Privacy Policy

Who we are

Snap Car Recovery (snapcarrecovery.co.uk) is a vehicle recovery marketplace operating in the United Kingdom. We connect customers who need vehicle recovery with independent recovery operators. We do not carry out recovery work ourselves.

For the purposes of UK data protection law — the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 — Snap Car Recovery is the data controller for the personal information collected through this website.

Snap Car Recovery currently trades as a sole trader rather than a registered company. You can reach us at info@snapcarrecovery.co.uk or 078 3333 9309.

Summary

The short version, before the detail:

• We collect what we need to get a recovery operator to your vehicle — and little else.
• We do not use advertising cookies of any kind. Analytics cookies are set only if you accept them. If you do not, we still count visits to the site without cookies, and you can switch that off.
• We do not take card payments on this website, so we never hold card details.
• We do not send marketing or promotional messages.
• We never sell, rent, or trade your personal data.
• When a job is arranged, the recovery operator receives the details they need to reach you and carry out the work.

Data we collect

Information you give us

• Your name and mobile number — both required to submit a quote request
• Your vehicle registration number
• Your pickup location, and your drop-off location where the service needs one
• Photos of your vehicle, if you choose to upload them
• Your preferred contact channel (SMS or WhatsApp)
• Any additional notes or description you include with your request

Information we obtain about your vehicle

When you enter a registration number, we look it up against the DVLA and DVSA (MOT) services to retrieve the make, model, colour, fuel type, and MOT and tax status. This tells us and the operator what kind of vehicle is being recovered. We query these services using the registration alone — we do not send them your name or contact details.

Location and route information

We use Google Maps and Google Places to turn the addresses you type into precise locations, to offer address suggestions as you type, and to calculate the distance between pickup and drop-off so a price can be worked out. If you choose to share your device location to set your pickup point, that coordinate is converted into an address and stored with your request.

Communication records

• SMS and WhatsApp messages sent to you about your job, and any replies you send back to us, including photos or files you attach
• Emails and the record of any phone calls (we do not record call audio)

Verification data

To view the full details of a job, you verify your identity with a one-time passcode (OTP) sent to your mobile. We keep a record of these verification attempts — the phone number, the time, and whether the code was used — as a security and anti-abuse measure. Once verified, a long-lived access token is stored in your browser so you do not need to re-verify on that device.

Technical data

Our hosting provider records standard server information such as your IP address, browser type, and the pages requested. This is used for security and diagnosing faults, not to build a profile of you.

Visit statistics

We count visits to the website: the pages viewed, the website that linked you here, your browser and device type, page loading speed, and key steps you take on the site. This is kept separately from your quote request and is not linked to your name, phone number, or vehicle. If you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics records the same things, and both tools use cookies to recognise a return visit. See Analytics & advertising below.

How we use it

We use your personal data to:

• Process your quote request and approach recovery operators on your behalf
• Send you your quote, booking confirmations, and status updates by SMS or WhatsApp
• Let you track your job and verify your identity securely
• Pass the necessary details to the operator arranging your recovery
• Alert our team to new requests so they can be actioned quickly
• Detect and prevent fraudulent, abusive, or duplicate submissions
• Respond to questions, complaints, and disputes
• Keep records we are required to keep by law, including for tax purposes
• Understand how the website is used and how people find it, in aggregate

We do not send marketing or promotional messages of any kind. Every message you receive from us relates to a request you have made.

Legal basis for processing

Under UK GDPR we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. We rely on:

• Contract performance — handling your quote request, arranging your recovery, and keeping you updated is necessary to deliver the service you asked for.
• Legitimate interests — fraud prevention, securing the site, keeping records of communications to resolve disputes, and improving how the service runs. We balance these against your rights and they do not override them.
• Legal obligation — where we must retain records or disclose information to comply with the law.
• Consent — we rely on consent for one thing: analytics cookies from Google Analytics and PostHog, which are set only if you accept them. You can withdraw consent at any time in the Cookie Policy. We send no marketing.

Who we share your data with

We share your information only where it is necessary to deliver the service:

• Independent recovery operators — to obtain a price we share the vehicle details, locations, and the nature of the job. Once you accept a quote and the job is assigned, the operator also receives your name and contact number so they can reach you. Operators are independent businesses and are separate data controllers for the information they hold about you.
• Brevo — delivers our SMS messages, and processes your phone number and message content on our behalf.
• WhatsApp (Meta)— where you choose WhatsApp as your contact channel, messages are delivered over WhatsApp and are subject to Meta's own privacy terms.
• Supabase — provides our database and file storage, including the photos you upload.
• Vercel — hosts the website and processes server request logs.
• PostHog — counts visits to the website on our behalf, on servers in the EU. It receives the pages viewed and your browser details, not your quote request.
• Google Analytics — only if you accept analytics cookies. It receives the pages viewed and your browser details, not your quote request.
• DVLA and DVSA — receive the vehicle registration number for lookups, and nothing else about you.
• Google Maps and Places — receive the addresses and coordinates needed for suggestions, geocoding, and distance calculation.
• Partner websites — where you submitted your request through one of our partner sites rather than directly, that partner is identified on your request and may be given updates about the job they referred.

Operators are independent businesses and handle your data under their own privacy policies, as separate controllers. We make reasonable efforts to work with reputable operators, but we cannot control their data practices.

We do not use payment processors. We do not take card payments through this website, and we do not collect or store card details.

Legal and regulatory disclosure

We may disclose data where required by law, or to:

• Comply with legal obligations, court orders, or regulatory requests
• Enforce our Terms of Service
• Protect our rights, property, or safety
• Protect the rights, property, or safety of customers, recovery operators, or the public
• Prevent or investigate fraud, security issues, or illegal activity
• Respond to requests from law enforcement or government agencies

Business transfers

If the business is merged, acquired, reorganised, or sold, your data may transfer to the new owner. You will be told if that happens, and the new owner must either handle your data in line with this policy or give you a new one.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to anyone.

Analytics & advertising

We count visits to this website with PostHog. It records the pages viewed, the website that linked you here, your browser and device type, and key steps you take on the site. It does not record anything you type into the quote form.

Unless you accept analytics cookies, PostHog stores nothing on your device. Visitors are counted using an anonymous code that changes every day, so a visit cannot be linked to you by name or followed from one day to the next. We rely on our legitimate interest in understanding how the website is used. You can object by switching it off in the Cookie Policy, which also explains how it works.

If you accept analytics cookies, PostHog also sets a cookie holding a random number, so it can recognise a return visit. It still does not link a visit to your name, phone number, or vehicle. You can withdraw consent at any time in the Cookie Policy, and PostHog then goes back to counting without cookies.

Google Analytics runs only with your consent. If you accept analytics cookies, it records the same things as above, using cookies that let it recognise a return visit. It does not record anything you type into the quote form, and its advertising features are switched off. The data is processed by Google, which may hold it outside the UK. You can withdraw consent at any time in the Cookie Policy.

We also use no advertising networks, retargeting pixels, social media tracking, or profiling of any kind. We do not make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you.

How long we keep your data

What happens when a period ends

Once a retention period expires, we will:

• Securely delete or destroy the personal data, or
• Anonymise it so it can no longer identify you
• Keep only what we are legally required to keep

You can ask us to delete your data sooner, subject to our legal obligations — see Your rights below. We may also keep data longer where we need it to resolve an ongoing dispute or comply with a legal obligation.

International transfers

Some of our providers operate outside the UK. Where personal data is transferred beyond the UK, it is protected by an adequacy decision or by standard contractual clauses and the UK addendum, as UK data protection law requires.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Rectification — ask us to correct data that is wrong or incomplete
• Erasure — ask us to delete your data, where we have no overriding obligation to keep it
• Restriction — ask us to limit how we use your data
• Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Objection — object to processing we carry out under legitimate interests
• Withdraw consent — where we rely on consent, withdraw it at any time

Note that some records — particularly transaction records we must keep for tax purposes — cannot be deleted on request before their retention period ends. We will always explain which parts of a request we can and cannot act on.

How to exercise your rights

• Email info@snapcarrecovery.co.uk saying which right you want to use
• Include enough detail for us to find your records — your name, the mobile number you used, and your reference number if you have it
• We may need to verify your identity before acting, to make sure we are not disclosing your data to someone else
• We respond within one month, as the law requires. If a request is complex we may extend this by up to two further months, and we will tell you if so
• There is no charge, unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive

If you are unhappy with our response you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection. We would ask you to raise it with us first so we have a chance to put it right.

Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. These include HTTPS across every page, encrypted storage, access controls limiting which of our staff can view your information, and one-time passcode verification before full job details are shown.

No system is completely secure. If a breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to your rights, we will notify the ICO within 72 hours and tell you directly where the risk to you is high.

Your part in keeping data secure

• Do not share your tracking link or one-time passcode with anyone you do not want to see your job details
• Use a device and network you trust when viewing your job, and clear site data on a shared device
• We will never ask you for card details, a PIN, or a password. If anyone claiming to be from Snap does, do not give them and tell us

Children

This service is intended for people aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has given us their data, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the service changes or the law requires. The date at the top of this page always shows when it was last revised. Where a change materially affects how we handle your data, we will take reasonable steps to tell you.

Contact us

For any question about this policy or how we handle your data:

• Email: info@snapcarrecovery.co.uk
• Phone: 078 3333 9309
• Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm (UK time)

See also our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.