How Long Can Car Dealerships Store Test Drive Customer Data?

One of the most common questions dealerships ask is:

“How long are we allowed to keep test drive customer data?”

The answer depends on purpose, necessity, and local interpretation of GDPR, but there are clear principles every dealership should follow.

The GDPR principle: storage limitation

Under GDPR, personal data must be:

“Kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary.”

This means:

• You cannot keep test drive data indefinitely
• You must define a retention period
• You must delete the data when the purpose ends

What is the purpose of test drive data?

In most dealerships, test drive data is collected to:

• Verify the customer’s identity
• Confirm driving eligibility
• Document consent and responsibility
• Handle potential damages, fines, or disputes

Once it is clear that:

• The vehicle was returned without issues
• No tickets or claims are pending

…the original purpose has largely been fulfilled.

Typical retention periods for test drive data

There is no single legally mandated number, but common, defensible retention periods include:

What matters most is that:

• The period is defined
• The period is justified
• The period is consistently enforced

Why “just in case” retention is risky

Keeping data “just in case” is not compliant.

GDPR explicitly discourages:

• Indefinite storage
• Retention without a clear legal basis
• Keeping data simply because it might be useful later

If test drive data is later reused for sales or marketing, a separate lawful basis is required.

The problem with manual deletion

Many dealerships rely on:

• Calendar reminders
• Staff routines
• Periodic clean-ups

These approaches fail because they:

• Depend on people remembering
• Are inconsistent across locations
• Cannot be audited reliably

Best practice: automatic deletion

The safest approach is to:

1. Set a retention period (e.g. 90 days)
2. Apply it consistently
3. Delete data automatically when the period expires

This ensures compliance by design, not by habit.

Solutions like DriveConsento handle this automatically—storing test drive data for a configurable period and deleting it without manual intervention.

Key takeaway

Car dealerships should only store test drive customer data for as long as it is genuinely needed—and no longer.

Defining and enforcing a clear retention period is not just good practice; it’s a core GDPR requirement.

Related articles:

• Are paper test drive forms GDPR compliant?
• DMS vs dedicated compliance software: what dealerships need to know