Last updated: 14 September 2026

1. About this privacy policy

This privacy policy explains how Local Car Buyer, trading as Sell My Car Essex and Sell My Car Essex Marketplace, collects, uses and protects your personal information.

It applies when you:

• request a vehicle valuation from Sell My Car Essex;
• receive an invitation to Sell My Car Essex Marketplace;
• register or manage a seller account;
• create or manage a vehicle listing;
• submit, receive or accept a vehicle offer;
• register or operate as a motor dealer;
• act as a staff member on a Dealer’s account;
• use our website, dashboard, messaging service or customer support; or
• communicate with us by telephone, email, website form or another method.

For the purposes of UK data protection law, the data controller is:

Local Car Buyer, trading as Sell My Car Essex and Sell My Car Essex Marketplace
correspondence address: Suite 2 Regency House, Station Road, Harold Wood, Romford, Essex, RM3 0BP
Email: marketplace@sellmycaressex.co.uk
Telephone: 01245 922 095

In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to this organisation.

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2/09/2026

2. How the service works

Sell My Car Essex Marketplace connects invited vehicle sellers with approved motor dealers.

The seller journey normally begins by requesting a valuation through Sell My Car Essex. We may offer to purchase the vehicle directly or invite the seller to list it on our marketplace.

Where a marketplace invitation is issued, relevant information already provided during the valuation may be transferred to the marketplace so the seller does not have to enter the same details again.

Approved dealers can view vehicle listings and place offers. Sellers can wait until the offer period ends or, where available, choose to accept an offer that meets their selected Buy It Now Price.

When a seller accepts an offer, the successful dealer must first propose collection dates through the marketplace. Messaging is opened and relevant contact and business information is shared only after a collection day is agreed, so that the inspection, payment and vehicle handover can be arranged.

The purchasing dealer pays the seller directly. Sell My Car Essex Marketplace does not hold or transfer the purchase price paid for the vehicle.

3. Information we collect

The information we collect depends on whether you are a seller, dealer or general website visitor.

Information about sellers

We may collect:

• your name;
• email address;
• telephone number;
• home address, postcode or approximate vehicle location;
• account username and password information;
• your communication preferences;
• details contained in enquiries or support requests;
• records of messages exchanged through the marketplace;
• information about an accepted sale, revised price, completed sale or unsuccessful transaction;
• revised-price reasons, responses and supporting photographs;
• reviews or feedback you provide; and
• evidence that you own the vehicle or have authority to sell it, where required.

Vehicle information

We may collect:

• vehicle registration number;
• make, model, derivative and year;
• mileage;
• MOT and tax information;
• service history and number of recorded service stamps;
• outstanding finance information;
• vehicle condition and known faults;
• warning lights or mechanical issues;
• details of damage, repairs or panels requiring paintwork;
• photographs and videos of the vehicle;
• images of the dashboard, mileage and warning lights;
• vehicle identification number, where required;
• listing description;
• valuation and guide-price information;
• offers received and accepted; and
• final agreed selling price and transaction outcome.

Bidding and auction records

For manual bids, Automatic Bids and private Maximum Bids, we may collect:

• bid and maximum amounts;
• the Dealer account responsible for the instruction;
• the date and time recorded to the microsecond in UTC;
• IP address;
• whether the tie-break setting was selected;
• changes to or the switching off of a Maximum Bid; and
• the auction round and resulting bid history.

Maximum Bid amounts are not shown to Sellers, other Dealers or publicly. Authorised staff may access them only where necessary to operate the Marketplace or resolve a dispute.

Number-plate visibility

Your vehicle registration number will normally be displayed to approved dealers as part of your marketplace listing. It may also appear in photographs you upload.

This allows dealers to research the vehicle, review publicly available MOT information and carry out vehicle-history or provenance checks before making an offer.

Your registration number may therefore be visible to approved dealers while your vehicle is listed.

Vehicle photographs and media

Images uploaded to the marketplace may contain embedded metadata, including information about the device used, the date the image was created and the location where it was taken.

