EU Data Protection Regulation Changes: Is Your Dealership Prepared?

With new EU data protection regulations coming into force in May 2018, dealers should review their data collection processes and ensure that customers opt-in to the use of their data by their business moving forward in order to ensure full compliance.

Dealerships need to be aware of the changes to data protection and should start putting in place the new measures that will come into effect next year immediately, as if they are deemed as not being compliant, they could be forced to pay fines of up to 4% of their turnover.

The new legislation will replace the Data Protection Act 1998 and is designed to strengthen individual’s data protection rights compared with the current legislation covering personal data.

Administrative fines, consent, profiling and transparency will all be subject to public consultation ahead of the finalisation of the regulations.

So What Has Changed?

• Pre-Ticked Opt-In Boxes – One huge change is an outright ban of the use of pre-ticked opt-in boxes for marketing purposes. The new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) guidelines mean that failure to opt out will not constitute consent to use of personal data.

• Using Data for Different Purposes – People must now agree to their data being used for different purposes. This means that consenting for use of details for a prize draw competition will not extend beyond that specific purpose and dealers cannot then use these details for marketing purposes or any special offers.

• Profiling Customers Buying Habits – The new regulations will also cover profiling, which many dealers could think is limited to social media or internet search history, but will apply to data collected from existing customer relationships and their buying habits. This could be incredibly impactful for dealers who use this information in their marketing activities.

Click Dealer’s Managing Director, Gerry Moxham said of the new GDPR regulation changes: “Dealers need to be preparing now for the new GDPR data regulation; they should also be developing controls to ensure 100% data collection of email and mobile details and wherever possible extend this to social media profiles too.”