Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

RubbishGroup.com is a UK vehicle-buying service and vehicle marketplace operated by Rubbish Group, trading at https://rubbishgroup.com. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. Our company registration, ICO registration and waste carrier licence details are available on request by emailing us.

You can contact us about anything in this policy at hello@rubbishgroup.com.

2. Our brands share one system

We operate RubbishVans.com, RubbishCars.com and RubbishLorries.com. They run on the same secure platform and are operated by the same controller. Your enquiry, listing and account records are tagged to the brand you used, and we handle them under this single policy. We do not sell or transfer your data to unrelated third parties because you used one brand rather than another.

3. The information we collect

• Valuation and sale enquiries — vehicle registration, make, model, year, mileage, MOT status, fault details, running condition, location or postcode, photographs you upload, and your name, phone number, email address, preferred contact method and preferred contact time.
• Declarations — confirmation that you own the vehicle, whether there is outstanding finance, and your consent to be contacted.
• Account data — if you create an account to use the marketplace: your email address, a securely hashed password or your chosen sign-in method, and your account activity.
• Google sign-in data — if you choose “Continue with Google”, Google confirms your identity to us and shares your name, email address, Google account ID and profile picture. We never receive your Google password, and we do not access your Gmail, contacts, Drive or any other Google service.
• Marketplace listings — the advert content you publish: vehicle details, description, asking price, general location and photographs, plus the contact details you give us so we can pass genuine buyer enquiries to you.
• Buyer enquiries — the name, contact details and message of anyone who enquires about a listing, so we can pass the enquiry to the seller.
• Billing information for marketplace fees — where a listing or introduction fee applies, we record the fee, its status and a payment reference. Card details are handled by our payment provider and are never stored on our systems.
• Communications — emails, messages and call notes exchanged with you, and delivery data for emails we send (sent, delivered, opened, bounced, unsubscribed).
• Technical data — the reference number generated for your enquiry, submission timestamps, the brand domain you used, IP address and browser information captured in security and server logs.

We do not ask for payment card details or bank details through this website in connection with a valuation, and we will never ask for your bank details by email or text message.

We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. You must be 18 or over to sell a vehicle to us or to use the marketplace.

4. Why we use it, and our lawful basis

• Valuing your vehicle and responding to your enquiry — steps taken at your request before entering into a contract (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b)).
• Arranging collection, payment and DVLA notification — performance of our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)).
• Creating and running your account, publishing your listing and passing on buyer enquiries — performance of our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)).
• Charging and collecting marketplace listing or introduction fees — performance of our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)).
• Records for tax, accounting, scrap metal dealer and waste carrier duties — compliance with our legal obligations (Article 6(1)(c)).
• Improving pricing accuracy, moderating listings, preventing fraud and securing the site — our legitimate interests in running a lawful, safe and competitive service (Article 6(1)(f)). We have considered your rights and use the minimum data needed for these purposes.
• Marketing emails — your consent, or the “soft opt-in” under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations where you have asked us to value or buy a vehicle and we are telling you about closely related services. Every marketing email carries a one-click unsubscribe, and you can opt out at any time by emailing hello@rubbishgroup.com. Opting out of marketing never stops the transactional emails you need — offers, collection confirmations, listing status and receipts.

5. How our valuations work

Our online figure is produced by a pricing model using the details and photographs you provide, current scrap and parts values and vehicle lookup data. It is an estimate only. No firm offer, and no decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect on you, is made by automated means alone — a member of our team reviews every case before an offer is confirmed. You can ask us to explain how we arrived at a figure.

6. Vehicle lookup data

When you enter a registration we may check it against a vehicle data provider to pre-fill make, model, year, fuel, engine size and MOT information. This is vehicle data rather than personal data about you, and results may be cached briefly to reduce repeat lookups. Where a registration can be linked back to you, we treat the result as your personal data and apply this policy to it.

7. Who we share it with

We never sell your personal data or share it for third-party advertising. We share it only with:

• our collection agents and recovery drivers, so they can collect the vehicle;
• the Authorised Treatment Facility or dismantler handling the vehicle, where it is recycled or dismantled;
• the other party to a marketplace transaction — where you list a vehicle we pass genuine buyer enquiries to you, and where you enquire about a listing we pass your enquiry to that seller;
• our service providers acting on our written instructions as processors: cloud hosting and database, authentication, file storage, email delivery and payment processing;
• our accountants, insurers and professional advisers where necessary;
• the DVLA, HMRC, the Environment Agency (or SEPA / Natural Resources Wales), Trading Standards, the police or any regulator or court where we are required or legally permitted to do so.

Publishing a marketplace listing makes the advert content — including photographs, the vehicle details and the general location you choose — publicly visible. Your full address and direct contact details are not published on the public listing page.

8. Where your data is stored and how we protect it

Enquiry data, account data, listings and photographs are stored on secure cloud infrastructure in the UK and the EEA. Where a provider processes data outside the UK, we rely on UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

Data is encrypted in transit. Photographs are held in a private store and are only viewable by our team and the relevant parties through short-lived, expiring links. Access to enquiry and account records is role-restricted and enforced at the database level, and passwords are stored only as salted hashes.

9. How long we keep it

• Enquiries that do not lead to a sale — up to 24 months from your last contact, then deleted.
• Completed purchases — 6 years from the end of the relevant financial year, to meet tax, scrap metal dealer and waste carrier record-keeping duties.
• Marketplace listings — kept while live, then for 12 months after the advert is sold, expired or withdrawn.
• Buyer enquiry messages — 12 months from the date of the enquiry.
• Accounts — kept while your account is open, and deleted within 30 days of you closing it, apart from records we must retain for the periods above.
• Fee and payment records — 6 years from the end of the relevant financial year.
• Marketing consents and opt-outs — kept for as long as we send marketing, plus a suppression record we keep indefinitely so we do not contact you again by mistake.
• Photographs — deleted with the associated enquiry or listing record.
• Security and server logs — up to 12 months.

10. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• be told how your data is used — this policy;
• get a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
• have inaccurate data corrected;
• have your data erased where we no longer need it and no legal duty requires us to keep it;
• restrict how we use it while a query is resolved;
• object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time — an objection to marketing is always honoured;
• receive data you gave us in a portable, machine-readable format;
• withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent, without affecting anything done beforehand.

Email hello@rubbishgroup.com to exercise any of these rights. We respond within one month and will tell you if we need longer for a complex request. We do not charge a fee unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data you can complain to us using our complaints procedure, or to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

11. Cookies and browser storage

We use a deliberately small number of cookies and browser storage entries, with no advertising trackers. See our Cookie Policy for the full list and how to control them.

12. Changes to this policy

We update this policy when our service changes or the law changes. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised. Material changes affecting how we use your data will be notified to you by email where we hold your address.

13. Contact

Email hello@rubbishgroup.com. See also our Terms & Conditions.