Privacy Policy — Garage Car Lifts UK

Effective Date: October 2025

1. Introduction

We (Garage Car Lifts UK, part of the Garage Equipment Online group) are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and delete your personal data when you use our website or purchase our products and services. We act as the data controller in relation to your personal data.

By using our site or providing your personal data, you agree to the processing described in this policy.

2. What personal data we collect & how we obtain it

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

Category Examples Source
Identity Name, title, gender, date of birth You (account registration, order forms)
Contact Email, phone number, delivery and billing address You, or via third-party (e.g. delivery partners)
Transaction / Order Products purchased, payment details (masked), order history You, payment processor
Technical / Usage IP address, browser type, referrer URL, device, pages visited, session duration Automatically collected via website analytics
Marketing Preferences Your preferences for receiving marketing communications from us You (opt in/out)
Customer Communications Enquiry content, messages you send us, feedback You

We do not generally collect “special categories” of personal data (e.g. health, political beliefs) unless required in rare circumstances and explicitly agreed by you.

3. Why we process your data & legal bases

We only process your personal data where we have a lawful basis. These include:

  • Contract / Performance of a contract: To process and deliver your orders, handle returns, provide support.
  • Legitimate interests: To improve and analyse our website, prevent fraud, manage our business, communicate with you (so long as your rights are not overridden).
  • Consent: Where required (e.g. marketing emails), we will obtain your consent and you can withdraw it anytime.
  • Legal compliance: To meet obligations under tax, health & safety, or regulatory law.

4. How we use your personal data

We will use your data for the following purposes (and only where lawful):

  • Processing and fulfilling your orders (delivery, refunds, warranties)
  • Managing your account and providing customer support
  • Sending you information about updates, offers, or new products (if you consent)
  • Analysing website usage to improve our service (via anonymised/aggregated data)
  • Preventing fraud, securing our site, and enforcing our Terms & Conditions
  • Meeting legal and regulatory obligations

5. Sharing your data with third parties

We may share your data in these situations:

  • With payment processors (e.g. Stripe, PayPal) to process payments
  • With delivery and logistics providers to fulfil shipping
  • With our group companies / service providers (e.g. IT, hosting, email provider) under contractual obligations
  • With legal, regulatory, or enforcement bodies where required by law
  • With marketing or enquiry partners (only with your consent or in strict accordance with law)

All third parties are required to maintain appropriate data security and only process data for the purpose we have authorised.

6. International data transfers

Your data may be stored or processed outside the UK / EEA (e.g. by hosting providers). If so, we will ensure adequate safeguards (such as EU standard contractual clauses) are in place to protect your rights and data.

7. Data retention

We retain personal data for only as long as necessary:

  • Account, transaction, enquiry & communication data: retained for up to 6 years after last interaction to comply with legal, tax, warranty, and business obligations
  • Technical / usage data: retained for 1 to 5 years in anonymised or aggregated form
  • Marketing preferences / consent records: retained while you remain opted in, plus a reasonable period afterward

After that, data will be anonymised or securely deleted.

8. Your rights under data protection law

You have the following rights:

  • Right to access your personal data
  • Right to have inaccurate data corrected
  • Right to erasure (in certain cases)
  • Right to restrict processing
  • Right to data portability
  • Right to object to processing (especially for marketing)
  • Right to withdraw consent at any time
  • Right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

To exercise any right, contact us using the details below. We may require you to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

9. Cookies & tracking technologies

We use cookies to:

  • Enable core site functionality (login, cart, navigation)
  • Analyse site usage (analytics)
  • Store cookie consent preferences

If cookies are non-essential, we will seek your consent on first visit. You can manage or disable cookies in your browser settings, but disabling may affect site functionality.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our business or legal requirements. The updated version will have a new effective date. We encourage you to check this page periodically.

11. Contact us

If you have questions or want to exercise your data rights, contact:

Garage Car Lifts UK
1 Sandford Street, Birkenhead, CH41 1BN
Email: info@garagecarlifts.co.uk
Phone: 0151 909 3891