Documents when you sell a car - GDPR?

[chrisABP]

Just sold my 981 Spyder through Motorway (great result, IMO almost retail but that's a different story!) and its being collected next week.

Anyway - I have a full history file for the car including original purchase receipt when new, copies of all OPC service invoices, V5 documents showing previously used private registration numbers etc etc. Now - to me all of these documents are important and belong in the cars history file for provenance. But these documents show the original owners details along with my home address etc so what's the official situation / rules regarding GDPR on releasing these documents to the buyer?

Previously when I've sold cars privately, to an OPC or to an independent specialist I've released the whole history file without any concern and that's mainly been a trust thing. In this instance the winning bidder on Motorway was another used car sourcing company specialising in supplying dealers with sports / prestige cars so it will be going from me to them and then to another dealer to sell.

Do I release all invoices etc with addresses or just the bare minimum??

Edited by chrisABP on Friday 9th July 10:23

[RichTT]

Just take a black Sharpie to the names / address fields and hand everything over.

[randlemarcus]

This is a tricky one, as there's no single answer, and selling to a dealer just throws someone elses opinion into the mix. Good (in my opinion) dealers, will give up all of the paperwork, including service invoices, warranty paperwork, launch event invites etc. Bad ones will throw the whole lot in the bin in either a misguided fear of GDPR, or a sneaky way of getting rid of those two invoices that talked about a mysterious loss of coolant

[SKM1984]

I cant say its ever crossed my mind, generally everything car related gets bung into a folder that is periodically sorted out and is the story behind the car. The more facts and figures within the pack the better the story.

I like seeing receipts and have never crossed out names or addresses but this has got me wondering.

[chrisABP]

SKM1984 said:

I cant say its ever crossed my mind, generally everything car related gets bung into a folder that is periodically sorted out and is the story behind the car. The more facts and figures within the pack the better the story.

I like seeing receipts and have never crossed out names or addresses but this has got me wondering.

I'm exactly the same and want to hand everything over as its the cars history BUT the new rules etc do concern me, and the fact it will be going through at least two others dealers hands...??!!

[WG]

I think you will find that the dealer is not permitted to pass on any paperwork with your details on as they will potentially be in breach of the regulaions.

[Taffy66]

I would imagine that passing on all receipts etc with the proviso that all personal details(Names,addresses, phone no, email etc) of previous owners has been erased will suffice.

[deckster]

WG said:

I think you will find that the dealer is not permitted to pass on any paperwork with your details on as they will potentially be in breach of the regulaions.

I think you'll find no such thing.

GDPR is much mis-understood and much mis-interpreted. If records are paper-based and not "part of a filing system" - pragmatically, they cannot be searched - then GDPR doesn't apply. So if the dealer indexed the service record and could search on customer name - that might be subject to GDPR. A bundle of paper that is kept and passed on with the car, is not.

[smokey mow]

WG said:

I think you will find that the dealer is not permitted to pass on any paperwork with your details on as they will potentially be in breach of the regulaions.

From my experience of buying and selling cars in the last couple of years was that any receipts etc that are left in the car (rightly or wrongly) get destroyed by the dealers.

[Shiverman]

A question everyone seems to have missed - although it takes it slightly off topic - is what are you going to replace the Spyder with?

[chrisABP]

Shiverman said:

A question everyone seems to have missed - although it takes it slightly off topic - is what are you going to replace the Spyder with?

LOL!

Temporarily nothing - but as my wife reminded me apparently I always say that.....

Have an itch for a Caterham (short term - Mrs would hate it!) and a deposit placed for the new Lotus (if I can fit in it that is...) but I'm going to watch the market and see if the current spike in values settles at all.

Loved the Spyder for 2.5 years but values being so strong it was time for a change.

[55palfers]

deckster said:

WG said:

I think you will find that the dealer is not permitted to pass on any paperwork with your details on as they will potentially be in breach of the regulaions.

I think you'll find no such thing.

GDPR is much mis-understood and much mis-interpreted. If records are paper-based and not "part of a filing system" - pragmatically, they cannot be searched - then GDPR doesn't apply. So if the dealer indexed the service record and could search on customer name - that might be subject to GDPR. A bundle of paper that is kept and passed on with the car, is not.

Yes. I doubt if "data protection" was ever intended to apply to paper records of potential historical interest - otherwise most of the contents of the British Library would have to be destroyed.

[MrVert]

chrisABP said:

LOL!

Temporarily nothing - but as my wife reminded me apparently I always say that.....

Have an itch for a Caterham (short term - Mrs would hate it!) and a deposit placed for the new Lotus (if I can fit in it that is...) but I'm going to watch the market and see if the current spike in values settles at all.

Loved the Spyder for 2.5 years but values being so strong it was time for a change.

Can’t blame you, just done the same thing with my GTS, albeit a dealer has bettered the offer from WBAC / Motorway etc….the offer was too good to refuse.

Also going to get an Emira next year fingers crossed, although am jumping into a Spyder for 12 months as a stopgap.

[Ken Figenus]

deckster said:

I think you'll find no such thing.

GDPR is much mis-understood and much mis-interpreted. If records are paper-based and not "part of a filing system" - pragmatically, they cannot be searched - then GDPR doesn't apply. So if the dealer indexed the service record and could search on customer name - that might be subject to GDPR. A bundle of paper that is kept and passed on with the car, is not.

Can you tell EVERYONE this please. Got an OK price for an E61 from a dealer and he binned all my filed invoices in front of me. I'm like 'but the new owner would love to know I removed the swirl flaps and changed all the belts'. Not remotely interested cos of GDPR or maybe cos of COVID innit

[ttdan]

Keep everything. Put a note in the service book with an email address or something saying that if you are the lucky new owner please get in touch and I will send you the history file ?

[DKL]

Not quite the same thing but I sold a car to wbac and they actively refused my lovely pile of paperwork etc citing GDPR. I suspect they just couldn't be arsed.
Anyway I did track the new owner via PH and sent the stuff over. Never got a response mind which was a shame.

[Dan911]

A dealership these days has to remove the name and contact details from any invoices etc.. Most dealers have a stamp that will go over the GDPR details that makes them unreadable.

If I was selling privately it would not worry me.

[ttdan]

DKL said:

Not quite the same thing but I sold a car to wbac and they actively refused my lovely pile of paperwork etc citing GDPR. I suspect they just couldn't be arsed.
Anyway I did track the new owner via PH and sent the stuff over. Never got a response mind which was a shame.

Some folks eh

[CarCrazyDad]

Why does it concern? The previous owners details are on the V5 - I wouldn't ever think to sharpie or cross out any details! (other than perhaps something like a credit card number etc)

[rrroro]

V5 is exempt as that is covered by some sort of ‘legal requirement’ exemption

I’ve done a quick Google this morning. GDPR applies to businesses that control or process personal data, and the fines can be quite large (2-4% of global turnover depending on breach severity), so I’m not surprised businesses have no interest in getting caught by the rules. Personal data is essentially any information that can be used to identify a person - so a name, address, telephone number, email address could all fit this criteria. I’m therefore not at all surprised to hear that dealers are binning car history files instead of just redacting the personal data from it. Why would they bother talking a sharpie to personal data on car history paperwork and risk missing something and then someone complaining to the Information Commissioners Office (the regulator). From the ICO website: “A personal data breach is a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data.” It’s not worth the hassle for them, nor the potential bad publicity and fines. Would I do the same if I were a car dealer? Unfortunately I probably would (…. All based on my limited understanding of GDPR).

I found a recent article about a car dealer who was fined for accidentally leaving service records in a glovebox and the new owner contacted the previous owner https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/car-dealer...

It’s a very interesting area to say the least…