This policy was last updated on 01 January 2025.

Unit 1, Yard 10 Temlon Industrial Estate, Exchange St, Accrington BB5 0LE
Email: sales@alphacarhire.co.uk
Contact Number: 01254 490769
Out of hours: 01204 773132

What Information We Collect

For All Transactions:

We collect:

CONTACT INFORMATION, including:

• Name
• Address
• Phone numbers
• Email addresses

When Renting

When Renting a vehicle, including being added as an authorised additional driver, Subscribing with Alpha Car & Van Hire:

Driving Qualifications and Identify Verification, including:

• Driving licence information, including photos provided by you or images for verification
• Insurance information
• Passport
• Proof of residence
• Personal references

Transaction Information, including:

• Vehicle rental information
• Rental and return locations
• Dates of the rental
• Type of rental and your vehicle preference
• Ancillary products purchased
• Airline and flight number
• Photographs you submit of receipts and/or vehicle condition using the camera feature available on some of our mobile applications and websites
• Billing information
• Charges
• Payments
• Credit Card information

Claims Information

• Information related to details of accidents involving our vehicles, including that of any third parties such as involved individuals, witnesses and police reports

Health Information, including:

• Information about relevant health conditions you have that assist us in providing you with adaptive driving devices; or related to claims involving injuries

Optional Information, including:

• Emergency contact information
• Any preferences or special requirements you may have
• Personal information shared while building and maintaining a business relationship or otherwise voluntarily shared by individuals   

CCTV and other cameras

• Where available, CCTV video recordings and/or photographs of you in public areas of our rental location.

Sensitive information

Alpha Car & Van Hire collects information that is defined as “sensitive personal information” under various state privacy laws.  While such laws may provide an opt-out opportunity for this information, we use and disclose this information only for purposes permitted by law that do not require an opt-out opportunity.

When contacting us for Accident Management Assistance services

In addition to the contact information, driving qualification, transactional and health information listed above, when you contact us for accident management assistance purposes (which we may administer on behalf of the entity that refers your details to us, be it your insurer, manufacturer, employer, dealership, fleet management provider or breakdown provider), we will also collect:

Claims information, including:

• Information related to details of accidents, including that of any third parties such as involved individuals, witnesses and police reports
• Insurance details
• Information about the incident to determine who is at fault
• Vehicle details
• Credit repair details
• Details regarding your vehicle repair needs and your onward mobility needs

When using our Websites and Mobile Applications

We collect:

Browser Information, including:

• Web logs
• Geo-location

Internet or other activities, including:

• Browsing or search history 
• Information regarding your interactions with our websites, mobile applications, emails or advertisements.

Device Information, including:

• Unique device identifiers
• IP address
• Operating system
• Precise geo-location information

Location information (where enabled and with your permission) is used for the following purposes: 

• Our websites use location information (such as postcode, city, metropolitan or geographic area) from your device to provide services, such as finding a branch or location.  

• When using your mobile device, location information and device connections are used to provide you with notifications, offers, confirm rental status information or provide other information to enhance your experience. 

• Where available, allowing the use of location information can enable you to locate the vehicle assigned to you or to expedite your pick-up and return by allowing access when in proximity to your assigned vehicle.  

Permissions to use your device’s camera enable you to upload your photo ID and/or the vehicle’s condition for expedited services (where available).   

Permissions to use your device’s precise geolocation information, camera or Bluetooth connection can be turned off at any time by changing the settings in the mobile application or on your device.  Some features or service options may not be available when these items are turned off. 

Through our use of cookies and other automated data collection technologies

Except where consent may be required by applicable law, when you visit our websites, use our mobile applications, open or click on emails we send you or interact with our advertisements, we or third parties we automatically collect certain information using technologies such as cookies, web beacons, clear GIF, pixels, Internet tags, web server logs and other data collection tools. For more information, please see the “Cookie policy” and the “Social media platforms and advertising networks” section below. 

When Participating in Surveys or Promotions

We collect:

• Marketing preferences
• Feedback on services provided

Our Vehicles

Connected car and telematics data

Our vehicles may be equipped with telematics devices such as pre-installed event data recorders, global positioning devices, systems that may be connected to the Internet or cellular services. We (and at times the vehicle manufacturer and other authorised third parties) may collect information from these telematics devices and other services and technologies and use and share it as described below or as otherwise set out in this Privacy Policy. This information is associated with the vehicle only and maintained as de-identified or anonymised data and will only be linked for the purposes and in the situations described below.  Any information that is linked to you will be treated as personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.  You are responsible for informing passengers and other drivers that vehicle data is collected and used as described in this section.

