Privacy Policy

Acorn Group Privacy Policy (last updated: Oct 2022)

Summary

As part of your dealings with any member of the group of companies of which Acorn Group Ltd is the holding company (each company being a “Acorn Group Ltd entity”) we will collect and otherwise process personal information about you in order to supply vehicles, goods and services to you and to administer our relationship with you. This may involve sharing your personal information with third parties. This Privacy Policy describes in detail how we will use your personal information and how you can exercise your rights with respect to your personal information.

If we decide to change this Privacy Policy, we will post the updated Privacy Policy on our websites so that you are always aware of what personal information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we disclose it. The updated Privacy Policy will take effect as soon as it is posted on our Websites.

Introduction

In this Privacy Policy, references to we, us or our (or words of similar import) means the Acorn Group Ltd entity that processes your personal information (as defined below) and interacts with you (for example, the entity from whom you purchase a vehicle or other services).

The documents you receive from any Acorn Group Ltd entity will identify the relevant Acorn Group Ltd entity that you are dealing with in any instance.

These include:

  • Acorn Group Ltd
  • Acorn Kia (Burntwood, Crewe & Macclesfield)
  • Acorn Suzuki
  • Acorn MG
  • Acorn Citroen
  • Acorn Ford
  • Acorn Mitsubishi
  • Motor Contracts Ltd
  • Acorn Business Centre
  • Acorn Approved Used

And for the purposes of this Privacy Policy Acorn Group Ltd and the Acorn Group Ltd entities in the same group as Acorn Group Ltd (including those listed above) shall constitute the Acorn Group Ltd.

In this Privacy Policy, references to you mean the person whose personal information (as defined below) we collect, use and process. This includes anyone who visits our Websites, contacts us in connection with the purchase of a Vehicle and/or any goods or services we provide or otherwise interacts with us (for example, via a dealership).

In this Privacy Policy, references to a Website means any website owned and operated by or on behalf of any Acorn Group Ltd entity including websites of our dealerships

We are committed to protecting your privacy. We will use your personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation thereafter ‘UK GDPR’, and other applicable UK Data Protection laws and regulation that relate to data protection and privacy (known as Data Protection Legislation).

Who is responsible for your personal information?

For the purposes of the Data Protection Legislation the relevant Acorn Group Ltd entity is the data controller in respect of your personal information that we collect, and process as further described in this Privacy Policy.

We may share your personal information with other organisations that may receive and process your personal information as a data controller in their own right. Please see section (iv) With whom do we share your personal information with? For more information.

What information do we collect?

We may collect and process information about you, including your name, date of birth, address, contact details (including email address and mobile phone number), vehicle details, purchase history and data collected as part of any finance application or payment (including previous addresses, employment details and bank account details). This information is referred to in this Privacy Policy as personal information.

We may collect and process the following personal information about you:

  • Information that you provide by filling in forms, including those on our Websites.
  • From our network of franchised dealers to whom you have given your information
  • A copy of your driving licence when you test drive a vehicle or are provided with a courtesy car.
  • When you enquire about or purchase a vehicle or services, we collect personal information to respond to your enquiry and to process and complete your purchase.
  • Details about the transactions you carry out with us including vehicle support services and vehicle purchases and purchases of other goods.
  • CCTV footage in which you feature when you visit our premises.
  • Information contained in and records of communications between us, including e-mails, letters, and text messages
  • Details of your visits to our Websites, including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data (including the country and telephone area code where your computer is located), IP address and the resources that you access (including the pages of our Website that you view).
  • We will collect information concerning your marketing preferences.
  • We also collect information to enable third parties to carry out credit reference checks on you (if you are purchasing a vehicle on finance) and we will receive and process information about the outcome of those checks to complete your purchase.
  • We will collect information relevant to the insurance products that we sell that are provided by third parties.

If you provide us with personal information about another person, you must ensure that before you provide us with their personal information, you have their agreement to do so and that they are aware of the ways in which we use personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy.

Cookie Policy

Please see our cookie policy www.acorn-group.co.uk/cookies

How do we use your personal information?

We use your personal information in connection with our business activities. We may use your personal information in the following ways:

The purposes for which we collect and process your personal data are:

We are lawfully permitted to use your personal data for this purpose because:

We use your personal information to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us including purchase of vehicles and provision of services, and to respond to queries from you regarding those contracts.

It is necessary to enable us to perform our contractual commitments to you.

We use your personal information to manage and administer the relationships between you and us (or one or more of the members of the Acorn Group).

It is necessary to enable us to perform or contractual commitments to you.

To manage and respond to any requests you make to us.

It is necessary in our legitimate interests to serve our customers properly.

We use your personal information to notify you about changes to our services and to otherwise communicate with you; for example, we will use your contact details in order to respond to any queries that you submit to us; and

It is necessary in our legitimate interests to serve our customers properly.

We use your personal information to obtain feedback from you regarding us;

It is necessary in our legitimate interests to serve our customers properly.

We use your personal information to provide you with reminders regarding your vehicle including, for example, when your vehicle is due to have a service or MOT undertaken.

It is necessary in our legitimate interests to serve our customers properly.

To comply with law for example if we are required by any law enforcement agency, court, regulator, government authority or other third party.

It is necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

We record and monitor all telephone calls for training, regulatory compliance, and quality evaluation. These recordings are retained for 30 days.

It is necessary in our legitimate interests to serve our customers properly.

To help us detect and prevent fraud and money laundering and to recover any debt owed to us.

It is necessary in our legitimate interests to protect our business.

