Cookies policy

Cookies, web beacons and similar technology ('Cookie Notice') for Motors.co.uk

Your options at a glance:

You can adjust your settings for the usage of cookies (and similar technologies) for marketing and advertising purposes on the site Advertising and related Preferences

Our Cookie Notice details the information regarding the use of cookies, web beacons and similar technologies in connection to Motors.co.uk's websites and applications ("Site"), services, products and tools (hereinafter: 'Services') and your choice options in this regard. This Cookie Notice shall be read in conjunction with our User Privacy Notice and the information regarding cookies and similar technologies which the User Privacy Notice contains. This Cookie Notice is applicable regardless of how you access and make use of our Services including the access via mobile devices and apps.

This Cookie Notice is effective from 25th June 2021.

1. Information regarding the technologies we use

When you use our Services, we and third-party providers we work with make use of cookies and similar technologies. We make use of cookies and similar technologies which will not be saved on your device or which will only be saved on your device for as long as your browser is active (e.g. session cookies).

Other types cookies and similar technologies which will be saved on your device for a longer period (e.g. persistent cookies) are set out in section 3 of this Cookie Notice.

We take appropriate security measures to prevent unauthorised access to our cookies and similar technologies.

The cookies and similar technologies used by us have various functions:

1.1 What are cookies, web beacons and similar technologies

1.1.1 Cookies

Cookies are small text files (typically made up of letters and numbers) which are placed in the memory of your browser or device when you make use of our Services, in particular when you visit our Site or when you open a message. Cookies allow for recognition of a specific device or browser. There are different types of cookies:

  • Session cookies (also called session-based cookies) expire at the end of your session (e.g. when closing your browser window) and enable the entity using them to track your activities during this one session.
  • Persistent cookies remain stored on your device between sessions and enable us, for example, to track your settings or activities on several websites.
  • First-party cookies are set by the provider whose online service you are using (e.g. the operator of the website you are visiting).
  • Third-party cookies are set by a provider other than the provider whose online service you are using (e.g. the operator of a website other than the one you are visiting).

1.1.2 Web beacons

Web beacons (also known as pixel tags or clear GIFs) are small graphic images that are used in connection with the provision of our services and which typically work in conjunction with cookies to track the use of an online service by its users. For example, when we send you emails, web beacons allow us to track if you opened the emails and clicked links to measure campaign performance and improve features.

1.1.3 Similar technologies

Similar technologies enable the entity using it to track your user patterns. This can be done by local shared objects or local storage, such as flash cookies, HTML 5 cookies and other web application software methods, all of which store information in your browser or device. Additionally, there are other technologies that function without local storage in your end device and instead make use of, inter alia, browser functions. In this context, a 'fingerprint' of your system is created that serves as a unique identifier.

These technologies may function across all your browsers and in some cases are not fully managed by your browser, but may need to be managed directly from your installed applications or your device. We sometimes use the terms cookies and similar technologies interchangeably.

1.2 Why do we use these technologies

Some of our Services can only be offered using cookies, web beacons and similar technologies. In general, these technologies enable us to track your user patterns - including across devices. You can find more information about the personal data that we collect using cookies and similar technologies in our User Privacy Notice.

The cookies, web beacons and similar technologies used in connection with our Services serve the following functions:

1.2.1 Technologies which are operationally necessary

We use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies that are necessary for the operation of our Services. This includes technologies that allow you access to our sites, services, applications and tools, which are required to monitor the functioning of the Site, prevent fraudulent activity and improve security, or that allow you to make use of our functions such as saved search, or similar functions.

1.2.2 Technologies which are performance-related

We use cookies, web beacons or other similar technologies to assess the performance of our Services. This happens, inter alia, to analyse how visitors use our Services, how users use our messaging tools, if and how items and links are viewed or how to improve our services.

1.2.3 Technologies which are functionality-related

We use cookies, web beacons or other similar technologies that allow us to offer you enhanced functionality when accessing or using our Services. These technologies may, inter alia, identify you when you sign in to our Services or they may store your settings or the items viewed, so that we can enhance the presentation of content within our Services and facilitate it (e.g. by means of the 'stay signed in function').

1.2.4 Technologies which are advertising- or targeting-related

We use cookies, web beacons or other similar technologies to deliver content tailored to your interests, including advertisements, in connection with the provision of our Services or within third-party online services (retargeting, remarketing). This includes using technologies to determine how relevant the advertisements and contents are for you, which ads have already been shown to you, how often they have been shown, when and where they have been shown and if you have reacted by carrying out an activity - such as clicking on an ad or purchasing an item. For this purpose, data will be combined with data already collected regarding your interests.

