1. Introduction
This Privacy Policy explains how ABACUS Performance Media Ltd collects, uses, shares, stores and protects personal information when you interact with:
Electric Road – www.electricroad.co.uk
Car Finder – www.carfinder-services.co.uk
Van Finder – www.vanfinder-services.co.uk
Our forms, polls, surveys, quizzes, competitions and owner-review services
Our advertising on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Google, TikTok and X
Our email communications and other automotive lead-generation services
We process personal information in accordance with applicable UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.
We only collect information needed to operate our services, respond to requests, deliver automotive information, manage marketing preferences and fulfil vehicle enquiries.
2. Who we are
Electric Road, Car Finder and Van Finder are operated by ABACUS Performance Media Ltd.
ABACUS Performance Media Ltd is registered in England and Wales under company number 13693616.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZB691663.
Our directors, Ed Whelan and Russell Whitehouse, are responsible for data protection within the business.
You can contact us at:
3. Our data-protection role
ABACUS will normally act as the controller of personal information collected for its own websites, publications, marketing subscriptions, surveys, competitions and audience-engagement services.
Where you submit a specific vehicle enquiry, such as a request for a test drive, quotation, brochure, retailer contact or further vehicle information, an automotive partner may also act as an independent controller.
The relevant campaign form will explain the purpose of the enquiry and identify, or provide information about, the intended automotive partner or recipient wherever appropriate.
ABACUS may also process information on the documented instructions of an automotive partner. Our precise role is determined by the circumstances and contractual arrangements applying to each campaign.
4. Information we may collect
Personal information means information that identifies you, or could reasonably be used with other information to identify you.
Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:
Identity information
Name
Title
Age range, where relevant to a campaign
Information confirming that you meet any minimum-age requirement
Contact information
Email address
Telephone number
House name or number
Postal address
Town or city
Postcode
Communication and contact preferences
Vehicle-enquiry information
Vehicle make, model or type of interest
Whether you are requesting a test drive, quotation, brochure, retailer contact or other service
Preferred retailer or location
Purchase timeframe
Whether you have started actively looking for your next vehicle
Preferred funding method
Deposit or monthly-payment information
Stated budget range
Part-exchange status
Current vehicle make, model, registration, age or mileage where requested
Other answers submitted through the relevant campaign form
Marketing and engagement information
Whether you have agreed to receive marketing
The source of your interaction with us
Email opens, clicks and engagement
Survey, poll and quiz responses
Advertising campaign and source information
Records of unsubscribe and suppression requests
Owner-review and user-submitted content
Vehicle ownership information
Written reviews
Ratings
Photographs
Road-trip reports
Survey responses
Any other content you choose to submit
Technical and website information
IP address
Browser type
Device and operating-system information
Referring website
Pages visited
Date and time of visits
Cookie choices
Advertising and campaign identifiers, including source information and click identifiers
Communication records
We may retain records of emails, telephone calls, messages, enquiries, complaints and other communications with us.
We do not intentionally collect special-category information, such as information about health, ethnicity, religion, political opinions, trade-union membership, genetics, biometrics or sexual orientation, through our vehicle lead-generation services.
Please do not provide this type of information unless we have specifically asked for it and explained why it is required.
5. How we collect information
We may collect personal information:
Directly from you when you complete a form or contact us
Through our websites
Through Jotform and other approved form platforms
Through Meta Instant Forms and other social-media platforms
Through advertising platforms, including Google
When you subscribe to receive emails
When you submit an owner review, poll, survey or competition entry
From an automotive partner where this is necessary to manage or investigate an enquiry
Through cookies and similar technology
Through our contracted service providers
6. How we use personal information
We may use personal information to:
Provide information or services you have requested
Process a request for a test drive, quotation, brochure or retailer contact
Send your enquiry to the appropriate automotive partner, retailer or approved technical provider
Check that information submitted through a form is complete and usable
Assess and route vehicle enquiries
Respond to questions, complaints and other communications
Operate our websites, forms, surveys, polls, competitions and owner-review services
Send marketing where you have given the required permission
Measure the performance of our advertising and lead-generation services
Understand engagement with our websites and communications
Improve our forms, services and campaign performance
Detect misuse, fraud, security incidents or technical problems
Maintain audit, consent and suppression records
Establish, exercise or defend legal claims
Comply with legal and regulatory obligations
We will not use your information for a materially different purpose without first considering whether further information or permission is required.
