Privacy Policy

Hon Car Service Ltd ("Hon Car Service", "we", "our" or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and other applicable UK privacy laws.

This Policy applies to customers, mechanics and visitors who use our website, applications, dashboards and booking system (together, the "Platform"). It should be read together with our Terms & Conditions and, where applicable, our Mechanic Terms & Conditions.

1Who We Are

Hon Car Service Ltd is the "controller" responsible for your personal data when you use the Platform. Our registered details and contact points are set out in the "How to Contact Us" section at the end of this Policy.

For data protection enquiries, please contact us at privacy@honcarservice.co.uk.

2The Personal Data We Collect

Depending on how you use the Platform, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

• Identity and contact data — your name, email address, telephone number, postal address and postcode.
• Account data — login credentials, account settings, saved vehicles and saved addresses.
• Vehicle data — vehicle registration mark (VRM), make, model, fuel type, engine details, mileage and MOT history.
• Booking and service data — the jobs you request, quotes, appointment slots, fault descriptions, service history, additional work approvals and communications relating to your bookings.
• Payment data — billing details and a secure payment token. Full card numbers are processed directly by our payment provider, Stripe, and are not stored on our own systems.
• Location data — the postcode and address relevant to your booking, used to match mechanics, calculate coverage and price recovery or travel.
• Communications data — emails, SMS messages, support tickets, complaint records and your contact preferences.
• Media and records — photographs, videos, diagnostic records and inspection or service reports relating to your vehicle.
• Reviews and content — ratings, reviews and feedback you submit.
• Technical and usage data — IP address, device and browser information, and information about how you use the Platform, collected through cookies and similar technologies.

Where you provide a mechanic profile, we also collect business details, qualifications, insurance details, identity verification documents, right-to-work information and bank/payout details required to operate your account.

A mechanic's or garage's public page shows their name, town, postcode and the area they cover, never their street address. For a mobile mechanic, only the postcode district (for example SO15) is shown, and the map shows a circle of their coverage miles around its centre.

Garages not on Hon yet. Some garage pages are for garages that haven’t joined Hon. We make them from public information: the garage’s name, town and postcode from the DVSA’s public list of MOT testing stations (Open Government Licence), details the garage publishes on its own website (such as the services it offers), and its rating on Google, which we show live and don’t store. We keep the garage’s business phone number and email address, taken from its website or Google, so we can contact it when a customer books it. We do this because it is in our legitimate interests to help customers find and book local garages. We keep this information while the page is listed. A garage can ask us to update or remove its page, or object to us using its details, at any time by contacting us (see section 14). If a page is removed, we keep only its DVSA site number so it isn’t added again.

Chat assistant. If you use the chat on our website, we keep your messages and the replies for 90 days so we can improve our answers, then they are deleted automatically. We don't store your IP address with your chats, and we hide anything that looks like a card number. Please don't type passwords or payment details into the chat.

MOT history check. If you enter a vehicle registration in our free MOT history check (on our website or in the chat), we look up that vehicle’s public MOT history from the DVSA MOT history service and show it to you. The MOT history doesn’t include the keeper’s name or address. We keep the result for up to an hour so that checking the same car again doesn’t ask the DVSA again, then it is deleted; in the chat, the registration you type is kept with your messages as described above. To stop the service being misused, we limit how many cars one visitor can check in a day. The MOT information contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Our iPhone app. The Hon Car Service app works in the same way as our website. You don’t need an account to add your cars, check an MOT or turn on MOT reminders: the cars you add, your postcode and your reminders are saved on your phone only, and the reminders are set by your phone, not sent by us. MOT checks and the chat in the app work as described above. If you sign in with your email, Apple, Google or Facebook, you use the same account as on our website, so you can follow your bookings and approve or decline extra work; if you sign in with Apple, Google or Facebook, we receive your name and email address from them. Prices, booking and payment pages open from our website inside the app, and card payments are handled by Stripe. The app has no advertising and doesn’t track you across other apps or websites. To remove what the app keeps on your phone, use About › Clear my data on this phone. To ask us to close your account, use About › Delete my account, or contact us; we keep booking and job records as explained in How Long We Keep Your Data.

