1. Introduction
Welcome to MH Car Detailing (“we”, “our”, or “us”). We are committed to safeguarding your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is protected in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect from you when you visit our website (https://mhcardetailing.co.uk), request a valeting or detailing quote, make a booking, or communicate with us, and describes how we handle, store, and respect that data.
2. Information We Collect
We may collect, store, and process the following categories of personal information:
Contact & Identification Details
Your full name, email address, telephone number, and postal address or postcode for mobile location verification.
Vehicle Specification Information
Vehicle make, model, registration year, current paint condition, and any requested custom treatments (e.g. ceramic coating, deep interior valet).
Correspondence & Enquiries
Details you provide when requesting a quote via our online forms, phone calls, WhatsApp, or email exchanges.
Transaction & Service History
Records of services provided, quotes issued, invoice dates, and payment confirmations (note: card details are never stored on our servers).
3. How We Use Your Personal Data
We use the information we collect for the following operational and customer care purposes:
- Providing Quotations & Estimates: Calculating accurate pricing based on your vehicle specifications, location, and desired package.
- Executing Mobile Appointments: Attending your designated address across Basingstoke and Hampshire to carry out agreed car valeting and detailing treatments.
- Customer Communication: Confirming appointments, notifying you of arrival times, answering technical queries, and sending service follow-ups.
- Billing & Accounting: Generating invoices and keeping accurate records in compliance with UK tax regulations.
- Website Optimization: Monitoring site health, page load speeds, and technical performance to ensure a smooth user experience.
4. Lawful Basis for Processing (UK GDPR)
Under the UK GDPR, we must have a valid lawful basis to process your personal data. We rely on the following bases:
| Purpose | Type of Data | Lawful Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Responding to quote requests & enquiries | Name, email, phone, vehicle info | Legitimate Interests — to provide you with the information you requested. |
| Booking & delivering car detailing services | Name, contact info, service address, vehicle details | Performance of a Contract — necessary to perform our service agreement with you. |
| Invoicing & statutory bookkeeping | Billing details, service history, invoices | Legal Obligation — compliance with HMRC and UK business accounting laws. |
| Website usage tracking & performance metrics | Pseudonymised IP address, browser type, analytics cookies | Legitimate Interests / Consent — evaluating and improving site performance and usability. |
7. Third-Party Sharing & Disclosures
We do not sell, rent, commercialize, or trade your personal data. We only disclose information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our business under strict confidentiality agreements:
- Hosting Infrastructure: High-performance secure web servers hosting our static site files.
- Google LLC: Provider of Google Analytics and Search Console reporting services (governed by Google’s EU/UK Standard Contractual Clauses).
- Professional Advisers & Regulators: Professional accountants, legal counsel, or law enforcement bodies if required under applicable UK statutory legal obligations.
8. Data Security & Storage
We implement robust technical and organizational measures to safeguard your personal information against unauthorized access, loss, alteration, or disclosure.
- All website traffic is encrypted using 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL / TLS) encryption.
- Access to customer communication and enquiry records is strictly restricted to authorized business personnel.
- Electronic devices storing customer contact details are protected with strong authentication and hardware-level encryption.
9. How Long We Retain Your Data
We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy, including satisfying legal, accounting, or reporting obligations:
- General Enquiries & Quotes: Kept for up to 12 months from the date of the quote to assist with ongoing enquiries, after which they are securely deleted.
- Completed Bookings & Invoices: Retained for 6 years in line with UK statutory HMRC accounting and business record regulations.
- Analytics Data: Google Analytics event data is retained according to standard retention settings (typically 2 to 14 months) on an anonymized basis.
10. Your Rights Under UK GDPR
Under UK data protection legislation, you have significant rights regarding your personal information:
Right of Access
You can request copies of the personal data we hold about you (a “Subject Access Request”).
Right to Rectification
You have the right to request correction of inaccurate, incomplete, or out-of-date personal data.
Right to Erasure
You can request the deletion of your personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing (“Right to be Forgotten”).
Right to Restriction
You can ask us to suspend processing your personal data under certain circumstances (e.g. while verifying its accuracy).
Right to Object
You can object to the processing of your data where we rely on legitimate interests as our legal basis.
Right to Data Portability
You can ask for your personal information to be transferred to you or a third party in a structured, machine-readable format.
To exercise any of these rights, please email us directly at michael@mhcardetailing.co.uk. We respond to all verified requests within one calendar month at no charge.
11. Contact Us & Regulatory Complaints
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, our data practices, or would like to exercise any of your statutory rights, please contact our data controller:
Michael Holt
MH Car Detailing
UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
If you are not satisfied with how we handle any privacy request or complaint, you have the right to lodge a formal complaint with the UK supervisory authority:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Helpline: 0303 123 1113 • Website: www.ico.org.uk