We take reasonable technical steps to reprocess uploaded images and remove available metadata, including EXIF, IPTC, XMP and GPS location information. However, we cannot guarantee that every item of embedded data will always be identified or removed. You should therefore disable location tagging or remove location information before uploading photographs wherever possible.

Removing metadata does not remove personal information that is visibly shown within a photograph. Before uploading an image, please check that it does not unnecessarily show:

• letters or correspondence displaying your address;
• telephone numbers or email addresses;
• people or children;
• reflections that identify the photographer or another person;
• bank statements, finance paperwork or payment information;
• keys carrying an address or identifying tag;
• driving licences, passports or other identification;
• house numbers, street signs or other identifiable address information; or
• any other personal information unrelated to the vehicle listing.

If we ask for finance, identity or ownership documents, these should only be submitted through the designated secure part of the website. They must not be included within your publicly displayed vehicle photographs.

Your vehicle registration number may remain visible in photographs and listing information. This enables approved dealers to research the vehicle and carry out relevant vehicle-history, provenance and finance checks.

We may remove, reject or ask you to replace an image if we believe it contains unnecessary personal, confidential or inappropriate information.

Information about motor dealers

When a dealer registers or applies to join the marketplace, we may collect:

• business or dealership name;
• contact name and job title;
• business email address and telephone number;
• trading and registered addresses;
• company registration number;
• VAT registration number;
• website and online business profiles;
• areas covered;
• types of vehicles purchased;
• proof of motor-trade activity;
• proof of identity or authority to act for the business;
• dealer account users and login details;
• manual bids, Automatic Bids, Maximum Bid instructions and tie-break settings;
• offers, purchases and transaction history;
• platform commission and billing information;
• reviews, ratings and marketplace performance information;
• messages exchanged with sellers or our team; and
• information used to verify that the dealership is genuine and suitable for our network.

Where a Dealer’s account holder adds staff logins, the account holder provides each staff member’s name and email address. Each staff member must complete their own Stripe Identity check. Bids, messages and other actions taken by a staff member are recorded against both the staff member and the Dealer, and the account holder can see the name shown on a staff member’s identity document and disable or remove their access. Staff records are retained with the Dealer’s records even after access is disabled.

Website and technical information

When you use our website, we may collect:

• IP address;
• browser and device information;
• operating system;
• pages visited and actions taken;
• login dates and account activity;
• referring website or link;
• approximate location derived from your IP address;
• cookie identifiers; and
• security, diagnostic and error logs.

Sign-in information

You may sign in using a password or a single-use link sent to your email address. A sign-in link is valid for 15 minutes. The token is stored in hashed form and is deleted when it is used. We may record the request time, use time, account, IP address and security outcome to authenticate the account and prevent misuse.

Verification records

When a Dealer confirms an email address, we send a signed link that works only for that address for 48 hours. When the link is used we record the date and time, the IP address and the browser used. We keep a dated record of each step of Dealer verification – emails confirmed, the verification phrase sent and read back, the telephone number we called, checks against Companies House or other proof of trading, the Stripe Identity result and reference, approval, and any staff logins added or removed – together with the name of the staff member who carried out each check. These records are kept in a form that shows if they are later altered, and are retained as Dealer verification records under section 13.

4. Where we obtain information

We may receive personal information:

• directly from you;
• through a Sell My Car Essex valuation or enquiry;
• when you register for the marketplace or Dealer Portal;
• from another authorised person acting on your behalf;
• from the other party involved in a marketplace transaction;
• from publicly available vehicle, MOT or company records;
• from vehicle-data and vehicle-history providers;
• from Stripe Identity for Dealer identity-verification results, and from fraud-prevention or business-verification providers;
• through cookies and similar website technologies; and
• from review, customer-support or communication providers.

Where information is transferred from Sell My Car Essex into the marketplace, we use it to create or populate your invitation, account or vehicle listing.

Dealers are verified through Stripe Identity. Stripe receives the identity document, selfie and related data the Dealer submits, and tells us whether the check passed and whether the name matches. Stripe processes that data under its own privacy policy. We store the result and Stripe’s reference number, not the document images.

