Privacy Statement

At Howards Motor Group we take your privacy very seriously and we are committed to protecting and respecting any personal information you share with us.

This statement describes what types of information we collect from you, how it is used, how we share it with others, how you can manage the information we hold and how you can contact us.

What information we collect?

We collect the following personal information about you when you register with us, express an interest in or purchase products or services from us.

We also collect personal information when you contact us, send us feedback, post material to our website, complete customer surveys or participate in competitions.

The information we collect may include:

·       Your name and contact information such as email address, phone number, address and postcode

·       Demographic data when making finance applications – such as date of birth, employment details, marital status, gender, address history, salary information

·       Driving licence details;

·       Additional information regarding your vehicle including the registration, VIN number, service history, any works undertaken, insurance policy details, MOT and tax status of the vehicle;

·       Sensitive personal information may be collected where a vehicle is purchased under the Motability scheme. This may include details of any medical conditions. We will always be clear and explain when and why we need this information and the purposes for which we will use it. We will obtain your explicit consent to use sensitive personal information;

·       Your IP address, the internet browser and device you are using, cookie or pixel information (please see our Cookie Policy for more details);

·       Where you engage with us to conduct a sales transaction, we additionally may collect bank account details, debit/credit card details and any information required by our finance partners to complete a finance application. For example, time at present address and/or employer details;

·       Whether you have agreed to receive our marketing communications and your contact preferences

·       Records of any interactions we have with you for example when you request a brochure, make an enquiry, request a test drive, purchase a product or service from us or make a complaint. 

·       Information you may provide in response to any surveys we might carry out from time to time

·       Web chat records

·       Telematics data including location and journey data (only applicable to our parts vans)

·       Testimonials you may provide about our service or information you may provide when you participate in discussion boards or other social media functions on our site

·       Voice recordings of calls into our business or calls we make to you may be recorded for quality and training purposes;

·       If you visit one of our premises, you may be recorded on CCTV.

Information we may receive about you
·       We receive personal information about customers from our manufacturers. This information may relate to customer enquiries, bookings, vehicle recalls and repairs, and customer complaints.
·       We may also receive customer information from other organisations such as finance companies, vehicle retailers, breakdown companies (e.g. AA, RAC) and online repair booking company platforms.
 

How will we use the information about you?

We collect information about you so that we can:

·       Provide you with the services you request from us e.g. MOTs and vehicle servicing, and to fulfil our contractual obligations to you

·       To respond to your enquiries, provide you with a quote, process your order and manage our relationship with you

·       To remind you about important dates including service or MOT deadlines, specific vehicle notices, marketing offers, finance end dates

·       To contact you about safety or quality issues relating to your vehicle including safety recalls

·       Identify you and manage any accounts you hold with us;

·       Maintain a service record for your vehicle,

·       conduct research, statistical analysis and behavioural analysis;

·       Carry out customer profiling and analyse your purchasing preferences;

·       Let you know about other products, services or events that may be of interest to you

·       To monitor, assess and improve, the level of customer service we provide and the services we offer

·       To assist with the prevention and detection of crime, fraud and money laundering

·       Telematics data may be accessed and processed to locate lost or stolen vehicles or to comply with requests from law enforcement agencies

·       Verify your identity and carry out anti-fraud checks (see 'Credit checking' section below);

·       Provide you with payment options;

·       Assess your application for a product, service or quote;

·       To process payments, and if necessary, pursue debts

·       Ensure that you can afford any financial agreement offered;

·       Ensure that any insurance products are suitable for you;

·       Administer any finance agreements and advise you of our finance renewal process.

·       To conduct customer satisfaction surveys on our behalf and on behalf of the manufacturer

·       To process and resolve customer complaints

·       To comply with legal obligations and to exercise or defend our legal rights

·       For health and safety purposes

·       To contact you about changes to our business or services

·       To monitor your use of our websites and any response to advertising campaigns;

·       Develop promotional material and media for advertising and promotional purposes.

 Credit checking

We may perform a credit check on you:

●      so that we and other companies in our group can make credit decisions about you and members of your household, and

●      to prevent and detect fraud and money laundering

Our search will be recorded on the files of the credit reference agency.

We may also disclose information about how you conduct your account to credit reference agencies and your information may be linked to records relating to other people living at the same address with whom you are financially linked.

