What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, tablet, or smartphone) when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work correctly, improve performance, and provide information to the website owner.
Cookies cannot contain viruses or malicious code, and they cannot access other files on your device. A cookie can only be read by the website that placed it.
Alongside cookies, we may also use similar technologies such as web beacons, pixel tags, and local storage. For simplicity, all of these are referred to as "cookies" throughout this policy.
Why We Use Cookies
B8 Used Car Centre uses cookies for the following reasons:
- To ensure our website functions correctly and securely.
- To remember your preferences and settings between visits.
- To understand how visitors find and use our website so we can improve it.
- To measure the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing.
- To provide a personalised experience where relevant.
Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), we are required to obtain your consent before placing any non-essential cookies on your device. You will have been asked to consent via our cookie banner when you first visited our site.
Types of Cookies We Use
We categorise the cookies used on our website into four types:
Cookies can also be classified by how long they last: Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies remain on your device for a set period or until manually deleted.
Specific Cookies on Our Site
The table below details the specific cookies currently in use on the B8 Used Car Centre website:
| Cookie Name | Type | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| b8_cookie_consent | Essential | Stores your cookie consent preferences so you are not asked again on every visit. | 12 months |
| b8_session | Essential | Maintains your session while you browse the site. Required for forms to function correctly. | Session |
| _ga | Analytics | Google Analytics — distinguishes unique users and sessions. Used to generate anonymous usage statistics. | 2 years |
| _ga_XXXXXXXX | Analytics | Google Analytics 4 — used to persist session state across pages. | 2 years |
| _gid | Analytics | Google Analytics — distinguishes users. Stores and updates a unique value for each page visited. | 24 hours |
| _gat | Analytics | Google Analytics — used to throttle request rate and limit data collection on high-traffic sites. | 1 minute |
| b8_prefs | Functional | Remembers your vehicle filter preferences (make, price range) between visits. | 30 days |
| _fbp | Marketing | Facebook Pixel — identifies browsers to track visits across websites and deliver targeted advertising. | 3 months |
| _gcl_au | Marketing | Google Ads conversion tracking — measures ad campaign effectiveness by tracking actions taken after clicking an ad. | 3 months |
This table is reviewed and updated regularly. Cookie usage may change as we update or add features to our website.
Third-Party Cookies
Some cookies on our website are set by third-party services that appear on our pages. We do not control these cookies. The third parties we use include:
| Provider | Purpose | Privacy Policy |
|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics | Website traffic and usage analytics | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Google Ads | Advertising and conversion tracking | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Meta (Facebook) | Social media marketing and retargeting | facebook.com/policy.php |
| AutoTrader | Vehicle listing widgets and tracking | autotrader.co.uk privacy policy |
| Trustpilot | Review widget display | trustpilot.com privacy terms |
Each of these providers has their own privacy and cookie policies. We encourage you to review them for full details of how they use your data.
Your Cookie Choices
You have the right to choose which non-essential cookies you accept. You can manage your preferences in the following ways:
- Cookie banner — when you first visit our site, a cookie banner gives you the option to accept all cookies, reject non-essential cookies, or manage your preferences by category.
- Cookie preference centre — you can revisit and change your preferences at any time by clicking the "Manage Cookies" link in the footer of our website.
- Browser settings — most browsers allow you to refuse or delete cookies. See Section 7 for browser-specific instructions.
- Third-party opt-outs — you can opt out of Google Analytics tracking via Google's opt-out tool, and manage Facebook ad preferences via Facebook's Ad Preferences.
Managing Cookies by Browser
You can control and delete cookies directly through your web browser. Instructions for the most common browsers are available at the links below:
For other browsers, please refer to your browser's official help documentation. You can also visit aboutcookies.org for independent guidance on managing cookies across all major browsers and devices.
Cookie Consent & Withdrawal
Where we rely on your consent to set non-essential cookies, we will ask for that consent clearly and separately from other terms. Your consent is:
- Freely given — you are not required to accept non-essential cookies to use our site.
- Specific — you can choose which categories of cookie to accept.
- Informed — this policy explains what each cookie does before you consent.
- Unambiguous — your consent is recorded by an active action (clicking "Accept"), not a pre-ticked box.
You may withdraw your consent at any time by clicking "Manage Cookies" in the footer of our website, or by clearing cookies in your browser settings. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.
We store a record of your consent (including the date and version of the policy you consented to) for up to 12 months to demonstrate compliance with PECR.
Impact of Disabling Cookies
Disabling or blocking certain cookies may affect your experience of our website. The table below summarises what happens if you disable each category:
| Cookie Type | Impact of Disabling |
|---|---|
| Essential | Core website functions (forms, filters, navigation) may not work correctly. These cannot be disabled via our cookie banner. |
| Analytics | We will not be able to measure how our website is used or identify areas for improvement. No impact on your browsing experience. |
| Functional | Your vehicle filter preferences and settings will not be remembered between visits. |
| Marketing | You may still see adverts from B8 Used Car Centre, but they will be less relevant to your interests. Your ad views will not be counted towards our campaign data. |
Changes to This Policy
We review and update this Cookie Policy periodically to reflect changes in the cookies we use, applicable legislation, or guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
The date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised. Where changes are material — for example, if we add a new category of cookie — we will notify you via the cookie banner the next time you visit our site and ask for your consent again where required.
We encourage you to review this policy from time to time to stay informed about how we use cookies.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Cookie Policy, or about how we handle your data more broadly, please contact us:
For wider data protection queries, please also refer to our Privacy Policy.
If you believe your rights under PECR or UK GDPR have not been respected, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):
ico.org.uk | 0303 123 1113