Privacy policy
Last updated: 19 October 2026
This policy explains what personal data Mechanic Inspections collects through this website, why we use it, who we share it with and what your rights are. It also explains how we use cookies.
Who we are
In this policy, "Mechanic Inspections", "we" and "us" mean Adam Hunter, a sole trader trading as Mechanic Inspections, of Unit 540, Moat House, 54 Bloomfield Avenue, Belfast BT5 5AD, United Kingdom. We are the controller of your personal data: we decide how and why it is used.
For any question about this policy or your data, email [email protected].
What we collect
When you send an enquiry
- your first and last name, phone number and email address
- the vehicle's make and model, and where it is
- your preferred date, if you give one, and any other details you add
- your confirmation that the seller has been told about the inspection
- whether you would like offers and car-buying tips by email, text or WhatsApp; if you say yes, we also record when you agreed and which wording you agreed to
- how you found us: the website you came from and the campaign labels in the link you followed, if it had any (see How you found us)
- whether you had accepted advertising cookies when you sent the enquiry, and when you made that choice
- if you have accepted advertising cookies: the click ID of the Google, Facebook or Instagram ad you came from (see Ad click IDs), the Meta identifiers stored in your browser (see Meta Pixel and Conversions API) and a reference number for the enquiry
You do not have to give us these details, but without your name, contact details and the vehicle's details we cannot deal with your enquiry.
When you enquire through Facebook or Instagram
If you fill in one of our forms on Facebook or Instagram, Meta passes us the details you enter, such as your name, phone number, email address, town, the vehicle, where it is and when you need the inspection. We use them as described in this policy.
How you found us
When you send an enquiry from this website, we record how your visit reached us: the website you came from, by its address only (for example google.com or chatgpt.com), and, if the link you followed had them, the campaign labels in it (for example "utm_source=facebook"). We read them once when the page opens and store nothing on your device for this, so it works without cookies, whether or not you accept advertising cookies: the labels name our campaign, not you or your click. We use them only to know which websites and campaigns bring enquiries.
Ad click IDs
If you reach our site by clicking one of our ads, Google or Meta adds a click ID to the web address ("gclid" for Google, "fbclid" for Facebook and Instagram). Only if you accept advertising cookies, we send that click ID with your enquiry, so we can see which ad led to it, and keep it on your device so an enquiry on a later visit can still be linked to that ad. Without advertising cookies, it is not used, and we take it out of the web address before any analytics tag can read it.
Technical information
When you visit the site, Cloudflare, which hosts it, processes technical information such as your IP address, browser type and the pages requested, to deliver the site and keep it secure. Cloudflare Turnstile uses similar information about your browser and device to check that the enquiry form is being filled in by a person and not a bot.
On every visit your browser also downloads the site's typeface from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address and browser details. Google Fonts does not set cookies.
If you accept analytics or advertising cookies, Google also collects information about your visit, such as the pages you view, the contact buttons you use, your device, your approximate location and whether you came from one of our ads. If you accept advertising cookies, Google and Meta can also use your visit for advertising, including showing you personalised ads (remarketing). See Cookies below.
Meta Pixel and Conversions API
Only if you accept advertising cookies, the site loads the Meta Pixel. It tells Meta which pages you view and when you send an enquiry, and stores two cookies: one that recognises your browser and, if you came from one of our Facebook or Instagram ads, one with the click ID of that ad.
When you send an enquiry with advertising cookies accepted, our server also tells Meta about it directly (Meta Conversions API). It sends your email address, phone number and name in coded (hashed) form, a coded reference to your record in our CRM, the country, the Meta identifiers above (or the click ID of the Facebook or Instagram ad you came from), your IP address and browser details, and the same reference number the Pixel uses, so Meta counts the enquiry only once. Meta uses the coded details to match the enquiry to a Facebook or Instagram account, to measure our ads and to decide who to show them to.
Without advertising cookies, nothing about your visit or your enquiry is sent to Meta for advertising or measurement (if we message you on WhatsApp, Meta carries those messages as our provider). If you withdraw your consent later, nothing new is sent from then on, but this does not undo what was sent before. We and Meta are jointly responsible for collecting and sending this data: see Who we share it with.
You can also choose which ads you see in your Facebook and Instagram ad preferences, and opt out of interest-based ads from many companies at youronlinechoices.com, opens in a new tab.
How we use your data and our lawful basis
Handling your enquiry, arranging and carrying out the inspection, and sending you the report.
Steps you ask us to take before entering into a contract, and performing our contract with you (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b)).
Sending you offers and car-buying tips by email, text or WhatsApp, if you ask for them.
Your consent (Article 6(1)(a)). You can withdraw it at any time, for example by emailing us. This does not affect messages sent before.
Analytics and advertising cookies, and linking an enquiry to your individual click on one of our Google, Facebook or Instagram ads (its click ID). Advertising cookies also let Google and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) use your visit for advertising, including showing you personalised ads (remarketing).
Your consent (Article 6(1)(a) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations). You can change your choice at any time in Cookie settings.
