Privacy Policy

NautiBuoy Rentals, LLC (“we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect when you book a rental with us, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. We only collect what we need to rent you a watercraft safely and legally.

Information we collect

When you make a booking, we collect information you provide directly, including:

• Contact details — your name, email address, and phone number.
• Date of birth — to confirm every operator is 18 or older, as our insurance requires.
• A photo of your government-issued ID (driver’s license, state ID, or passport) to verify identity and age.
• A photo of your boater safety education card (or your pledge to complete Virginia’s free Dockside Safety Checklist), as required by Virginia law.
• Your signed liability waiver, including your signature and the name you sign with.
• Rental preferences such as life-vest sizes and your selected date and time.
• Payment information — processed by Stripe (see below). We never see or store your full card number.

We also automatically collect basic technical information — such as your IP address, browser type, and the time of your request — in standard server logs. We use this only to keep the site secure and working properly.

How we use your information

• To take and manage your reservation and communicate with you about it.
• To verify that every operator is at least 18 and eligible to operate a PWC under Virginia law.
• To process your payment and issue receipts or refunds.
• To send booking confirmations, reminders, and safety information.
• To meet our safety, insurance, and legal recordkeeping obligations.

How we share your information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising. We share it only with the service providers we need to operate, namely:

• Stripe — our payment processor. Card details you enter at checkout are transmitted directly to Stripe over an encrypted connection and handled under Stripe’s privacy policy.
• OpenAI — the photos of your ID and boater card are processed through OpenAI’s API to automatically read details such as your name, date of birth, and card expiration for verification. They are not used for advertising.
• Our email provider — to deliver booking confirmations, reminders, and related messages.

We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect the safety, rights, or property of our riders, staff, or business.

How long we keep it

We keep your ID and boater-card images and booking records only as long as needed to provide the rental and to meet our insurance and legal obligations, after which they are deleted. IDs that are rejected during verification are removed automatically.

How we protect it

Our site is served over an encrypted (HTTPS/TLS) connection. Uploaded documents are stored outside the public area of our website and are accessible only to authorized staff. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures to safeguard your information.

Cookies

We use only essential cookies needed to run the booking process and keep staff logins secure. We do not use third-party advertising or analytics trackers.

Your choices

You can ask us to access, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you, and you can opt out of non-essential promotional emails at any time. To make a request, email us at the address below. We may need to retain certain records where the law or our insurer requires it.

Children

Our rentals and this website are intended for adults 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we’ll revise the “last updated” date above.