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(last updated: October 2024)
Vans Direct Limited is a member of the group of companies of which Vertu Motors plc is the holding company (each company being a Vertu entity).
As part of your dealings with Vans Direct Limited trading as Vansdirect and Vans Direct we will collect and otherwise process personal information about you in order to supply vehicles, goods and services to you and to administer our relationship with you. This may involve sharing your personal information with third parties and other Vertu entities. This Privacy Policy describes in detail how we will use your personal information and how you can exercise your rights with respect to your personal information.
If we decide to change this Privacy Policy, we will post the updated Privacy Policy on our websites so that you are always aware of what personal information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we disclose it. The updated Privacy Policy will take effect as soon as it is posted on our Websites.
In this Privacy Policy, references to Vansdirect, we, us or our (or words of similar import) means Vans Direct Limited being the entity that processes your personal information (as defined below) and interacts with you (for example, the entity from whom you purchase goods or other services).
We can be contacted by telephone on 02920534300, by email [email protected] or by writing to us at Vansdirect, 6, The Courtyard, Imperial Park, Newport, NP10 8UL.
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy Vans Direct Limited and the Vertu entities shall constitute the Vertu Group. Other Vertu entities which are part of the Vertu Group have separate privacy policies which can be found on their websites.
In this Privacy Policy, references to you mean the person whose personal information (as defined below) we collect, use and process. This includes anyone who visits our Websites, contacts us in connection with the purchase of a Vehicle and/or any goods or services we provide or otherwise interacts with us (for example, via a dealership, physical or virtual store).
In this Privacy Policy, references to a Website means any website owned and operated by or on behalf of any Vans Direct Limited including websites of our dealerships or stores operating with any of our trading names.
We are committed to protecting your privacy. We will use your personal information in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR (as defined in The Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 both as amended from time to time (together the Data Protection Legislation) and other applicable laws and regulations that relate to data protection and privacy.
For the purposes of the Data Protection Legislation Vans Direct Limited is the data controller in respect of your personal information that we collect and process as further described in this Privacy Policy. All information is stored on a group database so will be shared with other organisations in the Vertu Group who may act as data processors.
We may share your personal information with other organisations that may receive and process your personal information as a data controller in their own right. Please see below for further information.
We may collect and process information about you, including your name, date of birth, address, contact details (including email address and mobile phone number), vehicle details, purchase history, online history on our Websites and data collected as part of any finance application or payment (including previous addresses, employment details, payment and bill information, and bank account and credit or debit card details). We may also obtain copies of your driving licence and other identification, and your vehicle insurance details. This information is referred to in this Privacy Policy as personal information.
In particular, we may collect and process the following personal information about you:
There may be circumstances when we collect special categories of personal data regarding your health, sexual orientation or criminal convictions, if you provide this information to us as part of a discussion regarding your vehicle or vehicle enquiry. In particular, if you use the Motability scheme, we may collect details about your disability and health to administer your application and verify your eligibility for the scheme.
If you provide us with personal information about another person, you must ensure that before you provide us with their personal information, you have their agreement to do so and that they are aware of the ways in which we use personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy.
We may collect and process information we receive about you from third parties. This information may include your personal and financial information, your employer, companies that you are connected with (such as a Director) or other person connected with your finance application; information about the vehicle you are purchasing; credit information, such as previous applications and a credit score, the conduct of accounts in your and your financial associate's name (this is anyone linked to you for credit or finance purposes), any business accounts you have and public information such as County Court Judgments, bankruptcies and the Electoral Register.
We may also collect information about your preferences in connection with our Websites and your activity on our Websites, for the purposes of enhancing and personalising your experience on the Websites. We may provide our manufacturer partners, suppliers and our advertisers with aggregate information about Website users. We may also use such aggregate information to help advertisers reach the kind of audience they want to target. We may make use of the personal data we have collected from you to enable us to comply with our advertisers' wishes by displaying their advertisement to that target audience.
We use your personal information in connection with our business activities. In particular, we may use your personal information in the following ways:
If you enquire about a potential vehicle purchase, lease or hire of a vehicle and/or any goods or services we will use your information to contact you for up to 3 months about that potential purchase, lease or hire (and target advertising to you where you have accepted targeting cookies) and, in the case of potential vehicles, will ask you to agree for us to carry out a soft credit search (using an external credit reference agency) to enable us to provide you with finance quotes at a rate that matches your credit history. We may then provide your details and credit score to up to 3 lenders if you wish to apply for finance for your purchase. If you do not receive a finance offer, we will discuss with you passing your details (with your consent) to Evolution Funding Limited who will assist us with locating finance options for you to consider.
