Privacy notice

Who is responsible

Markaba is a free, non-commercial directory of car businesses in Qatar. It is an independent community project run by a private individual in Qatar, not by a company, and it is not connected to any government body. That person decides how your data is used (the "controller" under Qatar's Personal Data Privacy Protection Law, Law No. 13 of 2016). Contact for anything about your data: markabaqatar@gmail.com.

What we collect

Browsing: nothing that identifies you. Your car, shortlist and starting area are saved on your device unless you sign in. For each listing we count, per day, how often it was viewed, called, opened in WhatsApp or maps, shared or had its website opened; these counters hold nothing about who you are.

Account: email, optional name and mobile number, language, confirmation that you are 18 or older, and which version of these terms you accepted and when.

Garage: car make, model, year, size and the optional details you add (service log, reminders). We never ask for plate numbers, VINs or ID numbers.

Requests: what you write, photos you add, the businesses you choose, quotes and messages. Photos have their location data removed before upload.

Reports you send, and the email you give us to reply to them.

Businesses: the listing (public, including the phone and WhatsApp numbers the business chooses to publish), and the Commercial Registration (CR) number, expiry date, document and contact person. CR details are used only to check the listing and are seen only by the business owner and the site administrator, never publicly.

Technical: our server and network providers see your IP address and browser details when you visit, to deliver the site and block attacks.

Why we use it

To run the directory, send your requests to the businesses you choose, deliver their replies, send reminders you asked for, prevent abuse, keep the site secure and meet legal duties. We process your data because you asked to use the service and, for optional features such as email reminders, with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. We don't use it for advertising or profiling.

Who sees it

A business you send a request to sees your first name, car, description and photos. Your phone number is shared only with the business whose quote you accept, and only if you tick that option. Businesses must use your details only for that request.

Service providers who host or carry data for us, under their data processing terms: our server host (the database and your files are kept on our own server), Google Firebase (sign-in, and push notifications in the mobile app when you turn them on), Resend (sending email), Cloudflare (network security and, on some forms, the Turnstile "are you human" check), the map tile provider (sees your IP address and the map area you view), an error-reporting service when it is switched on (technical error details, not your messages).

Authorities, only when Qatari law requires it.

Listing check: the public text of a business listing (name, description, categories, website) may be read by an automated AI service to point out possible problems to our reviewers. It is never sent CR details, phone numbers, owner or customer data, requests or messages, and a person, not the AI, decides whether a listing is published.

We don't sell data, show ads or use tracking or analytics cookies.

Data outside Qatar

Some of these providers store or process data outside Qatar (for example in the EU or the United States). We choose providers that protect it with security measures and data processing terms, and share with each only what it needs.

Cookies

Only essential ones: your sign-in session and your language choice. Your device also keeps your shortlist, car and starting area. No analytics or advertising cookies.

How long we keep it

Account and garage data: until you delete your account. Requests, their photos, quotes and messages: 2 years after the request closes. Notifications: 1 year. Reports: 1 year after they are handled. Security and admin action logs: 1 year. Email delivery logs: 90 days. Daily listing counters: 2 years.

Deleted listings: photos, CR details and documents are removed 30 days after deletion. Server logs are rotated within a few weeks. Encrypted backups are kept for up to 30 days, so deleted data leaves them within that time.

Your rights

From the Account page you can download your data, correct it, turn emails off and delete your account at any time. You can also email us to see, correct or delete your data or to object to how it is used; we reply within 30 days. If you think we've handled your data wrongly you can complain to the data protection department of the National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA).

Children

Markaba is not meant for children. Accounts are for people aged 18 or over. If we learn that an account belongs to someone younger, we delete it.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit, access is restricted by role, backups are encrypted, and photos have their location data removed. If a breach is likely to cause you serious harm we will tell you and the competent authority without delay, aiming for 72 hours from when we learn of it.

Changes to this notice

The version date is at the top. If we change how we use your data in a way that matters, we will tell signed-in users before it applies.