Privacy policy.

We hope you will enjoy being a customer of Arnold Clark Limited, and we want to make sure your experience is as safe and useful as possible. Here you can find out what data we collect from you, how we use it, conditions where we may disclose this data to others, how we keep it secure and how our website works.

Arnold Clark Limited, a Company registered under the Companies Acts (“Arnold Clark”, “we” or “us”), a subsidiary of Arnold Clark Automobiles Limited (SC036386) and having its registered office at 454 Hillington Road, Hillington Park, Glasgow, G52 4FH and principal places of business in Glasgow, Ayrshire, Fife and Inverness-shire at 167 Fenwick Road, Giffnock, Glasgow G46 6JB, 512 Kilmarnock Road, Giffnock, Glasgow, G43 2JB, Ayr Road, Irvine, Ayrshire, KA12 8BZ, Carberry Place, Kirkcaldy, Fife, KY1 3NQ and 32 Longman Road, Inverness IV1 1RY, 24 Harbour Road, Inverness, IV11UA respectively.

Arnold Clark takes the issue of security and data protection very seriously and strictly adheres to guidelines published in the United Kingdom Data Protection Act of 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 which is applicable from the 25th May 2018. We are notified as a Data Controller with the Office of the Information Commissioner under registration number Z6051177 and we are the data controller of any personal data that you provide to us.

Personal information that we collect, why we collect it and how we use it.

We obtain information about you when you use our website and we also receive information from you, for example when you are viewing vehicles or making online bookings. We need this information to enable us to provide our online services and where appropriate, our in branch services booked through the website. This section sets out in more detail what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it and how long we keep your information.

We obtain information about you when you contact us in branch or over the phone and when you use our website. We also receive information from you via cookies on our website, for example when you are viewing vehicles or making online bookings. We need this information to enable us to provide our online services and where appropriate, our in branch services. This section sets out in more detail what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it and how long we keep your information.

• Please be aware if you purchase a vehicle from Arnold Clark at the point of sale (under a contractual obligation) we will collect your full name, address, contact telephone number(s), date of birth, drivers licence details, payment details, details of the vehicle you are buying and any details of the vehicle you are part exchanging including mileage and MOT information if relevant. Your details will be retained in line with all regulatory laws and will be on our system for no longer than 7 years, unless you choose to contract with us again before the end of the 7 years. Physical copies of your deal will be securely shredded after 3 years - in line with all regulatory laws. Your details will not be used for marketing purposes unless you have given us permission to contact you in this way.
• If finance is required when purchasing your vehicle or in our aftersales department we will be required to collect further details including your marital and housing status, number of dependents, previous address, occupation, employer, business address and bank details as well as a copy of your driver’s licence, a proof of address (i.e. a utility bill) and any other relevant documentation. This information will be passed by Arnold Clark with your permission to the finance companies and if you are approved for finance the copies of your documentation will be securely shredded 30 days after the money is paid to Arnold Clark. Your personal information will be stored on your order form which will be kept on our system for 7 years after which it will be removed.
• If you make a Service, MOT or Repair booking, we require your name, contact information, vehicle details and potentially a collection address. This information is required so that we can arrange your booking and notify you if there are any changes to the booking. Also if you make this booking online you can also specify if you would like this information to be stored in a cookie, so as to avoid repeat typing in subsequent visits. Further if your car was purchased from Arnold Clark our aftersales system will already have your information and we will send you a yearly service/MOT reminder, as we are contractually obligated to do so. However, if you are an Aftersales Customer only then we will ask you at the point of service whether or not you wish to receive service or MOT reminders and/or general Arnold Clark marketing, you will only receive these if you reply in the affirmative. If you never fulfil your booking then your personal data will be deleted within 1 week. If you fulfil your booking and do not return to any Arnold Clark department, then your personal data will be deleted off of our system in 7 years and the physical copy will be securely shredded after 5 years - in line with contractual obligations.
• If you make a public liability claim against Arnold Clark Limited then Arnold Clark Insurance Services will have to keep a record of your full name, contact information, DOB, medical information, witness information and 3rd party information. This must be kept for 30 years after the claim - in line with regulatory laws.
• If you make a complaint through our customer services department then to assist you with this complaint we must collect your name, contact information, information on your complaint as well as, DOB and/or provided identification to ensure we are speaking with the authorised individual. For our legitimate interest this information will be stored in our systems and physical archive for 7 years after the complaint and then securely destroyed.
• To book a test drive we need to take your name, contact information and a copy of your driver’s licence, we will store a copy of this for 6 months, in case of any speeding, parking or any motoring offence that may occur.
• Similarly if you take a courtesy car from our service department then we would require your name, contact information, insurance details and a copy of your driver’s licence details, we will store record of this on our system for 6 years from the end of hire, in case of any insurance claims, speeding, parking or any motoring offence that may occur. Physical copies of the documents will be securely shredded within a year.
• To make a branch or an online enquiry will need your name and contact information so that we can respond to your enquiry accurately and promptly.
• Phone calls may be recorded, and any recorded calls will be retained for a maximum of 6 months and only be used for training and quality purposes and/or to prevent or detect crime.
• If you to visit any site belonging to the Arnold Clark we use CCTV to monitor all of our premises, therefore your image and potentially your vehicle registration will be captured and stored for up to 8 weeks depending on the system used at the branch.
• If you injure yourself at a Arnold Clark branch then we are under a legal obligation to fill in an accident form this will include, full name, contact information, nature of injury and description of treatment. We are legally required to keep these forms for 5 years after the incident then after they will be securely shredded.
• On our website when you search our New Car Special Offers or Used Car Stock Locator we may store information on the vehicles you searched for in a cookie so that we can personalise site content. We may track what type of vehicles you view so that we can make suggestions and personalise site content.
• If you enter one of our competitions on any platform, we require your name, e-mail address and daytime telephone number so we can contact the winner. If you do not opt in to receive marketing then your data will be deleted following the outcome of the prize draw. Our competitions are subject to full terms and conditions which can be found here . One entry per person. All entrants will be considered, and the winner will be picked at random by the Arnold Clark Marketing team. Winners will be contacted by phone or e-mail after the prize draw. All prizes are non-transferrable and non-refundable. Entrants must be 17 years or older to enter and claim a prize from any of our competitions. Unclaimed prizes may be offered to other competition entrants within 48 hours of first notification to the winner. Competitions run on social media are not endorsed, sponsored, administered by, or associated with Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. If you do not opt in to receive marketing from us then your data will be deleted following the outcome of the prize draw.
• Occasionally, we may use your e-mail address to send you information about changes to this website, we will ask you for permission to do so.
• We monitor visitor usage patterns to help us continually improve the site.