Other credit businesses may use your information to:

●      make credit decisions about you and the people with whom you are financially associated;

●      trace debtors, and

●      prevent and detect fraud and money laundering.

If you provide false or inaccurate information to us and we suspect fraud, we will record this.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

We may use artificial intelligence (AI), including digital assistants, to support our customer interactions and improve the efficiency of our services. These systems are used to assist our teams in responding to enquiries, providing information about our products and services, and helping to manage customer requests. They do not replace human decision-making.

We apply appropriate safeguards when using AI technologies, including:

·             Human oversight and the ability to escalate queries to a member of staff

·             Measures to ensure data is kept secure and only used where necessary

Monitoring of system performance to maintain accuracy and reliability

Lawful Basis for Processing

We will only process your personal information where we have a supporting lawful basis to do so. This may include:

Consent

Where you have provided your consent, we may use your information to contact you from time to time about promotions, events, products, services or information which we think may be of interest to you. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at [email protected], by visiting our website www.howardsgroup.co.uk/marketing-updates , by writing to the address listed in the 'How to contact us' section, or by using the unsubscribe option included in any of our email marketing messages.

Contractual Performance

We may use and process your personal information where this is necessary to perform a contract with you and to fulfil and complete your orders, purchases and other transactions entered into with us (or one of our authorised retailers or selected partners).

Legitimate Interests

We may use and process your personal information as set out below where it is necessary for us to carry out activities for which it is in our legitimate interests as a business to do so. Examples of processing supporting by our legitimate interests include, but are not limited to:

Processing necessary for us to support customers with sales and other enquiries

●      To respond to correspondence you send to us and fulfil the requests you make to us (for example: test drives, service requests, brochure requests or information about specific vehicles)

●      To provide vehicle support and services (for example warranty services)

Processing necessary for us to understand customer requirements

●      To analyse, evaluate and improve our products and services so that your visit and use of our website, applications and retailers are more useful and enjoyable (we will generally use data amalgamated from many people so that it doesn’t identify you personally)

●      To undertake market analysis and research (including contacting you with customer surveys) so that we can better understand you as a customer and provide tailored offers, products and services that we think you will be interested in.

●      We collect and analyse this information in this way so that we can deliver the most appropriate customer experience to you by tailoring and making relevant all our service and communications (for example, when your mileage suggests your vehicle is due for a service).

Processing necessary for us to promote our business, brands and products

●      To send/contact you with marketing information after you have purchased a product or service from us or made a purchasing enquiry.  We will only contact you with information about our own products and services (and in ways the law allows). You have the right to object to us sending you this information at any time.

●      To send MOT and/or service reminders and contact you to arrange an appointment.

●      To contact you from time to time with marketing information (unless you object) if you have expressly indicated to us that you are acting on behalf of a business or where we have obtained your business contact details from our authorised retailer network or an online or public business directory. In relation to any such information we send by email or SMS, we will include an option allowing you to object to receiving future messages by unsubscribing.

●      To contact you with targeted advertising delivered online through social media and other platforms operated by other companies, unless you object. You may receive advertising based on information about you that we have provided to the platform or because, at our request, the platform has identified you as having similar attributes to the individuals whose details it has received from us. To find out more, please refer to the information provided in the help pages of the platforms on which you receive advertising from us.

●      To identify and record when you have received, opened or engaged with our website or electronic communications (please see our Cookie Policy for more information).

●      To administer competitions and promotions that you enter with us from time to time and to distribute prizes.

●      To send you invitations (unless you object) to provide a review regarding your customer experience when you have purchased a car from us or visited one of our service departments.

Recognised Legitimate interests

We may process certain personal data on the basis of recognised legitimate interests. Such interests might include, for example, preventing or investigating crime, responding to an emergency situation, safeguarding vulnerable people or sharing personal information with another organisation so that they may fulfil their public task or official function.

Legal Obligation

We may process your personal information to comply with our legal requirements (for example to register your car with the DVLA).

We will, if required by law, disclose your personal information for example in response to a court order. We will disclose your personal information if requested by a law enforcement agency or where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, non-compliance with of our terms and conditions, or as otherwise permitted or required by law and consistent with legal requirements.

Vital Interest

In the event of an urgent safety or product recall notice, we will need to process your personal information to contact you to tell you about it.

How long do we keep your information for?

