Privacy Notice

Last updated: October 2026

MotorCircle Ltd (company number 17457033) operates MotorCircle, a UK automotive platform that helps motorists describe vehicle problems, find suitable repair businesses, source parts and use related marketplace services.

1. Who we are

MotorCircle Ltd is the controller of personal data collected through motorcircle.co.uk unless we state otherwise. You can contact us at hello@motorcircle.co.uk.

2. Information we collect

Depending on how you use MotorCircle, we may collect: account and contact details; vehicle details; repair-request information; postcode or general area; precise device location if you choose a browser-based “My Location” feature; conversations with the MotorCircle Agent; photographs you choose to upload; messages between customers and repair businesses; booking and repair-outcome information; saved businesses and marketplace activity; repair-business profile information; membership and subscription status; payment-related identifiers and records; security and technical information; and records of communications with us. Most information comes directly from you. We may also receive repair or completion information from a repair business involved in your request, payment or subscription status from Stripe, and technical/security information generated when you use the website.

Please do not include health information, identity documents or other sensitive personal information unless it is genuinely necessary for the service you are asking us to provide. You can use the MotorCircle Agent without creating an account. An email address is only required where a feature needs it, for example to ask MotorCircle to act on a case, receive a transcript or securely recover email-linked previous cases. Optional fields can be left blank.

3. How we use information

We use personal information to create and secure accounts; provide the MotorCircle Agent; save and resume repair requests; identify relevant types of repair business and route requests; support private messaging, booking and repair outcomes; provide parts, membership and marketplace functions; process and administer subscriptions; answer enquiries; prevent fraud, abuse and security incidents; maintain and improve service quality; and meet legal, tax and accounting obligations.

4. AI-assisted features

The MotorCircle Agent uses AI-assisted processing to help organise information you provide, research relevant technical information and guide you towards suitable repair or sourcing routes. OpenAI processes the information needed for these AI requests on our behalf. We aim to minimise the personal information sent for AI processing. The Agent is not a remote diagnosis and does not replace inspection by a qualified repairer. MotorCircle does not intend to make decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects on you.

4A. Public repair-business information

MotorCircle may create or maintain repair-business directory records using information supplied by the business, information supplied by users, and information obtained from publicly accessible business sources. This can include business name, trading address or general service area, telephone number, website, opening information, service categories and other business-facing details. We use this information to operate and improve the repairer directory, help motorists find relevant services, prevent duplicate records and support business claiming or verification. Where we rely on legitimate interests, those interests are operating a useful and accurate automotive directory and supporting genuine business discovery. A business can contact us to correct inaccurate information or use an available claim process to manage its profile.

5. Repair requests, case access and photos

Each repair enquiry is treated as its own MotorCircle case. Anonymous cases can continue in the same browser using a secure browser-held case token. If no email address is attached, MotorCircle does not use an IP address as proof of identity or as a way to recover that case on another device.

If you choose to attach an email address to a case, that case can later be recovered through the Previous Cases feature. MotorCircle sends a time-limited one-time code to the linked email address before showing previous cases. A numeric case reference or URL on its own does not provide access. Where a case is shared with a repair business, MotorCircle aims to provide only the information reasonably needed to assess or handle the request rather than automatically disclosing the whole private conversation.

Uploaded repair photographs are stored separately from the public WordPress media library in encrypted private storage linked to the repair request. They are used only for the repair workflow and related support. Please avoid including people, house numbers, documents or other unnecessary personal information in photographs.

6. Business profiles

Repair businesses may provide business names, addresses, service areas, contact details, services, logos, photographs and other profile information intended for display on MotorCircle. Some enhanced profile features may only be available to eligible paid members.

7. Lawful bases

We use different lawful bases for different activities. Contract, or steps you ask us to take before entering a contract, applies where processing is needed to provide an account, repair-request workflow, membership, purchase or other requested MotorCircle service. Legitimate interests applies to proportionate security, fraud and abuse prevention, service administration, quality control and maintaining the integrity of the repair-business directory; our interests are to operate a secure, reliable automotive platform and we consider the impact on users before relying on this basis. Legal obligation applies where we must keep or disclose information for tax, accounting or other legal requirements. Consent applies where we specifically ask you to opt in, including the use of a repair outcome to create technical case knowledge while it remains linked to your request, and to non-essential cookies or marketing if those are introduced.

8. Sharing information

We share personal information only where needed for the relevant purpose. Recipients may include IONOS for website hosting and infrastructure; OpenAI for AI-assisted processing; Stripe for membership and payment processing; WPVibe where authorised administration or maintenance requires access; repair businesses, sellers or other users involved in an enquiry or transaction; OpenStreetMap for map tiles and Postcodes.io for postcode and place-location lookup; Google Fonts and Font Awesome for externally hosted font and icon assets currently loaded by the site; providers used for email or other website functions; and regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies or professional advisers where required or appropriate. Stripe may act as our processor for some activities and as an independent controller for activities it determines under its own legal obligations. When a browser connects to third-party map, geocoding, font or icon services, the provider may receive technical request information such as the IP address and browser details. A postcode or place-name search submitted through the repairer search may also be sent to Postcodes.io so that it can be converted into map coordinates. If you choose a browser “My Location” feature, your browser will ask for location permission and the resulting coordinates are used to perform the nearby-repairer search.

We do not sell personal data to advertisers.

9. International processing

Some service providers and their sub-processors may process personal information outside the UK. Where a restricted international transfer occurs, we rely on an applicable UK adequacy regulation or contractual safeguard such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to approved standard contractual clauses, as appropriate. You can contact us for further information about the safeguards relevant to your information.

10. Retention

We keep personal information only for as long as needed for the purpose for which it was collected. Anonymous unfinished chats that have no linked email, repairer lead, selected or allocated repairer, or privacy/legal hold are treated as short-lived records and are prioritised for earlier deletion than recoverable or active cases. Email-linked unfinished cases may be retained longer so the customer can recover them, but they are still subject to periodic review and later deletion or minimisation when no longer needed. Active cases involving repairers are retained according to the repair workflow rather than treated as abandoned.

Private repair photographs are normally removed 12 months after a repair request is closed. Detailed closed repair-request information, private messages and related lead information are normally removed or minimised after 24 months. Short-lived security and rate-limit data is kept only as long as needed for that control. Financial, tax and accounting records are kept for the periods required by law. De-identified technical case knowledge may be retained for longer where it has been separated from the private request and reviewed to minimise re-identification risk. We periodically review retention periods and erase or anonymise information when it is no longer needed.

11. Your rights

Depending on the circumstances and lawful basis, you may have rights to access your personal information, correct inaccurate information, ask for erasure, restrict processing, receive certain information in a portable format and withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent. Your right to object: where we rely on legitimate interests, you have the right to object to that processing. We will consider the circumstances and stop processing unless we have a lawful reason to continue. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. To exercise a right, contact hello@motorcircle.co.uk.

12. Cookies and analytics

MotorCircle uses necessary cookies and similar browser storage for requested functions such as login, security, checkout and temporary Agent conversation continuity. Our current site audit has not identified active advertising or third-party visitor analytics tracking on the public pages reviewed. If non-essential tracking is introduced, we will add the required consent controls before using it. More information is set out in our Cookie Policy.

13. Security

We use technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information, including restricted access to private request data, encrypted storage for private repair photographs, data-minimisation controls and PII scrubbing before consented technical case knowledge is stored. No online service can guarantee absolute security.

14. Changes

We may update this notice as MotorCircle develops. The current version will be published on this page.