Privacy Policy

Last updated: 7 November 2026

This policy explains what personal data we collect when you use carcheckup.co.uk or the CarCheckUp app for iPhone and Android, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it and what your rights are. We follow the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

What we collect

• Vehicle searches: the registration or VIN you check and the report we produce. A registration identifies a vehicle, not you, but we treat it as personal data once it is linked to your email or account.
• Your email address: when you enter it at a checkout, buy a report, redeem a voucher, create an account or ask us to email you a free check. We send your reports, voucher codes, receipts and the free checks you ask for to it.
• Account details: if you create an account, your email address and your password, which is stored only as a secure hash.
• Purchases: what you bought, the price, the date and the payment reference. Card and bank details are handled by PayPal, Apple or Google, never by us.
• Messages: your name, email, phone number (if you give it) and message when you use the contact form or email us.
• App reminders: if you turn on MOT and tax reminders in the app, your phone's push token (an address Apple gives us for sending notifications to the app) and the vehicles you chose.
• Affiliate partners: if you join our affiliate programme: your name, whether you join as an individual or a company (and the company's name and Companies House number, which we may check on the public Companies House register), your email address and sign-in account, your website, how you will promote us, how you want to be paid (your PayPal email, or your UK bank account name, sort code and account number, which we store encrypted), and the visits and sales credited to your links.
• Partner links: if you arrive through an affiliate partner's link, which partner sent you (their partner code), kept in your session and in the ccu_ref cookie for 30 days, so the partner can be credited if you buy. Partners only see numbers of visits and sales, never who you are.
• Technical data: your IP address, browser and device type in our server and security logs, and the cookies described in our Cookie Policy.

If you choose “Use my location” on our fuel price finder, your browser shares your approximate location (to about 100 metres). We use it to find forecourts near you and keep it with that search, with the time and your account if you are signed in, to understand how the tool is used. We do not collect your contacts or photos. If you scan a number plate with the camera, the image is only used on your device to read the plate.

Why we use it, and our legal basis

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for automated decisions that affect you.

Who we share it with

We share personal data only with the services we use to run CarCheckUp, under contracts that limit what they may do with it:

• Oracle Cloud (UK): hosting, database and sending our emails.
• Cloudflare: security and content delivery.
• PayPal: website payments, including card, Google Pay and Apple Pay payments made through PayPal, and paying commission to affiliate partners.
• Apple and Google: payments made in the app through the App Store or Google Play, and delivering the app's notifications.
• Google: analytics and ads on the website, only with your consent.

To produce a report we send the registration or VIN, but not your name or email, to our vehicle data providers, such as the DVLA, the DVSA and Experian. We may also disclose data when the law requires it, for example to the police or HMRC.

Some of these services process data outside the UK, for example in the United States. In that case the transfer is protected as UK law requires, through UK adequacy regulations or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.

How long we keep it

• Payment records and the reports bought: 6 years from the end of the financial year of the purchase, as UK tax law requires.
• Your account: until you delete it.
• App reminders: until you stop them (Account › MOT & tax reminders), turn notifications off or remove the app.
• An email entered at a checkout without buying: used for one reminder. Ask us and we delete it.
• An email you gave for a free check: used to send it and, if you ticked the box, one reminder the next day. Ask us and we delete it.
• Messages to us: as long as needed to answer you and deal with any follow-up.
• Affiliate partners: while you are a partner; payment records for 6 years, as UK tax law requires. Visit counts for partner links hold no personal data.
• Server and security logs: for a limited time, then deleted automatically.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time: on the website under My account › Delete account, or in the app under Account › Delete account. This deletes your sign-in and your email addresses straight away and stops our reminder and offer emails. We keep the records of what you paid for, as the law requires. Reports and unused voucher codes you bought still work from the links in your emails. To have anything else deleted, email [email protected].

Your rights

You have the right to:

• see the personal data we hold about you and get a copy of it;
• have it corrected or deleted;
• object to how we use it, or ask us to restrict how we use it;
• receive it in a portable format;
• withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent.

To use any of these rights, email [email protected]. We reply within one month. You can stop marketing emails with the unsubscribe link in any of them.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, please tell us first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Security

All connections to CarCheckUp are encrypted (HTTPS). Passwords are stored only as secure hashes, access to our systems is limited to the people who need it, and App Store purchases are checked against Apple's signature before a report or voucher is issued.

Children

CarCheckUp is meant for adults buying or selling vehicles. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we update the date at the top. For significant changes, we will tell account holders by email.

Contact

Questions about your data? Email [email protected] or use our contact form.