We will not hold your personal information in an identifiable format for any longer than is necessary. If you are a customer or otherwise have a relationship with us, we will hold personal information about you for a longer period than if we have obtained your details in connection with a prospective relationship.

 If we have a trading relationship with you (e.g. you are a customer or the registered driver of a leased or other vehicle purchased from us), we hold your personal information for 6 years from the date our relationship ends. We hold your personal information for this period to establish, bring or defend legal claims. Our relationship may end for a number of reasons including where the vehicle warranty or lease expires, or we have been made aware that you no longer own or drive that vehicle.

We will keep your personal information for as long as we need it to provide the services and products you request from us. We may also keep it to comply with our legal obligations, to resolve complaints and to enforce our rights. As a result, the length of time that we keep your information for will vary depending on the purposes for which we have it. In any event, we will review what information we need on an ongoing basis and will only retain it for the minimum amount of time that we need it for.

The only exceptions to the periods mentioned above are where:

●      the law requires us to hold your personal information for a longer period, or delete it sooner;

●      Where you have raised a complaint or concern regarding a product or service offered by us, in which case we will retain your information for a period of 6 years following the date of that complaint or query; or

●      you exercise your right to have the information erased (where it applies) and we do not need to hold it in connection with any of the reasons permitted or required under the law (see the ‘What rights do you have?’ section below for further information)

Disclosure of your information

To manage our business effectively, and to provide the services we offer to you, we may need to share your personal information with third parties who fulfil business activities for us (like warranty products, marketing, events and market research etc).

We will always limit the personal information we share with third parties to that which is necessary to enable them to perform their services or function. We do not sell your information to third parties.

We will ensure that before we share your personal information with a service provider, we have entered into a contract with the service provider which requires them to keep your information secure and only use it for the purposes we permit them to.

We also work closely with our manufacturer partners and may need to share your information with them. You can find out how they will process your personal data by referring to their respective privacy policies at the bottom of this privacy statement.

Who your information might be shared with

We may disclose your personal data to:

●      other retailers within our group

●      our agents and service providers;

●      Trustpilot. You can find their Privacy Policy here;

●      credit reference agents—see 'Credit checking' below;

●      Finance brokers and lenders for the purpose of providing requested finance.

●      Debt collection agencies should there be an outstanding debt

●      law enforcement agencies in connection with any investigation to help prevent unlawful activity;

●      our business partners

·       Legal and other professional advisors who support our business

·       Insurers

●      IT service providers who help us manage our IT infrastructure

●      Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our site.

●      We may also share your information with private parking companies and relevant local councils in order to reassign any charges that have arisen whilst you were in possession of one of our vehicles. 

●      If we sell, transfer or buy any business or assets, we will disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.

●      our Franchise Partners (whose provide policies can be found below) and our Manufacturers such as Stellantis whose Privacy Policy can be found here: Privacy Policy | Stellantis

●      government agencies (for the purpose of checking driving licence details for loan and demonstration vehicle purposes)

We will not disclose your personal information to third parties to enable them to contact you for marketing purposes unless we have your consent to do so.

The Privacy Policies of our Franchise Partners are listed below

Honda - www.honda.co.uk/privacy

Nissan - www.nissan.co.uk/legal/privacy.html

Peugeot - www.peugeot.co.uk/privacy-policy

Citroen - www.citroen.co.uk/privacy

DS - www.dsautomobiles.co.uk/privacy

Vauxhall - www.vauxhall.co.uk/tools/privacy-policy.html

Toyota - www.toyota.co.uk/footer/privacy-policy

Hyundai - www.hyundai.co.uk/legal/privacy

Kia - www.kia.com/uk/Privacy

Suzuki - https://cars.suzuki.co.uk/privacy/

Keeping your data secure

We will use technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal data, for example, we store your personal data on secure servers; and while we will use all reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal data, you acknowledge that the use of the internet is not entirely secure and for this reason we cannot guarantee the security or integrity of any personal data that are transferred from you or to you via the internet. If you have any particular concerns about your information, please contact us (see 'How to contact us?').

 What you can do to keep your information safe

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

Where we store your personal data

We do not routinely transfer your personal data outside of the UK or European Economic Area (“EEA”). However, the data that we collect from you may be transferred to and stored at a destination outside the European Economic Area ("EEA") by one of our suppliers. It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for one of our suppliers. This includes staff engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your order, the processing of your payment details and the provision of support services. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing.

