Editorial policy

[DRAFT: first-draft copy awaiting the owner's sign-off. Not final.]

This page explains how AutoMotor News decides what is true enough to publish, who signs it off, and how we fix mistakes.

Ownership and independence

AutoMotor News is published by Lln group, UAB, which has the same owners as Zilocar, a company that sells vehicle history reports.

We say this on our About page, in the footer of every page, and next to every link to Zilocar. Links to Zilocar are marked as sponsored (rel="sponsored") and carry a one-line ownership note.

Ownership does not change the rules below. A story about a recall, a scam or a title brand needs the same sources and the same sign-off whether or not it mentions Zilocar. We name other vehicle history brands, such as Carfax and AutoCheck, only to compare facts.

No paid placement

We don't accept payment for stories, rankings, reviews, links or placement on our pages. We don't publish reviews or testimonials we can't trace to a real, documented source.

Sources

• Every factual claim traces to a primary source or to our own data, and is cited on the page. Each story ends with a list of its sources and the date we accessed them.
• Primary sources are the original record: a recall filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a court filing, a press release from the Department of Justice or a state attorney general, or official state data.
• "Our data" means figures computed by our own code from those records, or from Zilocar data as described below.
• We never invent quotes, people, statistics, reviews, testimonials, experts or author personas.

How we use Zilocar data

• Zilocar shares data with us only as aggregates: counts and totals, never records about one car or one person.
• Every published figure based on Zilocar data has at least 20 records behind it. Smaller groups are left out or combined.
• Zilocar data never includes VINs, license plates or personal data.
• When we use it, we say so on the page and credit Zilocar as the source.

Review before publication

Nothing is published until a named approver has reviewed and approved that exact version. This covers stories, headlines and descriptions, updates, corrections, newsletter issues and the pages of this site. Approvers are people the publisher judges qualified to assess accuracy and fairness. They are listed on our Newsroom page.

Bylines read "AutoMotor News Newsroom, reviewed by" and the approver's name. Stories are prepared with AI assistance; our AI policy explains how.

Naming people

We name a private individual only when an official record names them, such as a court filing or a release from the Department of Justice or a state attorney general. We report only what the record says (for example, charged, pleaded guilty, convicted or sentenced), in its wording, and we link to the record. A charge is not a conviction, and we say which one applies.

We never name minors, victims or their relatives, and we never publish home addresses.

Corrections

When we get something wrong, we correct it openly, with a date. See our corrections policy, or write to corrections@automotor.news.