Cookie & Storage Notice

CarSpark does not use advertising or analytics tracking. We use a small, fixed set of cookies and on-device storage items, each with a specific job. This notice lists all of them.

What we use, and why

• Host login/session cookie — set only when a host signs in to the dashboard. Strictly necessary: it exists because you explicitly asked to log in, and the dashboard cannot function without it. No consent banner is required for this, in the UK or Ireland.
• Proof-of-payment token (on-device)— after a driver pays, the unique proof-of-payment link for that session is remembered on the driver's own device, so they can reopen it as proof they've paid, without an account. This is set only after a driver requests and completes a payment, and is treated as necessary to deliver the service they asked for.
• Remembered vehicle registration (on-device, local storage only)— the reg a driver last entered, and up to two more recent ones, are stored in the browser's local storage on their own device, so it can be pre-filled next time. This is never sent to our serversexcept when the driver actually submits it to pay or check a session; it is a convenience preference the driver can remove at any time via the on-screen "remove" control next to a remembered reg.

None of these are used for advertising, cross-site tracking, or analytics profiling. If CarSpark ever adds analytics or advertising technology in future, this notice — and, where the law requires it, a consent mechanism — will be updated first.

UK and Ireland — a small difference

The host login cookie and the proof-of-payment token are strictly necessary in both the UK and Ireland, and need no consent either way.

The remembered-reg convenience feature is the only borderline item. In the UK, storage that remembers a preference the user actively chose, with an easy way to remove it, can rely on a functionality exemption without needing separate consent — which is how CarSpark's remembered-reg feature is designed (it is only ever set because the driver typed the reg themselves, and it is one tap to remove). Ireland has not adopted the same relaxation, so for Irish drivers we treat remembered-reg as effectively user-initiated and opt-in: it is stored only because you entered the reg on that device, is explained on-screen, and can be removed with one tap at any time.

If CarSpark ever adds any non-essential tracking (analytics or advertising), a proper consent banner would then be required for Irish drivers, and, depending on the feature, an opt-out mechanism for UK drivers under the UK's functionality/analytics exemptions. That change would be reflected here first.

Questions

For anything about this notice, contact [email protected]. See also our Privacy Notice for the full picture of what data we collect and why.