Last updated: 2 October 2026
This privacy notice explains how VDR Auto Limited (“VDR AUTO”, “we”, “us” or “our”) collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you visit vdrauto.co.uk, contact us, or use our garage services. It also explains your rights and how to exercise them. We have written it in plain English. If anything is unclear, please contact us.
1. Who we are
VDR Auto Limited (registered in Scotland, company number SC882799, registered office 33 Craigmore Street, Dundee, DD3 0DZ) is the data controller for the personal information described in this notice. This means we decide how and why it is used, and we are responsible for looking after it.
- Garage address: 42 Frederick Street, Dundee, DD3 8RR, Scotland
- Telephone: 01382 722039
- Email: info@vdrauto.co.uk
We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator. Our registration number is shown at the bottom of every page of this website. We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer because we are not required to, but you can contact us about anything in this notice using the details above.
2. The information we collect
Information you give us
- Quote and enquiry form: your name, telephone number, email address (optional), vehicle registration, vehicle make and model, the service you need, your message and your preferred contact method. The form does not accept photographs or other files.
- Phone calls and emails: your contact details and anything you tell us about you, your vehicle or the work you need.
- When we carry out work for you: your contact details, vehicle details (including registration, mileage and service history), the work agreed and carried out, invoices and payment records.
- VDR V12 garage assistant: the messages you type into the chat. Please do not enter personal details such as your name, phone number, email address or payment details in the chat.
Information collected automatically
- Technical information: when you visit the website, our hosting provider’s servers record technical details such as your IP address, browser type, the pages requested and the date and time, to deliver the site and keep it secure.
- Security checks: to protect our forms and assistant from spam and abuse, we keep short-lived counters linked to a scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address. If Cloudflare Turnstile is active on our form, it processes technical information about your browser and connection to tell people and bots apart.
- Cookies and similar technologies: see our Cookie Policy for full details. We only use essential cookies unless you choose to accept optional ones.
We do not ask for, and do not want to receive, special category information such as health or financial account details through the website.
3. How we use your information and our lawful basis
Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each way we use personal information. These are ours:
| What we use it for | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Replying to your enquiry, giving you a quote and arranging a time for the work | Taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, and our legitimate interest in responding to people who contact us |
| Carrying out work on your vehicle, arranging your MOT with our partner testing station, invoicing and taking payment | Performance of a contract with you |
| Sending you an automatic confirmation that we received your enquiry (if you give us your email address) | Our legitimate interest in letting you know your enquiry arrived safely |
| Keeping business, tax and accounting records | Legal obligation |
| Answering questions through the VDR V12 garage assistant | Our legitimate interest in helping visitors find information quickly |
| Keeping the website, forms and assistant secure, and preventing spam, fraud and misuse | Our legitimate interest in protecting our business, our customers and our website |
| Loading the Google Map on our website | Your consent, given through our cookie banner or by clicking “Show map”. You can withdraw it at any time. |
| Dealing with complaints, warranty questions or legal claims | Our legitimate interest in handling these properly, and legal obligation where it applies |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered your rights and expectations and are satisfied that our use is fair and proportionate. You can ask us for more information about this balancing, and you have the right to object (see section 8).
We do not send marketing emails or messages. If we ever want to, we will only do so with your consent.
4. The VDR V12 garage assistant
VDR V12 is an automated assistant that answers general questions about our services, prices, opening times and common vehicle problems. It is not a person and its answers are general guidance, not a diagnosis or a quote.
- Your messages are sent to Anthropic, which provides the Claude AI model that writes the replies. Anthropic acts as our service provider (processor).
- Before sending, our website automatically removes email addresses, phone numbers and long card-style numbers from your messages.
- We do not store chat conversations on our website. The conversation is kept only in your own browser (session storage) and is cleared when you close the tab.
- Anthropic keeps the messages for a limited period to provide the service and keep it safe, as set out in its commercial terms and privacy policy, and does not use them to train its models.
- VDR V12 does not make decisions about you. It cannot book appointments or agree prices.
5. Who we share your information with
We do not sell your personal information. We only share it where needed, with:
- IONOS: our website hosting and email provider, which stores the website, enquiry records and emails.
- Anthropic: if you use the VDR V12 garage assistant (see section 4).
- Google: only if you accept optional cookies or click “Show map”, when the Google Map loads in your browser. Our homepage review belt shows review screenshots stored on our own website, so displaying them does not send your information to Google.
- Cloudflare: if Cloudflare protection or Turnstile is active, for security checks.
- Our partner MOT testing station: your vehicle details, and your contact details where needed, so it can carry out the MOT we arrange for you.
- Parts suppliers: your vehicle details where needed to order the correct parts for your vehicle.
- Our accountants, legal advisers and insurers: where needed for them to provide their services to us.
- Government bodies, the police or regulators: where we are required to by law, or to protect our legal rights.
Our service providers may only use your information to provide services to us, under contracts that require them to keep it secure and confidential.
6. International transfers
Some of our service providers, such as Anthropic, Google and Cloudflare, may process personal information outside the UK, including in the United States. Where this happens, the transfer is protected by safeguards recognised under UK data protection law, such as the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum. You can contact us for more information about these safeguards.
7. How long we keep your information
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Website enquiries that do not lead to work | Deleted automatically after 180 days |
| Customer, job and invoice records | 6 years after the end of the financial year they relate to, as required for tax and accounting purposes |
| Emails | As long as needed to deal with your enquiry or job, then deleted when no longer needed |
| VDR V12 chat messages | Not stored on our website; cleared from your browser when you close the tab; kept by Anthropic for a limited period as described in section 4 |
| Security counters (hashed IP address) | Up to 24 hours |
| Hosting server logs | A short period set by our hosting provider for security and troubleshooting |
| Your cookie choice | 6 months, then we ask again |
8. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- Be informed about how your information is used (this notice).
- Access a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Rectification: have inaccurate information corrected or incomplete information completed.
- Erasure: ask us to delete your information, where there is no good reason for us to keep it.
- Restriction: ask us to limit how we use your information in certain circumstances.
- Object to our use of your information where we rely on legitimate interests.
- Data portability: receive information you gave us in a commonly used electronic format, where we rely on contract or consent and process it automatically.
- Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent, for example using the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page. This does not affect anything done before you withdrew it.
- Not be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects. We do not make decisions like this.
To use any of these rights, contact us by email at info@vdrauto.co.uk, by phone on 01382 722039, or in writing to 42 Frederick Street, Dundee, DD3 8RR. We may need to confirm your identity. We will reply within one month, and there is normally no charge.
9. How we keep your information secure
- The whole website uses an encrypted HTTPS connection.
- Enquiry emails are sent over an encrypted connection from our own mailbox.
- Enquiry records are private and can only be seen by authorised VDR AUTO staff who log in.
- Our website uses security protections against spam, automated attacks and misuse, and old enquiries are deleted automatically.
- We keep our website software up to date and limit access to the people who need it.
10. Children
Our website and services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through our website.
11. Links to other websites
Our website links to other sites, such as Google Maps, Google reviews, Facebook and GOV.UK. We are not responsible for how those sites handle your information, so please read their privacy policies.
12. Complaints
If you have a concern about how we use your information, please contact us first and we will try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:
- Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
- Telephone: 0303 123 1113
- Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
13. Changes to this notice
We may update this notice from time to time, for example if we start using a new service provider. The date at the top shows when it was last changed. If we make significant changes, we will make this clear on our website.