Inter alia, we collect data regarding your device (e.g. the operating system and its version) to provide a uniform service on all your devices. You can find further information on personal data that we collect by the means of cookies and similar technologies in our User Privacy Notice.

1.3 Which service providers do we cooperate with?

In regard to the use of cookies, web beacons and similar technologies, we cooperate with service providers. This includes, inter alia, ad networks and ad exchanges, which enable us to show you advertisements.

These service providers are entitled to place web beacons and similar technologies within our online services and to place cookies on your device, as far as this is permissible according to applicable law. In this context, data for the identification of your device will be tracked, for example the IP address, the device ID or the advertising ID (IDFA - ID for Advertising or Google Advertising ID).

This enables the service providers to help us deliver content and more relevant advertisements, and to produce anonymous metrics and analytics, including conversion statistics. The processing of personal data by external service providers is subject to data protection and confidentiality agreements with us and applicable data protection laws. With regard to data processing by service providers, please check the privacy notices of the respective third-party providers.

Service providers that we cooperate with include Facebook and Google:

  • Facebook:

    We may transmit information about your usage of our services, including additional personal data about you (as described in detail in the advertisement settings), through Facebook Pixel and by sending data directly to Facebook via our servers. 'Facebook' designates Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland, for users in the European Economic Area (EEA), and Facebook Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA, for all other users.

    These data transmissions enable us to display personalised advertisements for you on Facebook's platforms, to measure their effectiveness and to report on them. The specific processing purposes and an explanation of the related data privacy responsibilities are described in the Facebook Business Tools Terms ('Facebook Terms'). The following applies to users in the European Economic Area (EEA): To the extent that we are solely responsible for the processing of your personal data (including the transmission of such data to Facebook) in accordance with the Facebook Terms (i.e., when Facebook provides comparison, measurement and analysis services to us), Facebook exclusively acts on our account on the basis of an applicable processing agreement (so called Data Processing Terms in addition to the Facebook EU Data Transfer Addendum). However, if we and Facebook assume shared responsibility for the collection and transmission of your personal data to Facebook (i.e., specifically for the processing of data about your usage of our services for the purpose of targeting our advertisements, the improvement and the measurement of the effectiveness of our advertisements), Facebook will subsequently process the data as an independently accountable party and assumes exclusive responsibility.

    We have entered into an Agreement about Shared Responsibilities with Facebook in order to determine the mutual responsibilities for the fulfilment of data privacy obligations with regards to the shared processing. Pursuant to this agreement, it is Facebook's responsibility to safeguard the rights of the affected persons with regards to the personal data stored by Facebook under the mutual agreement. It is our obligation to provide the above information to the affected persons. The Data Policy of Facebook contains additional information about Facebook's processing of personal data, including the legal basis on which Facebook operates and the options for affected persons to exercise their rights against Facebook.

  • Google:

    We may transmit information about your usage of our services, including additional personal data about you (as described in detail in the advertisement settings), to Google. 'Google' designates Google Ireland Ltd., Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, for users in the European Economic Area (EEA), and Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, for all other users.

    These data transmissions enable us to display personalised advertisements for you in our own online listings as well as in online listings of third parties via the advertising products and the marketing platforms of Google (Google advertising products, such as Google Ad Manager, Google Ads), and to measure their effectiveness, to select and provide content, to provide reports about such content and to gain insights into target groups and product developments. You can find additional information in the Google Privacy Policy and an explanation of the data privacy obligations in the Google Ads Data Protection Terms: Service Information.

With the exception of the use of such technologies by our service providers or other third parties we work with, we do not permit any third-party content on sites (such as listings, communication between users, comments, reviews, etc.) to include or utilise any cookies, web beacons, local storage, or similar technologies for tracking purposes or to collect your personal data for the own purposes of such third parties. If you suspect that an offer or third-party content within our Services collects personal data or may use tracking technologies, please report this to privacy@motors.co.uk

Users can find information on other service providers and their privacy notices within the marketing and advertising preferences.

1.4 Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, an analysis service by Google Inc. ("Google"), for continuously improving our services. Google Analytics makes use of cookies that will be stored on your device and that make it possible to track your usage of our services. The data (including your IP address) regarding your usage of our online services collected by the cookies will be sent to a Google server.

On our behalf, Google processes this data in order to evaluate the usage of our services, to compile reports on usage activities and to provide us with other services associated with the usage of the services. Your IP address will not be merged with other Google data.

