privacy and the use of your personal information. Whether you submit a purchase request for a vehicle or simply browse through our website, we assure you that we are committed to protecting your personal privacy.

Autobytel Inc. is a licensee of the TRUSTe Web Privacy Seal Program. This privacy and security policy discloses the privacy practices for http://www.autobytel.com. If you have questions or concerns regarding this policy, you should first contact our Consumer Privacy Advocate by e-mail at ABTPrivacy@autobytel.com. If you do not receive acknowledgment of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact TRUSTe. TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with us to resolve your concerns.

1. Information Autobytel Collects

Autobytel collects email addresses of consumers who communicate with us or through our authorized vendors via e-mail. We also collect information on web pages visited and other information that is provided by consumers either on our site or in response to e-mail communications from us. We also collect information provided to us by consumers in purchase requests submitted through our site or our authorized vendors' sites ("Purchase Request Information"). Purchase Request Information typically includes name, address, and phone numbers, e-mail address and specific vehicle information. In addition, consumers who express a desire to apply for vehicle financing provide us with and authorize us or our affiliate web sites to obtain from third parties necessary financial information such as credit reports ("Finance Information"). We do not provide financing, but instead transmit those requests to third-party vendors for consideration.

All information provided by consumers in any of the above-listed ways or otherwise becomes the property of Autobytel once received by us and may be used and disclosed as permitted in this Policy.

Framed Sections of Our Site

Autobytel maintains relationships with outside service providers for some of the products and services offered through our site. Certain of these service providers are found on our Finance, Insurance, Warranty, or other pages. The information these providers make available may be presented in a "framed" format, where the Autobytel border will surround the pages served by the service providers, or by directly linking the user to the vendors' sites. In either case, the service provider is prominently identified. Please be aware that any information you provide on those framed pages is provided directly to those service providers and is subject to their security and privacy policies. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these outside service providers because their privacy practices may differ from ours.

Browsing on our Website

If you browse through our site without entering any personal data, we will gather and store certain information about your visit. This information does not identify you personally and cannot be linked back to you unless you decide at some point to identify yourself.

If you are only browsing, we collect the following information: IP address, the type of browser and operating system used to access our site, the date and time you access our site, the pages you visit (click-through), and if you linked to our Web site from another Web site, the address of that Web site, as well as additional information related to your visit.

2. How We Use Your Personal Information

Collected information is used to improve the content of our website, customize the content or layout of our website for individual users, provide services requested, notify users of updates to the site and, subject to the limitations set forth below, to develop new products and services and to contact consumers for marketing purposes.

Personalization

Autobytel offers its users the advantage of personalization on our website by using cookies. (See Cookies below.) Personalized services are offered in designated areas of our website to users who register with us. Examples of personalization include providing information when prompted for services, the saving of favorite vehicle information in "My Garage," the recordation of used vehicle searches for easy updates, and the provision of service reminders and recall information for those users who request these options.

Autobytel may track consumer interest in goods and services marketed to users who are members of the on-site personalization area. This information is used solely by Autobytel and its affiliated companies for business purposes.

Purchase Request Information and Finance Information

Purchase Request Information is used to transmit to third parties requests for products or services and to contact consumers regarding vehicle purchases. Similarly, Finance Information is used to transmit to third parties requests for vehicle financing. Typically, in either case the information is transmitted to dealers, manufacturers, lenders or fulfillment entities, as applicable, who may be in a position to respond to your request. As part of the request process, we may verify the information you provide, or obtain omitted address or other contact information, from third parties.

Occasionally, in the case of Purchase Request Information or Finance Information, when Autobytel does not have a dealership or lender available to assist you, we may forward your request information to a dealer or lender through another automotive referral service. Your submission of the request authorizes us to do this. Any Purchase Request Information or Finance Information forwarded in this way becomes subject to the security and privacy policies that are posted on the websites of those referral services.

Similarly, Purchase Request or Finance Information transmitted to a dealer, manufacturer, lender or fulfillment entity becomes the property of that dealer, manufacturer, lender or fulfillment entity, in addition to Autobytel. The information is used to process your purchase request or financing application and to provide you with information about goods and services. Any request to opt out of future dealer, lender, manufacturer or other third-party communications must be made directly to that third party.

Other Uses

We also share your personal information with our affiliated companies in order to identify products or services in which you may have interest, to improve our user experience and generally to engage in market research and for other internal business purposes. We also may aggregate your personal information with others' information and prepare reports on site usage, purchase history or other factors for sale or distribution to others. Those reports are aggregated and include no personally identifying information. Finally, we may use your personal information to send you email or postal communications regarding products or services offered by us or by third parties with whom we have relationships in which we think you may be interested.

Special Sections of Our Site

Autobytel offers forums on its site. Any information you disclose in these forums is available to all Autobytel registered members and may increase the risk of receiving "spam" or unsolicited email from other parties. Be careful and use discretion when disclosing information online.

If you choose to submit a Consumer Review of a Vehicle, you will be able to request that your name, email address and a list of cars in your household be shown. If you do not give that permission, your personal information will not be displayed.

If you contact Consumer Care utilizing the live help Chat function, your questions or information will not be collected or shared with other parties, unless directed by you.