We review our data retention periods regularly and will only hold your personal data for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as required by law (we may be legally required to hold some types of information), or as set out in any relevant contract we have with you.

Marketing

It is your choice whether you receive information such as marketing from us and you can select this by ticking the relevant boxes on the form where we collect your information. We will not contact you for marketing purposes unless you have given your prior consent. If you have agreed to receive marketing from Arnold Clark we may e-mail to inform you of new products available from companies within the Arnold Clark group. If, at any time, you no longer wish to receive this information, please send a written request.

Also, all of our email marketing correspondence gives you the option to opt-out of receiving further marketing emails. Please note that you will still receive emails directly related to an enquiry you have submitted via our contact form.
If you have opted-in to receive marketing material from us, we will use your name and email address to send out this information.

Access to Your Information
You may request, at any time, a copy of the personal information which we hold about you, at no cost. Should you wish to access or update the personal information that we hold, please contact us by sending a written request to Customer Services Department, Arnold Clark Automobiles Limited, 454 Hillington Road, Hillington Park, Glasgow, G52 4FH
If you wish to have the information which we hold about you removed, please request this in writing to Customer Services Department, Arnold Clark Automobiles Limited, 454 Hillington Road, Hillington Park, Glasgow, G52 4FH or customer.services@arnoldclark.com - as long as your information is not pertinent to the completion of a contract or required for any legal reason it will be removed.

If you are concerned that we are not using your information in accordance with the law, or are not satisfied with our response to a request made above, then you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Information Commissioner in Scotland can be reached by the following means;
The Information Commissioner's Office - Scotland
45 Melville Street
Edinburgh
EH3 7HL
Scotland@ico.org.uk
0303 123 1115

The Information Commissioner in England can be reached by the following means;
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
0303 123 1113

Data Security

Please be aware that the transmission of information via the internet is not always completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the complete security of your data transmitted to us electronically; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to restrict unauthorised access.
All credit/debit card data taken through our websites is encrypted in accordance with PCI-DSS.