We also use reports by Google Analytics to evaluate anonymous data

  • regarding demographic characteristics (e.g. age and gender) and interests of our users, and
  • regarding the success of our advertising within the online platforms of third parties (e.g. number of impressions, clicks on advertisements), which we receive via third-party cookies and process via Google Analytics. This information has been obtained by the third parties through interest-based advertising. We also use this anonymous data for targeting and retargeting purposes, to provide within our online services and third-party online services content tailored to your interests, including advertisements, or to have such content provided by third parties (in connection with the use of third-party cookies).

You can prevent the installation of Google Analytics cookies by opting for the appropriate settings in your browser or the respective app. However, please be advised that in this case you may not be able to use all the functions of our services to their full extent. For more information, see Your Choices.

In addition, you can prevent the collection of the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the services (including your IP address) and the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Please find further information in this regard under http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout or under https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de&ref_topic=2919631 (general information regarding Google Analytics and data protection.

You can also prevent Google Analytics from collecting data by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie is set to prevent your data from being collected in the future when you use our services:

Deactivate Google Analytics

If you wish to disable or change Google Analytics only in order to show content tailored to your interests, including advertisements, you may adjust your settings for Google Analytics within the Google Ad settings or within the advertising preferences.

Additional information for users in the European Economic Area (EEA):

Before your IP address is transmitted to Google's servers in the USA, it is sent to a Google server in Europe (or in a member state of the EEA), where it is anonymized so that it cannot be linked to you or any person. Only after the IP address has been anonymized, the shortened IP address will be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and saved there. Only in exceptional cases, the full IP address will be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there.

1.5 Google reCAPTCHA: Prevention of automated access

We make use of Google reCAPTCHA ('reCAPTCHA') within the provision of our Services. reCAPTCHA is used to check and prevent interactions through automated access, for example through so-called bots (computer programs that perform tasks automatically and independently). reCAPTCHA is used in particular to check whether data input in connection with our Services (e.g. in a contact form) is carried out by a human or by an automated program. For this purpose, reCAPTCHA analyses the behaviour of the user on the basis of various characteristics. This analysis automatically begins as soon as the user connects with the online service, e.g. visits the website. For the purposes of this analysis, reCAPTCHA evaluates various pieces of information (e.g. IP address, duration of the user's visit to the online service or the user's mouse movements). The data collected during the analysis is forwarded to Google. The analyses by reCAPTCHA are carried out entirely in the background.

Please find details regarding Google reCAPTCHA here and in Google's Privacy Notice.

1.6 Which security measures do we take to protect your data?

We protect our cookies and similar technologies to ensure that only we and/or service providers we work with can evaluate them.

2. Your choices

You can decide to what extent we may use cookies and similar technologies within the provision of our Services. Your choice options will depend on the purposes for which we use these technologies.

With regard to the use of advertising-related or personalisation-related technologies, you have in particular the following options:

All users:You can adjust your settings for the usage of cookies (and similar technologies) for marketing and advertising purposes on the site Advertising and related Preferences

2.1 Technologies which are operationally necessary, performance-related or functionality-related

If you wish to deactivate the use of any cookies - including cookies that are operationally necessary, performance-related or functionality-related - that we use within the provision of our Services, you may do so by using the settings in your browser or device, if this is supported by your browser or device. The settings must be made separately for each browser you use.

Please note that you may not be able to use certain of our Services when you deactivate cookies and similar technologies (e.g. the 'stay signed in function'). You may also need to enter your password more frequently during your browser sessions.

2.2 Technologies which are advertising- or targeting-related

In addition, you can specifically decide whether we and third parties may use cookies and similar technologies to show you personalised ads. If you use our Services within the European Economic Area (EEA), this will only be done with your consent (where required by applicable law), which you can withdraw at any time.

If you choose not to have your personal data processed by us for advertising purposes using cookies (and similar technologies), this does not necessarily mean that no advertisements will be shown to you. It simply means that these advertisements will not be personalised for you by means of cookies, web beacons or similar technologies. As a result, you will no longer receive personalised advertising in the future, but your data may still be collected as described in our User Privacy Notice.

You can also deactivate the use of any third-party cookies - e.g. by online ad networks - within our Services by using the settings in your browser or the device settings in your device, if this is supported by your browser or device.

You can also find information on advertising-related third-party cookies and similar technologies and how to prevent their use on the following websites:

If you delete all cookies on your device, any opt-out cookies that have already been set will also be deleted, so that you will have to declare again any opt-outs that have already been declared.

3. Information about the types of cookies we collect, how long we keep them for and how we use them

3.1 Essential cookies

These cookies allow you to use essential features of our Site. The essential features of our Site require the use of certain cookies so that we can remember your postcode and what is in your shortlist whilst you continue to browse our Site and/or navigate to different pages of the Site during your browsing session. We are also able to identify you as being logged in to the Site and ensure that you are able to access the appropriate features on our Site.

Below is a list of the essential cookies that we use on the Site:

Cookie name Cookie type Type and duration Purpose
.ASPXAUTH Essential site cookie Persistent, 10 minutes Authentication data for My Garage features
accfirstname Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Logged in user first name for My Garage functionality
acclastname Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Logged in user last name for My Garage functionality
motAcc Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Motors account authentication information including timestamps
motbreadcrumbsv2 Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Logs data representing a user's journey across the site to provide suitable navigation links, improving user experience.
motdev Essential site cookie Persistent, 365 Days This is the device ID which gives the device that the user is using a unique ID so that we can understand a user's use of the Site from the user's device activity (e.g. if you search for cars or look at vehicle listing pages).
motDevFirstAccess Essential site cookie Persistent, 365 Days Records the date at which a device first accessed the site.
motEnqVeh Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Data relating to vehicles a site user has made direct enquiries about
motHideSearchFilterSuggestions Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Signifies a site user's choice to not show search result filter suggestions
motNewSlUnsaved Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Shortlisted new car data for better browsing experience
motorsNewVehicleShortList Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Shortlisted vehicle data for better browsing experience
motorsSearchGuid Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Search Identifier for better browsing experience
motorsVehicleShortList Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days This gives the user access to the shortlist feature enabling them to access vehicles they want to store for future reference.
motPerVeh Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Enables the Site to remember the last viewed vehicle
motRecVeh Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Data relating to a user's recently viewed vehicles, for better browsing experience
motRecMakMod Essential site cookie Persistent, 12 hours Data relating to a user's recently viewed vehicles of a particular make and model, for better browsing experience
motSeaPanBas Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Remembers users basic data such as postcode to improve user experience and make searches faster.
motSeaPanCarDea Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Enables searches for car dealers to be saved improving user experience on the Site.
motSeaPanCarDeaSto Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Enables searches for car dealer stock to be saved improving user experience on the Site.
motSeaPanNewCar2 Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Holds data relating to search panel criteria selections, essential for Site function.
motSeaPanNewCar2Persist Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Holds details about new cars viewed, essential for Site function.
motSeaPanUseCar2 Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Holds data relating to search panel criteria selections, essential for site function.
motSeaPanUseVan2 Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Holds data relating to search panel criteria selections, essential for Site function.
motVehDetNav Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Contains vehicle data in order to enable site navigation features, improving Site experience.
motses Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 mins Used to differentiate sessions on the Site and track the activities a user carries out on the Site, and to provide a better user experience.
motUserLeadDat Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 mins Retains data submitted via vehicle enquiry forms
motVehicleValuation Essential site cookie Persistent, 24 hours Contains data used during the vehicle valuation journey, improving site experience.
superchargerDisplayState Essential site cookie Persistent, 21 days Signifies a site user's choice to not show the 'supercharger' search results, improving user experience.
seaRem Essential site cookie Persistent, 30 days Signifies a site user's choice to not show 'recently viewed' search results, improving user experience.
motRandSeed Essential site cookie Persistent, 12 hours Contains data used to persist viewed vehicles of a particular make and model, for a better browsing experience.

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but, if you prefer, you can change your browser to prevent that or to notify you each time a cookie is set.

Visiting www.allaboutcookies.org will provide information on settings within your browser as well as other useful information on cookies.

Below are links to most used browsers with information for blocking cookies, however, be mindful that if you use multiple browsers you will have to undertake this process on each browser and blocking these Essential site cookies will result in a limited experience of the Site:

  • Google Chrome cookie settings
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer cookie settings
  • Mozilla Firefox cookie settings
  • Safari cookie settings
  • IPhone and iPad cookie settings

3.2 Advertising cookies

These cookies are used to deliver the targeted ads that appear on the Site. We sell adspace direct to advertisers, and work with Gumtree to, sell adspace on our Site (on our behalf) to third parties and we also use third party adserving technology that enables the adservers customers to serve ad inventory on our Site based on cookie information. Please see above under section 2. Your Choices. You can specifically decide whether we and third parties may use cookies and similar technologies to show you personalised ads. You can adjust your settings for the usage of cookies (and similar technologies) for marketing and advertising purposes on the site Advertising and related Preferences.

For a list of the adserving cookies used on the Site, please see the list of providers below:

Cookie name Cookie type Type and duration Purpose
__gads Advertising cookies Persistent, 2 years Used for measuring interactions with the ads on site and to prevent the same ads from being shown to you too many times
aam_uuid Advertising cookies Persistent, 30 days Adobe Audience Manager - is used to identify a unique visitor.

3.3 Analytics & optimisation cookies

Cookie name Cookie type Type and duration Purpose
_ga Analytics & optimisation cookies Persistent, 2 years Google Analytics, used to distinguish users
_gat_UA-40364686-1 Analytics & optimisation cookies Persistent, 1 minute Google Analytics, used to throttle request rate
_gat_UA-40364686-5 Analytics & optimisation cookies Persistent, 1 minute Google Analytics, used to throttle request rate
_gid Analytics & optimisation cookies Persistent, 24 hours Google Analytics, used to distinguish users
AMCV_9CD675E95BFD3B230A495C73%40AdobeOrg Analytics & optimisation cookies Persistent, 30 days Adobe Experience Cloud - These cookies let an ID service track visitors across different domains and enable data sharing among different Experience Cloud solutions.
AMCVS_9CD675E95BFD3B230A495C73%40AdobeOrg Analytics & optimisation cookies Persistent, 30 days Adobe Experience Cloud - These cookies let an ID service track visitor across different domains and enable data sharing among different Experience Cloud solutions.
cto_lwid Analytics & optimisation cookies Persistent, 2 years Criteo.com - Collects data on visitor behaviour from multiple websites, in order to present more relevant advertisement and allows the website to limit the number of times that the visitor is shown the same advertisement.

3.4 Display Advertising cookies

Cookie name Cookie type Type and duration Purpose
gdprFacebookPrefs Display advertising cookie Persistent, 5 months Stores the users' consent settings for displaying personalised advertising of www.motors.co.uk and third parties on the platform of Facebook.
gdprGooglePrefs Display advertising cookie Persistent, 5 months Stores the users' consent settings for Google to serve cookies and collect information about the user's device and use of motors.co.uk and raccars.co.uk.
gdprPrefs Display advertising cookie Persistent, 5 months Stores the users' consent settings for personalized adverts on and off Motors. This includes consent for both the features third parties can use and whether third parties can use each feature.

3.5 Third Party Widget Cookies

Cookie name Cookie type Type and duration Purpose
__ggtrses Third party widget cookie Persistent, 30 mins Stores data relating to Gubagoo chat feature. It uses a cookie to decide when to display the chat feature.
Gubagoo is a third-party chat product that allows dealers to chat to consumers on motors.co.uk and raccars.co.uk.
__ggtruid Third party widget cookie Persistent, 30 mins Gubagoo chat - stores data relating to Gubagoo chat feature. It uses a cookie to identify and differentiate between user sessions.
Gubagoo is a third-party chat product that allows dealers to chat to consumers on motors.co.uk and raccars.co.uk.
popinCount Essential site cookie Persistent, 1 min Contactatonce.com - stores data relating to Contact at Once chat feature.
wisepops Essential site cookie Persistent, 2 years WisePops is a tool to serve pop up messages. It uses a cookie to prevent the same message being shown more than once.
wisepops_session Essential site cookie Persistent, 2 years WisePops is a tool to serve pop up messages. It uses a cookie to log user session data including timestamps.
wisepops_visit Essential site cookie Persistent, 2 years WisePops is a tool to serve pop up messages. It uses a cookie to log user interaction data including timestamps and vehicles viewed.

3.6 Set Third Party advertising Cookie Preference

You can set preferences for third party Advertising cookies using the settings or opt out functionalities mentioned in this Cookie Notice. See above under section 2. Your Choices for more information. Additionally, you can use the Your Online Choices or Network Advertising Initiative website to set your preferences for cookies that may be found for these and other sites.

3.7 What about Hyperlinks?

The Site may sometimes contain hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third-party websites have their own privacy policies (including cookies) and we urge you to review them. They will govern the use of any personal information you submit, or which is collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third-party websites and your use of such third-party websites is at your own risk.

3.8 What about Flash Cookies?

A Flash Cookie is a type of cookie which is collected via Adobe Flash Player and is a piece of software which you probably have on your device to watch videos or podcasts online. We may use Adobe Flash Player to display video or image content. It may not be possible to block or restrict or block Flash Cookies using your browser settings, however, information on how to control flash play privacy and security settings is available from the Adobe website at: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/security.

3.9 Who do I contact about Cookies?

If you have any questions about our use of cookies, please contact us either via the email address or by post at the address set out in privacy@motors.co.uk.