Cars-Data.com is free to use and has no paywall. Part of what pays for it is affiliate commission: some links here lead to a partner, and if you buy something there, we may receive a share of the sale.
This page says exactly where that happens, what we are paid for, and the one thing it never touches — the data.
1. What an affiliate link is
An affiliate link is an ordinary link that also identifies us as the source of your visit. If you go on to buy from that partner, the partner pays us a share of the sale.
You never pay more because of it. The price at the partner is the same price you would pay arriving there any other way, and we add nothing to it.
We are paid on a sale, not on a click. The purchase happens entirely on the partner’s own site, under their terms, and we never see your payment details.
2. Who our partners are
Right now we work with one partner:
- carVertical — vehicle history reports looked up by VIN. This is the partner behind every VIN-check box, banner and prompt on the site.
If we add a partner, it will appear in the list above before any placement for it goes live. Programmes we have applied to but which are not yet approved show nothing on the site at all.
3. How we label them
Every affiliate placement carries a visible label, in the language you are reading. On this page they read:
- “Affiliate link” — on a VIN-check box, a banner, or a next-step card
- “Affiliate mention” — on a sentence inside a glossary entry or an article
In the page source those links also carry rel="sponsored nofollow", so search engines and AI crawlers can tell them apart from our editorial links.
4. What it does not affect
Our partners have no influence on the data. No partner can pay to change a specification, to appear in a comparison, to rank higher, or to keep a rival out.
The Cars-Data Score is computed from measured specifications using a published formula, with no commercial input of any kind. Rankings, comparisons and alternatives are produced the same way. Read the Score methodology.
We also do not cover a product because a partner asked us to, and we do not remove criticism of one.
5. Advertising is a separate thing
Besides affiliate links, this site shows advertising through third-party networks, including Google AdSense. That is a different arrangement: we are paid for the space, we do not choose the individual ads, and an ad appearing here is not an endorsement.
How advertising, cookies and consent work is covered in our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use
6. Questions
If anything here is unclear, or you think a placement is not labelled properly, please tell us. We would rather fix it than leave you wondering. Contact us · Car glossary