5. How we use your information

We may use personal information to:

• provide vehicle valuations;
• determine which selling route may be available;
• create and manage marketplace invitations;
• create and administer user accounts;
• prepare and publish vehicle listings;
• check vehicle information and history;
• verify vehicle ownership or authority to sell;
• allow approved dealers to inspect listings and submit offers;
• operate scheduled auction rounds, automatic relisting, Maximum Bids, Automatic Bids and Buy It Now Prices;
• notify sellers about new offers and listing activity;
• allow sellers to accept offers;
• connect sellers with successful dealers;
• provide marketplace messaging;
• arrange or facilitate inspections and vehicle handovers;
• record whether a vehicle was sold, sold at a revised price or not sold;
• receive and assess revised-price reasons and photographic evidence;
• allow a vehicle to be relisted following an unsuccessful transaction;
• verify dealer businesses;
• manage dealer applications, accounts, reviews and platform access;
• calculate and collect dealer platform commission;
• respond to enquiries and provide support;
• prevent fraud, misuse and unauthorised access;
• investigate complaints and resolve disputes;
• monitor and improve our website and services;
• meet our accounting, tax and legal obligations;
• send service messages about accounts, listings, offers or transactions;
• send marketing where permitted by law; and
• protect our legal rights and those of marketplace users.

6. Our lawful bases

We rely on the following lawful bases under UK data protection law.

Contract

We process information where it is necessary to:

• provide a valuation or marketplace service you have requested;
• create and operate your account;
• publish and manage your listing;
• allow offers to be made or accepted;
• provide dealer access and marketplace services;
• operate messaging and transaction features; and
• administer dealer commission.

This includes processing bid instructions, Maximum Bids, revised-price proposals, collection-date choices, account authentication and transaction records where necessary to provide the requested Marketplace service.

Legitimate interests

We may process information where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, including:

• operating and improving the marketplace;
• verifying dealers and vehicle information;
• preventing fraud and platform misuse;
• protecting users and maintaining platform security;
• providing customer support;
• resolving complaints and disputes;
• understanding how the service is used;
• maintaining accurate transaction records; and
• keeping auditable bid, timestamp, security and revised-price records;
• promoting similar services to existing customers where legally permitted.

We consider the likely impact on your privacy before relying on legitimate interests.

Legal obligation

We may process information to comply with:

• tax and accounting obligations;
• data-protection requirements;
• court orders and legal proceedings;
• law-enforcement or regulatory requests; and
• fraud-prevention and record-keeping requirements.

Consent

We rely on consent where required, including for:

• certain email or SMS marketing;
• non-essential website cookies; and
• any optional use of information that requires specific permission.

You can withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect processing that took place before consent was withdrawn.

7. What dealers can see during bidding

Approved dealers may be able to see:

• vehicle registration number;
• vehicle make, model, age and specification;
• mileage;
• MOT and vehicle-history information;
• service-history information;
• vehicle condition and known faults;
• outstanding finance information;
• vehicle photographs and listing description;
• approximate vehicle location or collection area; and
• other relevant listing information needed to assess the vehicle.

During bidding, Dealers will not be shown the Seller’s:

• full name;
• personal email address;
• telephone number; or
• exact home address.

Before an offer is accepted, a Seller is shown to Dealers as Private Seller. After the Seller accepts an offer, the successful Dealer must first propose collection dates. Contact details are made available only after a collection day is agreed, where needed to arrange inspection, payment and collection.

8. What happens after an offer is accepted

When you accept an offer:

• the successful Dealer must propose up to three collection dates through the Marketplace promptly, and in any event within two days of acceptance;
• you may choose one of those dates or indicate that you are not yet sure;
• after a collection day is agreed, a private marketplace conversation is opened;
• you are then shown the Dealer’s trading name and the telephone number the Dealer has chosen to display;
• we do not pass your name, telephone number or email address to the Dealer; you decide what contact and collection details to share through the message thread;
• you and the dealer can arrange an inspection and vehicle handover;
• the dealer may use your information to administer the proposed purchase; and
• the dealer will pay you directly if the sale proceeds.

The dealer will normally be an independent data controller for the information it receives and uses for its own business purposes. You should review the dealer’s own privacy information if you want to understand how it will handle your information.

