Privacy Policy

LinkMotors Discovery Ltd (“LinkMotors”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) operates the LinkMotors platform at linkmotors.net. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use and store it, and your rights under UK data protection law.

We are the data controller for personal data processed through this platform. LinkMotors Discovery Ltd is registered in England and Wales (company number 17089038). Our registered office is at A376, Unit 4-6 Greatorex Street, London, E1 5NF, United Kingdom. Questions about this policy should be directed to hello@linkmotors.net.

1. What data we collect

Provider account data

When a service provider registers on the platform, we collect: business name, contact name, email address, phone number, business address and postcode, service category, business description, and any logo, banner, or photographs they upload to their listing.

Driver account data

When a driver creates an account, we collect: email address, display name, and location postcode. If you add a vehicle to your account, you enter your registration number and we look it up against the DVLA Vehicle Enquiry Service. We store the details returned for that registration: make, colour, fuel type, engine capacity, year of manufacture, MOT status and expiry date, and tax status and due date. We also record which provider listings you save and which you have recently viewed, and your consent choices for reminder and marketing emails together with the date you made them.

How drivers contact providers and send enquiries

LinkMotors is a discovery platform. We display provider listings and their published contact details, and you can contact a provider directly using the phone number, website, or other contact method shown on their listing.

We also offer an enquiry feature. If you are signed in, you can send a structured enquiry to a provider from their listing. When you send an enquiry, you choose what to include, which may be your name, your email address, your phone number, a description of your vehicle, and a short message describing what you need. Before sending, you confirm by a consent checkbox that you agree to share these details with that provider so they can respond to you.

When you send an enquiry, we pass the details you chose to include to that specific provider, by email and within their provider dashboard, so they can contact you directly. We do not host a reply or a two-way conversation. Any response and any further dealings happen directly between you and the provider, away from the Platform. You can see the enquiries you have sent, and their status, in your account.

Technical data

We automatically collect certain technical information when you visit the platform, including: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referring URL, pages visited, and timestamps. This data is collected via server logs and, where you consent, analytics cookies. See our Cookie Policy for detail.

2. Lawful bases for processing

We rely on the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:

• Contract performance: to create and manage driver and provider accounts and deliver the features you have signed up for.
• Legitimate interests: to operate, maintain, and improve the platform, understand usage, detect fraud, and protect the security of the service.
• Legal obligation: to comply with applicable UK laws and regulatory requirements.
• Consent: for MOT and road tax reminder emails, optional marketing communications, non-essential cookies, and sending an enquiry and the contact details you include to a provider you choose. You can withdraw consent at any time, though an enquiry already sent cannot be recalled from a provider who has received it.

3. How we use your data

• Creating and managing provider accounts and listings
• Displaying provider listings to drivers searching for motoring services
• Creating and managing driver accounts and vehicle profiles
• Looking up vehicle details from the DVLA when you add a registration
• Sending MOT and road tax expiry reminders by email, where you have opted in and a vehicle is saved to your account
• Displaying provider listings you have saved and your recently viewed history within your account
• Processing account management requests, including data export and account deletion
• Sending transactional emails such as account confirmations, sign-in links, password resets, and deletion confirmations
• Sending service updates and product announcements, where you have opted in; you may opt out at any time
• Analysing usage patterns to improve the platform, where you consent to analytics cookies
• Passing the enquiries you send, and the contact details you choose to include, to the specific provider you select, so that provider can respond to you directly
• Detecting and preventing fraud and abuse
• Complying with legal obligations and responding to lawful requests

4. How we store and protect your data

Personal data is stored in our database, hosted by Supabase in a data centre in the European Union (London region). We apply technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or destruction, including access controls, encryption in transit, and row-level security on our database.

Some of our processors are based outside the UK. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards recognised under UK data protection law, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or transfers to countries covered by UK adequacy regulations.

5. Data retention

We retain personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law:

• Driver account data: retained while your account is active. If you request deletion, your account is hidden immediately and permanently erased after 30 days. Deletion can be cancelled within that 30-day window by contacting hello@linkmotors.net. Accounts that remain inactive, with no sign-in, for 24 months may be deleted.
• Vehicle data: retained as part of your driver profile while your account is active, or until you remove the vehicle from your account.
• Provider account data: retained for the duration of the account, plus up to 2 years after closure for legal and audit purposes.
• Email consent records: retained for the duration of the account plus 2 years, so we can evidence the consent we relied on.
• Suspended accounts: retained pending resolution, until we determine permanent removal is appropriate.
• Server logs and technical data: up to 12 months.
• Enquiries: the enquiries you send, including the contact details included in them, are retained for 12 months from the date sent, after which they are automatically deleted from the Platform. Once a provider has received your enquiry, the copy they hold is controlled by that provider under their own retention and privacy practices, outside our control.

6. Your rights under UK GDPR

Under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the following rights:

• Access: request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification: ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure: ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Restriction: ask us to restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances.
• Portability: receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used format and transmit it to another controller.
• Objection: object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
• Withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, withdraw it at any time without affecting processing carried out before withdrawal.

Driver account holders can exercise several of these rights directly within Account Management without contacting us:

• Access and portability (self-service): download a copy of your account data at any time from Account Management.
• Erasure (self-service): request account deletion from Account Management. The account is hidden immediately and permanently removed after 30 days.
• Rectification (self-service): update your display name, postcode, and vehicle details at any time from Account Management.
• Objection to direct marketing (self-service): opt out of marketing emails at any time from the email preferences in Account Management.

To exercise any other right, or any right not available self-service, contact us at hello@linkmotors.net. We will respond within one calendar month. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk if you are unhappy with how we have handled your data.

7. Third parties we share data with

We share personal data with the following third parties. Except for the DVLA, each processes data on our instructions under a written data processing agreement:

• Supabase: database hosting, authentication, and file storage (EU region).
• Resend: delivery of transactional and reminder emails, such as account confirmations, sign-in links, password resets, MOT and tax reminders, and deletion confirmations.
• Google Maps Platform: display of maps and provider locations on the platform.
• Google Analytics 4: aggregated usage analytics, loaded only where you consent to analytics cookies.
• Vercel: website hosting and content delivery for linkmotors.net.
• DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency): when you add a registration number, we query the DVLA Vehicle Enquiry Service to retrieve your vehicle's make, colour, fuel type, engine capacity, year, MOT status and expiry, and tax status and due date. The DVLA is a UK government agency and an independent controller for its own data; we query it on your behalf and store the response in your profile.
• Service providers you enquire to: when you send an enquiry, the details you choose to include are shared with the specific provider you selected, so they can respond to you. That provider receives your details for their own use in responding and becomes responsible for the data they hold about you from that point. Providers are required by our Terms to use enquiry details only to respond to your enquiry and in line with applicable data protection law.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for any third party's own marketing purposes.

8. Data breaches

We maintain procedures to detect, report, and investigate personal data breaches. Where a breach is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, where required, and will inform you directly where the breach is likely to result in a high risk to you.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you by email or through the platform. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

10. Contact

For any privacy-related enquiry, contact LinkMotors Discovery Ltd at hello@linkmotors.net, or by post at A376, Unit 4-6 Greatorex Street, London, E1 5NF, United Kingdom.