Cookie Policy

What cookies are

A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store on your device. It allows the site to recognise that device on a later page view or a later visit. Similar technologies include local storage, session storage and tracking pixels, and where this policy refers to cookies it means all of them. Cookies cannot execute programs, read other files on your device or carry viruses.

Cookies are described as first-party where they are set by this website and third-party where they are set by another organisation whose content or service appears on a page. They are described as session cookies where they expire when you close your browser, and persistent where they remain for a defined period.

The cookies we use

Strictly necessary cookies keep the site working. They remember the contents of a quotation form between steps, protect forms against cross-site request forgery, balance traffic across servers and record whether you have already responded to the cookie banner. These cookies cannot be switched off through our banner because the site cannot function without them, and no consent is required for them under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

Analytics cookies help us understand which pages are used, which destination pages people look for and where visitors leave the site. The data is aggregated and used to improve the content and structure of the site. These cookies are only set where you have given consent, and declining them has no effect on the service you receive.

Functional cookies remember preferences such as a previously selected destination country or a dismissed notice, so that you do not have to make the same choice repeatedly. Where we embed third-party content such as a map or a video, that provider may set its own cookies governed by its own policy.

How long cookies last and how to control them

Session cookies expire when you close the browser. Consent records typically last twelve months, after which you will be asked again. Analytics identifiers typically last between twenty-four hours and two years depending on their purpose. No cookie set by this site stores your name, address, payment details or the contents of a completed booking.

You can control cookies through your browser settings, where you may block all cookies, block third-party cookies only, delete existing cookies or ask to be prompted each time. Every major browser publishes instructions in its help section. Blocking strictly necessary cookies will prevent forms from submitting correctly, and clearing cookies removes your saved preferences including any choice to decline analytics.

Most browsers also offer a Do Not Track signal and private browsing modes. We honour a clear opt-out signal where the browser sends one. If you have any question about the cookies used on this site, contact us at info@shipcarsuk.co.uk and we will explain what a specific cookie does.