Privacy Policy
1. Who is responsible
Check Plata (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party for personal information processed through this site, as that term is used in the Protection of Personal Information Act. Contact us at hello@checkplata.co.za about anything on this page.
2. What we collect
When you run a check we collect the plate combination you searched, the province you chose, and the email address you give us for delivery. For a check, that is all we ask for. We do not ask for your name, your ID number or your address.
If you signed up for our newsletter in the past, we keep your email address until you unsubscribe.
For Top plates, we read public posts on X that tag @checkplata or are added by link on our site: the post, its photo, the poster's username and account age, and its likes. The photo is shown straight from X, we don't keep a copy. To stop abuse of the add-by-link box, we count submissions for an hour using a scrambled code made from your connection, never your actual IP address.
3. Why we collect it
To run the lookup you paid for and email you the result, and to run Top plates. We do not use your information for anything else and we do not sell it.
4. How long we keep it
Your check record is deleted automatically as soon as your result has been emailed to you. We do not keep a history of what you searched. Records that could not be delivered are kept for a short period so we can fix the problem or refund you, and are then removed.
Newsletter addresses are kept until you unsubscribe, using the link in any of our emails. Unsubscribing deletes your address straight away.
5. Payment information
Payments are processed by PayFast. Your card details go directly to them and never reach us. We receive only a confirmation that a payment succeeded, along with the reference we generated for your check.
6. Who else processes your information
We use a small number of service providers to run CheckPlata:
- PayFast, to process payments.
- Postmark, to send your result email.
- Cloudflare, to host this site and run our lookup service.
- X, the source of every post on Top plates.
- Plate Recognizer, which reads the plate in Top plates photos. Its servers are in the United States, so those photos are processed there.
- CarReg (Car Registration API, regcheck.org.uk), to perform the register lookup itself. We send them the plate combination only, never your email address or anything about you. Its servers are outside South Africa.
- Zoho, which hosts our business email. If you email us, your message is stored there.
Some of these providers operate outside South Africa, which means your information may be processed abroad. We only use providers that offer appropriate protection.
7. Cookies and tracking
We do not use advertising cookies and we do not track you across other sites. Our visitor counts come from Cloudflare Web Analytics, which uses no cookies and doesn't identify you. We keep a few small items in your browser's own storage, for example to remember where you came from (such as one of our signs) for 7 days so we can count it. They stay on your device and you can clear them at any time.
8. Your rights
Under POPIA you may ask us what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email hello@checkplata.co.za and we will respond. In most cases there will be nothing to return, because check records are deleted as soon as your result is sent.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information you may complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa.
9. Security
The site is served over HTTPS and our systems are hosted on Cloudflare. We keep the information we collect to the minimum needed to deliver your result, which is the most effective protection we can offer you.
10. Changes
We may update this policy. The version published here at the time you use the service is the one that applies.