If you go ahead and purchase, lease or hire a vehicle and/or any goods or services from us we will use your information in various other ways, details of which are provided to you at the time of your purchase, lease or hire. These include:
If you apply for Vertu Pay in relation to payment of a service or repair invoice, we will ask you to agree for us to conduct a soft credit search (using an external credit reference agency) and will make our decision to provide credit to you on the basis of this score (and other factors).
If you have a Website account, we will use the information contained within it to contact you regarding vehicles you have expressed an interest in, or similar vehicles.
All of the above are examples of where we believe that we have a legitimate interest in using your data (apart from the specific consents referenced).
In accordance with your preferences and cookie consents, we may also use your personal information to provide you with additional information about vehicles, services, promotions and offers that may be of interest to you, which may be based on data held about you. The preferences set within your Website account will apply only to communications sent using that account information and, if you are also a customer of the Vertu Group, you will have separately stored preferences in that capacity.
The section below entitled "What choices do I have?" explains how you can change whether to receive this information from us that is based on consent/preferences. Please note that, even if you choose not to receive this information, we may continue to use your personal information in the ways described above and below.
Your personal information may also be used by us, our employees, contractors or agents, and disclosed to third parties, in order to comply with any legal obligation (including in connection with a court order), or in order to enforce or apply the terms of any agreements we have with or otherwise concerning you (including agreements between you and us (or one or more Vertu entity), to investigate or prevent suspected crime or fraud, or to protect our rights, property or safety or those of our customers, employees or other third parties.
In addition, where permitted by law, we may combine the information we hold with information about you or your interests, socio-economic and socio-demographic status, online identifiers and current contact details collected by third parties such as marketing agencies and from public sources.
We will use your information to carry out automated decision-making and profiling in some circumstances. For example, service and MOT reminders will be automatically sent where relevant based on the vehicle and maintenance information we hold. We will also select customers for marketing campaigns and offers based on factors such as age of vehicle, type of vehicle finance held and date since last vehicle purchase as well as previous responses to marketing campaigns and Website activity.
Where you enquire about a vehicle, unless you are purchasing on a fixed rate offer, we will ask for consent to carry out a soft credit search using a third party credit reference agency to obtain a credit score for you. If you agree, this credit score will determine the rate at which we offer vehicle finance to you based on a matrix agreed with the relevant finance company from time to time. We will not be able to alter this rate. If you do not agree to a soft credit search, we will offer you vehicle finance using an average finance rate, or you can always purchase a vehicle from us using cash.
When you enquire about Vertu Pay we will ask for consent to carry out a soft credit search using a third party credit reference agency to obtain a credit score for you. This credit score will be used to determine our decision to provide credit to you with scores below a certain level leading to an automatic decline.
We can provide you with the credit score we have obtained for you on request, although this will only be visible to certain colleagues. You will be able to challenge your credit score with the credit reference agency if you believe it is inaccurate.
We may use your offline and online history to drive or supress targeted online advertising in accordance with our cookie policy.
We will not retain information longer than we need to. In general, if you enquire (in person or by creating a Website account) but do not purchase a vehicle from us, we will keep your information for 2 years to enable us to deal with future enquiries more effectively and to deal with any concerns regarding the enquiry process. If you purchase a vehicle from us, or have servicing or repair work carried out, or purchase a part from us, we will keep your information (and your Website account will remain live) for 7 years from your last transaction with us. We may keep details of a vehicle for longer than that but without it being attached to your information.
In connection with the above uses of your personal information, we may share your personal information with third parties as described below. We will share your personal information with other Vertu entities in the Vertu Group for the purposes set out above and below.
We may disclose your personal information to third parties in connection with our business activities, including in the following circumstances:
We may share non-personal aggregate statistics (group) data about visitors to our Websites, sales and traffic patterns with members of the Vertu Group and other third parties.
Our security procedures mean that we may occasionally request proof of identity and address before we are able to disclose sensitive information to you.
The transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure; this risk is not specific to our Websites and is common across the internet. We cannot guarantee the security of your data (including your personal information) transmitted to our Website; any transmission is at your own risk.
If you think the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or incorrect, you can request that we correct this information (including your marketing preferences) by writing to us using the details below.
You can choose to stop receiving marketing emails or SMS messages from us by following the unsubscribe link and instructions on the respective marketing emails or SMS messages we send you. You can also ask us to stop including you in marketing campaigns using profiling by writing to us using the details below.
You can also choose to change your marketing preferences by writing to us using the details below.
These changes will not prevent all uses of your information (where we believe we have legitimate interests to use it) but if you are concerned about this you can ask us to stop all contact with you.
The Data Protection Legislation gives you the right to access your personal information. To request access to your personal information, please contact us using the details below.
You have the right to request that Vertu Group delete your personal data in certain circumstances if you would like more information about this please contact us using the details below. If you have purchased goods or services from us we will retain details of your purchase for 7 years. If we are unable to delete your data as we believe that we are required to retain it, we will delete as much information as we are able to and will also stop sending you any further information.