To send you marketing communications including promotional offers.

Only where you have provided consent for us to contact you for this purpose.

Marketing Communications

If you agree, we will send you marketing communications via your preferred method of contact to keep you updated with news, offers and promotions that we think may be of interest to you. You can opt out from receiving marketing communications at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link in these emails or alternatively, contacting us directly. More information on how to exercise your data subject rights can be found in Section (vii) Exercising Your Data Subject Rights.

Please note that, even if you choose not to receive marketing communications, we will continue to use your personal information to provide you with important services communications. These communications relate to purchases or vehicle support services as we have a legitimate interest and or contractual obligation to you to do this.

Disclosure of Personal Information

In connection with the above uses of your personal information, we may share your personal information with third parties as described below.

Our Affiliates
We will share your personal information with other Acorn Group entities in the Acorn Group including authorised franchised dealerships. We may also share non-personal aggregate statistics (group) data about visitors to our Websites, sales and traffic patterns with members of the Acorn Group and other parties.

Our Service providers
To third party organisations that provide services to us (including assisting us with carrying out marketing activities, finance companies (who may perform credit checks).

To third party organisations where you have purchased their product (such as insurance providers, warranty providers and roadside assistance providers) and to register your vehicle.

As we believe to be necessary or appropriate
We may disclose personal information where necessary to (i) comply with legal obligations to comply with legal processes (including connection with a court order) (ii) the police and other law enforcement agencies for the prevention and detection of crime and to (iii) prevent and detect fraud including fraudulent transactions or, to (iv) enforce the terms of any agreements we have with or otherwise concerning you (including agreements between you and us (or one or more members of the Acorn Group); or to protect our rights, property or safety or those of our customers, employees or other third parties.

Other Third Parties
If we buy or sell any business or assets (including car dealerships), we may disclose personal information held by us about our customers to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets. If we or substantially all our assets are acquired by a third party (or subject to a reorganisation within our corporate group), personal information held by us about our customers will be one of the transferred assets.

We may pass your personal information to the relevant franchise manufacturer partner relating to your vehicle. They may contact you directly regarding your vehicle and to obtain feedback and/or to provide offers. For more information about how the manufacturer will use your information you can access their full Privacy Policy below;

Kia

www.kia.com/uk/privacy

Mitsubishi

www.imgroup.co.uk/privacy-notice

MG

www.mg.co.uk/privacy-policy

Suzuki

cars.suzuki.co.uk/privacy

Citroen

www.citroen.co.uk/tools/privacy-policy

Ford

www.ford.co.uk/useful-information/terms-and-privacy/privacy-policy

Personal Data Retention

Personal data will be kept for the duration of the retention period determined by the category of data held. At the end of the period personal data will be reviewed and securely deleted or archived. However, we may archive a record (rather than delete it) to comply with any legal requirement for keeping it.

  • Prospects – 6 months retention period
  • Sales Customer – up to 8 years retention period
  • Service only Customer – up to 8 years retention period
  • Parts Customer – 2 years retention period

We will regularly review the personal data we hold, and our retention periods in line with GDPR requirements or any professional rules or regulatory requirements that apply. Some personal data will need to be retained for longer in some cases than in others.

Protecting your personal information

We use technical and organisational measures that provide a level of security appropriate to the risk of processing your personal information. Nonetheless, the security of information transmitted via the internet can never be guaranteed, any transmission made is at your own risk.

To ensure your information remains secure and confidential, for any requests to access personal information or receive copies, we may first require you to provide proof of your identity.

Exercising your Data Subject Rights

You can exercise the following privacy rights including the right to:

  • Obtain information about and access the personal information we process about you.
  • Have incorrect personal information updated.
  • Request your personal information to be deleted.
  • Restrict the processing of your personal information.
  • Object to the processing of your personal information based on our legitimate interests or for marketing communications.
  • Opt-out of direct marketing communications at any time by clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ link contained in all marketing communications or alternatively, by contacting us directly.
  • Submit a complaint to the UK regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office about the collection and use of your personal information.
  • If you think the personal information, we hold about you is inaccurate or incorrect, you can request that we correct this information (including your marketing preferences) by writing to us using the details below.

Third Party sites

Our Websites contain links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to our websites‚ so visitors should always be aware when they are moving to another site and read the privacy statement of any site which collects personal information. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access those using links from our Websites.

We do not pass on any personal information about our visitors to any other site (unless we have obtained your consent to do so). In addition, if you linked to a Website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third-party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site and contact the owner or operator if you have any concerns or questions.

Data Transfers

As part of the services offered to you through the Website, we may be needed to transfer personal information to countries outside of the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Economic Area (EEA). If we do transfer personal information outside of the UK and EEA, we will make sure that appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure it is protected in accordance with UK Data Protection laws.

If you use our services while you are outside the EEA, your information may be transferred outside the UK and EEA in order to provide you with those services.

Confidentiality

The personal data collected via our website, forms and various electronic or telephone communications we maintain with you, will be processed confidentiality by the Acorn Group in accordance with the provisions of UK Data Protection laws.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about how the Acorn Group handle your personal information or are unhappy about how we have done so, you can contact us directly on 01543 685656 or dpo@acorn-group.co.uk or write to us at: Data Protection Officer, Acorn Group Ltd, Cannock Road, Chase Terrace, Burntwood WS7 1JS.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. To do this, you can contact The Information Commissioner’s Office through their website at www.ico.org.uk, by phone on 03031231113 or in writing to Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5A.