1. Who We Are
CarZoon is operated by CarZoon Automotive Ltd, a company registered in Scotland with company number
SC882384.
Registered office:
5 South Charlotte Street
Edinburgh
EH2 4AN
United Kingdom
Email: support@carzoon.co.uk
Website: https://carzoon.co.uk
For the purposes of UK data protection law, CarZoon Automotive Ltd is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy.
2. The Personal Data We Collect
Depending on how you use CarZoon, we may collect and process the following categories of personal data:
- identity data, such as your name, username, display name, and account details;
- contact data, such as your email address, telephone number, and contact preferences;
- account and profile data, such as login details, saved searches, favourites, alerts, and account activity;
- listing and enquiry data, such as vehicle details, listing content, messages, test drive requests, trade-in requests, price enquiries, and other lead form submissions;
- dealer application and membership data, such as dealership information, billing details, package details, application status, and verification-related information;
- transaction data, such as membership payments, payment references, invoices, and related records;
- technical data, such as IP address, browser type, device information, pages viewed, cookies, and usage data; and
- marketing and communications data, such as whether you have opted in to receive updates, promotions, or platform communications.
3. How We Collect Your Data
We may collect personal data:
- directly from you when you create an account, complete forms, submit listings, contact another user, communicate with us, or purchase a service;
- when you apply for dealer status, request verification, or purchase a dealer membership or paid feature;
- automatically when you browse or use the website;
- through cookies and similar technologies, subject to your preferences and applicable law; and
- from payment providers, technical service providers, analytics providers, or other partners where relevant to the services you request or use.
4. How We Use Your Personal Data
We may use your personal data to:
- create, operate, and manage your account;
- operate the marketplace and make platform features available to you;
- publish, manage, review, and moderate vehicle listings;
- deliver enquiries, messages, price enquiries, trade-in requests, and test drive requests to the relevant user, seller, or dealer;
- review dealer applications, verification requests, membership status, and account activity;
- process dealer membership purchases and maintain payment and billing records;
- send service emails, alerts, account notifications, and saved search updates;
- provide customer support and respond to complaints or questions;
- improve the website, user experience, platform performance, and service quality;
- protect the platform, users, and business from fraud, abuse, security threats, and unlawful activity; and
- send marketing communications where permitted by law and in line with your preferences.
5. Our Lawful Bases for Processing
Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal data. Depending on the context, we may rely on one or more of the following:
- Contract – where processing is necessary to provide the services you request, operate your account, manage listings, process memberships, or deliver platform functions such as enquiries, messages, and alerts;
- Legitimate interests – where processing is necessary for the legitimate interests of running, securing, improving, supporting, and promoting the marketplace, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include fraud prevention, moderation, platform analytics, operational monitoring, and service improvement;
- Legal obligation – where processing is necessary to comply with legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, consumer protection, anti-fraud, or law enforcement obligations; and
- Consent – where consent is required, for example for certain cookies, optional marketing activities, or other processing that by law must rely on consent.
Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
6. Sharing Your Personal Data
We may share personal data where necessary with:
- dealers, sellers, buyers, or other intended recipients where you submit an enquiry, message, trade-in request, price enquiry, or test drive request;
- payment providers and payment processors where you purchase a dealer membership or other paid service;
- website hosting, technical, analytics, email delivery, customer support, and security service providers who help us operate the platform;
- professional advisers, auditors, insurers, legal advisers, and consultants where reasonably necessary;
- law enforcement, regulators, courts, or public authorities where required by law or where necessary to protect legal rights or prevent unlawful activity; and
- prospective purchasers, investors, advisers, or counterparties in connection with a business sale, investment, restructure, merger, or acquisition, subject to appropriate confidentiality protections.
Where you complete a lead form, the relevant details may be shared with the intended recipient so they can respond to your request.
7. Marketing Communications
We may send you service-related communications where necessary to operate your account or the platform.
We may also send marketing communications where permitted by law and in line with your preferences. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link in the email or by contacting us.
Where consent is required for a type of marketing or cookie activity, we will ask for it before carrying out that activity.
8. Cookies and Similar Technologies
We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the website, understand usage, improve performance, remember preferences, and support certain platform features.
For more information, including how to manage your cookie preferences, please see our Cookie Policy.
9. Data Retention
We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, and operational requirements.
Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason it was collected. Where we do not apply a fixed period, we assess retention by reference to factors such as the purpose of processing, the nature of the relationship, legal obligations, potential disputes, and security needs.
Examples may include:
- account data retained while your account is active and for a reasonable period afterwards where needed for support, fraud prevention, security, or legal purposes;
- listing, enquiry, message, test drive, and trade-in data retained for customer service, dispute handling, moderation, fraud prevention, and operational records;
- dealer application, verification, and membership records retained for review, compliance, anti-fraud, audit, and business administration purposes;
- payment and invoice records retained for tax, accounting, audit, and legal compliance purposes; and
- marketing preference data retained until you unsubscribe, opt out, or change your preferences, subject to any legal obligations.
10. Data Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.
These measures may include access controls, secure hosting, authentication controls, monitoring, and other reasonable safeguards appropriate to the nature of the data and the services provided.
Although we aim to protect your information, no online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You should also take care to protect your account credentials and devices.
11. International Transfers
Where we use service providers located outside the UK, or where personal data is transferred internationally, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that personal data is protected in accordance with applicable data protection law.
Depending on the destination and provider, this may include reliance on adequacy regulations, contractual safeguards, or other lawful transfer mechanisms recognised under applicable law.
12. Your Rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:
- request access to your personal data;
- request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
- request erasure of your personal data;
- request restriction of processing;
- object to processing carried out on the basis of legitimate interests;
- request data portability in certain situations;
- withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; and
- complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
13. How to Exercise Your Rights
If you would like to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact us at
support@carzoon.co.uk.
We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests.
14. Complaints to the ICO
If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which is the UK supervisory authority for data protection matters.
16. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.
The most recent version will be published on the website with an updated effective date. Where appropriate, we may also take additional steps to bring significant changes to your attention.
