Privacy Policy

Car and Van Solutions Limited trading as Hilltop Durham Vehicle Hire ("we"/"us") Of Unit 1, Osborne Business Centre, Grove Terrace, Langley Moor, Durham, DH7 8JT are committed to protecting and respecting any personal information you share with us. This statement explains what types of information we collect from you, 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. The contents of this statement may change from time to time so please 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 these changes.



The Information We Collect

We collect information about you when you engage with us either through our hire desk, our website, other digital platforms and over the phone. Some of this information does not identify you personally, but provides us with information essential to allow you to use our services, and also 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. Your personal details including name, date of birth, address, employment and contact details, driving licence information
  2. Cookie information (see our Cookie Policy) Details of communications between us (for example emails or call recordings)
  3. Any other information which you may provide to us.


How we use this information and the legal basis for processing

We will only process information that is necessary for the purpose for which it has been collected. The legal basis of processing will vary depending the type of service you have requested and we have listed some examples of our processing activities below;

  1. Communicating with you about quotes and enquiries including responding to your enquiries (as is necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us and/or as is necessary for our legitimate interests);
  2. Carrying out driving licence checks using your personal information to verify your are eligible to drive on our insurance policy and hold the relevant qualifications required to drive the class of vehicle you wish to hire. (as is necessary for performance of a contract between you and us and/or as is necessary for our legitimate interests);
  3. Using your payment details to process payments or refunds relating to a service provided by us (as is necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us and/or as is necessary for our legitimate interests);
  4. Administering debt recoveries, where you owe us money under a contract or otherwise (as is necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us and/or as is necessary for our legitimate interests);
  5. Undertaking market research and statistical analysis, including analysing your use of our website. This allows us to develop new, or improve existing, products and services (as is necessary for our legitimate interests); and
  6. Fulfilling our obligations owed to a relevant regulator or authority (as is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations and/or as is necessary for our legitimate interests). Our "legitimate interests" as referred to in this document include our legitimate business purposes and commercial interests in operating our business in a customer-focused, efficient and sustainable manner, in accordance with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements.


Marketing

It is your choice whether you receive information such as marketing from us and you can select this by selecting the relevant boxes when we collect your information. We will not contact you for marketing purposes unless you have given your prior consent. If you have opted-in to receive special offers, news and updates from Car and Van Solutions Ltd trading as Hilltop Durham Vehicle Hire we may use your email address to send you information about changes to this website or to inform you of new products or special offers available within the company. You can opt-out of receiving these emails at any point, to do so please email info@hilltopdurham.co.uk. Also, all of our email marketing correspondence to you gives you the option to opt-out of receiving further marketing emails. Please note that you will still receive emails directly related to past or future reservation.



How do we share this information?

We do not sell your information to third parties. Occasionally we are requested to comply with external agencies in relation to data requested. In these situations we will only share the information that is necessary for the third party to perform the processing activity it was provided for, such as;

  1. Our insurance provider (as is necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us and/or as is necessary for our legitimate interests).
  2. Relevant authorities / bodies for the administration of parking tickets, traffic offences and toll road penalties.
  3. Fraud prevention agencies and associations, (as is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations and/or as is necessary for our legitimate interests);
  4. Regulators and law enforcement agencies, including the police, the Financial Conduct Authority or any other relevant authority who may have jurisdiction (as is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations). Some of these third parties may also be considered a data controller in respect of holding your personal data. In these cases, we will provide you with the privacy statements of those parties.


How long do we keep your information for?

We will not hold your personal information 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. In any event, the retention period will be the statutory retention period unless there is a further legal or regulatory requirement to do so.



How can you manage the information we hold about you?

Under the data protection act you have certain rights in relation to the data we hold about you. Under GDPR these rights are extended and listed below;

  1. to obtain access to, and copies of, the personal information that we hold about you;
  2. to require that we cease processing your personal information if the processing is causing you damage or distress;
  3. to require us not to send you marketing communications;
  4. to require us to erase your personal information;
  5. to require us to restrict or object to our data processing activities;
  6. to receive from us the personal information wehold about you which you have provided to us, in a reasonable format specified by you, including for the purpose of you transmitting that personal information to another data controller;
  7. and to require us to correct the personal information we hold about you if it is incorrect.

Please note that these rights may be limited by data protection legislation, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply. If you have a complaint regarding any aspect of how we handle your personal information, please write to us at the above address. If you are still not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you may write to the Information Commissioner's Office at the following address: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,Wilmslow,Cheshire,SK9 5AF.

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.



Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online and from customers.



How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences. We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about webpage traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system. Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.



Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.