Reports about Dealers

If a Seller reports a problem with a Dealer, we store the report and any details supplied with the record of that sale for review by our team. We do not tell the Dealer who made the report. Reports are retained for the same period as the other deal records, as explained in section 13.

Messages between Sellers and Dealers

We store Marketplace messages so the messaging service works and so we can investigate a dispute, complaint or payment chargeback.

• Messages remain available on the live website for 30 days after the transaction is recorded as finished.
• They are then removed from the live website and retained in encrypted form for a further 180 days solely to investigate disputes, complaints or payment chargebacks.
• Only authorised Sell My Car Essex staff may access the encrypted copy, and only for one of those purposes.
• After the further 180-day period, the messages are permanently deleted unless they must be retained for longer because a dispute, complaint, chargeback or legal claim is still open.

The message thread should be used only to agree the collection time and address. Do not send bank-account details, payment-card information, finance login details or other unnecessary personal information through it.

What a Seller and Dealer see about each other

• Sellers are shown to Dealers as Private Seller before an offer is accepted.
• Dealers are shown to Sellers as a verified Dealer during bidding.
• Once a collection day is agreed, a private message thread opens. We do not pass the Seller’s name, telephone number or email address to the Dealer. The Seller decides what contact and collection details to share in that thread.
• Once a collection day is agreed, the Seller sees the Dealer’s trading name and the telephone number the Dealer has chosen to display.

Verifying Dealers

To protect Sellers, we verify Dealer businesses. We email the Dealer a short verification phrase and then telephone the number shown on the Dealer’s own website or online stock page, asking for the phrase to be read back. We record the number called, who made the call and when. We also check the business details and website the Dealer provides. Identity verification is carried out through Stripe Identity using a government-issued identity document and a selfie, as explained in sections 4 and 9. Dealers agree to these checks when they submit their business details.

We use Dealer verification information to provide and protect the Marketplace, prevent fraud and assess eligibility. Our lawful bases are contract and our legitimate interests in operating a trustworthy Marketplace.

Evidence photographs

If a Dealer proposes a revised price after inspecting a Vehicle, or records that a lower price was paid, the Dealer may upload photographs showing the reported issue. These photographs are stored in a protected folder and are available only to the relevant Seller, Dealer and authorised Sell My Car Essex staff.

Evidence photographs are kept with the deal record for 180 days after the transaction is recorded as finished. They are then permanently deleted unless a dispute, complaint, chargeback or legal claim remains open.

9. Who we share information with

Approved dealers

Vehicle and listing information is shared with approved dealers so they can assess the vehicle and submit offers.

We do not pass the Seller’s name, telephone number or email address to the Dealer. Once a collection day is agreed, the Seller decides what contact and collection details to share with the successful Dealer through the private message thread.

Disputes and transaction evidence

Where reasonably necessary to investigate or resolve a dispute, we may disclose relevant actual bid or transaction records to the other party to that dispute or their professional adviser. We will not disclose a Dealer’s confidential Maximum Bid instruction, its priority timestamp or associated IP address to another Marketplace user or their adviser, except where disclosure is legally required. Our authorised staff may review those records internally to resolve the dispute. We limit any disclosure to what is reasonably necessary. Revised-price evidence photographs remain available only to the relevant Seller, Dealer and our authorised staff. Archived Marketplace messages remain accessible only to authorised Sell My Car Essex staff for the purposes stated in section 8.

Service providers

We may use suppliers that provide:

• website hosting and data storage;
• website development and technical support;
• email, SMS and marketplace notifications;
• customer relationship management;
• live chat and customer support;
• vehicle information and history checks;
• business and identity verification;
• fraud prevention and security monitoring;
• Google reCAPTCHA bot and abuse prevention;
• Wordfence website security and security logging;
• dealer billing and payment processing;
• review collection;
• document storage; and
• professional administration services.

These organisations may process information on our behalf and must only use it for the authorised purpose.

Where you have accepted marketing cookies, we may send Meta (Facebook) a server-side notification that a registration or listing occurred, together with the Meta click identifier from your visit, so we can measure our advertising. We do not send Meta your name, email address or telephone number.

