Privacy Policy

01About this policy

This Privacy Policy explains how CarKings Automotive (“CarKings”, “we”, “us” or “our”) handles personal information. We are a mobile automotive and residential locksmith business operating across greater Brisbane, Queensland.

We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). Even where an exemption for small businesses might otherwise apply to us, we have chosen to follow the APPs as a matter of good practice.

By using our website, contacting us or engaging our services, you acknowledge that your personal information will be handled as described in this policy.

02What we collect

“Personal information” means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable. The types of personal information we collect depend on how you deal with us and may include:

• Contact details, such as your name, phone number, email address, suburb and the address where the job is to be carried out.
• Job details, such as your vehicle’s make, model, year, registration number and VIN, the type of lock or key involved, and notes about the problem.
• Proof of identity and ownership, such as a driver licence, vehicle registration papers, a rates notice, a lease or a letter of authority. We ask to see these to confirm that you are entitled to access a vehicle or property, or to have keys cut for it.
• Payment and invoicing details, such as billing name, business name and ABN, and transaction records. Card payments are processed by our payment providers, and we do not store full card numbers.
• Communications, including messages, emails, form submissions and notes of phone calls.
• Website technical information, such as your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited and the date and time of your visit. This information is recorded in standard server logs by our hosting provider.

Sensitive information

We do not intentionally collect sensitive information, such as health information or information about racial or ethnic origin. Identity documents you show us can contain such details, so we view them only to verify your identity and authority, and we do not copy or keep them unless you agree or the law requires it.

03How we collect it

We collect personal information in a lawful and fair way, and wherever reasonable directly from you, for example when you:

• call, text or email us;
• submit a quote request through our website;
• meet one of our technicians on-site; or
• pay an invoice or ask for a receipt.

Sometimes we receive personal information from third parties, such as a property manager, landlord, fleet manager, insurer or roadside assistance provider who books a job on your behalf. Where we collect information about you from someone else, we take reasonable steps to make sure you are aware of the matters in this policy.

If we receive personal information we did not ask for and could not have collected under the APPs, we will destroy or de-identify it where it is lawful and reasonable to do so.

04Why we collect and use it

We collect, hold and use personal information to:

• respond to your enquiry and give you a quote;
• schedule a technician and get to your location;
• verify your identity and your authority to access a vehicle or property, which helps prevent unlawful entry and theft;
• carry out the work, including cutting and programming keys and repairing, replacing or rekeying locks;
• issue invoices and receipts, process payments and keep business records;
• follow up on our work and handle warranty and consumer guarantee claims;
• respond to feedback, complaints and privacy requests;
• maintain and improve our website, services and safety; and
• comply with our legal obligations, including tax and record-keeping laws.

Direct marketing

We do not send marketing messages unless you have agreed to receive them. Any marketing we send will comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth), and will include a simple way to opt out. We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information.

05Dealing with us anonymously

You can ask general questions, such as our service areas or typical pricing, without identifying yourself or by using a pseudonym. To book a job, however, we need your contact details and, for lockouts and key work, proof of identity and ownership. We cannot carry out that work anonymously.

06Who we share it with

We only disclose personal information for the purposes described in this policy, for a related purpose you would reasonably expect, with your consent, or where the law requires or authorises it. This may include disclosure to:

• our technicians, employees and contractors who need the information to do the job;
• service providers who support our business, such as website hosting and form delivery (Netlify), email and spreadsheet software (Google Workspace), payment processors, accounting and IT providers;
• a third party who booked or is paying for the job, such as your insurer, landlord, property manager or employer, to the extent necessary;
• our professional advisers, such as accountants and lawyers; and
• police or other government agencies, where we are required or authorised by law to do so, including where we reasonably suspect unlawful activity, such as an attempt to access a vehicle or property without authority.

We require our service providers to handle personal information securely and only for the purpose of providing their services to us.

07Overseas disclosure

Some of our service providers store or process information outside Australia. In particular, our website host, form delivery service and Google may store data in the United States and in other countries where they or their subcontractors operate.

Before disclosing personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to make sure the recipient handles it in a way that is consistent with the APPs, for example by using reputable providers with published privacy and security commitments.

08Storage and security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include password-protected and access-restricted systems, encrypted (HTTPS) connections on our website, and limiting access to people who need the information to do their job.

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purposes described in this policy or to meet legal requirements. For example, Australian tax law generally requires business records to be kept for five years. After that, we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify the information.

No method of transmitting information over the internet is completely secure. If you prefer, you can contact us by phone instead of using our online form.

09Data breaches

If a data breach occurs, we act promptly to contain it and assess the risk of harm. Where a breach is likely to result in serious harm to the people involved, we will notify them and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in line with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act.

10Cookies and website data

Our website does not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels or third-party analytics. We do use:

• Local storage in your browser to remember whether you chose the light or dark theme, and any settings you choose in the accessibility toolbar. These preferences stay on your device and are not sent to us.
• jsDelivr, a public content delivery network that serves the accessibility toolbar and its language and font files. When your browser loads these files, jsDelivr receives technical information such as your IP address and browser type. See jsDelivr’s Privacy Policy.
• Google Fonts to display our typefaces. When your browser loads these fonts, Google receives technical information such as your IP address and browser type. See Google’s Privacy Policy.
• Hosting logs kept by our hosting provider, which record technical information about requests to the website for security and operational purposes.

When you submit our quote form, your details are received through our website host (Netlify), sent to us by email and recorded in a Google Sheet that only we can access, so that we can respond and keep track of enquiries.

Our website may link to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those websites, so please read their privacy policies.

11Access and correction

You can ask for access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. Please contact us using the details below.

We will need to verify your identity before acting on a request. We aim to respond within 30 days. We do not charge for making a request, but we may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of providing access to a large volume of information, and we will tell you about any fee first.

In limited circumstances permitted by the Privacy Act, we may refuse access or correction. If we do, we will give you written reasons and explain how you can complain.

12Complaints

If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first and give us the chance to fix it. We will acknowledge your complaint promptly, investigate it and aim to respond in writing within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

13Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, our services or how we handle personal information. The current version will always be published on this page, with the date it was last updated.

14Contact us

For privacy questions, access or correction requests, or complaints, please contact our privacy officer: