Last updated: 9 November 2026
AutoHitch (www.autohitch.co.uk) is a used-car marketplace operated by CARBOTIXUK LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16630108), whose registered office is Ravensbury Lodge, Warfleet, Dartmouth, England, TQ6 9BZ. We are the controller of the personal data described in this policy.
Contact us about privacy at info@autohitch.co.uk or by post at the address above.
Please do not include sensitive information, such as health details, in an enquiry or AI search.
Our GA4 event payloads do not include buyer names, email addresses, phone numbers, registration plates or AI conversation text. Vehicle reporting URLs use catalogue IDs instead of registration-containing slugs. Search terms may be included when provided, so avoid entering personal information in searches.
| Information | Examples | Purpose and legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiry details | Name, email, phone, message, preferred contact method, part-exchange choice, preferred viewing date and time, and the car you asked about. | To deliver your enquiry, confirm receipt and let the dealer manage it. Steps taken at your request before a contract and our legitimate interests in operating the marketplace. |
| Account details | Name, email and sign-in information when you create or use an account. | To provide and secure your account. Contract and legitimate interests in account security. |
| Dealer and staff details | Business contact names, emails and phone numbers. | To operate dealer accounts and send service communications and dealer reports. Contract and legitimate interests. |
| AI and voice search | The requests you type or say, conversation history and matching results. | To find cars matching your requests and provide the search feature. Legitimate interests. Voice requests are processed by our voice-service provider. |
| Website analytics, with Analytics consent | Pages and cars viewed, searches, saved cars and contact actions. Analytics providers may also receive device/browser information and derive general location. | To understand site usage and improve the service. Analytics consent does not grant Marketing consent. |
| Advertising measurement, with Marketing consent | Page and vehicle views, search and wishlist actions, contact actions, enquiry events and advertising attribution such as UTMs, fbclid and landing URL. Google enhanced enquiry conversions also use a hashed email address, if provided. | To measure and improve our Google, Facebook and Instagram advertising. Consent. Advertising providers receive event information, browser/device information and cookie identifiers. Buyer enquiry form fields are not included in our Meta pixel payloads. |
| Anonymous advert visit counts | A daily count per car and dealer of qualifying visits arriving from our adverts. | To report advertising results. The tally stores no visitor identifiers, cookies, IP addresses, user agents, fbclid or full URLs. It is separate from operational security logs. |
| Security and operational information | IP addresses, browser/request information and diagnostic or error logs where generated by our services and hosting providers. | To protect the service, prevent misuse and diagnose problems. Legitimate interests. |
If you have accepted marketing cookies and send an enquiry, we share a scrambled (hashed) copy of your email address with Google so it can tell us whether the enquiry came from one of our Google ads. Google receives the hashed address rather than the original address and uses it to match and measure our advertising. It is never sent if you haven't accepted marketing cookies.
Some service providers, including Google, Meta, OpenAI, Twilio SendGrid, Clerk and ElevenLabs, may process information outside the UK, including in the United States.
Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, applicable UK data-protection transfer requirements must be met. Depending on the destination and provider, this may involve UK adequacy regulations, the UK–US data bridge where the recipient is eligible, or contractual safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum. Contact info@autohitch.co.uk for information about the safeguards applicable to a particular transfer.
We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to handle your enquiry or provide your account, meet legal obligations and resolve disputes. Retention depends on the type of data and the purpose for which it is held.
Relevant factors include whether an enquiry or account remains active, whether information is needed to investigate security incidents or complaints, and any applicable legal or accounting requirements. Third-party analytics retention also depends on the provider settings and applicable terms. Cookie lifetimes are explained separately in our Cookie Policy.
Anonymous daily advert counts may be retained for longer because they contain no personal data.
Depending on the circumstances, you can ask to access your personal data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to processing, or receive a portable copy. These rights are subject to legal conditions and exceptions.
You can withdraw Analytics or Marketing consent at any time using Cookie settings in the footer. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before you withdrew consent.
Email info@autohitch.co.uk to exercise your rights. We normally respond within one month. Where the law permits an extension, we will explain the reason and timing.
You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. You do not need to contact us first, although we would welcome the chance to resolve your concern.
We will update this page when our practices change and show the last-updated date at the top.