Our Websites contain links to other websites. This privacy policy applies only to our Websites, so visitors should always be aware when they are moving to another site including those provided by other Vertu entities and read the privacy statement of any site which collects personal information. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access those using links from our Websites.
We do not pass on any personal information about our visitors to any other site (unless we have obtained your consent to do so). In addition, if you linked to a Website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site and contact the owner or operator if you have any concerns or questions.
As part of the services offered to you through the Website, the information which you provide to us may be transferred to countries outside the United Kingdom and outside the European Economic Area (EEA). By way of example, this may happen if any of our servers are from time to time located in a country outside of the EEA. If we transfer your information outside of the EEA in this way, we will take steps to ensure that it is to a country with data protection laws which are at least as stringent as those in England or we will put in place appropriate safeguards in accordance with our legal obligations to ensure that your personal information is adequately protected irrespective of the country to which it is transferred. These safeguards may include obtaining contractual assurances from any third party given access to your personal information that your personal information will be protected by standards which are equivalent to those that protect your personal information when it is in the EEA.
If you use our services while you are outside the EEA, your information may be transferred outside the EEA in order to provide you with those services.
Our Websites use cookies. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we put on your computer if you agree. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of our Websites, which helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our Website. Details of the cookies used and how we use the information we obtain are set out in our cookie policy under 'Information: Privacy/Cookie Policy'. You will be asked to set cookie preferences when you access one of our Websites for the first time.
You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.
If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us by writing to us at: Data Protection Officer, Vertu Motors plc, Vertu House, Fifth Avenue Business Park, Team Valley, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, NE11 0XA or emailing on [email protected].
You also have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
We will share your information with the manufacturer of your vehicle when you purchase a new vehicle, and in certain other circumstances. We act as a separate data controller from the manufacturers and on occasion may act as a data processor for the manufacturers. If you want to update your communication preferences with the manufacturers, you will need to do this separately to any request made to us, unless you specifically ask us to communicate with the manufacturer on your behalf by email to [email protected]. Further details on how each manufacturer will use your data, and who to contact, are set out below.
Citroen: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Citroen vehicle, your information will be passed to Citroen UK Limited. They may also receive data relating to Citroen used vehicle buyers and Citroen service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at business.citroen.co.uk/index.html in the Privacy Policy linked at the foot of the page.
Fiat: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Fiat vehicle your information will be passed to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles UK Limited. They may also receive data relating to Fiat used vehicle buyers and Fiat service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at www.fiatprofessional.com/uk/privacy.
Ford: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Ford vehicle your information will be passed to Ford Motor Company Limited. They may also receive data relating to Ford used vehicle buyers and Ford service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at www.ford.co.uk/useful-information/terms-and-privacy-policy-hub.
Land Rover: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Land Rover vehicle your information will be passed to Jaguar Land Rover Limited. They may also receive data relating to Land Rover used vehicle buyers and Land Rover service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at www.landrover.co.uk/privacy-policy/index.html.
Maxus: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Maxus vehicle your information will be passed to SAIC Maxus Automotive Co. Limited. They may also receive data relating Maxus used vehicle buyers and Maxus service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at saicmaxus.co.uk/privacy-policy/.
Mercedes-Benz: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Mercedes-Benz vehicle your information will be passed to Mercedes-Benz Vans UK Limited. They may also receive data relating to Mercedes-Benz used vehicle buyers and Mercedes-Benz service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/vans in the Privacy Policy linked at the foot of the page.
Nissan: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Ford your information will be passed to Nissan Motor (GB) Limited. They may also receive data relating to Nissan used vehicle buyers and Nissan service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at www.nissan.co.uk/gdpr.
Peugeot: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Peugeot your information will be passed to Peugeot Motor Company plc. They may also receive data relating to Peugeot used vehicle buyers and Peugeot service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at business.peugeot.co.uk/index in the Privacy Policy linked at the foot of the page.
Renault: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Renault vehicle your information will be passed to Renault UK Limited. They may also receive data relating to Renault used vehicle buyers and Renault service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at business.renault.co.uk/van-range in the Personal Data at the bottom of the page.
Vauxhall: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Vauxhall your information will be passed to Vauxhall Motors Limited. They may also receive data relating to Vauxhall used vehicle buyers and Vauxhall service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at www.vauxhall.co.uk/tools/privacy-policy.html.
Volkswagen: If you have enquired about or purchased a new Volkswagen vehicle your information will be passed to Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Limited. They may also receive data relating to Volkswagen used vehicle buyers and Volkswagen service or repair customers. Details of how they use information regarding customers and prospective customers can be found at www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/en/footer/privacy-policy.html.