Privacy Policy

QuoteSearcher respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data, whether collected when you visit our website (www.quotesearcher.com) (regardless of where you visit it from) or otherwise and tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. The policy is divided into the following sections:

1. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
2. HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED?
3. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA
4. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
5. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF DATA
6. DATA SECURITY
7. DATA RETENTION
8. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Purpose of this privacy policy

This privacy policy aims to give you information on how QuoteSearcher collects and processes your personal data however provided. Our principal means of collecting personal data are:

• through your use of our website (including any data you may provide through our website when you make an enquiry, through cookies and website analytics)

This website is not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy policy or fair processing policy we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements other notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them.

Controller

QuoteSearcher is the controller and responsible for your personal data (referred to as “QuoteSearcher”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy).

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO using the details set out below.

Contact details

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact our DPO in the following ways:

Name: Ben Moore

Email address: data@quotesearcher.com

Postal address: QuoteSearcher Limited, 13 The Causeway, Causeway House, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 0JR.

Telephone number: 020 4553 8088

Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

QuoteSearcher Limited is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office, registration number ZA009684.

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance. Please refer to our terms for more information on how to make a complaint.

Third-party links

Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins, and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

1. The data we collect about you

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
• Contact Data includes postal address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access our website.
• Profile Data includes details specific to which type of insurance you would like to receive a quote for.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products, and services.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

We also collect, use, and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific page. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.

In our capacity as a data controller, we do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). In the event we are appointed as a data processor by a third party to filter, process, remove or destroy documents or information in any physical form (be it paper, disc, memory stick or otherwise), such documents may contain Special Category Personal Data or information relating to criminal convictions and offences. We do not copy or retain any personal data contained within any documents so processed.

2. How is your personal data collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity and Contact Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you give us feedback or contact us.
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect anonymised Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this anonymised data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies.
• Third parties or publicly available sources. We may verify your personal data with various third parties and public sources as set out below:
• Technical Data from the following parties:
  • analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU;
  • advertising networks based inside the EU; and
  • search information providers inside the EU.

3. How we use your personal data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• To assist in providing you with quotes for insurance as requested by you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

LAWFUL BASIS

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.

Comply with a legal obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.

Purposes for which we will use your personal data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

Marketing / Renewal Reminders

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.

QuoteSearcher may contact you via email and/or SMS to remind you about your upcoming renewal around the anniversary of when you last completed a quote form on our website, this will give you the opportunity to receive quotes again from our panel. If you would prefer not to be contacted for this purpose then please email data@quotesearcher.com or click here to unsubscribe your details.

Third-party marketing

We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes.

Opting out

You can ask QuoteSearcher to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us via email – data@quotesearcher.com or by clicking here.

Cookies

We use cookies on our website (functional and advertisement cookies), more details of which can be found in our cookie policy here.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

4. Disclosures of your personal data

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in section 4 above.

• Internal Third Parties- Other companies in the QuoteSearcher Group acting as joint controllers or processors and who are based in the United Kingdom and provide related or complementary services.

• External Third Parties- Service providers acting as processors based in the EU who provide IT, system administration and website marketing services. Other examples are listed below.

• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.

External Third Parties:

• Insurance Brokers
• Compliance Consultant
• IT Support
• Back office CRM system
• Cloud Storage Systems
• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• HM Treasury
• National Crime Agency
• Action Fraud

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

5. International transfers of data

Below is a table which outlines where data is stored by QuoteSearcher and by what company.

6. Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties on a need to know basis. They will only process your personal data on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

In the event of a breach or a suspected breach, we have a data breach procedure in place. Details of which can be obtained on request.

7. Data retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you. We may retain your personal data indefinitely for the defence of a legal claim, evidence for a complaint or to fulfil our regulatory requirements.

8. Your legal rights

Individuals have the following rights under the UK GDPR:

1. The right to be informed
2. The right of access
3. The right to rectification
4. The right to erasure
5. The right to restrict processing
6. The right to data portability
7. The right to object
8. Rights related to automated decision making including profiling

The right to be informed about the collection and the use of their personal data.

Request access to your personal data (commonl­­y known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Right to rectification-Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:

• If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy.
• Where our use of the data is unlawful, but you do not want us to erase it.
• Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• You have objected to our use of your data, but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Data portability- Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

You are able to withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

Rights related to automated decision making including profiling.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, then please email data@quotesearcher.com

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

Changes to the privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. Updates of this policy will be published on our website. Any questions, comments or requests concerning this policy should be sent to data@quotesearcher.com

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Last updated August 2024