3. Third Parties That May Receive Your Personal Information

In addition to our own internal uses of your information, we may provide your personal information to non-affiliated third parties under one of several circumstances:

• To provide you with services or products that you have requested (such as, for example, transmittal of Purchase Request Information to dealers, manufacturers, fulfillment third-parties and other automotive referral services, or transmittal of Finance Information to potential lenders);

• To our advertiser clients solely to assess the effectiveness of ad campaigns we have provided for them;

• To contractors or service providers who may provide services or perform functions on our behalf, in which case those service providers may use your information only for the purposes provided and not disclose it to any third party except upon our direction;

• To enforce our rights or as required by law or order of a court or government agency; and

• On occasion, unless you opt-out (as described below), to other third parties who may wish to send you e-mails or postal communications regarding services or products that you may find of interest.

4. Your Right To Opt Out of Communications From Us and Others

You always have the option of removing yourself from further marketing contact from us. If at any time you choose to opt out of any category of email, you can click on the remove link at the bottom of the e-mail. Alternatively, you may email Customer Service at consumercare@autobytel.com with the word "Remove" in the subject line and we will remove you from all further email and postal mail marketing communication within 5 business days. You may also opt-out at any time by clicking here

In addition, those consumers who submit a purchase request or financing request to us are given the opportunity at the time they provide their information to decide what types of offerings of products or services they wish to receive or to opt-out. You may update those preferences at any time by clicking here.

In each case, even if you decide not to receive offers or other product or service information, Autobytel and its member dealers may use a phone number or email address that you have provided to contact you regarding your purchase request for a vehicle. Additionally, phone numbers may be used to conduct customer surveys regarding individual experiences with Autobytel-accredited dealers. Phone numbers are made available only to Autobytel, its affiliates and member dealers, lenders or manufacturers who receive your purchase request.

The submission of a purchase or financing request itself is permission for us to submit your Purchase Request Information or Finance Information (as applicable) to the third parties necessary to fulfill your request.

5. Security

Autobytel understands the importance of security for our consumers. We use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption technology to protect personal data such as credit card information and finance or insurance application information during transmission, and maintain other commercially reasonable precautions to protect information that we store or retain.

6. Corrections or Changes to Your Personal Information

You may also make corrections and updates to your personal information by contacting consumercare@autobytel.com, or by accessing your settings in the "My Garage" personalized portion of our Web site by clicking on Log In on our Home Page. If you are already a member of "My Garage", you will be offered "My Settings" where you can make any adjustments you wish in your personally identifiable information, and email settings. If you are not already a member of "My Garage", you will be invited to become a member and create your personal information and email settings.

7. Cookies and Web Beacons

Autobytel offers consumers the convenience of online personalization by using cookies. Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that are transferred to your computer's hard drive through your web browser. When this information is stored on your hard drive, our system is able to recognize your browser and in turn customize web page content for you. (See Personalization)

Cookies cannot be used to retrieve data from your hard drive, obtain your email address or obtain sensitive information about you. When a cookie is set, your browser will check it for length, an expiration date, and where it originated. Only Autobytel can access the cookies that we set.

Autobytel allows our ad service company to set cookies as well. These cookies can "recognize" a consumer by a Unique identifier assigned at the time of the first visit, and may be used to measure site and page visits and browser version number, and browsing activity. This information may be used to better serve and provide advertising content on future visits and web pages viewed during your browser sessions on our websites. These cookies cannot obtain private information like name, e-mail or other personal information, and are not shared with Autobytel.

We use a third party tracking service who sets cookies on our site to track visits, page views and click stream behavior. The third party tracking service reports this data to us in aggregate so we can better understand our users and to improve our site. This information is not tied to any individual user.

If you prefer not to accept cookies, most browsers will explain how to disable cookies under the help portion of the toolbar or notify you when you receive a new cookie. However, if you choose to disallow cookies on your hard drive, our Web site will not be able to provide personalization services.

We also place "web beacons" on the website on behalf of third parties. A web beacon is a small, transparent image placed at various sections of our site to monitor user traffic. The web beacon records the number of click-throughs to the page where it resides and collects users' IP addresses, time the page was viewed, type of browser used, and existence of cookies from a previous visit. However, the data collected by our web beacons are used only in aggregated form, with no associated identifying information, and Autobytel does not tie IP addresses to individual users or disclose the IP addresses to any non-affiliated third party. Information collected by web beacons is used only by Autobytel, its affiliates and authorized vendors. If you do not wish such information to be collected, you can choose to deactivate cookies on your browser.

8. Changes or Revisions to This Policy

If we are going to use your personally identifying information in a manner different from that stated in our privacy policy at the time of collection, we will notify you via email. You will have a choice as to whether or not to allow us to use your information in this different manner. In addition, if we make any material changes in our privacy practices that do not affect user information already stored in our database, we will post a prominent notice on our website notifying users of the change. In some cases we will also e-mail users who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.

In the event Autobytel or its assets are acquired, such as through merger, acquisition or similar event, resulting in a change in ultimate control over customers' personal information (other than through an internal corporate reorganization or similar transaction), customers will be notified promptly of such change. We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the acquirer of our customers' personal information respects the provisions of this privacy policy, although this may not be possible in certain legal settings (such as bankruptcy).

9. Questions or Concerns?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding privacy, security, opting-out of e-mail offers or understanding how your personal information is being used, please contact our Consumer Privacy Advocate at ABTPrivacy@autobytel.com. If you do not receive acknowledgment of your inquiry in a prompt fashion or within 10 days, or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you may contact TRUSTe. TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with us to resolve your concerns.

For any other issues, please contact our customer service department at consumercare@autobytel.com. Our mailing address is: 18872 MacArthur Boulevard, Irvine, CA 92612-1400.

For the Autobytel Usage Terms and Conditions please click here.