Home > Privacy Statement – Volkswagen UK Approved Bodyshop Repair

Privacy Statement – Volkswagen UK Approved Bodyshop Repair


Volkswagen UK, a trading name of Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Limited (“we”/”us”), are committed to protecting and respecting any personal information you share with us.

This statement describes what types of information we collect from you when you use this website or contact us to arrange a vehicle repair through one of our Approved Bodyshop Repair Centres (“Bodyshops”), how it is used by us, how we share it with others, how you can manage the information we hold and how you can contact us.

For the purposes of data protection laws, Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Limited is a ‘controller’ of your personal information which means Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Limited decides why and how it is processed. It also means we are responsible for that processing, which extends to those of our subcontractors who process your information based on our instructions. Each Bodyshop is a separate business to Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Limited and, once it receives your personal information, its privacy statement (and not ours) will apply to the processing of your information.

We will never send you unsolicited ‘junk’ email or communications, or share your data with anyone else who might. We do not sell your information to third parties, but we do work closely with Bodyshops and other selected partners who help us to provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us who we will share your data with when you complete a request for a quote or make an enquiry on our website.

The contents of this statement may change from time-to-time so you may wish to check this page occasionally to ensure you are still happy to share your information with us. Where possible, we will also contact you directly to notify you of any substantial changes.

This version of our Privacy Statement is live from 23 May 2024.

What information do we collect?

We collect information about you and your vehicle when you use our website, and Bodyshops. We only collect information which is necessary, relevant and adequate for the purpose you are providing it for.

We collect information about you or your vehicle when you use our website, and Bodyshops. Some of this information does not identify you personally, but provides us with information about how you use our services and engage with us (we use this information to improve our services and make them more useful to you).

The information we collect includes some or all of the following:

  1. Name (including title);
  2. Phone number;
  3. Email address;
  4. Vehicle information (including registration number, vehicle type and a description of the damage or condition of the vehicle);
  5. The date and time you used our services;
  6. Your IP address;
  7. Your GPS location (where you have permitted access to this);
  8. The internet browser and devices you are using;
  9. Cookie information (for more information please see our Cookie Policy);
  10. Voice recordings of calls you make to our customer service centre;
  11. The web site address from which you accessed our web site;
  12. The date and time you used our services.

How do we use this information?

We will only process information that is necessary for the purpose for which it has been collected.

There are various ways in which we may use or process your personal information. We list these below:

Consent

Where you have provided your consent, we may use and process your information:

To contact you from time to time about promotions, events, products, services or information which we think may be of interest to you (don’t worry, we won’t bombard you).

We also process personal information we obtain from optional cookies that we set on this website based on your consent. For more information, please review our Cookie Policy.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at the email address below.

Legitimate Interests

To respond to correspondence you send to us and fulfil the requests you make to us.

Processing necessary for us to support customers with sales and other enquiries

  1. To respond to correspondence you send to us and fulfil the requests you make to us (for example, for quotes or repair requests);

Processing necessary for us to respond to understanding customers’ and drivers’ needs

  1. To analyse, evaluate and improve our products and services so that your visit and use of our website, and customer service centre are more useful and enjoyable (we will generally use data amalgamated from many people so that it doesn’t identify you personally);
  1. To undertake market analysis and research (including contacting you with customer surveys) so that we can better understand you as a customer and provide tailored offers, products and services that we think you will be interested in;
  1. For product development purposes (for example to improve vehicle quality, performance and safety);
  1. In some cases we may use automated methods to analyse, combine and evaluate information that you have provided to us (including the sharing of your personal information within our group of companies (see details about our group companies for a full list). We collect and analyse this information in this way so that we can deliver the most appropriate customer experience to you by tailoring and making relevant all our service and communications. Processing necessary for us to promote our business;

Processing necessary for us to operate the administrative and technical aspects of our business efficiently and effectively

  1. For network and information security purposes i.e. in order for us to take steps to protect your information against loss, damage, theft or unauthorised access;
  1. To comply with a request from you in connection with the exercise of your rights (for example where you have asked us to delete your data, we will keep a record of this on our suppression lists in order to be able to comply with your request);
  1. To inform you of updates to our terms and conditions and policies;
  1. For our internal operations, including troubleshooting, testing, training and quality, and statistical purposes.

Legal Obligation

We may process your personal information to comply with our legal requirements (for example, to register your car with the DVLA).

Vital Interest

Sometimes we will need to process your personal information to contact you if there is an urgent safety or product recall notice and we need to tell you about it.