Stripe Identity

Dealers are verified through Stripe Identity. Stripe receives the identity document, selfie and related data the Dealer submits, and tells us whether the check passed and whether the name matches. Stripe processes that data under its own privacy policy. We store the result and Stripe’s reference number, not the document images.

Trustpilot review invitations

After a completed sale, we may copy our feedback email to Trustpilot’s review invitation service. This shares the Seller’s email address and the fact that they completed a sale through the Marketplace with Trustpilot, which may send a review invitation under Trustpilot’s own privacy policy.

Professional advisers

We may share information with our accountants, solicitors, insurers, auditors or other professional advisers where reasonably necessary.

Regulators and authorities

We may disclose information where required by law or where reasonably necessary to:

• respond to a lawful request;
• prevent or investigate crime or fraud;
• protect a user from harm;
• enforce our terms; or
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Business transfers

If our business is sold, reorganised, merged or transferred, relevant personal information may be disclosed to the parties and advisers involved, subject to appropriate confidentiality protections.

We do not sell personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

10. Dealer payments and vehicle-sale payments

The successful dealer pays the seller directly for the vehicle.

Sell My Car Essex Marketplace does not hold the seller’s vehicle-sale proceeds and is not responsible for transferring the purchase price between the dealer and seller.

We use Stripe as the card-payment processor for Marketplace commission and other applicable fees paid by Dealers. Stripe processes the billing and payment information required to complete these transactions under its own privacy policy or on our behalf. These payments are for Marketplace fees, not the Vehicle purchase price paid by the Dealer to the Seller.

11. Communications and marketing

We may contact you about:

• your valuation;
• your marketplace invitation;
• your account;
• your vehicle listing;
• offers or offer-period deadlines;
• accepted offers;
• dealer verification;
• platform fees;
• security notices;
• customer-support matters; and
• changes to the service or applicable terms.

These are service communications and are not marketing.

After a completed sale, we may email the Seller once to ask for feedback and a public review. This email may be copied to Trustpilot’s review invitation service, as explained in section 9, and Trustpilot may send a review invitation. You can ignore the invitation and can ask us not to send feedback requests by contacting us.

Where permitted, we may also send information about related services. You can unsubscribe using the link in an email or by contacting us.

We will respect objections to direct marketing and maintain a limited suppression record so that we do not contact you again accidentally.

12. Cookies

We use necessary cookies to operate functions such as:

• account login;
• website security;
• session management;
• form completion; and
• cookie preferences.

With your permission, we may also use advertising cookies.

Non-essential cookies will not be placed before you have provided the required consent. Further information is provided in our separate Cookie Policy.

13. How long we retain information

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

Our retention periods are:

• Seller account information: while the account remains active. If a Seller requests account deletion through the dashboard, personal details are wiped from the live account immediately and the account is fully purged after 180 days, subject to the limited records we must retain separately for the periods below. Copies may remain in secure backups for up to 30 days after that. Backup copies are isolated from normal use and are deleted through the usual backup-rotation process.
• Completed-sale Listings and all Listing photographs: permanently deleted from the live Marketplace once the sale is recorded, the Dealer’s corresponding Marketplace invoice has been paid and any 48-hour confirmation period has passed. An unpaid £0 commission invoice is treated as paid when it is issued.
• Vehicle and transaction record: the registration, make, model and year, offers received and transaction outcome are retained for six years after completion or the final outcome.
• Bid and Maximum Bid records: amount, time, Dealer account, IP address and tie-break setting are retained for 12 months after the relevant auction round.
• Revised-price evidence photographs: retained for 180 days after the transaction is recorded as finished, then permanently deleted unless a dispute, complaint, chargeback or legal claim remains open. The amount, reason, response and outcome may remain in the limited transaction record retained for six years.
• Marketplace messages: available on the live website for 30 days after the transaction is recorded as finished, then retained in encrypted form for a further 180 days solely for disputes, complaints or payment chargebacks, and then permanently deleted unless one of those matters or a legal claim remains open.
• Dealer account and verification records: while the Dealer remains approved and normally for six years after the relationship ends. This includes the IP address and browser recorded at each verification step.
• Proof-of-trading documents (for example a motor trade insurance certificate) are checked, a note of the check is recorded, and the document itself is deleted.
• Support enquiries and complaints: normally six years after closure.
• Platform commission and accounting records: normally six years after the relevant financial year.
• Security and technical logs: normally 12 months, unless needed for an investigation. IP addresses and browser details held within Dealer verification records follow the six-year retention period above instead.
• Marketing information: until you opt out or the information is no longer required.
• Cookie information: for the periods stated in our Cookie Policy.

