Privacy and Cookies Policy

Introduction

The data controller in respect of your personal data is AutoeBid Limited and Acorn Money Limited with trading styles AutoeBid and MotorPocket (referred to as "we", "our" or "us" in this policy).

AutoeBid Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office registration number Z8881747. Acorn Money Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office registration number ZA085314.

This data protection policy explains how we will use the personal data that you provide to us.

If you have any queries about our handling of your information, you can contact us by writing to Acorn Money and AutoeBid, 2 Union Square, Darlington DL1 1GL

Information we collect about you

We collect name, email address, telephone number and postcode when you register with us through the website or by telephone, email or messaging. We also collect details of your vehicle enquiries and part exchange. This information is necessary to allow us to locate suitable deals and communicate these to you. We also collect further information you provide by telephone, email and messaging to help us identify suitable deals and communicate these details to you.

We also collect further information you provide by telephone or email to help us identify suitable deals and communicate these details to you.

If you make a finance application we will request additional information to allow the application to be proposed for finance. The categories of information that we may collect about you are as follows: name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, address history, residential status, date of birth, marital status, driving licence number, bank details, employer's name and address, occupation, time in employment and any ID documents required to be provided by you (such as Passport, ID Card, driving licence, credit / debit card, proof of disability, proof of home ownership, P60, Wage Slip, Pension Statement, Ltd Company Accounts, council/ housing association tenancy agreement, bank statement, council tax bill, utility bills). If you fail to provide us with the mandatory information that we request from you, we will not be able to proceed with the credit reference and fraud prevention checks described below and, subsequently, we will not be able to consider your application for finance nor propose a finance offer to you.

In addition to the information that you provide in your application for finance to us, we will also collect information about you from enquiries we make about you with credit reference agencies.

Use of your information

The purposes for which we use your information and the legal bases under data protection laws on which we rely to do this are as follows (as relevant):

It is necessary for performance of the contract with you or to take steps to enter into it.

It is necessary for our legitimate interests or that of a third party. This includes:
sharing information with companies in our group
contacting you with offers and deals that may be of interest
preventing fraud and money laundering, and to verify your identity, in order to protect our business and to comply with laws that apply to us;
monitoring communications between us (calls, letters, emails and texts) to prevent and detect crime, to protect the security of our communications, systems and procedures, and for quality control and training purposes; and
for management and audit of our business operations including statistical analysis, accounting.

It is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation. This includes when you exercise your legal rights under data protection law, to verify your identity, for the establishment and defence of our legal rights, for activities relating to the prevention, detection and investigation of crime, to conduct credit, fraud prevention and anti-money laundering checks and for compliance with our legal and regulatory responsibilities. This may also include processing special categories of data about you, for example for our compliance with our legal obligations relating to vulnerable people.

You have given us your consent to use it for direct marketing communications (by us and the third parties referred to on the proposal document). You can withdraw your consent to marketing at any time by calling us on 020 3637 5660 or by writing to us at sales@autoebid.com or Acorn Money and AutoeBid, 2 Union Square, Darlington DL1 1GL.

Disclosure to and use by third parties

We disclose your information to the following third parties:
Vehicle suppliers if you decide to proceed with an order
Finance providers to assist us with administering your application.
Credit reference agencies (including Experian, Call Credit, Equifax and Delphi)
Law enforcement agencies in order to detect, investigate and prevent crime (we or any fraud prevention agency may pass your information to law enforcement agencies).
Third parties acting on our behalf, such as back-up and server hosting providers, IT software and maintenance providers and their agents and third parties, email delivery services.
Review sites to allow customer reviews to be collected independently
Courts in the United Kingdom or abroad as necessary to comply with a legal requirement, for the administration of justice, to protect vital interests and to protect the security or integrity of our business operations.
Any third party who is restructuring, selling or acquiring some or all of our business or assets or otherwise in the event of a merger, re-organisation or similar event.

Retention of your information

We will keep your information for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this document.

The information you provide at registration together with any updates of that information and communications will be kept for as long as you have an account with us.

If your application for finance is declined or if your application is accepted but you do not proceed, we keep your application information for 12 months or as long as necessary to deal with any queries you may have. If your application is accepted and you proceed, we hold your information for 7 years from the date at which your agreement is closed, where settled by you or upon default or as long as necessary thereafter to deal with any queries you may have.

We may hold your information for a longer or shorter period from that described above where:
the law requires us to hold your personal information for a longer period, or delete it sooner;
you exercise your right to have the information erased (where it applies) and we do not need to hold it in connection with any of the reasons permitted or required under the law; and
in limited cases, the law permits us to keep your personal information indefinitely provided we put certain protections in place.

Transfers to third countries/ where we store your information

Your personal information may be transferred outside of the United Kingdom. Whenever we transfer your information outside of the EEA, we impose contractual obligations on the recipients of that information to protect your personal data to the standard required in the UK.

We may also require the recipient to subscribe to ‘international frameworks' intended to enable secure data sharing. Any third parties transferring your information outside of the EEA must also have in place appropriate safeguards as required under data protection law.

Your rights

You have the following rights (which may not always apply or be subject to certain circumstances):
to be informed about the processing of your information (this is what this policy sets out to do)
to have your information corrected if it's inaccurate and to have incomplete information completed
to object to processing of your information
to restrict processing of your information
to have your information erased
to request access to your information and information about how we process it
to move, copy or transfer your information ("data portability")
rights relating to automated decision making, including profiling.

If you would like to discuss or exercise any of these rights, please contact us by writing to Acorn Money and AutoeBid, 2 Union Square, Darlington DL1 1GL.

We encourage you to contact us before making any complaint and we will seek to resolve any issues or concerns you may have. You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office where your data has or is being used in a way that you believe does not comply with data protection laws.

Cookies Policy

Cookies are small text files placed on your computer and are commonly used on the internet. We use them to:
allow you to log into your account and save vehicle enquiries
temporarily store any information which you may enter in tools, such as calculators on our website
collect anonymous information that will help us understand visitors' browsing habits on our website
compile statistical reports on website activity, e.g. number of visitors and the pages they visit

We do not use cookies to track your use of the internet after you leave our sites, nor do we store any personal information in them that could identify you to other people.

We use the following cookies:
Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website and access your account details.
Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps Us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

How to control and delete cookies

If you want to restrict or block the cookies we set, you can do this through your browser settings. The ‘help' function within your browser should tell you how.

Google Analytics uses cookies to help us analyse how our visitors use the site. Find out more about how these cookies are used on the Google privacy site

Alternatively, you could visit www.aboutcookies.org, which contains comprehensive information on cookies on a wide variety of browsers. You'll also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer. To learn about controlling cookies on the browser of your mobile device please refer to your handset manual.

This policy was last updated 16th August 2019.