Depending on your type of rental, we collect and use vehicle data as follows:

• Fuel information: We use this information to facilitate recording and billing for fuel charges.
• Odometer information: We use this information to facilitate billing for mileage charges (where applicable) and to help us manage our fleet. 
• Vehicle diagnostic and performance information: We use such information to help us identify vehicle maintenance needs and to manage the fleet.   
• Location information: We collect and use vehicle location information to:
  • Enable our roadside assistance providers to provide you with roadside assistance.
  • Enable emergency service providers to dispatch emergency services to you.
  • Assist us in recovering a vehicle we reasonably believe is lost, stolen or abandoned.
• Event data recorders: In certain claims situations we may use this information in connection with accident investigations and claims-related efforts. 

We retain vehicle information based on retention periods in accordance with our business needs and legal requirements.  We may use and store this data after the expiry of our contract with you.

Infotainment systems and vehicle manufacturer apps

If you pair a mobile device with our vehicles’ navigation or infotainment systems and choose to use OnStar, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto or other similar third-party software, application, virtual assistant, video or voice recording devices, features, setting, profiles or services on the vehicle or if you choose to use any navigational features on the vehicle’s infotainment systems or other device, your personal information and other data may be transferred and stored on these systems. We cannot guarantee the privacy or confidentiality of such information. You should delete all such personal information and other data from these systems or devices before the vehicle is returned to avoid subsequent occupants of the vehicle accessing this information.

If you download a mobile app made available by a vehicle manufacturer or other third parties and register or enrol the vehicle in that app, your use of the app may result in the sharing of telematics data and other information (including location information and personal information) with the vehicle manufacturer or other third parties. Your use of these apps is strictly governed by the third-party mobile apps’ terms and conditions and privacy policies. Before the vehicle is returned, you should either remove the app from your mobile device or delete the vehicle from the app.

Children’s Privacy

Our websites and online marketing are not directed to, and Alpha Car & Van Hire does not knowingly collect personal information from, children under the age of 18 or your country’s age of minority. If you nevertheless believe that your child has provided us with their personal information and you need to let us know to delete it, please contact us using the link at the top of this page.

How We Use Information About You

We use the information we collect from you or about you to provide you with our services and for the following purposes:

Where it is necessary for the performance of a contract that governs the services we provide to you, including

• To assist the transactions that you (or someone on your behalf, by corporation or other entity) request, such as reserving, renting, purchasing, leasing motor vehicles, fleet management services or providing accident management services;
• Unless where consent may be required by applicable law, to communicate important information regarding your reservation, rental, lease or purchase of a vehicle.  These communications are transactional in nature and will be sent to you via email, text or calls;
• To provide customer service related to your interactions with us or to respond to your enquiry;
• To enrol you in our loyalty programmes and send information relating to your ongoing membership of these programmes;

Where necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation, including

• To use and share information about your vehicle’s location with emergency services in the event that you are involved in a road accident;
• To use and share information with government and regulatory authorities when required by law, traffic regulation, or in response to legal process, obligation or request, including checking appropriate sanction lists or for maintaining public security.

Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, as listed below, and where our interests are not overridden by your data-protection rights, including

• To communicate important information about your rental and provide you with great service. These communications, which are transactional in nature, will be sent to you via email, text or calls;
• To assist us in providing better products and services: for example, to evaluate the performance of our staff, to assess the quality of products and services received and to help us improve our websites, facilities and services.  Unless where consent may be required by applicable law, your feedback may be requested via email, text or call;
• To compile statistics and analysis about our customers’ use of our websites, products and services. These statistics are used only to enable us to provide better customer service, products, features and functionality to you and other customers in the future;
• Where permissible, to develop a profile of you and your interactions with us so that we can provide tailored offers, opportunities and services that may be of interest to you. To enhance your advertising experience, including cross-device tracking. This means we may collect and combine data from your various devices to show you ads that are relevant to your interests; 
• To protect our legal rights and manage the security of our networks and property, including to protect our websites from spam and abuse. For example, we will use CCTV to ensure the security of our premises;
• For loss prevention, we maintain a record of individuals whose past interactions with us indicate they may present a non-payment, safety or fraud risk;
• For fraud prevention purposes, to verify identity and authenticate identity-related documentation as well as additional points of contact for rental related communications through personal references;
• To use and share your information with third parties to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit damage that we may sustain and to enforce the terms of any rental agreement or our websites’ terms and conditions;
• To enable us to use vehicle data systems for purposes listed in the Vehicle Data section above, such as assisting in recovering a vehicle we reasonably believe has been stolen or abandoned, and to facilitate the vehicle return process (where remote return is available) and billing purposes;
• Unless where consent may be required by applicable law, we may use personal information for marketing and promotional purposes, including to advertise products and/or services we think you may be interested in. This may include linking your activity across our websites and mobile apps; 
• To aggregate personal information collected about you and use it for any lawful purpose;
• To transfer your data as described in the “Global Data Transfers and Processing” section; and
• To receive, use and share your information with third parties to prevent, detect and report fraud and protect our business interests and rights, privacy, safety and property, or those of individuals and the public. We will do this to respond to law enforcement requests, collect unpaid bills, to avoid liability for penalties you incur (e.g. traffic citations) and for claims processing purposes.