If we do send personal information overseas, we will make sure that appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure it is protected in accordance with UK data protection laws, such as ensuring transfers are based on adequacy decisions or putting in place contracts with the recipient containing terms providing adequate protection.

Please note that sending information over the internet is not completely secure and we cannot guarantee the security of your data while it is in transit. Any data you send is at your own risk. Please do not send sensitive personal data over the internet.

What rights do you have?

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal information under data protection law. In relation to most rights, we will ask you for information to confirm your identity and, where applicable, to help us search for your personal information. Except in rare cases, we will respond to you within 30 days after we have received any request (including any identification documents requested). Your data subject rights include:

Right of Access

You can request a copy of the personal information we hold about you (this is known as a subject access request). If you would like to request a copy of some or all of the personal information we hold about you, please:

●      email, call or write to us (see 'How to contact us?');

●      provide us with proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and

●      let us know the information you want a copy of, including any account or reference numbers, if you have them

Right to Rectification

You have the right to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information we hold about you.  We will try to keep your personal information up to date but rely on you telling us promptly if your name, address, telephone number or any other details change. You can ask us to correct any mistakes in the information which we hold about you free of charge. If you would like to do this, please:

●      email, call or write to us or use the notification section on our website (see 'How to contact us?');

●      let us have enough information to identify you (e.g. name, registration details), and

●      let us know the information that is incorrect and what it should be replaced with.

Right to Withdraw Consent

This is only applicable where we rely on consent as the lawful basis for processing your personal information. Please see the section above called 'How we use your personal information?'

Right to Object

This is only applicable where we rely on our legitimate interests as the lawful basis for processing your personal information. This right will apply provided we do not have any continuing lawful reason to continue to use and process the information. When we do rely on our legitimate interests to use your personal information for direct marketing, we will always comply with your right to object;

Right to Erasure

This right will apply provided we do not have any continuing lawful reason to continue to use and process that information.

Right to Restrict Processing

This right will apply provided we do not have any continuing lawful reason to continue to use and process that information.

Right to Data Portability

You can request that we transfer the personal information you have provided in a structured data file (in a commonly used and machine readable format), where we rely on your consent to use and process your personal information or need to process it in connection with your contract.

Right to ask us to stop contacting you with direct marketing

You can ask us to stop contacting you for direct marketing purposes. If you would like to do this, please:

●      email, call or write to us (see ‘How to contact us?’). You can also click on the 'unsubscribe' button at the bottom of any emails. It may take up to 5 days for this to take place.

●      let us know what method of contact you are not happy with if you are unhappy with certain ways of contacting you only (for example, you may be happy for us to contact you by email but not by telephone).

Please note, we will never send you junk mail and will always give you the opportunity not to receive marketing communications from us.

Right to lodge a complaint

You are important to us and so is protecting your personal information. We take any complaints we receive from you about our use of your personal information very seriously and request that you bring any issues to our attention. You have a statutory right to raise a complaint if you are dissatisfied about the way we have handled your personal data. If you believe that we have failed to comply with our obligations under data protection laws, you may submit your complaint by

·       by using our website: www.howardsgroup.co.uk/marketing-updates

·       by email at: [email protected]  

·       by phoning us on 01935 678140

·       or by writing to us at the address in the 'How to contact us' section.

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 30 days. We will then investigate your concerns, which may involve seeking further information from you. When our investigation has concluded we will provide you with a written response explaining the outcome of your complaint.

If you remain dissatisfied, with our use of your personal data or our response to your complaint, then you have the right to complain to the UK’s data protection authority the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at: www.ico.org.uk or by contacting their helpline on 0303 123 1113.

Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these sites. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Do you need extra help?

If you would like this statement in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us (see 'How to contact us?').

 How to contact us

If you need any further information regarding this Privacy Statement or have any queries about how we use your personal data please email us at: [email protected], alternatively you can write to us at:

Customer Care Department
Howards Motor Group Head Office
Searle Crescent
Weston super Mare
BS23 3YX

For marketing updates please email [email protected] or login to our website to request an amendment at www.howardsgroup.co.uk/marketing-updates.

Changes to the Privacy Statement

We keep our privacy statement under regular review to ensure that it properly reflects our use of personal information. Any changes we make to our privacy statement in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail.  This privacy statement was last updated on 4 June 2026.

END OF PRIVACY STATEMENT

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