This policy explains what personal data MotorSignet collects, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and your rights under UK GDPR.
Who we are
MotorSignet (the "company", "we", "us") is a UK business based at 43 Berkeley Square, London W1J 5AP, United Kingdom, and the data controller for the personal data described in this policy, subject to UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
What we collect
- Vehicle data: registration, mileage, declared condition, finance status
- Contact data: name, email, phone, address, postcode
- Identity data: photo ID and V5C at point of purchase only
- Payment data: bank details to make the transfer (held for one settlement cycle, then redacted)
- Usage data: anonymised analytics (only if you accept analytics cookies)
- Consent records: timestamp, IP, user-agent, exportable on ICO request
- Public register data: what we find when we check your name or email domain against public registers, principally Companies House
Why we collect it, and our legal basis
To assess, contact, pay, and provide after-sale support to you, and to comply with our legal obligations as a UK vehicle buyer (V5C verification and anti-money-laundering checks, where applicable). The lawful basis under UK GDPR depends on the purpose:
- Assessing and replying to your enquiry, contacting you about it: our legitimate interests in responding to a request you made, and the steps necessary before entering a contract with you.
- Completing a purchase and paying you, after-sale support: performance of the contract of sale between us.
- V5C verification, Companies House checks and anti-money-laundering checks: compliance with our legal obligations as a UK vehicle buyer.
- Marketing emails or texts: your consent, given separately from the enquiry itself and always withdrawable (see "Marketing and contact preferences" below).
Checks against public registers
When you send us an enquiry we may check your name and your email domain against public registers, mainly the Companies House officer index, to work out whether you are selling as a private individual or as a business. That distinction changes the VAT treatment of a sale and which consumer rights apply to it, so we need to know before we make you an offer.
We rely on our legitimate interests for this. We only use sources that are already public, the result is seen only by our own staff and never published, and no decision about your offer is made automatically on the strength of it. A name on a public register is not proof of identity, so anything we find is treated as a prompt to ask you rather than a conclusion about you. You can object at any time using the contact details below.
How long we keep it
- Enquiries: 3 years from last activity
- Message logs (email + SMS): 6 months
- Sale records (V5C, settlement statements): 6 years to satisfy HMRC and DVLA obligations
Beyond these windows, we review and delete data that is no longer needed.
Who we share it with
The dealers and buyers described below, and the processors strictly required to deliver the service. Nobody else:
- Trade and private buyers. Three different things may be shared, and none of them carries your name, email address or phone number except where stated:
- A general listing to trade contacts describing the vehicle only: make, model, year, fuel, colour, its mileage, the postcode it would be collected from, and the price we are asking. It carries no name, phone number, email address or registration.
- An alert to the dealers we work with, sent when your enquiry arrives, before any offer is made. It describes the vehicle: make, model, year, fuel, colour, mileage, registration, asking price and the town it would be collected from. It does not include your postcode or address, and it does not include your name, email address or phone number, so a dealer cannot contact you while they are bidding. If a dealer’s offer is the one we accept, we then share your name, phone number and postcode with that dealer, so they can arrange collection and pay you directly. We do not share your email address with them.
- Full details to our own buyers, which do include your name, phone number, registration and postcode, so the buyer can complete the purchase and arrange collection with you. This one happens only once we have agreed to buy your vehicle and are arranging its collection.
- Payment provider (UK bank) for the bank transfer at sale
- Cloud host (Vercel)
- Database (Supabase, EU region)
- Email and SMS provider (Brevo, EU region)
- Image hosting (Cloudinary) for vehicle photos held against your enquiry
- Messaging (WhatsApp, operated by Meta) if you choose to send us photos or messages there. Their terms apply to that conversation.
- Spam protection (Google reCAPTCHA) on enquiry forms
- Product analytics (Google Analytics 4 with IP anonymisation, and Microsoft Clarity for anonymised session insights): statistics cookies, only with your consent. We never link analytics data to your name, email, or registration.
- Google Ads measurement (first-party, only with consent): we send the conversion event so we can measure whether a paid ad led to your enquiry. No personal data is passed to Google Ads.
- Meta (Facebook) measurement (first-party, only with consent), when a Meta paid campaign is connected; hashed (one-way) email and phone may be sent to Meta for Conversions API matching. Never re-sold.
- OpenAI Ads measurement (only with consent), when a ChatGPT campaign is connected; an OpenAI attribution reference and securely hashed contact details may be sent to match an enquiry to an ad and avoid double-counting.
- Government APIs (DVLA, DVSA) for vehicle verification
- Postcode lookup (postcodes.io) to complete your address as you type and to work out roughly how far the vehicle is from us. Your postcode, or the part of it you have typed, is sent to them. The lookup runs from your browser as you type, and again on our server when your enquiry is saved.
- Public transport routing (Transitous) to estimate how our team would reach you. It receives an approximate location derived from your postcode, never your name or contact details.
We never sell your data.
International transfers
Some of the providers above are based, or process data, outside the UK and the European Economic Area, principally in the United States. Where that happens, we rely on the safeguards UK GDPR recognises for that transfer, such as an adequacy decision, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or the UK-US Data Bridge, depending on the provider. Contact us using the details below if you would like more information about the safeguard used for a particular recipient.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct, port, restrict, or delete your data, and to withdraw consent at any time. Use the self-service form below, we'll acknowledge by email immediately and complete the request within 30 days.
Prefer email? Send to hello@motorsignet.co.uk with the subject "Subject Access Request".
Marketing and contact preferences
We contact you about the valuation or booking you request. Marketing is optional: submitting an enquiry does not subscribe you. If you choose email, text messages, or both, MotorSignet may send occasional updates about prestige and performance vehicles we buy, our buying services and referral opportunities through your chosen channels. Your choice does not affect your valuation.
We record the channel, time, source and wording of your choice. Permission given to this brand does not automatically subscribe you to our other brands.
- Email: use the unsubscribe link in a marketing email.
- Text messages: follow the opt-out instructions in the text. A message sent from a business name may not accept replies.
- Either or both: email us to change your marketing preferences. Tell us which email address or mobile number you want removed and which channels to stop. You can also use our contact page.
Withdrawing marketing permission does not cancel your enquiry. We may still send essential messages needed to handle a valuation, collection or payment you requested. We keep opt-out records to exclude withdrawn contact details from future marketing.
Cookies
See our cookie policy for the categories we use, who sets them, and how to manage your choices.
Complaints
Please raise concerns with us first, we'll act within 30 days. You also have the right to complain to the ICO at ico.org.uk.