Privacy Policy

DrivingMateAU (“DrivingMateAU”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) operates the driving-lesson booking platform at drivingmate.au, which connects learner drivers — primarily international students in Australia — with driving instructors to schedule, pay for, and manage driving lessons. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. By using the service you agree to this policy.

Information we collect

• Account & profile information — your name, email address, and the sign-in method you choose. When you sign in with Google, Microsoft, or Facebook, we receive your name and email from that provider; we do not receive your social-account password.
• Learner details — if you are a student, an image of your learner’s permit or licence that you upload so your instructor can confirm your eligibility to drive.
• Booking information — the lessons you book, times, instructor, and booking status.
• Payment information — lesson payments are processed by Stripe. Your full card number is entered directly with Stripe and is never stored on our servers; we retain only a payment reference and status.
• Technical data — a secure, httpOnly session cookie used to keep you signed in, and standard server logs (such as request times) needed to operate and secure the service.

How we use your information

• To create and manage your account and authenticate you at sign-in.
• To let you browse availability, book lessons, and process payments for them.
• To send transactional emails — booking confirmations and lesson reminders — to the email address on your account.
• To enable instructors and students to coordinate booked lessons.
• To secure the service, prevent abuse, and comply with our legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

Service providers we share data with

We share information only with the providers that power the service:

• Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore database, hosting) — stores your account, bookings, and uploaded documents.
• Stripe — processes lesson payments.
• Amazon Web Services (SES) — delivers our transactional emails.
• Google, Microsoft, and Facebook — only if you choose their sign-in option, to authenticate you.

These providers process data on our behalf under their own security and privacy terms. Data may be processed on servers located in Australia and other countries where these providers operate.

Data retention

We keep your account and booking information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the service and meet legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. You can ask us to delete your account and associated personal data at any time (see below); some records may be retained where required by law.

Security

Access to the backend is restricted and authenticated, connections are encrypted with TLS, and your session is carried in a secure httpOnly cookie rather than exposed to browser scripts. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

Your rights and choices

• You can access and update your profile details from within the app.
• You can request a copy of your personal data, correction of inaccuracies, or deletion of your account by emailing us.
• You can unsubscribe from non-essential emails; we may still send essential transactional messages (such as a booking confirmation) while you have an active account.

Children

The service is intended for users who are old enough to hold a learner’s permit and is not directed at children under that age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone who is not eligible to learn to drive.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.

Contact us

If you have questions about this policy or wish to exercise your rights, contact us at admin@drivingmate.au.