1. Introduction
This Cookie Policy explains how Freewheel Autos Ltd uses cookies and similar technologies when you visit freewheel.autos.
This policy explains what cookies are, which cookies we use, why we use them, and how you can manage your preferences.
2. What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They help websites function properly, improve security, remember your preferences, and provide information about how visitors use the website.
Cookies may be:
- Session cookies – deleted when you close your browser.
- Persistent cookies – remain on your device until they expire or are deleted.
- First-party cookies – set by our website.
- Third-party cookies – set by external service providers.
3. How We Use Cookies
We use cookies to:
- Ensure the Website functions correctly and securely.
- Remember your cookie preferences.
- Understand how visitors use the Website, where you have given consent.
- Measure and improve our advertising, where you have given consent.
4. Types of Cookies We Use
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are essential for the operation of our Website and cannot be switched off. They include the cookie that remembers your cookie choices. These cookies are exempt from consent because they are essential to provide the service you have requested.
Analytics Cookies
These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our Website by collecting anonymous or pseudonymised information. The legal basis for using them is your consent, and they are only placed after you have agreed.
This includes Microsoft Clarity, which records how visitors use our pages — for example clicks, scrolling and mouse movement — so we can see where the Website is difficult to use and fix it.
Marketing Cookies
Marketing cookies may be used to:
- Measure advertising performance
- Record enquiries made after viewing one of our adverts
- Personalise advertising
- Build audience profiles
The legal basis for using them is your consent, and they are only placed after you have agreed. Where you have agreed, we may also send the same events to Meta directly from our systems (Meta’s Conversions API) so that our advertising can be measured accurately.
How Our Tags Are Loaded (Google Tag Manager and Consent Mode)
We use Google Tag Manager to load our measurement and advertising tags (Google Analytics 4, Microsoft Clarity and the Meta Pixel). Google Tag Manager is a tag-management tool and does not set any cookies of its own.
Google Analytics uses Google Consent Mode. This means it is present on every page, but until you agree it runs in a restricted state: it sets no cookies and does not identify you. In that state it may send Google anonymous, cookieless signals that are used only for aggregate measurement and do not track you as an individual. Microsoft Clarity and the Meta Pixel do not run at all until you have agreed. The cookies listed in the table below are set only after you have given consent for the relevant category, and are removed if you withdraw it.
5. Cookie List
| Cookie Provider | Purpose | Cookies Used | Duration | Category |
| Freewheel Autos (Cookie Consent) | Remembers your cookie choices so we can apply them and avoid asking you again. Contains no personal data. | fwa_cookie_consent | Up to 12 months | Necessary |
| Autotrader (vehicle photos) | Our vehicle photos are delivered by Autotrader. Cloudflare, which runs Autotrader’s image service, sets this cookie to protect the service from automated traffic. | __cf_bm | 30 minutes | Necessary |
| Google Analytics 4 (loaded via Google Tag Manager) | Helps us understand how visitors use our website, including which pages are visited and how users navigate the site. This information is used to improve our website and services. | _ga, _ga_* | Up to 13 months | Analytics |
| Microsoft Clarity (loaded via Google Tag Manager) | Helps us understand how visitors interact with our website using session recordings and heatmaps of clicks and scrolling, so we can find and fix problems. | _clck, _clsk. Microsoft may also set MUID, ANONCHK, MR, SM and SRM_B on its own domains. | Up to 1 year | Analytics |
| Meta Pixel (loaded via Google Tag Manager) | Measures the effectiveness of Facebook and Instagram advertising, tracks website conversions and helps deliver more relevant adverts to visitors. | _fbp, _fbc | Up to 3 months | Marketing |
Analytics and marketing cookies are only set once you have given consent. This table is reviewed at least annually to ensure it is up to date.
Withdrawal of consent applies only to the deletion of data processed by us. We are unable to delete any data that has already been collected or processed by third party cookie providers. We recommend reviewing the privacy and cookie policies of those third party providers for information on how they process your data and how you can exercise your rights directly with them.
6. Managing Your Cookie Preferences
When you first visit our Website, a cookie banner asks whether you agree to non-essential cookies. No analytics or marketing cookies are placed until you make a choice. From the banner you can:
- Accept all cookies;
- Reject all non-essential cookies; or
- Manage your choices, turning Analytics and Marketing on or off individually.
Rejecting is as easy as accepting — a single click. You can change or withdraw your choice at any time using the Cookie settings link, which is available at the bottom of every page. Withdrawing your consent removes the related cookies already stored on your device and stops the related processing.
If you decline non-essential cookies, we will not ask you again for six months. You may also control cookies through your browser settings; please note that blocking strictly necessary cookies may affect how the Website works.
We keep a record of the consent choices made through the cookie banner so that we can demonstrate that consent was given. This record contains no personal data — only the choice made, the date and time, and the version of this policy in force.
7. Third-Party Services
Some of the services we use are provided by third parties. These may set their own cookies, and will receive your IP address when they load. Where they are non-essential, they are only loaded after you have given consent. These are:
- Microsoft Clarity (Analytics)
- Meta (Facebook and Instagram) advertising tools (Marketing)
The map in our footer is an image, not an embedded Google Map, so it does not contact Google. If you click it for directions, Google Maps opens in a new tab under Google’s own terms. The same applies to our links to Autotrader, WhatsApp and our social media pages.
We recommend reviewing the privacy and cookie policies of those providers.
8. International Transfers
Where personal information collected through cookies is transferred outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as:
- UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA)
- UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses
- Other lawful transfer mechanisms recognised under UK data protection law
9. Your Rights
Where cookies process personal information, you may have rights under UK data protection law, including the right to:
- Request access to your personal information.
- Request correction of inaccurate information.
- Request deletion of your information where applicable.
- Restrict or object to certain processing.
- Withdraw your consent at any time for non-essential cookies, using the Cookie settings link on any page.
- Lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
10. Changes to This Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our use of cookies or legal requirements.
11. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Cookie Policy or our use of cookies, please contact us at sales@freewheel.autos.
Last updated 18 September 2026