We are Hitchwise. 

If you have any questions about this policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact us at help@hitchwise.com or by writing to Suite 207, Devonshire House Manor Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, WD6 1QQ.

Hitchwise Limited (“Hitchwise”, “we”, “our” or “us”) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, store, process, transfer, share and use data that identifies or is associated with you (“personal information”) and information regarding our use of cookies and similar technologies. 

We operate a carpooling platform accessible on a mobile application available to download on a website at the address (www.hitchwise.com), or directly available for download on your mobile device (each a “Platform” and together the “Platforms”).

This Privacy Policy applies to our Platforms (together, the “Service”). Please ensure that you have read this Privacy Policy and Terms of Service and understood how we collect, store, use and disclose your personal information, both online and offline through the Service, before accessing or using the Service.

This policy was last updated on 1 July 2023.

Who is responsible for use of my personal data? 

Hitchwise Limited is the controller of the personal information we hold about you in connection with your use of the Hitchwise Service. This means that we determine and are responsible for how your personal information is used.

How do you use my data?

• When you create and log into your account we will collect your name, email address, phone number, address, social media handle and your payment details. We collect this in order to take steps to enter into a contract with you and allow you to purchase our services.

• When you sign up to receive our news updates. We will collect your name and email address to provide you with our news updates in line with any preferences you have told us about. When we send you our news updates because you have opted-in to receive them, we rely on your consent to contact you. 

You can unsubscribe from our updates at any time by responding to any email you receive from us to tell us you wish to unsubscribe or by emailing help@hitchwise.com. 

• When you contact us either by phone, email, via our 'contact us' page or via social media, we will usually collect your name, social media handle and contact details, because it’s in our legitimate interest to make sure we can properly respond to your query.

• If our business is sold. We process your personal information for this purpose because we have a legitimate interest to ensure our business can be continued by the buyer. If you object to our use of your personal information in this way, the buyer of our business may not be able to provide services to you.

Who do you share my data with?

We may share your personal information with the following:

• Service providers and advisors: we may share your personal information with third party vendors and other service providers that perform services for us or on our behalf, which may include providing professional services, such as legal and accounting services, mailing, email or chat services, fraud prevention, web hosting, or providing analytic services. 

• Purchasers and third parties in connection with a business transaction: your personal information may be disclosed to third parties in connection with a transaction, such as a merger, sale of assets or shares, reorganisation, financing, change of control or acquisition of all or a portion of our business.

• Law enforcement, regulators and other parties for legal reasons: we may share your personal information with third parties as required by law or if we reasonably believe that such action is necessary to (i) comply with the law and the reasonable requests of law enforcement; (ii) detect and investigate illegal activities and breaches of agreements, including our Terms of Service; and/or (iii) exercise or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Hitchwise, its users or others.

Where do you store my data?

We store your data on third party servers which are based in the UK.

When working with third parties we may need to transfer your personal data outside of the UK and / or EU.

Whenever we transfer your personal information outside of the UK and the EU, we ensure it receives additional protection as required by law. To keep this policy as short and easy to understand as possible, we haven’t set out the specific circumstances when each of these protection measures are used. You can contact us using the details above for more information on this.

How long do you keep my data for?

We will only retain your personal information for as long as we need it unless we are required to keep it for longer to comply with our legal, accounting or regulatory requirements.

We delete your booking information 6 years after your last booking with us. Other information related to your account will be deleted 2 years after your account has become inactive.

In some circumstances we may carefully anonymise your personal data so that it can no longer be associated with you, and we may use this anonymised information indefinitely without notifying you. We use this anonymised information to improve the way we work and our services.

What are my rights under data protection law?

You have various other rights under applicable data protection laws, including the right to:

• access your personal data (also known as a “subject access request”);

• correct incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you;

• ask us to erase the personal data we hold about you;

• ask us to restrict our handling of your personal data;

• ask us to transfer your personal data to a third party; 

• object to how we are using your personal data; and

• withdraw your consent to us handling your personal data.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with us or the Information Commissioner's Office, the supervisory authority for data protection issues in England and Wales. If you are based in the EU you can find your relevant supervisory authority here.

Please keep in mind that privacy law is complicated, and these rights will not always be available to you all of the time.