Privacy Policy

What we collect

What we hold depends on how you use the site:

• Everyone: pages you view and searches you run aren't tied to your identity unless you're signed in.
• Members: your email address and, optionally, your name and postcode - used to sign in, save favourites, save searches, and (if you add a postcode) sort search results by distance so nearby dealers show first. You can add, change, or remove your postcode at any time.
• Enquiries: your name, email, phone number, and the message you send, shared with the specific dealer you're contacting so they can respond directly.
• Part-exchange submissions: your name, email, phone number, postcode, and the vehicle details you provide, plus any photos you upload (including paperwork such as your V5C logbook). Unlike an enquiry, this isn't sent to one dealer you choose - it's shared with every approved Dealer Pro dealer on the platform, and any of them may contact you directly with an offer.
• Dealers: business name, contact name, email, phone, trading address, VAT number, and any logo, description, or team photos you choose to add. Team member photos are only published with your explicit confirmation that you have that person's permission.
• Billing: we never see or store your card details. Payment is handled entirely by Stripe - we only keep a reference ID linking your dealer account to your Stripe subscription.
• Vehicle checks: if you look up a vehicle by registration, we pass that registration to the DVLA and DVSA to retrieve make, model, MOT history, and similar public vehicle data for that listing. This is dealer-initiated, and the registration itself isn't stored beyond the listing it was used for. Where a lookup returns a make or model we don't already recognise, we keep just that make/model text - never the registration or any dealer/account identifier - to grow the site's own vehicle list for future listings.

Why we use it

• To operate your account and let dealers and buyers contact each other directly.
• To process dealer subscription payments, via Stripe.
• To send transactional emails - enquiry confirmations, dealer notifications, and account-related emails such as confirming your email address.
• If you turn it on, to email you when a newly listed vehicle matches a search you've saved. This is opt-in per saved search and you can turn it off at any time from Saved searches.
• To meet our legal obligations, for example keeping records required for tax or fraud-prevention purposes.

We don't sell your data, and we don't use it for third-party advertising.

Who we share it with

We use a small number of specialist providers to run the platform. Each only receives what it needs to do its job:

• Supabase - database, authentication, and file storage.
• Vercel - website hosting.
• Stripe - payment processing for dealer subscriptions.
• Resend - sending transactional emails on our behalf.
• DVLA / DVSA - UK government vehicle data services, only when a dealer looks up a vehicle by registration.
• postcodes.io - a free UK postcode lookup service. Receives only the postcode you enter (not your name or any other account details), to convert it into a location for distance-based search and dealer address mapping.
• Google Cloud Vision - only when a dealer uses the "scan plate" feature, to read a vehicle's registration from a photo they take.
• Google Places - shows a dealer's public Google rating and review count on their profile; doesn't receive any of your personal data.

Enquiry details are also shared with the specific dealer you contact, and part-exchange submissions with every approved Dealer Pro dealer on the platform - that's the whole point of the service, and it's made clear on each form before you submit.

Cookies

We only use strictly necessary cookies - specifically, one that keeps you signed in. We don't use analytics, tracking, or advertising cookies.

Aggregate analytics

Separately from cookies, we log two things in aggregate, without attaching them to your identity: the make, model, and vehicle type you search for (used to show Dealer Pro subscribers anonymised demand trends - never your individual searches or any identifier for you), and a click count against a dealer's own promotional link if you follow one to the site. Neither is personal data under UK GDPR, since neither can be tied back to you.

How long we keep it

We keep account data for as long as your account is active, and enquiry/part-exchange data for as long as it's useful to the dealer(s) it was sent to or as required for our legal and tax obligations. If you're a member, you can permanently delete your own account any time from My account - this immediately removes your saved searches and favourites too. Dealers should email us to close an account, since it's tied to a subscription and possibly other team members - see "Your rights" below.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Ask us to delete your data ("right to be forgotten").
• Object to or restrict how we use your data.
• Receive your data in a portable format.
• Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you think we've mishandled your data.

Contact us

For any question about this policy or your data, email hello@indiemotors.co.uk.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the platform evolves. Material changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date above.