Affiliate Disclosure Statement
Plain-language disclosure of how Numinad earns revenue through affiliate partnerships with car rental booking platforms, and how this does — and does not — affect our comparison results.
The Short Version
Numinad earns affiliate commissions when users click our links and complete car rental bookings on partner platforms like Kayak, Skyscanner, Expedia, and Agoda. This commission comes from the provider's marketing budget — it does not increase the price you pay. Our search results are ranked neutrally; we do not accept payment to rank any provider higher.
This disclosure is required by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines and European Union consumer transparency regulations. We publish it prominently because we believe transparency is fundamental to a trustworthy comparison service.
What Is an Affiliate Relationship?
An affiliate relationship is a commercial arrangement where Numinad earns a referral fee from a booking platform or car rental company when a user arrives at their site via a Numinad link and subsequently completes a qualifying action — typically a confirmed car rental booking.
Affiliate marketing is a standard and widely used business model in the travel and comparison industry. It allows Numinad to provide free car rental search and comparison tools to consumers while generating revenue from the bookings we help facilitate.
Our current affiliate partners include, but may not be limited to: Kayak (part of Booking Holdings), Skyscanner, Expedia Group, Agoda, and regional car rental booking platforms serving our nine market portals.
How Affiliate Tracking Works
When you click a 'View Deal', 'Book Now', or similar outbound button on Numinad, the link to the provider's website includes specific tracking parameters. These parameters vary by partner but typically include:
- subId parameter: A session-level identifier that tells the provider the referral originated from Numinad. This parameter contains no personally identifiable information — it is a reference code linking the click to our affiliate account.
- Referral attribution window: Most affiliate programs track conversions (completed bookings) within a set time window after the initial click — typically 24 to 72 hours. If you click a Numinad link, leave the provider's site, and return to complete a booking within that window, Numinad may still receive a commission.
- Partner-specific parameters: Some providers use additional parameters (e.g., Kayak may use its own click identifier) that work in conjunction with our subId to complete the attribution chain.
- These tracking parameters are URL query strings appended to the outbound link. Numinad does not deposit additional cookies on your device as part of this tracking; the attribution is managed by the provider's own systems after you arrive on their platform.
Does Our Commission Affect Your Price?
No. Affiliate commissions paid to Numinad are funded entirely from the provider's marketing and customer acquisition budget — the same budget they would spend on paid search advertising, display ads, or other marketing channels.
The price you see on Numinad and the price you pay at checkout on the provider's platform should be identical to the price you would find if you navigated to that provider directly (subject to normal real-time pricing fluctuations that affect all users equally). We never apply a markup, convenience fee, or surcharge to prices displayed on our platform.
To verify this, you are always welcome to search for the same car rental directly on the provider's website after seeing it on Numinad and compare the prices independently.
How Affiliate Relationships Affect (or Don't Affect) Search Rankings
This is the most important question for any comparison platform: do we show you the best deal, or the deal that pays us the most?
Our answer: Numinad's default search results are ranked by price — lowest total estimated cost first — with options for users to sort by other criteria. We do not accept payment from any provider to rank their listings higher in our default sort order.
We acknowledge the following transparency obligations:
Default Sort: Price
Our default ranking shows the lowest estimated total price first, regardless of which provider it comes from or what commission rate that provider pays. Kayak, Skyscanner, Expedia, and car rental companies all compete on price in our results.
No Paid Placement in Organic Results
We do not accept payment to insert any provider's listings into organic search result positions. If we ever introduce sponsored or promoted listings in the future, they will be clearly labeled as such and separated from organic results.
Provider Coverage
We aim to include all major car rental providers and booking platforms available in each market. However, some providers may not participate in our affiliate program or may not have API feeds available in all markets. Absence from our results does not imply any negative editorial judgment.
Commission Rates Do Not Affect Ranking
Different providers pay different commission rates. A provider paying a higher commission rate is not ranked higher in our results because of it. Our ranking algorithm does not use commission rate as an input.
Regulatory Compliance
This disclosure is published to comply with the following regulatory frameworks:
United States — FTC Guidelines: The Federal Trade Commission's 'Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising' (16 C.F.R. Part 255) require clear disclosure of material connections between recommenders and the companies whose products or services they recommend. Our affiliate relationships with car rental booking platforms constitute such a material connection, and this page is our disclosure.
European Union — Consumer Rights and Digital Services Act: EU consumer protection law and the Digital Services Act require online platforms to be transparent about commercial relationships that influence how content is ranked or displayed. This disclosure, combined with our pricing transparency policy, fulfills our obligations under these frameworks.
United Kingdom — CMA Guidelines: The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) requires comparison websites to be transparent about whether they cover the whole market and whether commercial arrangements influence results. We endeavor to comply with CMA guidance for our /gb market portal.
If you have questions about our affiliate relationships or believe our disclosure practices are insufficient, please contact us at numinad-support@gmail.com or file a complaint with the relevant consumer protection authority in your jurisdiction.
Commercial Partnership Inquiries: numinad-support@gmail.com