Privacy policy

Carwood Motor Units Ltd, collectively referred to as “Carwood”, “we” or “us” in this Privacy Policy, is committed to handling your personal data securely, fairly and legally. After all, it’s private information, so we want to ensure it stays that way. This Policy, in conjunction with our Cookie Policy, explains what personal data we collect, the controls you have over it, and how we use and protect it, to keep you, and your data, safe and secure at all times.

What data do we collect?

When you interact with us via our websites, in person at our branches, over the phone or via any of our online platforms, we collect a certain amount of personal information. This allows us to answer queries, fulfil orders and send marketing communications, amongst many other things. To do this we may ask for the following information:

Contact details such as your name, address, email address and telephone number
For B2B, this may also include your job title, account no, account details, company contacts and other relevant company data
Details of any transactions such as products or services you have bought from us
Debit/credit card details to process a payment – please note that payments are processed via 3^rd party payment providers and we do not store this information
Vehicle information including registration number, vehicle identification number, make/model, mileage, warranty etc
Details of qualifications, education, employment history and references for job applications
User data such as the pages you visited and how long for, your IP address and GPS location (where permitted) and the internet browser, device, and web address from which you accessed our website
Your social media name, posts or activity on our social media pages and any posts which mention or tag us
Any information you send us – this may include correspondence, competition entries, reviews, survey feedback etc
CCTV footage from our branch security cameras

Please note that the above list is not exhaustive, and we may need to collect additional data, either directly or indirectly.

How do we use your data?

Please rest assured that we will only ever collect personal information if there’s a legitimate need to do so, such as:

To respond to enquiries received across multiple channels
To process an order, including payment
To manage accounts you hold with us
To check your credit worthiness
To support products or services you have purchased
For marketing and communication purposes if you have consented to such use
To personalise and improve your experience of Carwood-owned websites
To process a job application
To notify you about changes to our service
When you leave reviews or provide feedback in a survey
To run competitions i.e. free-to-enter prize draws
If you meet with us at an exhibition or an event
In support of face-to-face meetings
Where we have a legal obligation to disclose your information i.e. a legal dispute or investigation
To keep our sites and team safe and secure

Do we share data with third parties?

To enable us to provide the services we do, we may need to provide your personal information to a number of trusted partners, who will treat your data with the same care as we do. For example, to payment providers to process an online order, or our logistics partners to deliver goods to you. We will only provide the minimum information required, and they will only use it to provide services to Carwood and you, and for no other purpose.

Aside from our approved service providers, we will not disclose your personal information to third-party companies, unless there is a valid business or legal reason to do so i.e. credit checks. This means that we will never sell your data to other companies for marketing purposes.

What about third-party websites?

Our websites may also contain links to and from other non-Carwood owned websites. Since we have no control over these sites, their use is subject to their own policies, and they are responsible for any personal information they collect from you. For this reason, we cannot accept any liability for third-party websites and we would always ask that you check their privacy policies before using or submitting any personal data.

Will you receive marketing communications from us?

If we have your permission to do so, we may send you marketing emails to let you know about new products, range introductions, promotions etc. However, if you no longer wish to receive these communications from us, you can unsubscribe at any time. All our marketing emails have an unsubscribe link at the bottom – simply click on this – or you can contact our Data Protection Officer using the details below.

How long do we keep your personal information?

We will not keep your data for any longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this Policy, for as long as we are required to keep it by law, or until you ask us to delete it. Please note that different retention periods apply for different types of data.

How do we keep your data secure?

We are committed to keeping your private data, just that, and have robust measures in place to protect it against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. These include:

Only those with the appropriate authorisation and data protection training can access and process your personal data
Use of technologies like password protection and encryption to ensure that it is stored and transmitted securely
Advanced security controls which protect the entire Carwood IT infrastructure from unauthorised access
Never sharing data with anyone outside the company unless there’s a valid business reason, we have a legal obligation, or your explicit permission, to do so, as set out in the Policy
Regular cyber security assessments of Carwood-owned websites and service providers
Ongoing cyber security awareness training for all employees

Although we will do our utmost to keep your personal date safe and secure, unfortunately there’s no foolproof system, and we are unable to completely guarantee the security of information transmitted to us. So, unless we have failed to take reasonable steps to keep it secure, Carwood will not be liable for any loss of or interception of your information.

Your rights

Since its your data, it’s only right that you have some say over it. As such, you have the following rights:

To know what information we hold about you and to ask for a copy of it
The right, in certain circumstances, to access said data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format
Where we have no legal reason to retain it, the right to ask that we delete your personal data
To opt out of any marketing communications that we may send to you – please see above
To ask us to update and correct any out-of-date, incorrect or incomplete personal data that we hold about you
To transmit your data to another data controller without hindrance
To restrict or object to the processing of your personal data

Should you wish to exercise any of these rights, please make your request to our Data Protection Officer, using the contact details below.

Will this policy change?

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time, so it’s always worth checking back here for any updates. The latest Policy will be posted and dated here.

Contact us

If you have any questions about how we use your data or want to exercise your rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer:

phone on 02476 449533
write to us at Data Protection Officer, Carwood Motor Units Ltd, Herald Way, Binley, Coventry, CV3 2RQ
email us at [email protected]

phone on 02476 449533
write to us at Data Protection Officer, Carwood Motor Units Ltd, Herald Way, Binley, Coventry, CV3 2RQ
email us at [email protected]

Last updated: October 2024