Where you have given consent, as required by your country’s applicable law, including

• To assist us in providing you with the most appropriate vehicles, such as those with adaptive driving devices. In some cases, this will require us to infer or explicitly collect information about your health or physical condition;
• To send one-time use security tokens via text;
• Where applicable, to ask for your feedback by email, text or call, to assist us in providing better products and services: for example, to evaluate the performance of our staff, to assess the quality of products and services received and to help us improve our websites, facilities and services;
• Where applicable, to send, or to ask if you want to receive, by email or text promotional or targeted marketing communications, opportunities and services that may be of interest to you. These may include invitations to join our loyalty programmes, upgrade announcements, offers and discounts, online communications regarding an incomplete online membership form or reservation, and offers related to other services and products we offer; 
• Where applicable, to use vehicle information to assist and manage transactions that you have agreed to and to fulfil obligations under the Rental Agreement; 
• You can choose to withdraw your consent at any time; however, such withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before your withdrawal.

Retention of Your Personal Information

We retain your personal information for as long as we need to fulfil our business purposes, as set out below:

Rental transactions

We may keep the data associated to your rental agreement for up to seven years from the date of the rental or in accordance with our business needs, subject to other local legal requirements. We keep records of payments you have made for two years from the date of the transaction (depending on the location of the rental). 

Claims

We keep the data associated to claims involving our renters or other individuals for the life of the claim and up to ten years from conclusion of our obligation, subject to other legal requirements

Customer-service-related queries

We keep general queries for three years, unless you make a complaint, in which case, we keep complaint data for seven years.

Marketing and analytical purposes

We keep data linked to cookies and other online identifiers up to three years. We keep other marketing information, such as email subscription and loyalty enrolment data, for up to seven years after your last interaction with us.

Disputes & law enforcement

If we are involved in litigation or a governmental or regulatory investigation, then we keep data throughout the period of litigation or investigation and for five years after that. If a settlement means that we must keep data for longer, then we keep data for the period required to administer the settlement. If we provide data to law enforcement agencies, we keep a record of this for one year beyond the end of the investigation.

Our Service Providers and Business Partners

We will share your:

Contact, driving qualification, transactional, device information, claims information, car sales financial and personal information, and car sale transactional information

• Payment, administrative and technical support providers
• Our insurance replacement, corporate rental or other customers or partners to facilitate the vehicle repair, rental transaction and rewards programmes with Alpha Car & Van Hire 
• Vehicle recovery agents
• Debt collection providers
• Credit Reporting Agencies
• Identity and address verification providers
• Claims processors
• Vehicle manufacturers and their vehicle repair providers and/or roadside assistance providers
• Fleet providers
• Other providers for vehicle repair and damage assessment purposes

Health Information

• Claims processors
• Adaptive device providers

Contact and transactional information

• Toll and citation processors

Web and Mobile Information

• Analytics and technology providers for location-based services and to analyse, enhance and manage our data in order to provide, maintain and improve our services;
• Web and mobile application session replay partners allow us to replay user sessions to improve browsing experience and troubleshoot errors; and

Government Authorities

Your personal information may also be shared with government authorities as outlined above.

Testimonials

We may post customer testimonials on our websites which may contain your contact information. We use a third-party provider to manage this process. This provider is responsible for obtaining your consent as necessary, removing content upon your request and answering any questions you may have.

Social media platforms and advertising networks

We use third party digital platforms, such as Google and Meta, to serve you more relevant ads, including on non-affiliated platforms.   We may share information about you, including your hashed email address, with these platforms as part of their advertising offerings.   Some of those ads may be personalised, meaning that they are intended to be relevant to you based on information collected about your use of our website and mobile apps and other sites or apps over time, including information about relationships among different browsers and devices.  For more information, including how to opt out, please see our Cookie Policy and the “Your Rights” section below.

Our websites may include social media features, such as the Facebook button. These features may collect your IP address, pages you are visiting on our site and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our site. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

If you use one of these social media websites and do not want them to collect data through our website and link it to your member data, you must log out of your user account before visiting our website and delete the relevant cookies. You can also block social plug-ins with browser add-ons. See the social media site for their plug-in instructions. 

As necessary, we will update our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to reflect changes in our privacy practices. If we make any material changes, we will notify you by email (sent to the email address specified in your account) or by means of a notice on this site or as otherwise may be required or permitted by law, prior to the change becoming effective. We encourage you to periodically review this site for the latest information on our privacy practices.

Contact Us

For questions or enquiries related to privacy and data protection, please visit our Contact Us page