Privacy Policy | Discount Car Check

1. Introduction

Cheap As Checks Ltd (“we”, “us”, “our”), trading as Discount Car Check, is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you use our website at discountcarcheck.co.uk (the “Website”) and our vehicle checking services (the “Services”).

Company Details:
Cheap As Checks Ltd
Unit 5 Grahamstown Rd, Sedbury, Chepstow NP16 7AD
United Kingdom

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following types of personal information:

2.1 Information You Provide

Name: To identify you and personalise our service
Email address: To send you vehicle reports, account information, and service updates
Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM): To perform vehicle history checks
Payment information: Processed securely by Stripe; we do not store your full card details

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

IP address: For security, fraud prevention, and rate limiting
Browser type and device information: To optimise your experience
Pages visited and usage patterns: Via analytics tools to improve our Services
Cookies and similar technologies: See Section 7 below

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

Service delivery: To perform vehicle history checks and deliver reports to you
Payment processing: To process your payment for paid reports via Stripe
Communication: To send you your vehicle reports, service updates, and respond to enquiries
Account management: To allow you to access your reports and manage your account
Security and fraud prevention: To protect our Services and users from fraudulent activity
Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws and regulations
Service improvement: To analyse usage and improve our Website and Services

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we process your personal data on the following legal bases:

Contract performance: Processing necessary to fulfil our contract with you when you purchase a vehicle check
Legitimate interests: For fraud prevention, security, and improving our Services, where these interests don't override your rights
Legal obligation: Where we are required to process data by law
Consent: For analytics cookies and marketing communications (where applicable)

5. Data Sharing and Third Parties

To provide our Services, we share data with the following categories of third parties:

5.1 Data Providers

We obtain vehicle information from authorised third-party data sources including:

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) - vehicle registration data
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) - MOT history and recall data
Experian - finance, stolen vehicle, and write-off data
UK Vehicle Data (UKVD) - additional vehicle information

When you submit a vehicle registration for checking, this information is shared with these providers to retrieve the relevant vehicle history data.

5.2 Service Providers

Stripe: Payment processing (see Stripe's Privacy Policy)
MongoDB: Database hosting for report storage
Resend: Email delivery service
Vercel: Website hosting

5.3 Analytics Providers

Google Analytics: Website usage analysis
Ahrefs: SEO and website analytics

5.4 Legal Disclosures

We may disclose your information where required by law, court order, or to law enforcement agencies for the purposes of preventing, detecting, or investigating crime, including fraud and vehicle theft.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal data as follows:

Vehicle reports: Stored for up to 12 months from the date of purchase to allow you to access your reports
Account information: Retained while your account is active and for 12 months after your last activity
Payment records: Retained for 7 years to comply with accounting and tax obligations
Analytics data: Aggregated and anonymised data may be retained indefinitely

Abandoned or incomplete transactions are automatically deleted after 24 hours.

7. Cookies

Our Website uses cookies and similar technologies:

7.1 Essential Cookies

Required for the Website to function, including session management, authentication, and payment processing. These cannot be disabled.

7.2 Analytics Cookies

We use Google Analytics and Ahrefs to understand how visitors use our Website. These cookies collect anonymised information about pages visited, time spent on site, and how you arrived at our Website. You can opt out of analytics cookies through your browser settings or by using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

7.3 Managing Cookies

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling essential cookies may affect the functionality of our Website.

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:

Right of access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Right to rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
Right to erasure: Request deletion of your personal data in certain circumstances
Right to restrict processing: Request limitation of how we use your data
Right to data portability: Receive your data in a structured, commonly used format
Right to object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing
Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at privacy@discountcarcheck.co.uk. We will respond to your request within one month.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk if you believe your data protection rights have been breached.

9. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including:

Encryption of data in transit using HTTPS/TLS
Secure payment processing via PCI-DSS compliant Stripe
Access controls and authentication requirements
Regular security reviews and monitoring
Rate limiting to prevent abuse

While we take reasonable precautions, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

10. International Transfers

Your data may be processed by service providers located outside the UK. Where this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the UK Government or transfers to countries with adequate data protection laws.

11. Children's Privacy

Our Services are not intended for individuals under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us immediately.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the “Last updated” date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Email: privacy@discountcarcheck.co.uk
Post: Cheap As Checks Ltd, Unit 5 Grahamstown Rd, Sedbury, Chepstow NP16 7AD