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Vehicle Part Finder

Privacy policy

Last updated: September 2026

This policy explains what personal data Vehicle Part Finder collects, why, and your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. The data controller is Vehicle Part Finder (company details to be confirmed). Contact us about privacy at support@vehiclepartfinder.co.uk.

What we collect and why

Buyers who send a message or report

  • Name, email, optional phone number and your message. We pass these to the seller you contacted so they can reply, keep a copy in the seller's dashboard, and email you a confirmation. Lawful basis: taking steps at your request before entering into a contract (Article 6(1)(b)) and our legitimate interest in running the service.
  • Reports about listings, and your email if you choose to give it. Lawful basis: legitimate interests (keeping the site safe).

Everyone who searches

  • Vehicle registration numbers you enter. We send them to the DVLA and DVSA to find your vehicle's details, and keep the vehicle details (not who searched) for 30 days to avoid repeat lookups. A registration can identify a vehicle keeper when combined with other data, so we treat it as personal data. Lawful basis: legitimate interests (showing parts that fit).
  • Postcodes you enter to see distances. We look them up with postcodes.io and cache the location of the postcode, not who searched.
  • Technical data: IP address and browser details in server logs, and IP addresses used for rate limiting (kept for up to 24 hours). Lawful basis: legitimate interests (security and preventing abuse).

Sellers (businesses and private individuals)

  • Name, address or postcode, phone, email and listings. For businesses, the business name, town, first half of the postcode, listings and (when a buyer asks) phone number are shown publicly. For private sellers we show only your first name and last initial (e.g. "Dan K."), town and first half of the postcode. Your email is never shown publicly. Lawful basis: contract (Article 6(1)(b)).
  • Verification. You add a payment card on a page run by Stripe. Stripe keeps the card details; we only receive the card brand, last 4 digits, expiry date, whether it's prepaid, and a code that lets us tell if the same card is used on another account. If a business gives us a company number, we look it up on the public Companies House register. Lawful basis: legitimate interests (keeping buyers safe from fake accounts and fraud).
  • Photos you upload. If you use the photo tool, photos are sent to our AI provider to suggest listing details. Please avoid photographing people or number plates.
  • Usage statistics for your listings (views, phone reveals, messages).

Who we share data with

We never sell personal data. We share it only with:

  • The seller you choose to contact (buyers' messages and contact details).
  • Service providers who process data for us under contract: hosting (Vercel), database hosting, image storage (Cloudflare R2 or similar), email delivery (Resend), card storage (Stripe), spam protection (Cloudflare Turnstile), AI photo analysis (Anthropic), postcode lookup (postcodes.io).
  • The DVLA and DVSA (registration numbers), and eBay (search words only, to show eBay results and price estimates).
  • Authorities, where the law requires it.

Some providers are based outside the UK, including in the USA. Where data leaves the UK we rely on UK adequacy regulations (including the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.

How long we keep data

  • Buyer messages: 2 years, then deleted.
  • Reports: 2 years after they are closed.
  • Seller accounts and listings: while the account is open, then up to 6 years for legal and accounting purposes.
  • Card details (brand, last 4 digits, expiry and card code): as long as your account exists. We keep them for suspended accounts so the same card can't be used to sign up again.
  • Vehicle lookup cache: 30 days. Rate-limit records: up to 24 hours.

Your rights

You can ask for a copy of your data, ask us to correct or delete it, object to or restrict how we use it, and ask for data you gave us in a portable format. Email support@vehiclepartfinder.co.uk. We will reply within one month. If you are unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113).

Cookies

We only use essential cookies (for sellers' sign-in). See our cookie notice.