Telling Meta that you sent an enquiry, so it can measure our Facebook and Instagram ads and show them to people likely to need an inspection. We send your contact details with it in coded (hashed) form, and only if you have accepted advertising cookies.
Your consent (Article 6(1)(a)), given by accepting advertising cookies. You can withdraw it at any time in Cookie settings: from then on nothing new is sent to Meta, but this does not undo what was sent before.
Knowing which websites and advertising campaigns bring us enquiries, from the website you came from and the campaign labels in the link you followed.
Our legitimate interest in knowing which of our marketing works (Article 6(1)(f)). Nothing is stored on your device for this.
Showing you the website: delivering its pages, and the typeface it uses from Google Fonts.
Our legitimate interest in running a website that loads and displays properly (Article 6(1)(f)).
Keeping the site and the enquiry form secure and free from spam.
Our legitimate interest in protecting our website, our team and our visitors from spam and abuse (Article 6(1)(f)).
Keeping the records the law requires, such as accounting and tax records for customers, and a record of the consents you give us.
Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)).
Where we rely on legitimate interests, you have the right to object (see Your rights).
Who we share it with
We share personal data with these service providers, who help us run the business:
- Top Offer Italia Ltd: runs this website and our customer relationship management (CRM) system on our behalf.
- HighLevel, through the TitanForge platform: our CRM: it stores enquiries and sends our emails and messages. Its servers are in the United States.
- Cloudflare: hosts the website, protects it from attacks and provides Turnstile, the anti-spam check on the form.
- Google: Google Fonts, which supplies the typeface on every page you view, and Google Workspace, which we use for our business email.
- Mailgun: delivers the emails sent from our CRM.
- WhatsApp (Meta): carries the messages if you contact us on WhatsApp, or if we message you there.
- Our text message (SMS) provider: delivers any text messages we send you from our CRM.
- Our advertising agency: plans and runs our Google, Facebook and Instagram ads for us, and sees their results, including the enquiries sent through our Facebook and Instagram forms.
Organisations that also use the data for their own purposes
These organisations also use what they receive for their own purposes, under their own privacy policies (see the links under Cookies):
- Google: Google Analytics and Google Ads, only if you accept those cookies.
- Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook and Instagram): runs our Facebook and Instagram ads and lead forms and, only if you accept advertising cookies, receives the data described under "Meta Pixel and Conversions API". Meta may process data in the United States.
For collecting data on this website with the Meta Pixel and the Conversions API, and sending it to Meta, we and Meta Platforms, Inc. are joint controllers, under Meta's UK Controller Addendum, opens in a new tab. We are responsible for telling you about it and for asking your consent. Meta is responsible for your rights of access, correction, erasure, restriction and portability over the data it holds once it has received it, and you can use them directly with Meta; if you ask us, we pass your request to Meta within seven days. What Meta then does with the data is its own responsibility, explained in Meta's Privacy Policy together with its lawful basis.
We may also share personal data when the law requires us to.
Transfers outside the UK
Some of these providers process data outside the UK, for example in the United States. When personal data leaves the UK, it is protected by safeguards recognised under UK data protection law, such as UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses. Contact us if you would like more information.
How long we keep it
We keep enquiry details for 24 months from your last contact if the enquiry does not lead to a booking. For customers, we keep them for 6 years from the end of the tax year in which the inspection took place, to meet tax and accounting obligations. The record of your consents is kept for as long as the enquiry details. Google Analytics keeps the visit data it collects with your consent for no more than 14 months.
If you withdraw your consent to marketing, we stop sending you marketing messages and keep a record that you opted out, so we do not contact you again by mistake. How long each cookie lasts is shown in the cookie tables.
Your rights
You have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you (access)
- have inaccurate data corrected (rectification)
- have your data deleted (erasure)
- ask us to limit how we use it (restriction)
- object to how we use it, and to direct marketing at any time (objection)
- receive your data in a portable format, or have it sent to another organisation (portability)
- withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on it
Some of these rights only apply in certain situations. To use any of them, email [email protected]. We will reply within one month.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have used your data, please tell us first so we can try to put it right: email [email protected] with "Data protection complaint" in the subject line. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it and tell you the outcome without undue delay.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk, opens in a new tab.
Cookies
Cookies are small files that a website stores on your device. We use strictly necessary cookies, which do not need your consent, and, only if you agree, analytics and advertising cookies. Google Tag Manager, which loads the Google tags, is only loaded after you accept analytics or advertising cookies, and the Meta Pixel only after you accept advertising cookies.
You can change your choice at any time:
Strictly necessary
Always on. They make the site work and keep it secure, so they do not need your consent.
| Cookie | Provider | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| mi_consent | Mechanic Inspections (this website) | Remembers your cookie choices, so we do not ask you on every page. | 6 months |
| __cf_bm | Cloudflare | Helps Cloudflare tell people from automated bots to protect the site. Only set when Cloudflare bot protection is active. | 30 minutes |
| cf_clearance | Cloudflare | Records that your browser passed a Cloudflare security check, so you are not checked again straight away. Only set when a check is shown. | 30 minutes (Cloudflare default) |
mi_consent
- Provider:
- Mechanic Inspections (this website)
- Purpose:
- Remembers your cookie choices, so we do not ask you on every page.
