Privacy Policy
This policy explains what happens to your information when you use our car recall check and the rest of this website. In short: we don't store your registration, we don't sell your data, and we ask before setting any cookie that isn't essential.
Last updated: [DATE]
Who We Are
This website is run by [COMPANY NAME], [REGISTERED ADDRESS] ("we", "us"). We are the data controller for the information described here. You can contact us about privacy at [PRIVACY EMAIL] or through our contact page.
Registration And VIN Checks
When you enter a registration, it is sent securely to DVSA's MOT history service to find the vehicle's make, model and date of first use, and any open recall that the service reports. We then match those details against DVSA's published recall list.
- We do not store your registration on our servers, and it is not written to our logs beyond the moment needed to handle the request.
- We do not send your registration to analytics or advertising partners. Analytics records only that a check was made, not what was checked.
- We never sell or share registrations, and we never use them for marketing.
- Your registration may appear in the result page address in your own browser, so that you can return to the result. We do not create shareable links containing it.
A VIN is never needed for our check. If you give your VIN to a manufacturer or dealer to confirm a recall, that company's own privacy policy applies.
Bulk Van Checks
Our van page lets you check up to 20 registrations at once. The list is processed for that check only and is not kept after your session ends. The same limits on logging and sharing apply. To protect the service, we limit how many checks can be made in a short time.
My Garage
If you save a car to My garage, it is saved in your own browser on your device, not on our servers. By default we save only the make, model and year; you can choose to save the registration too. You can remove saved cars at any time, and clearing your browser data removes them as well.
Contact Form
If you contact us, we use your email address, your message and any page address you include to reply and, where relevant, to correct our data. Your name is optional. We keep messages for [RETENTION PERIOD] and then delete them, unless they relate to a correction we need to record.
Cookies And Similar Technologies
When you first visit, we ask which cookies you accept. Until you choose, only essential cookies are used.
| Type | What it does | Needs your consent? |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Remembers your cookie choice and keeps the site secure | No |
| Analytics | Counts visits and how pages are used, without your registration | Yes |
| Advertising | Lets ad partners show and measure ads, and personalise them if you agree | Yes |
If you don't accept advertising cookies, any ads you see are non-personalised. You can change your choice at any time using the "Cookie settings" link at the bottom of every page.
Advertising And Affiliate Partners
This site is funded by advertising and affiliate links. Our advertising partners are [AD PARTNERS]. With your consent, they may set cookies to show and measure ads. Affiliate partners, such as used-car history check providers, may record that you arrived from our site if you click a labelled affiliate link. Their own privacy policies then apply. We never pass your registration to these partners.
Our Legal Bases
- Registration checks and the contact form: our legitimate interest in providing the service you asked for and replying to you.
- Analytics and advertising cookies: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
- Security and fraud prevention: our legitimate interest in keeping the site working safely.
Where Data Is Processed
The site is hosted by [HOSTING PROVIDER]. Some of our providers may process data outside the UK. Where they do, we rely on the safeguards required by UK data protection law.
How Long We Keep Data
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Registration entered in the checker | Not stored; used only to handle the request |
| Bulk van check lists | Not stored after your session |
| Saved cars in My garage | In your browser until you remove them |
| Contact form messages | [RETENTION PERIOD] |
| Cookie choice | [COOKIE DURATION], or until you change it |
| Analytics data (with consent) | [ANALYTICS RETENTION] |
Security
The site uses an encrypted connection (HTTPS) for every page and every check. Access to our systems is limited to the people who run the site, and the keys we use to connect to DVSA's services are kept in secure storage, never in the website's code. No system is perfectly secure, but we design the site so that the most sensitive item you give us, your registration, is never kept.
Your Rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- ask us to correct or delete it
- object to or restrict how we use it
- withdraw consent to cookies at any time
To use any of these rights, contact [PRIVACY EMAIL]. If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
Children
This site is meant for adults dealing with vehicles. We do not knowingly collect data from children.
Changes To This Policy
We will update this page when the way the site works changes, for example if we add email alerts, and we will show the date of the latest change at the top.
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| [DATE] | First version |