Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Colchester MOT Centre ("we", "us", "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, and look after your personal data when you visit our website, use our services, or communicate with us, in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

2. The Data We Collect About You

We may collect, use, store, and transfer different kinds of personal data about you, including:

• Identity Data: First name, last name, title.
• Contact Data: Billing address, email address, and telephone numbers.
• Vehicle Data: Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM), make, model, MOT and service due dates, and vehicle history.
• Financial Data: Payment card details (processed securely via our payment providers; we do not store full card details on our servers).
• Technical Data: IP address, browser type, and operating system (collected via cookies for website analytics).

3. How We Use Your Personal Data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• To process your booking, perform MOTs, servicing, or repairs.
• To log your vehicle's MOT results with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).
• To send you service and MOT reminders (if you have opted into our reminder service).
• To process payments and manage our accounts.
• To notify you about changes to our terms or services.

4. Data Sharing and Third Parties

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We may share your data with strictly selected third parties for the following operational reasons:

• The DVSA: It is a legal requirement to log MOT data on the government portal.
• IT & System Administration: Providers of our garage management software and booking systems.
• Professional Advisers: Including lawyers, bankers, auditors, and insurers.
• HMRC: For taxation and invoicing compliance.

5. Data Security & Retention

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorized way. We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, or accounting requirements (typically 6 years for financial records).

6. Your Legal Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have rights relating to your personal data, including the right to:

• Request access to your personal data.
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you.
• Request erasure of your personal data.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data (such as our MOT reminder emails).

7. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and allows us to improve our site. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies.