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4. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
 

4.1 Where you have provided CONSENT
 

We may use and process your personal information where you have consented for us to do so for the following purposes:
 

• to share your personal information with our authorised dealers to arrange test drives or where you have requested a call back;
 

• to supply brochures and other material you have specifically requested from us;
 

• to contact you via email, text message, post or telephone with marketing information about Mercedes-Benz and Smart vehicles and other products and services (see Marketing section below for further details);
 

• to share your personal information with our authorised dealers or our recommended third party partners for them to contact you with marketing information about their products and services. Please see the Marketing section below in this policy to find out more about these third parties;
 

• to process payments on your behalf including but not limited to card payments taken over the phone for the purposes of making payment of a deposit related to a vehicle; and
 

• to complete other processing activities that you have expressly requested us to complete or you have expressly agreed to us performing.

 

4.2 You may withdraw your consent for us to use your information in any of these ways at any time. Please see Withdrawing your consent in Section 9.4 for further details.
 

4.3 Where required to perform a CONTRACT with you
 

We may use and process your personal information where it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or in order to take steps at your request before entering into a contract with you including, but not limited to, for the following purposes.
 

• To exchange information for warranty/aftersales;
• To allow for the provision of third party breakdown services by our breakdown provider;
• If you take a finance or lease agreement with Mercedes-Benz Financial Services UK Ltd – see also section 15;
• If you take insurance cover or premium financing via Mercedes-Benz Insurance Services UK Ltd – see also section 16;
 

4.4 Where it is in your VITAL INTEREST
 

We may use your personal information to contact you if there are any urgent safety or product recall notices to communicate to you or where we otherwise reasonably believe that the processing of your personal information will prevent or reduce any potential harm to you. It is in your vital interests for us to use your personal information in this way.
 

4.5 Where required to comply with our LEGAL OBLIGATIONS
 

We will use your personal information to comply with our legal obligations including: (i) to assist HMRC, the Police, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) or any other public authority or criminal investigation body; (ii) to identify you when you contact us; and (iii) to verify the accuracy of data that we hold about you.
 

4.6 Where there is a LEGITIMATE INTEREST
 

We may use and process your personal information where it is necessary for us to pursue our legitimate interests as a business for the following purposes:
 

• for analysis, and profiling to inform our marketing strategy, and to enhance and personalise your customer or visitor experience;
 

• for market research in order to continually improve the products and services that we and our authorised dealers deliver to you;
 

• to administer our websites and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, testing, statistical purposes;
 

• for marketing activities (other than where we rely on your consent) e.g. to tailor marketing communications or send targeted marketing messages via social media and other third party platforms;

• for the prevention of fraud and other criminal activities;

 

• to undertake credit checks for finance;
 

• for the processing of your personal data for the purposes of (further) development of risk instruments and the related reporting by the market and Mercedes-Benz Mobility AG as joint controllers
 

• to correspond and communicate with you;
 

• to create a better understanding of you as a customer or visitor;
 

• for network and information security in order for us to take steps to protect your information against loss or damage, theft or unauthorised access;
 

• to comply with a request from you in connection with the exercise of your rights (for example where you have asked us not to contact you for marketing purposes, we will keep a record of this on our suppression lists in order to be able to comply with your request);
 

• for the purposes of corporate restructure or reorganisation or sale of our business or assets;
 

• for efficiency, accuracy or other improvements of our databases and systems e.g. by combining systems or consolidating records we or our group companies hold about you;
 

• to enforce or protect our contractual or other legal rights or to bring or defend legal proceedings; and
 

• for general administration including managing your queries, complaints, or claims, and to send service messages to you.
 

• to provide information to government bodies or agencies for administration purposes.

6. Legal Foundations for Data Processing

 

a. If you have given us your consent to process your personal information, then that is the legal foundation for processing it (Art. 6, para. 1, letter a, of the UK General Data Protection Regulation, or UK GDPR).

b. Art. 6, para. 1, letter b, of the UK GDPR is the legal basis for processing personal information for the purpose of entering into a contract or performing a contract with you.

c. If processing your personal information is required to fulfill our legal obligations (e.g. data retention), we are authorized to do so by Art. 6, para. 1, letter c, of the UK GDPR.

d. Furthermore, we process personal information for purposes of protecting our legitimate interests as well as the interests of third parties in accordance with Art. 6, para. 1, letter f of the UK GDPR.

Examples of such legitimate interests include maintaining the functionality of our IT systems as well as the (direct) marketing of our products and services (to the extent not covered by your consent) and those of third parties and the legally required documentation of business contacts. As part of the consideration of interests required in each case, we take into account various aspects, in particular the type of personal information, the purpose of processing, the circumstances of processing and your interest in the confidentiality of your personal information.

11. ANALYSIS OF USER DATA AND USE OF ANALYTICS TOOLS
 

11.1 We want the content of our websites to match your preferences as closely as possible, thereby improving what we offer you. To identify especially popular areas of our websites, we use the following analysis tools: Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics.
 

11.2 When we employ these analytics tools, information may be transferred to servers located in the US and processed there. Please note the following: From the standpoint of the European Union, the United States does not provide an "appropriate level of protection" meeting EU standards for the processing of personal information. However, an equivalent level of protection can be created for individual instances of processing using an appropriate transfer mechanism such as specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe or binding corporate rules.
 

11.3 If you do not wish us to use the above named analytics tools to collect and analyse information about your visit to our websites, you may permanently object to the practice (opt out) at any time.


We will comply with your rejection by placing an opt-out cookie in your browser. This cookie will only indicate that you have opted out. Please note that, for technical reasons, an opt-out cookie affects only the browser in which it has been installed. If you delete the cookie or use a different browser or device, you will need to opt out again.

 

11.4 Below you will find information about the providers of the analytics tools and the respective opt-out procedures:
 

i. Google Analytics from Google Inc. ("Google"):
 

You can prevent your information from being transferred as well as collected and processed by Google. Google provides information about this at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=gb
 

ii. Adobe Analytics from Adobe Systems Inc. ("Adobe")
 

You can follow this link to opt out of analysis using Adobe Analytics: https://www.adobe.com/uk/privacy/opt-out.html
 

iii. Facebook Ireland Ltd (“Facebook”)
 

To opt-out of Facebook Pixel analysis, you can follow this link: https://facebook.com/ads/preferences

15. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
 

We may review this policy from time to time and any changes will be notified to you by posting an updated version on our website and/or by contacting you by email. Any changes will take effect 7 days after the date of our email or the date on which we post the modified terms on our website, whichever is the earlier. We recommend you regularly check for changes and review this policy when you visit our website. If you do not agree with any aspect of the updated policy, you must promptly notify us and cease using our services.

17. ABOUT MERCEDES-BENZ GROUP and UK COMPANIES

Set up as a client, incl fraud, credit, AML and sanctions checks

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18. FINANCE AND LEASING BY MERCEDES-BENZ FINANCIAL SERVICES UK LTD (MBFS)

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services UK Limited Privacy Notice

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services UK Ltd (MBFS) is a subsidiary company of Mercedes-Benz AG, owners of the Mercedes-Benz brand. MBFS works with other subsidiary companies which includes our Agent partners and Dealer Network in the UK to provide finance, leasing and related services to Mercedes-Benz and smart customers.

How your Personal Information is used

MBFS takes your privacy seriously. Unless you have agreed otherwise, your personal information will only be used to provide the financial services you have requested from us and to administer your agreement.

Your details will be shared with third parties who include our agents, credit reference and fraud agencies, group companies and the Mercedes-Benz Agent / Dealer supplying the vehicle.

Details may be transferred out of the European Economic Area and will at all times be held securely and handled with the utmost care. Your details will be stored, but will not be retained longer than necessary. Your personal data is protected by legal rights which are detailed later in this document.

MBFS may disclose the data provided by or about you to a third party in connection with our corporate finance purposes, which may include granting such third parties the right to receive amounts you owe us.

For the purposes of (further) development and reporting, the data from past credit checks over the last three months before the final credit decision is processed in pseudonymous form. The credit checks that are performed for corporate customers during the term of the agreement in order to review or adjust the line of credit is also processed in pseudonymous form for this purpose. During the term of the financing agreement, for the purposes of (further) developing risk instruments and reporting, pseudonymous information about your payment history will be processed. This information on your actual payment history during the term of the agreement will be paired with the data from the credit checks

Your Eligibility for Credit

In order to process your eligibility check, we will perform credit and identity checks with one or more Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs). We will supply your personal information to CRAs and they will provide us with information about you.

MBFS uses CRAs to help make its lending decisions and to identify its customers by supplying public and shared credit information. Public information includes: information from the electoral register to help confirm names and addresses, information on County Court Judgments, Scottish Decrees, Bankruptcies, Individual Voluntary Arrangements and Administration Orders. Shared credit information includes information relating to both your current financial situation and history, in addition to information used for the purposes of fraud prevention.

We will use this information to:

• Assess your creditworthiness, such as assessing how you have maintained previous and current credit commitments; and
 
• Trace you at your supplied address(es) using publicly available information.

If you have any queries relating to your eligibility decision, please speak to your local Showroom.

You can also contact the Credit Reference Agency directly for a copy of your statutory credit report; they may charge a fee for this. Our information provider is :

Equifax Ltd
 
Customer Service Centre
 
PO Box 10036
 
Leicester
 
LE3 4FS

www.equifax.co.uk

Your Application for Credit

In order to process your application, we will perform credit and identity checks with one or more Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs). We may also make periodic searches at CRAs to manage your agreement with us.
 
We will supply your personal information to CRAs and they will provide us with information about you. CRAs will supply public (such as the electoral register) and shared credit information. This will include information relating to both your financial situation and history in addition to information used for the purposes of fraud prevention.
 
We will use this information to:

• Assess your creditworthiness and determine whether you can afford to take the vehicle

• Verify the accuracy of the data you have provided to us

• Prevent criminal activity, fraud and money laundering

• Manage your account(s)

• Trace and recover debts

• Ensure any offers provided to you are appropriate to your circumstances.

We will continue to exchange information about you with CRAs while you have a relationship with us. We will also inform the CRAs about your settled accounts. If you borrow and do not repay in full and on time, CRAs will record the outstanding debt. This information may be supplied to other organisations by CRAs.

When CRAs receive a search from us, they will place a search footprint on your credit file that may be seen by other lenders.

If you are making a joint application, or inform us that you have a spouse, partner or financial associate, we will link your records together. Please ensure you discuss this with the relevant parties, and share this information with them, before lodging the credit application. CRAs will also link your records together and these links will remain on your and their files until such time as you or any other individual involved in a joint application successfully files for a disassociation with the CRAs.

If you are making this application as a partner in a firm or as the director of a limited company, MBFS may also carry out searches with credit reference and/or fraud prevention agencies in respect of other partners and directors. By making this application you warrant that your partners or directors understand that MBFS will be carrying out such searches and using their personal information.

The identities of the CRAs, their role also as fraud prevention agencies, the data they hold, the ways in which they use and share personal information, data retention periods and your data protection rights with the CRAs are explained in more detail in the Credit Reference Agency Information Notices (CRAIN). CRAIN is accessible from each of the three CRAs listed below:

Call Credit
www.callcredit.co.uk/crain 

Equifax
www.equifax.co.uk/crain 

Experian
www.experian.co.uk/crain

The personal information we have collected from you will also be shared with fraud prevention agencies. It will be used to prevent fraud and money-laundering and to verify your identity. These checks require us to process your personal data. If fraud is detected, you could be refused certain services, finance or employment. The Fraud prevention agencies used are:

CIFAS – https://www.cifas.org.uk/contact-us

National Hunter - https://nhunter.co.uk/contact-us/The personal data provided will be used to prevent fraud and money laundering, and to verify your identity. This includes but is not limited to your name, address, date of birth, contact details, financial information, employment details, device identifiers including IP address and vehicle details. We, and fraud prevention agencies may also enable law enforcement agencies to access and use your personal data to detect, investigate and prevent crime.

We process your personal data because we have a legitimate interest in preventing fraud and money laundering, and to verify your identity to protect our business, and to comply with the law. Such processing is also a contractual requirement of our provision of financial services.

Fraud prevention agencies can hold your personal data for different periods of time, and if you are considered to pose a fraud or money laundering risk, your data can be held for up to six years.

Data is also shared with Mercedes-Benz Mobility AG for credit checking. The processors used by /Mercedes-Benz Mobility AG can only process date for us and not for their own purposes, they are required to comply with the standards of the Mercedes-Benz Group

Automated Decisions

As part of the processing of your personal data, decisions may be made by automated means. This means we may automatically decide that you pose a fraud or money laundering risk if our processing reveals your behaviour to be consistent with that of known fraudsters or money launderers, or is inconsistent with your previous submissions, or you appear to have deliberately hidden your true identity.

Consequences of Processing

If we, or a fraud prevention agency, determine that you pose a fraud or money laundering risk, we may refuse to provide the financial services you have requested, or we may cease to provide existing services to you.

A record of any fraud or money laundering risk will be retained by fraud prevention agencies, and may result in others refusing to provide services, finance or employment to you. If you have any questions about this, please contact us on the details below.

Transfer of Data

Whenever fraud prevention agencies transfer your personal data outside of the European Economic Area, they impose contractual obligations on the recipients of that data. This protects your personal data to the standard required in the European Economic Area. They may also require the recipient to subscribe to 'international frameworks' intended to enable secure data sharing.

Your Legal Rights

Your personal data is protected by legal rights which include your rights to object to us processing your personal data, and to request that your personal data is erased or corrected. You may request access to your personal data. To exercise your data protection rights, please contact us using the contact details below. You also have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office which regulates the processing of personal data. Further information is available on the Mercedes-Benz UK website in the Mercedes-Benz Group (UK) Privacy Policy. You may also contact the Data Protection Officer, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services UK Ltd, Tongwell, Milton Keynes MK15 8BA. Tel: to 0808 208 1701 or email MBFSUK.DPA@Mercedes-Benz.com


19. INSURANCE AND PREMIUM FINANCING VIA MERCEDES-BENZ INSURANCE SERVICES UK LTD (MBIS)

MBIS is an insurance intermediary working with a panel of insurers. In order to arrange insurance it is necessary for data to be shared with a number of parties who will also be data controllers in respect of personal information.

Personal data may be obtained directly from individuals (including data submitted on-line or by telephone calls); from family members (with appropriate authority), employers, credit reference agencies, anti-fraud databases and other market participants.

The following tables endeavour to clarify the categories of data, the purpose of the processing and the legal basis of processing.

The categories of data collected about you.

Set up as a client, incl fraud, credit, AML and sanctions checks

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