7. Our lawful bases
We will only process personal information where we have an appropriate lawful basis.
Consent
We rely on consent where:
You agree to receive marketing communications
You ask us to submit a specific vehicle enquiry to an automotive partner or retailer
Consent is otherwise required by the relevant form or campaign
You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting info@electricroad.co.uk or using the unsubscribe link included in our marketing emails.
Withdrawing consent will not affect processing that was lawful before your consent was withdrawn.
Legitimate interests
We may rely on legitimate interests to:
Operate, administer and improve our services
Measure engagement and campaign performance
Protect our systems and information
Prevent misuse or fraud
Maintain appropriate business and audit records
Manage enquiries and communications
Carry out limited research, testing and service development
Before relying on legitimate interests, we consider whether our interests are necessary and balanced against your privacy rights and reasonable expectations.
We do not rely on legitimate interests to send electronic direct marketing where consent is legally required.
Contract or steps requested by you
In some circumstances, processing may be necessary to provide a service you have requested or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.
Legal obligations
We may process information where necessary to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
Legal claims
We may retain or use relevant information where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
8. AI-assisted assessment of vehicle enquiries
When you submit a vehicle enquiry, request contact, request a quotation or request a test drive, we may use automated tools, including artificial intelligence, to help assess the information you provide and route your enquiry appropriately.
The assessment may consider information such as:
Vehicle make or model of interest
Type of enquiry
Purchase timeframe
Whether you have started actively looking
Funding preference
Stated budget
Deposit or monthly-payment information
Part-exchange status
Relevant details about your current vehicle
Other campaign-specific answers you have submitted
The system may generate internal indicators relating to:
Purchase readiness
Vehicle suitability
Customer or enquiry fit
Affordability indicators
Strength of purchase intent
Estimated likelihood of conversion
Confidence in the assessment
An internal routing recommendation
Names, contact details and postal addresses are not intended to influence the assessment. We do not intentionally use protected characteristics or special-category information as scoring factors.
AI-generated scores and recommendations are advisory. Where an output could affect how an enquiry is routed or whether it requires further consideration, it is subject to human oversight and may be corrected or overridden by an authorised person.
We do not use AI to make solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
The assessment does not determine whether you are eligible for:
Vehicle finance
Credit
Insurance
A particular vehicle
A test drive
Any other regulated product or service
ABACUS does not train or fine-tune its own artificial-intelligence model using your personal information. We use pre-trained services to process relevant form responses and generate an advisory output.
You may contact us at info@electricroad.co.uk if you:
Would like further information about the assessment
Believe inaccurate information was used
Would like an outcome reviewed by a person
Wish to object to relevant processing
Want to exercise any of your data-protection rights
9. Marketing communications
We will only send electronic direct marketing where we have the required permission or another lawful basis permitted by applicable law.
Marketing subscriptions are separate from individual vehicle enquiries. Submitting a vehicle enquiry does not automatically subscribe you to general marketing unless you have been clearly offered that choice and have agreed to it.
Where you opt in, we may send:
Electric Road news and owner content
Surveys, polls and quizzes
Automotive information
Vehicle offers
Information supplied on behalf of selected automotive partners
You may unsubscribe at any time by:
Clicking the unsubscribe link in an email
Contacting info@electricroad.co.uk
We may retain limited suppression information so that we can respect your request and avoid sending further unwanted marketing.
10. Cookies and similar technology
Our websites use cookies and similar technology to:
Operate correctly
Remember preferences
Measure website use
Understand campaign performance
Maintain security
Diagnose technical problems
Support relevant advertising
We use CookieYes as our consent-management platform. CookieYes records your consent choices and helps ensure that non-essential cookies are only used after you have made the relevant selection.
CookieYes may process information such as an anonymised IP address and your consent status to maintain evidence of your cookie choices.
We may also use Google Analytics and advertising-platform technology. Depending on your cookie choices, these services may collect information including your IP address, device, browser, pages visited, referral source and campaign identifiers.
Further information is available in our Cookie Policy and through the cookie settings displayed on our website.
11. Who we share information with
We limit access to personal information and only share it where necessary for the purposes described in this policy.
Recipients may include:
The automotive partner connected with your enquiry
An appropriate participating retailer
Leadscale Ltd
Approved automotive technical and fulfilment partners
Form, automation and technology providers
Website, hosting, analytics and security providers
Email and marketing-platform providers
Professional advisers, insurers, auditors or legal representatives
Regulators, courts or public authorities where legally required
We do not sell personal information to unrelated organisations.
12. Our principal service providers
Kit
Kit is used for email-marketing subscriptions and communication management.
Where you have opted in to marketing, relevant contact information and marketing preferences may be stored in Kit.
Kit may process information in the United States. Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we rely on an applicable adequacy arrangement or approved contractual safeguards.
Kit marketing records are separate from the operational processing of individual vehicle enquiries.
Kit’s privacy information is available at:
Jotform
We use Jotform as a form-building and data-collection platform.
We use Jotform Enterprise with UK data hosting for primary form data. Jotform may use international support services and subprocessors to operate its platform.
Where information is processed outside the UK, appropriate safeguards are applied through Jotform’s contractual and data-processing arrangements.
Jotform’s privacy information is available at:
https://www.jotform.com/privacy/
Meta and other advertising platforms
Where you submit information using Meta Instant Forms or another advertising platform, the platform will process information in accordance with its own privacy policy before making the submission available to us.
You should also review the privacy settings and notices provided by the relevant platform.
Zapier
We use Zapier to securely automate selected transfers between approved systems.
Depending on the relevant workflow, Zapier may process campaign-form responses, campaign identifiers and lead-processing information on our behalf.
Zapier may process information outside the UK. Appropriate contractual transfer safeguards are used through its applicable data-processing terms.
Zapier’s privacy information is available at:
OpenAI
We may use OpenAI’s business or API services through an approved integration to generate an advisory lead score or classification.
Relevant campaign-form responses may be processed to generate the assessment described in section 8. ABACUS does not use this information to train or fine-tune its own AI model.
OpenAI states that information submitted through its business and API services is not used to train its models by default, unless the customer has expressly chosen to share that information for model improvement.
Where processing involves an international transfer, appropriate safeguards are applied through the relevant contractual and data-processing arrangements.
OpenAI’s privacy information is available at:
https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/
Leadscale Ltd
Where you request information, contact, a quotation, a brochure or a test drive from an automotive partner, your information may be shared with Leadscale Ltd.
Leadscale provides specialist lead validation, processing and delivery services.
Leadscale is a UK-based organisation. Its CRM environment is hosted using Microsoft Azure in the UK, although technical support services may operate from both the UK and India.
Where international access or processing occurs, it is subject to applicable contractual and data-protection safeguards.
Leadscale’s privacy information is available at:
https://leadscale.com/privacy-policy/
A copy of the relevant data-processing terms can be made available on request where appropriate.
Microsoft
We may use Microsoft 365, including Excel, to store and manage campaign and operational records.
Access is restricted to authorised users and protected by the security controls available within our Microsoft environment.
Microsoft may use international infrastructure and subprocessors. Relevant safeguards are provided through Microsoft’s contractual data-protection arrangements.
13. Automotive partners and their technical providers
Our automotive partners may change over time. Current or recent partners include:
BMW
Ford
Škoda
Stellantis brands, including Alfa Romeo, Citroën, Jeep and Peugeot
Volkswagen
When you make a specific request relating to one of these partners, your information may be passed to that partner, an appropriate retailer or an approved technical provider.
BMW and Ford may require information to be processed through Leadscale.
For relevant Stellantis campaigns, information may be transferred through Leadscale and subsequently to Driftrock.
Driftrock’s privacy information is available at:
https://www.driftrock.com/privacy-policy
For relevant Škoda and Volkswagen campaigns, information may be transferred through Leadscale and subsequently to The Lead Agency.
The Lead Agency’s privacy information is available at:
https://www.tla.co/privacy-policy/
Once information is received by an automotive partner or its separately appointed provider, that organisation may process it as an independent controller in accordance with its own privacy notice.
14. International transfers
Some of our service providers, support teams or subprocessors operate outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take steps to ensure an appropriate legal safeguard is in place. This may include:
A UK adequacy regulation
The UK Extension to an approved data-transfer framework
The UK International Data Transfer Agreement
The UK Addendum to the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses
Another legally recognised transfer mechanism
Additional technical and contractual safeguards may also be used where appropriate.
You may contact us if you would like further information about the safeguards applying to a particular transfer.
15. Retention and deletion
We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
The appropriate period depends on:
The nature of the information
The purpose of the relevant campaign or service
Instructions from the relevant controller or automotive partner
Contractual and audit requirements
The need to respond to complaints or establish legal claims
Applicable legal and regulatory obligations
Vehicle enquiries
Vehicle-enquiry information is retained only for the period needed to validate, process, deliver and audit the enquiry, after which it is deleted or anonymised in accordance with the applicable retention arrangements.
The relevant automotive partner or recipient may retain its copy under its own privacy policy.
Marketing information
Marketing contact information is retained while you remain subscribed or while we have another lawful reason to keep it.
If you unsubscribe, we may retain limited information on a suppression list to ensure that further unwanted marketing is not sent.
AI-assisted assessments
AI-generated scores and classifications are retained only with the associated campaign record and follow the same applicable retention period.
We do not maintain a separate permanent AI profile about you.
Surveys, reviews and submitted content
Where appropriate, owner reviews, surveys or other submitted content may be retained in anonymised form after identifying information is removed.
Legal and security records
We may retain relevant records for longer where necessary to meet a legal obligation, investigate a security incident, resolve a complaint or establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.
16. Security
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against:
Unauthorised access
Accidental or unlawful disclosure
Loss
Alteration
Destruction
Misuse
Measures may include:
Restricted access
Named user accounts
Strong passwords
Multi-factor authentication where supported
Secure data transfers
Encryption provided by our approved platforms
Access reviews
Supplier due diligence
Retention and deletion controls
Incident-management procedures
No internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. However, we take proportionate steps to protect personal information and require relevant suppliers to maintain appropriate safeguards.
17. Information about children
Our vehicle-enquiry services are intended for adults.
We do not knowingly use children’s information for vehicle lead generation or AI-assisted lead scoring.
If we become aware that information relating to a child has been submitted inappropriately, we will take reasonable steps to delete it or contact the appropriate person.
Some polls, competitions or editorial services may be open to younger participants where expressly stated and where appropriate safeguards or parental permission are provided.
18. Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:
Be informed
You have the right to be told how your personal information is collected and used.
Access
You may ask for a copy of personal information we hold about you.
Rectification
You may ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
Erasure
You may ask us to delete personal information in certain circumstances.
Restriction
You may ask us to restrict how information is used in certain circumstances.
Object
You may object to:
Direct marketing at any time
Processing based on legitimate interests where your circumstances justify an objection
Relevant profiling associated with that processing
Data portability
Where the legal conditions apply, you may ask for information you provided to be supplied in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
Withdraw consent
Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.
AI-assisted processing and human review
Where AI is used to support the assessment or routing of an enquiry, you may ask us:
For further information about the main factors considered
To correct inaccurate source information
To review the output
To arrange human consideration of the relevant outcome
ABACUS does not use AI to make solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
We normally respond to valid data-protection requests within one month. We may need to verify your identity before responding.
Some rights are subject to legal conditions and exemptions.
To exercise a right, contact:
19. Links to other websites
Our websites and communications may contain links to third-party websites.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those organisations. You should review the privacy notice provided by the relevant third party before submitting information.
20. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when our services, suppliers, legal obligations or data-processing activities change.
The latest version will be published on this page with the updated date shown below.
21. Contact us
The people responsible for data protection at Electric Road, Car Finder and Van Finder are the directors of ABACUS Performance Media Ltd:
Ed Whelan
Russell Whitehouse
Email:
This Privacy Policy was last updated on 24 September 2026.