Free MOT reminders. If you ask for a free MOT reminder after an MOT history check, we keep the registration, the make and model, the MOT due date, your email address and, if you give it, your mobile number, together with the wording you agreed to and when. We use them only to send you reminders 30 days, 7 days and 1 day before the MOT is due, with a link to book with us, and we check the MOT due date with the DVSA so the reminders stay right. Your consent is the lawful basis: email reminders start only after you press the link in our confirmation email, and text reminders only after you enter the code we text you. Every reminder has a link to stop them, and you can also contact us. If you never confirm, we delete your details after 30 days; if you stop the reminders, we delete them after 90 days.

3How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data:

• Directly from you — when you create an account, request a quote, make a booking, contact support, submit a review or otherwise communicate with us.
• Automatically — through cookies and similar technologies when you use the Platform.
• From third parties — including vehicle data and parts pricing providers, the DVSA MOT history service and DVLA vehicle lookups, our payment provider (Stripe), and mechanics or garages connected to your booking.

4How We Use Your Data and Our Lawful Bases

We process your personal data on the following lawful bases under the UK GDPR:

• Performance of a contract — to create and manage your account, generate quotes, process and fulfil bookings, share necessary details with the assigned mechanic, take payment, administer warranties and provide customer support.
• Legitimate interests — to operate, secure and improve the Platform, prevent fraud and misuse, handle complaints and disputes, maintain service and vehicle records, and carry out analytics. We balance these interests against your rights and freedoms.
• Legal obligation — to comply with tax, accounting, consumer-protection and other legal requirements, and to respond to lawful requests from authorities.
• Consent — for optional marketing communications and any non-essential cookies. You may withdraw consent at any time.

5Who We Share Your Data With

We share personal data only where necessary, and never sell your data to third parties for their own marketing. We may share data with:

• Mechanics and garages — the booking, vehicle and contact details needed to carry out your work.
• Payment providers — Stripe (including Stripe Connect) to authorise, collect, remit and refund payments and to process mechanic payouts.
• Communications providers — our email provider (for transactional and, where consented, marketing email) and our SMS provider (The SMS Works) for booking notifications and verification codes.
• Data and lookup providers — vehicle data, MOT history (DVSA) and DVLA lookup services used to identify your vehicle and price work, and a postcode lookup service (postcodes.io) used to check distances and coverage.
• Map provider — maps on mechanic and garage pages are loaded from OpenStreetMap, which receives your IP address and browser details in order to send the map images.
• Professional advisers and service providers — hosting providers, IT, security, insurers, accountants and legal advisers who support our business under appropriate confidentiality and data-processing terms.
• Authorities — where required to comply with the law, enforce our Terms, or protect our rights, property or safety, or those of others.
• Successors — in connection with a business sale, merger or reorganisation.

6Payment Data and Security

Card payments are processed by Stripe. We do not store full card numbers on our own systems; instead, your card is securely tokenised by Stripe so that authorised payments and approved additional work can be collected when work is completed.

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss or misuse.

7International Transfers

Some of our service providers may process data outside the UK. Where this happens, we take steps to ensure your data is protected by an adequate level of safeguard recognised under UK data protection law, such as adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses.

8How Long We Keep Your Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to provide the Platform, administer warranties, resolve disputes, and meet legal, tax and accounting obligations.

Booking, payment and warranty records are typically retained for the duration of the applicable warranty period and for the period required by law (generally at least six years for financial records). When data is no longer required, we securely delete or anonymise it.

9Your Rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• request access to the personal data we hold about you;
• request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data;
• request erasure of your data in certain circumstances;
• request restriction of, or object to, certain processing;
• request portability of data you have provided to us;
• withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent;
• complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@honcarservice.co.uk. We will respond within the timeframes required by law. You can also contact the ICO at ico.org.uk.

10Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the Platform, remember your preferences, keep you signed in, maintain security and understand how the Platform is used. Some cookies are essential for the Platform to function; others are optional and used only with your consent.

You can manage non-essential cookies through our cookie controls (where provided) and your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect how the Platform works.

11Marketing Communications

We may send you service-related messages necessary to manage your bookings and account. We will only send you marketing communications where you have agreed to receive them, and you can opt out at any time using the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us.

12Children

The Platform is intended for users aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

13Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will always be published on the Platform with an updated effective date. Where changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to notify you.

14Contact Us

If you need to contact us, please use the details below.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection, at ico.org.uk.