- Duration:
- 6 months
__cf_bm
- Provider:
- Cloudflare
- Purpose:
- Helps Cloudflare tell people from automated bots to protect the site. Only set when Cloudflare bot protection is active.
- Duration:
- 30 minutes
cf_clearance
- Provider:
- Cloudflare
- Purpose:
- Records that your browser passed a Cloudflare security check, so you are not checked again straight away. Only set when a check is shown.
- Duration:
- 30 minutes (Cloudflare default)
Analytics (only with your consent)
Google Analytics 4 shows us how visitors use the site, so we can improve it.
| Cookie | Provider | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Google Analytics | Tells one browser from another, so we can count visitors. | 2 years |
| _ga_ followed by an ID (e.g. _ga_X9BP0XRKWY) | Google Analytics | Keeps track of your current visit. | 2 years |
_ga
- Provider:
- Google Analytics
- Purpose:
- Tells one browser from another, so we can count visitors.
- Duration:
- 2 years
_ga_ followed by an ID (e.g. _ga_X9BP0XRKWY)
- Provider:
- Google Analytics
- Purpose:
- Keeps track of your current visit.
- Duration:
- 2 years
Advertising (only with your consent)
They show us which of our Google, Facebook and Instagram ads lead to enquiries. With this consent, Google and Meta can also use your visit for advertising, including showing you personalised ads (remarketing).
| Cookie | Provider | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| gclid | Mechanic Inspections (this website) | Remembers the Google Ads click ID from the ad you clicked, so an enquiry you send on a later visit can still be linked to that ad. | 90 days |
| _gcl_au | Google Ads | Measures how many people who click our ads go on to contact us (conversions). | 90 days |
| Other _gcl_ cookies (e.g. _gcl_aw) | Google Ads | Store details of the ad click for the same conversion measurement. | 90 days |
| _gcl_ls (stored in your browser's local storage, not a cookie) | Google Ads | Keeps the same ad click details as the _gcl_ cookies. | Until you withdraw consent or clear your browser data |
| IDE, test_cookie and other cookies on doubleclick.net | Google Ads (on Google's own domain) | Set by Google on its own domain, if your browser allows it, to measure our ads and show you personalised ads. | Up to 13 months |
| _fbp | Meta (Facebook and Instagram) | Set by the Meta Pixel. Tells one browser from another, so Meta can measure our ads and show them to the right people. | 90 days |
| _fbc | Meta (Facebook and Instagram) | Set by the Meta Pixel when you arrive from one of our Facebook or Instagram ads. Stores the click ID of that ad. | 90 days |
| fr and other cookies on facebook.com | Meta (on its own domain) | Set by Meta on its own domain, if your browser allows it, to deliver and measure ads and recognise Facebook and Instagram users. | Up to 90 days |
gclid
- Provider:
- Mechanic Inspections (this website)
- Purpose:
- Remembers the Google Ads click ID from the ad you clicked, so an enquiry you send on a later visit can still be linked to that ad.
- Duration:
- 90 days
_gcl_au
- Provider:
- Google Ads
- Purpose:
- Measures how many people who click our ads go on to contact us (conversions).
- Duration:
- 90 days
Other _gcl_ cookies (e.g. _gcl_aw)
- Provider:
- Google Ads
- Purpose:
- Store details of the ad click for the same conversion measurement.
- Duration:
- 90 days
_gcl_ls (stored in your browser's local storage, not a cookie)
- Provider:
- Google Ads
- Purpose:
- Keeps the same ad click details as the _gcl_ cookies.
- Duration:
- Until you withdraw consent or clear your browser data
IDE, test_cookie and other cookies on doubleclick.net
- Provider:
- Google Ads (on Google's own domain)
- Purpose:
- Set by Google on its own domain, if your browser allows it, to measure our ads and show you personalised ads.
- Duration:
- Up to 13 months
_fbp
- Provider:
- Meta (Facebook and Instagram)
- Purpose:
- Set by the Meta Pixel. Tells one browser from another, so Meta can measure our ads and show them to the right people.
- Duration:
- 90 days
_fbc
- Provider:
- Meta (Facebook and Instagram)
- Purpose:
- Set by the Meta Pixel when you arrive from one of our Facebook or Instagram ads. Stores the click ID of that ad.
- Duration:
- 90 days
fr and other cookies on facebook.com
- Provider:
- Meta (on its own domain)
- Purpose:
- Set by Meta on its own domain, if your browser allows it, to deliver and measure ads and recognise Facebook and Instagram users.
- Duration:
- Up to 90 days
The enquiry form also uses Cloudflare Turnstile, which runs in a frame loaded from challenges.cloudflare.com and uses technical information about your browser and device to tell people from bots. It is needed to keep the form secure.
To learn how Google uses information from sites that use its services, see Google's explanation, opens in a new tab; for Meta, see Meta's Privacy Policy, opens in a new tab. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings; if you block strictly necessary cookies, parts of the site may not work.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed.