1. What is a Cookie
A cookie is a small file, often encrypted, when you visit web pages. We use cookies to keep track of the options you have selected on our website and to remember information when you return, along with providing analytics to allow us to improve your experience on our sites.
To provide the best user experience, you need to have cookies enabled. If you don’t wish to enable cookies, you will still be able to use the site but you may not be able to use some of the features we offer such as car finance checks and finance applications so we recommend you keep them enabled. Cookies don’t harm your computer. Like other online companies, we use cookies to provide you with more relevant and useful information. We don’t store personally identifiable information such as credit card details in the cookies we create.
2. Cookies Policy
To make full use of the features on our site you will need to accept cookies and other browser storage methods, as we can only provide you with certain personalised features of this website by using them. If your computer is configured to accept cookies we will be able to provide time saving functionality.
However, if you’d prefer to restrict, block or delete cookies you can use your browser to do this. Each browser is different, so check the ‘Help’ menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.
3. Cookies Used on This Site
Here is a list of how we use cookies on this website: -
Google Analytics
_ga - An analytics cookie which calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gid - An analytics cookie which stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
_gat - A performance cookie used to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites.
Hotjar
_hjid - This analytics cookie is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.
_hjFirstSeen - This analytics cookie is set to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether this was the first time Hotjar saw this user. It is used by Recording filters to identify new user sessions.
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample - This analytics cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's pageview limit.
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress - This analytics cookie is to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie.
Other
CookieConsent - This is a necessary cookie which stores the user's consent state for the current domain.
4. Are These Cookies Secure?
Cookies are not computer viruses, they cannot be executed nor are they self-executing, they also cannot replicate and spread to other networks to execute. Since they cannot perform these functions, they fall outside the standard definition of a virus.
Because cookies store information about a user’s browsing preferences and history, cookies can sometimes be used to act as a form of spyware. Many anti-spyware products recognize this and will flag certain cookies for deletion, following a scan.
For further information on cookies or for details on how to delete them or refuse their installation on your computer, please visit ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online/cookies/ (opens in a new tab) or allaboutcookies.org/privacy-concerns/index.html (opens in a new tab)