How do we share this information?

We do not sell your information to third parties. However, we may disclose your information to our service providers, including the provider of our customer services centre and online analytics services, and our legal and other professional advisors. We may also disclose your information to the relevant Bodyshops to facilitate vehicle repairs and to manage contact with you about the repairs.

There are circumstances where we share your information with our parent company (or other companies within our corporate group) in order to handle complaints or provide you with a service or information that you have requested. For example, we will share information with Volkswagen Financial Services UK Limited where you enquire about their services through us or where you make a complaint to us and later make the same or similar complaint to them. Volkswagen Financial Services UK Limited may use your information to provide you with information and carry out their obligations arising from contracts you enter into with them. For more information, please see their privacy statement.

Transfers outside Europe

Due to the international nature of our business, there may be some instances where your information is processed or stored outside of the UK. Those countries may not have similar data protection laws to the UK and so may not protect the use of your personal information to the same standard.

In those instances, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Privacy Statement. These steps include imposing contractual obligations on the recipient of your personal information using standard clauses issued by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (or other relevant body) and relying on decisions issued by the relevant UK Secretary of State (or other relevant person) declaring that a recipient or country is adequately protective of personal information to a degree that allows us to safely transfer your personal information to that recipient or country. This includes any international frameworks that allow recipients to certify that they can receive your personal information safely and process it in a manner that is protected to an equivalent standard as that under UK laws.

Please contact us using the details at the end of this Privacy Statement for more information about the protections that we put in place and to obtain a copy of the relevant documents.

If you use our services whilst you are outside the UK, your information may be transferred outside the UK in order to receive those services.

How long do we keep your information for?

We will not hold your personal information in an identifiable format for any longer than is necessary. If you are a customer or otherwise have a relationship with us we will hold personal information about you for a longer period than if we have obtained your details in connection with a prospective relationship.

We do not retain personal information in an identifiable format for longer than is necessary.

If we have a relationship with you (e.g. you are a customer or the registered driver of a leased or other vehicle purchased from us or an authorised dealer), we hold your personal information for 7 years from the date our relationship ends. We hold your personal information for this period to establish, bring or defend legal claims. Our relationship may end for a number of reasons including where the vehicle warranty or lease expires, or we have been made aware that you no longer own or drive that vehicle.

The only exceptions to the periods mentioned above are where:

  1. the law requires us to hold your personal information for a longer period, or delete it sooner;
  2. you have raised a legal claim, complaint or concern regarding a product or service offered by us, in which case we will retain your information for a period of 6 years following the date of that complaint or query; or
  3. you exercise your right to have the information erased (where it applies) and we do not need to hold it in connection with any of the reasons permitted or required under the law (see How can you manage the information we hold about you? below).

How can you manage the information we hold about you?

You have the right as an individual to access your personal information we hold about you and make corrections if necessary. You also have the right to withdraw any consent you have previously given us and ask us to erase information we hold about you. You can also object to us using your personal information (where we rely on our business interests to process and use your personal information).

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal information under data protection law. In relation to most rights, we will ask you for information to confirm your identity and, where applicable, to help us search for your personal information. Except in rare cases, we will respond to you within 1 month after we have received any request (including any identification documents requested).

You have the right to:

  1. Ask for a copy of the information that we hold about you;
  2. Correct and update your information;
  3. Withdraw your consent (where we rely on it);
  4. Object to our use of your information (where we rely on our legitimate interests to use your personal information) provided we do not have any continuing lawful reason to continue to use and process the information. When we do rely on our legitimate interests to use your personal information for direct marketing, we will always comply with your right to object;
  5. Erase your information (or restrict the use of it), provided we do not have any continuing lawful reason to continue to use and process that information;
  6. Transfer your information in a structured data file (in a commonly used and machine-readable format), where we rely on your consent to use and process your personal information or need to process it in connection with your contract.

You also have the right not to be subject to purely automated decisions (including profiling) where this has a significant effect on you. We do not envisage that any decisions will be taken about you in this way, however we will update this statement if this changes.

You can exercise the above rights and/or manage your information by contacting us using the details below.

Volkswagen Customer Services
PO Box 9004
LEEDS LS1 9WA
Email: customerservices@volkswagen.co.uk
Telephone: 0800 333 666

If you have any specific data protection concerns or a complaint, you can address it to our Data Protection Team at dataprotection@vwg.co.uk.

If you are unhappy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the data protection regulator in the UK. The contact details for the ICO are:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Email: casework@ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113