Privacy Policy

Last updated: 10 August 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how OTC Auto Services ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, and protects your personal data when you use our website or contact us about our services. We are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who we are

OTC Auto Services is an automotive diagnostics, programming, and specialist services business based in Sheffield, England, operating from locations in Attercliffe and Handsworth.

For the purposes of data protection law, OTC Auto Services is the data controller of the personal data described in this policy. You can contact us about anything in this policy at:

• Email: hello@otcautoservices.co.uk
• Phone / WhatsApp: 07543 065464

2. What personal data we collect

We collect only the data we need to respond to your enquiry and deliver our services:

• Contact details — your name, phone number, and email address when you call, email, or message us on WhatsApp.
• Vehicle information — registration number, make, model, and details of faults or work required, which may be linked to you as the vehicle's owner or keeper.
• Booking and service records — details of the work carried out, dates, and payments made.
• Website usage data — our website uses only a single strictly necessary cookie and does not track your browsing. See our Cookie Policy for details.

We do not knowingly collect data from children, and our services are not directed at children.

3. How we use your data and our lawful bases

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for each use of your personal data:

• Responding to enquiries and providing services — necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, and for the performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)).
• Keeping records of work and payments — necessary for compliance with our legal obligations, including tax and accounting law (Article 6(1)(c)).
• Protecting our business and improving our services — our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)), balanced against your rights and freedoms.

We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

4. Who we share your data with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with:

• Service providers who help us run our business, such as our website hosting provider and communication platforms (e.g. WhatsApp, operated by Meta Platforms).
• Professional advisers and authorities — accountants, insurers, or public authorities where we are legally required to do so.

5. International transfers

Some of our service providers (such as Meta Platforms, if you contact us via WhatsApp) may process data outside the UK. Where this happens, transfers are protected by safeguards recognised under UK law, such as the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) / standard contractual clauses with the UK addendum.

6. How long we keep your data

• Enquiries that do not lead to work — up to 12 months, then deleted.
• Service and booking records — up to 6 years after the work is completed, in line with legal, tax, and warranty requirements.

7. 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 inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure — ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
• Restriction — ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Data portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Objection — object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to any direct marketing at any time.
• Withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time without affecting prior processing.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@otcautoservices.co.uk. We will respond within one month. There is normally no fee.

8. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse, and we limit access to those who need it to carry out their work.

9. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it. You also have the right to complain to the UK supervisory authority:

Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Helpline: 0303 123 1113 — ico.org.uk

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be published on this page with the date it was last updated.