Privacy Policy
Last updated: 14 October 2026
1. About this policy
Free the Desk (we, us or our) provides dealer websites, online vehicle licensing and contracting workflows, dealer and customer portals, and related support services.
This policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information. We intend to handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles where they apply to us.
You can contact us about privacy at hello@freethedesk.com.au.
2. The information we collect
Depending on how you use our website and services, we may collect:
- identity and contact details, including names, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers and addresses;
- dealership and business information, including trading and legal names, ABNs, ACNs, dealer and repairer licence details, authorised-officer details and Department of Transport organisation codes;
- verification material, including copies of licences, identity documents and business evidence;
- vehicle, purchase, licensing, contract, delivery and handover information;
- communications, enquiries, support requests and records of consents or electronic signatures;
- account, authentication and security information;
- payment status, subscription and transaction metadata supplied by our payment provider, but not complete card details;
- device, browser, IP address, cookie, analytics and service-usage information; and
- any other information a person chooses to give us.
Where a dealership sends you a link to complete the paperwork for a vehicle, we collect from you specifically:
- your name, date of birth, residential address, email address and phone number;
- your driver's licence number, and the name the licence is in where that is a different person from the buyer;
- company name, ACN and Department of Transport organisation code, where the vehicle is being licensed to a company;
- a photograph of the front and the back of your driver's licence, and a photograph of your face, for identity verification;
- the delivery address for the vehicle, where it is being delivered; and
- the record of each document you sign: the exact wording of the declaration shown to you, the time, the internet address you signed from, your browser's user agent, and a cryptographic fingerprint of the exact document.
Some documents used in a licensing or contracting workflow may contain government-related identifiers or other sensitive information. We only seek this information where it is reasonably necessary for the service, authorised by law, or collected with the required consent.
3. How we collect information
We collect information directly when a person creates an account, completes a form, uploads a document, signs electronically, makes a payment, contacts us or uses a website or portal we operate.
We may also receive information from a dealership, its staff, an authorised representative, a payment or identity provider, a website integration, or another service involved in the transaction. Where a dealership gives us customer information, the dealership is responsible for having authority to provide it.
If you do not provide information required for verification, licensing, contracting or payment, we may be unable to complete that part of the service. General website enquiries may be made without supplying information that is not needed to respond.
4. Why we use personal information
We may use personal information to:
- create and secure accounts;
- verify dealerships, authorised officers and customers;
- prepare, present, sign and retain licensing and contract records;
- operate payments, subscriptions, delivery and handover workflows;
- send transaction, security, service and support communications;
- provide, maintain, troubleshoot and improve our services;
- prevent fraud, misuse and security incidents;
- comply with legal, regulatory, accounting and record-keeping obligations; and
- send marketing where permitted, with an unsubscribe option where required.
We do not sell personal information.
5. Dealership and customer responsibilities
For customer information processed through a dealership's workflow, Free the Desk may act as the dealership's service provider while the dealership remains responsible for its own customer relationship, collection notices and legal obligations. A customer may therefore need to read both this policy and the relevant dealership's privacy policy.
Everything a customer enters or uploads for a sale is visible to the dealership named on that sale, including the identity photographs and the driver's licence number. That is the purpose of collecting it: the dealership has to satisfy itself who it is licensing a vehicle to, and it has to lodge the application. A customer who is not willing for the dealership to hold that information should deal with the dealership directly rather than through this service. The dealership's own handling of it is theirs and is not governed by this policy.
Questions about a dealership's decision, contract, vehicle or use of customer information should usually be directed to that dealership. Questions about the Free the Desk platform can be directed to us.
6. Who we disclose information to
We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to:
- the dealership and authorised users involved in a transaction;
- payment, identity-verification, electronic-signature, communications, cloud-hosting, analytics and security providers;
- government transport or licensing systems where a user directs or authorises the transaction;
- professional advisers, insurers, auditors and contractors subject to appropriate duties;
- a purchaser or successor as part of a genuine business restructure or sale; and
- regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies or other parties where required or authorised by law.
Our current or planned providers may include Stripe for payments and identity services, hosting infrastructure providers, and email or SMS delivery providers. Their handling of information is also governed by their own terms and privacy practices.
7. Overseas disclosures
Some service providers may store or process information outside Australia. Overseas recipients are likely to be located in the United States and may also be located in other countries in which our providers or their subprocessors operate.
Before production launch we will publish a current subprocessor list or update this section where it is practical to identify additional countries. We take reasonable steps required by law when using overseas providers.
8. How we hold and protect information
Information may be held in Australian or overseas cloud systems and in controlled business records. We use measures appropriate to the information and service, such as access controls, authentication, encrypted connections, provider security controls, backups, logging and restricted administrative access.
No internet service is completely risk free. If a data breach occurs, we will investigate and take the steps required under applicable law, including notifications where the breach is likely to result in serious harm.
9. Retention and deletion
We keep information only for as long as reasonably needed to provide the service, meet contractual and legal record-keeping obligations, resolve disputes and protect the service. Different records require different periods.
| Information | We keep it until |
|---|---|
| Customer identity photographs — driver's licence front and back, and the face photograph | the record-keeping period the dealership is required to observe; see the note below |
| Signed sale documents | the same period |
| A customer's name, date of birth, licence number and addresses on a completed sale | the same period |
| The history of what happened on a sale | kept, as the record of the transaction |
The identity photographs are kept rather than deleted on a timer. They are the dealership's evidence that it satisfied itself who it was licensing a vehicle to, and a dealership asked about a transaction years later has to be able to answer. Evidence that expires before the question does is not evidence.
The period itself is not yet settled. How long a motor vehicle dealer must keep a sale record is set by the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act 1973 (WA) and its regulations. Until that is confirmed we retain this information rather than guess at a period and destroy something a dealership is required to hold. We will publish the confirmed period here, and we will not begin deleting anything before we do.
Anything a dealership downloads leaves our systems entirely, and what they then do with it is governed by their own obligations rather than by this policy.
When information is no longer required, we take reasonable steps to delete it or de-identify it. Backup copies may remain for a limited period before being overwritten.
10. Cookies and analytics
Our websites and portals may use essential cookies for login, security and preferences, and analytics tools to understand service performance and usage. Browser controls can block some cookies, but doing so may prevent secure account features from working correctly.
11. Access and correction
You may ask to access personal information we hold about you or request a correction by emailing hello@freethedesk.com.au. We may need to verify your identity first. In some cases the law permits or requires us to refuse access; if that happens, we will explain the reason where we are able to do so.
If the information belongs to a dealership transaction, we may refer the request to the relevant dealership or work with it to respond.
12. Privacy complaints
To make a privacy complaint, email hello@freethedesk.com.au with enough detail for us to investigate. We will acknowledge the complaint, investigate it and respond within a reasonable period.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may be able to complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when our services, providers or legal obligations change. The current version will be published here with its effective date. If a change materially affects how existing account information is handled, we will take reasonable steps to notify affected account holders.
14. Contact
Privacy enquiries, access or correction requests and complaints can be sent to:
- Email: hello@freethedesk.com.au
- Business: Free the Desk, Perth, Western Australia
- Legal name: Ethan Daniel Betts-Ingram, trading as freethedesk
- ABN: 11 493 753 896