Data Storage and Use of Data Outside of the European Economic Area
We store your data on secure servers inside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Some of our third party contractors are based outside of the EEA however, we have strict control over how and why your data can be accessed. By submitting your personal data, you are consenting to this transfer, storing or processing. If we transfer your data outside the EEA we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures with the aim that your rights continue to be protected as set out in this policy.

Disclosing Your Information
As a subsidiary of the Arnold Clark Automobiles Limited group we may disclose your personal information to another member of our group, which means our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries as defined in section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006 – GTG Training Limited (SC290157), Arnold Clark Finance Limited (SC039597), Arnold Clark Insurance Services Limited (SC192797), Assure Alarms Limited (SC139217) and Towquest Limited (02299882).
We may disclose your personal information to third parties under the following circumstances:

• If we sell any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective buyer of such business or assets.
• If Arnold Clark Automobiles Limited or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.
• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Arnold Clark group, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
• We work with various third party providers to help us deliver our products and services, and we only disclose your information as far as is necessary to provide the service. However, we have contracts with third party suppliers we will have completed necessary security checks and full due diligence to ensure that your data is kept safe once passed to the third party. All third parties only have the right to use your data to complete an obligation, they do not have marketing rights over your data. Your data is used including in the following circumstances:
  • We may contract a data cleansing organisation to ensure all data is accurate and up to date.
  • If you purchase a new car from Arnold Clark then your information will be disclosed to the manufacturer for warranty, registration and safety recall purposes. In some circumstances the manufacturer will be acting as the data controller of your information and they may have marketing rights over your data. We recommend that you read their privacy policy to see how they will use your information.
  • Further if you purchase a used vehicle that is still within the warranty period the Arnold Clark will be obligated to pass your personal data to BMW/Mini via their warranty system for any work required.
  • If you require a finance agreement, we will disclose your information to 3rd party finance companies. If you are accepted for finance then that finance company will be a data controller for your information from then onwards. We recommend that you read their terms of business and privacy policy, provided in your contract pack, to see how they will use your information.
  • All phone call recordings are kept by a third party who only have processing rights over your data and will not contact you.
  • If you use our "Live Chat" function via our partner, Contact At Once, your information may be collected, used and stored as part of our "Live Chat" service and your personal information will be shared with Contact at Once.

How we use cookies
We use cookies to help improve our websites and make your browsing experience more useful, more relevant and tailored to you. In order to comply with the most recent legislation and in the interests of transparency, we have updated our privacy policy to give you clearer information on the way we use technology such as cookies and how they affect your privacy.
Cookies are small text files, placed on your hard disk by a web page server. They are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.
We will use encrypted information gathered from the cookies to improve your online experience with Arnold Clark.
Some of the cookies we use will expire after you close the browser window. These are called session cookies. Some cookies last longer than this, because they are used to identify return visits to the website. Please note that cookies do not harm your computer or any software you may have.
After browsing our website you may receive personalised banner advertisements whilst browsing other reputable websites. We are committed to providing you with information on products and offers which are relevant to you. Any banner advertisements you receive will relate to products which have been viewed whilst browsing this website on your computer or other device. This service is provided by Arnold Clark via a reputable third party specialist provider, through the use of cookies placed on your device. Please note that cookies do not harm your computer or any software you may have.
In accepting our cookie policy you agree that all cookies listed below can be enabled while you use our website. The cookies will operate as established below. In the event that you reject our cookie policy all cookies will be disabled with the exception of the necessary cookies which are required for the website to run, however, these to not store or use any personal information.

Third Party Links
Our website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Social Networking
The website may offer you the opportunity to share or follow information about us (or the website or our services) using third party social networking functionality (such as through "share this", "like" or "follow" buttons).
We offer this functionality in order to generate interest in us, the website and our services among the members of your social networks, and to permit you to share and follow opinions, news and recommendations about us with your friends. However, you should be aware that sharing personal or non-personal information with a social network may result in that information being collected by the social network provider or result in that information being made publicly-available, including through Internet search engines.
Please note that we do not exercise any endorse or control the policies or practices of any third party social network whose functionality you may access through the website. You should always read the privacy policy of any social network through which you share information carefully in order to understand their specific privacy and information usage practices.

Changes to our Privacy & Cookies Policy
Any changes we may make to our privacy & cookies policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail.

This policy was last updated: 14/05/2018