A car or a device changes hands in one of two ways: the owner transfers it, or the new owner claims it. Both people need an EngineMon account. Cars and devices are handed over separately, so selling a car with its EngineMon means one handover for each.
| If you | Do this |
|---|---|
| Sold your car | Transfer it to the buyer |
| Bought a car that's still on the seller's account | Ask for a transfer, or claim it with I own this car |
| Are selling or giving away your device | Transfer it from the phone app |
| Bought a used EngineMon | Register it in the phone app, which accepts a transfer or starts a claim |
| Got a claim on your car or device | Approve or block it |
I'm selling my car
- Open the car. On the Shared access card, click Transfer car. In the app, tap ⋯ and choose Transfer.
- Enter the buyer's username or the email they sign in with.
- Decide whether to turn on Include this car's history. It's off by default: see Keep the history or hand it over?
- Click Send offer.
Only an owner can send an offer, and only one transfer or claim can be open on a car at a time. The buyer gets a notification and an email, and has 7 days to Accept or Decline. The car works as usual until then. If they don't answer, the offer expires and the car stays yours.
Changed your mind? Click Cancel transfer on the card at the top of the car page, or under Ownership changes. Only the owner who sent the offer can cancel it. If you stop being an owner before the buyer accepts, the offer is cancelled and they're told.
In the app you can also send an offer from Shared access: open someone's menu and choose Transfer car, which fills in their name.
Keep the history or hand it over?
- Off (the default): the buyer starts fresh with an empty history, under the car's year, make and model rather than the name you gave it. You, and everyone else who had access, keep the old record under Past cars, read-only.
- On: the buyer gets the car's drives and data so far. Everyone who has access now loses it, along with their alert rules for the car.
Either way, the share link stops working and the buyer is the only owner.
Tip: Selling your EngineMon with the car? It doesn't go with the car automatically, so transfer the device too.
I bought a car that's still on the seller's account
The simplest route is to ask the seller to transfer it to you. Their offer shows under Ownership changes, at the top of your Cars page or the app's Garage. Click Accept.
Can't reach them? Claim the car. You'll need your own EngineMon plugged in:
- Plug in your device and go for a drive. The car shows under Pending access on your Cars page and in the app's Garage, with your drives hidden for now.
- Choose I own this car, then Claim car.
The owners get 7 days to approve or block your claim, and we remind them while it waits. Your claim shows as Claim pending on the same card, with the date it becomes yours. Cancel claim withdraws it.
- Nobody answers: the car becomes yours without the previous owner's history.
- An owner approves: it's yours. They choose whether its history comes with it.
- An owner blocks it: you can't claim that car again for 30 days.
Once the car is yours, the drives your device logged while you waited show up. If the last owner deleted their account, there's nobody to ask: the car becomes yours the next time your device reads its VIN.
I'm selling or giving away my device
Device transfers start in the phone app only. The website shows a pending transfer but can't start one.
- In the app, open the car the device is plugged into (or the device itself, if it isn't in a car).
- On the Device settings card, tap ⋯ and choose Transfer.
- Enter their username or sign-in email and tap Send offer.
The device stops syncing while the offer is open, so let it finish syncing before you send it. The other person takes the device by registering it with the app near the device, or declines. You can cancel until then with Cancel transfer: on the device page on the web, under Ownership changes, or on the card above the device's settings in the app. An offer nobody takes expires after 7 days, and the device syncs for you again.
I bought a used EngineMon
Whether or not the seller sent you a transfer, start by holding the device's button for 5 seconds to put it in registration mode, then register it in the phone app.
If the seller sent you a transfer: registering it is how you accept. The offer is under Ownership changes in the app's Garage, with a Register device button and a Nearby badge when your phone can see the device. There's no accept button on the website, only Decline. The offer expires after 7 days.
If there's no transfer: the app asks Claim this device? Tap Claim device. The owner sees your username, never your email, and has 7 days to approve or block. If they approve or don't answer, the device becomes yours. You'll get a notification; register it once more to start using it. If the account that owned it was deleted, it's yours as soon as you register it.
You can follow or cancel your claim under Ownership changes in the app's Garage, or on your Cars and Devices pages on the web. Once the device is yours, add your Wi-Fi again: the old owner's networks are cleared.
What the app might tell you when you register someone else's device:
- Claim sent: your claim started. The owner has 7 days.
- Claim pending: you already have a claim waiting on this device.
- Claim blocked: the owner blocked you. You can try again after 30 days.
- Can't claim this device now: someone else's claim is in progress. Try again later.
- Can't register this device: the owner is transferring it to a different account. Ask them to cancel and send it to you.
- Transfer pending: you own this device and offered it to someone. Cancel the transfer, then register it again.
- Registration mode ended: hold the button for 5 seconds again, then tap Try again.
Someone is claiming my car or device
You get a notification and an email. The claim shows as Ownership claim on the car or device page and under Ownership changes. A claimed device also gets an Ownership claim badge on your Devices list.
- Approve if you sold or gave it to them. For a car, you choose whether to include its history, then confirm with Transfer. For a device, you lose access to it.
- Block claim if you don't recognize them. It stays yours, and they can't claim it again for 30 days. Blocking one person doesn't stop anyone else.
- Do nothing, and it transfers to them automatically after 7 days (a car goes without its history). The card shows the date. We remind you a few times before then.
While someone is claiming your device, it keeps syncing, but drives it records from the moment the claim started stay hidden until it ends. If you block the claim or they cancel it, those drives come back. If the claim goes through, they stay hidden; contact support if you need them.
Ownership changes
Ownership changes sits at the top of your Cars and Devices pages on the web and at the top of the app's Garage. It only appears when something's pending. Cars and devices are listed together.
| What it says | What you can do |
|---|---|
| "...is offering you this car" | Accept or Decline |
| "...is offering you this device" | Register it in the app near the device, or Decline |
| "Transfer to ... pending" | Cancel transfer |
| "...is claiming this car" (or device) | Approve or Block claim |
| "Claim pending" | Cancel claim (your device claims) |
Your claims on cars show under Pending access instead, with the status Claim pending.
Past cars
When a car changes hands without its history, everyone who had access keeps the old record. It moves to the Past cars section of your Cars page and the app's Garage, marked "Transferred" with the date.
A past car opens read-only. You can browse its drives but nothing can be changed, and its alerts no longer go off. Drives from before the sale that upload late still land there, not with the new owner.
To clear one from your list, choose Leave car on its Shared access card. That's final, even for its owner: nobody can add you back.
Deadlines at a glance
- Transfer offers expire after 7 days. The car or device stays with the sender.
- Claims give the owners 7 days, then go through if nobody answers.
- A blocked claim stops that person claiming that car or device for 30 days.
- A denied access request can come back after 30 days: see If you're asking for access.
- One at a time: a car or device can only have one transfer or claim open.
What happens to drives and Wi-Fi
- Your car's history stays with you as a past car, unless you transfer it with Include this car's history.
- A device's new owner never sees drives recorded before the handover. Your drives stay on your cars.
- Saved Wi-Fi networks are cleared when a device changes owner, by transfer or claim. The new owner adds their own.
Removing a car or device
Only EngineMon support can delete a car or a device. To let go of one:
- A car: transfer it to its new owner, or leave it with Leave car on its Shared access card. A car keeps at least one owner, so the last owner has to make someone else an owner or transfer it first.
- A device: transfer it from the phone app. A factory reset doesn't remove it from your account.
To have a car or device and its recorded data deleted, contact support.