Bid and Maximum Bid records may be retained for longer than 12 months where a dispute, fraud investigation or legal claim remains open. Message and revised-price evidence retention may also be extended while a dispute, complaint, chargeback or legal claim remains open. We may retain other information for longer where required by law or while an active dispute, investigation or claim continues.

Information may be anonymised so that it can no longer identify an individual. Anonymised information may be retained for statistical and service-improvement purposes.

14. International transfers

Some technology or service providers may store or access information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will use an appropriate legal safeguard, such as:

• a UK adequacy regulation;
• the UK International Data Transfer Agreement;
• the UK Addendum to approved contractual clauses; or
• another legally recognised transfer mechanism.

You may contact us for further information about the safeguards relevant to your information.

15. How we protect information

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures intended to protect personal information, including:

• account access controls;
• password protection;
• secure website connections;
• restricted staff access;
• software and security monitoring;
• data backups;
• supplier checks and contractual protections; and
• procedures for handling suspected data breaches.

We use Google reCAPTCHA to help distinguish genuine users from automated or abusive activity. Google may process IP address, browser, device and interaction information for this purpose.

We use Wordfence to protect the website and maintain security logs. Wordfence may process IP address, request, login-attempt, browser and security-event information to detect, block and investigate malicious activity.

No online service can guarantee complete security. Users are responsible for keeping account passwords confidential and should tell us promptly if they suspect unauthorised access.

16. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

• ask for a copy of your personal information;
• ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• ask us to delete information;
• ask us to restrict how information is used;
• object to processing based on legitimate interests;
• object to direct marketing;
• receive certain information in a portable format;
• withdraw consent;
• ask for information about international-transfer safeguards; and
• complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Some rights are subject to legal conditions and exemptions. For example, we may need to keep certain information for accounting, fraud-prevention or legal-claims purposes.

To exercise a right, contact marketplace@sellmycaressex.co.uk.

We may need to verify your identity before responding.

Sellers may also request account deletion through the dashboard. The live account is wiped and the remaining purge and lawful retention process is described in section 13.

17. Automated decision-making

We do not currently use solely automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects for sellers or dealers.

Vehicle valuations, marketplace guide prices and automated recommendations may use vehicle information and market data, but they are estimates and do not guarantee a purchase price.

Automatic bidding executes a Maximum Bid instruction chosen by a Dealer. It does not profile the Dealer or decide whether the Dealer should bid; it places the Dealer’s own bids according to the published increment and tie rules. Account restrictions are applied under the Dealer Terms and can be raised with us for review.

If this changes, we will update this policy and provide the information required by law.

18. Children

Our marketplace is not intended for anyone under 18 years old.

We do not knowingly allow children to register as sellers or dealers. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us.

19. Third-party websites

Our website may contain links to other websites, including dealer websites, vehicle-information providers and external services.

Those organisations are responsible for their own privacy practices. We recommend reviewing their privacy policies before providing information to them.

20. Complaints

Please contact us first if you have a concern about how we use your information:

Local Car Buyer, trading as Sell My Car Essex and Sell My Car Essex Marketplace
Suite 2 Regency House, Station Road, Harold Wood, Romford, Essex, RM3 0BP
marketplace@sellmycaressex.co.uk
01245 922 095

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk

21. Changes to this privacy policy

We may update this privacy policy when our services, technology, suppliers or legal obligations change.

The latest version will be published on this page, with the updated date shown at the top. Where a change materially affects how we use personal information, we may also notify registered users by email or through their account.