What Are Cookies?
Let’s talk cookies. A cookie is a small text file that’s stored on your computer, mobile or any other device by websites that you visit. It means if you come back, we can recognise it’s you and say hello!
Cookies are used to make sure websites work (or work better). They give us more information about what our users are up to and what they’re in to – so we can make your visit to our website as smooth as possible.
Want to know a bit more? Visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
Session Cookies
There are a few different types of cookies (sorry, not chocolate chip). Session cookies are temporary - that means they only stay in the cookie file on your browser until you close it.
They can turn on some different functionalities on our website and are used to store and remember information about what you’re up to on our website.
So, if you’ve told us some of your personal information already, you won’t need to type it out again on the next page or the one after that. We’ll remember and automatically enter it for you, to make things a little easier.
Persistent Cookies
As the name suggests, persistent cookies stick about in your browser’s cookie file for longer. How long depends on the specific type of cookie.
They’re used to track how many times someone visits a website, including if they’ve come back or if it’s their first time, and to monitor how they interact with a website.
They can also do some other clever things like arranging content to match your interests and preferences quickly - for example, your language settings.
These cookies can’t be used by themselves to identify you.
How do we use cookies?
Everyone uses cookies differently. But here at Admiral, we use cookies for lots of different reasons, including:
- allowing our customers to get quotes from our website (session cookie)
- looking after our customers’ security (session cookie)
- making certain site functionality possible (session cookie)
- to keeping an eye on website traffic and tracking what our visitors are doing on our site (persistent cookie)
- helping us target and personalise our online marketing by collecting anonymous data about our visitors and their website use (persistent cookie)
Some session cookies are absolutely necessary for our website to run properly and for making some site functionality possible, including getting a quote and protecting our customers’ security.
You need to have session cookies turned on if you want to get a quote from us online or access any areas of the website which are reserved for registered users. Remember, session cookies don’t hold personal information.
We use persistent cookies to help us improve the experience of anyone who visits our website. These include Google Marketing Platform cookies, which give us anonymous and aggregated statistics (collected data) on how users interact with our website. We use this data to continuously improve the site structure and our online journey, so you can have a seamless experience.
You can accept or decline cookies from any website by changing the settings in your browser or accessing the permission tool on our website.
What cookies do we use and why?
Now for the really fun stuff – we've put a list of all the cookies we use into a table below.
The table might not load if you have enhanced settings on your browser.
Necessary
Necessary cookies keep the engine running. They’re needed for our site’s basic features to work, like letting you sign in securely or adjusting your consent preferences. They don’t store any personally identifiable data.
| Cookie ID | What type of cookie is it? | Description |
|---|---|---|
| PHPSESSID | Session | This is a session cookie generated by PHP - a technology we use to code our websites. This cookie is necessary to pass through any referral website information and makes sure the payments of our partner websites are accurate. The referral information is stored against a user's customer record in our quote database. This is at the point where the user ticks to confirm that they've read our Privacy and security policy. |
| JSESSIONID | Session | This cookie is necessary to enable our website applications’ functionality (debt payment application, quote engine and customer portal). The customer portal is an external application provided by a third party, but it shares the same JsessionID cookie used on our internal applications. This cookie is used to maintain a user's session and allow data to be passed between different online web pages in the quote engine. This cookie only exists for how long the user's session is. Users must have the session ID cookie enabled if they want to get a quote from us online. |
| Admiral Household Quote Engine (ASP.NET_SessionId/ X-AdvertId/ X-UniqueCustomerCookieID & X-UniqueCustomerSessionID) |
Session | ASP.NET_SessionId - This cookie allows our web servers to respond to your actions on the website, like logging in or running an insurance quote. The website won’t work for you without them. X-AdvertId - This cookie is used to identify that the person has arrived on the page via Admiral, so should show Admiral specific branding on the pages. X-UniqueCustomerCookieID & X-UniqueCustomerSessionID - These cookies allow us to see that two separate visits to the website were made by the same person. |
| POLICYP | Session | This cookie is necessary to make sure the functionality of our customer online documents area within the website works. It mirrors a session ID and only exists for how long the user’s session lasts. Users need to have the POLICYP cookie turned on if they want to access their customer documents with us online. |
| Django Session ID | Session | This is a session cookie generated by Django - a framework we use to run the Learner Driver website, which is provided by a third party. This cookie is necessary as it enables site users to move between pages, including quote pages. It allows the system to identify any information you’ve previously entered on our website. We need this cookie to collect all the necessary information and to display a final quote. |
| Cross site request forgery (CRSF token) |
Session | This is a Cross-site request forgery cookie. This cookie is used to make sure all transactions are secure. It stores a random value, which is generated for every visitor for every page, to make sure the response (if needed, for example, when completing a quote form) comes from the same person and they’ve received the original form before sending it back to us. This is provided by a third party. |
| io_token_{VALUE} and fp_token_{value} |
Session | This cookie helps with device recognition and fraud prevention. |
Performance
Performance and analytics cookies are all about keeping us in the loop. They help us to do certain things like sharing a website’s content on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.
We use them to understand how visitors interact with the website. They give us information on metrics like the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, and more. Juicy stuff.
| Cookie ID | How long it lasts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Live Person (LPSID, LPVID, IPTestCookie, LPsessionID, LP visitor ID) |
Session | LivePerson uses third party cookies to hold on to session data and to identify returning visitors by saving LivePerson-specific data, like their visitor ID and last messaging/webchat data. They do not contain any private customer data, or any data that can be accessible or useful outside of LivePerson. |
| MAXYMISER (mmcore.pd, mmcore.srv, mmcore.tst) | Session | These cookies allow us to serve and test different versions of web pages to different users, and track user behaviour from these tests. |
| QUALAROO/KISSINSIGHTS (ki_) | Session | We use Qualaroo for surveys about the quality of the website. Qualaroo cookies don’t contain any personal information. For more information about cookies from Qualaroo, have a look at https://qualaroo.com/privacy-policy/. |
| Vimeo (vuid) | 1 Year | This cookie is owned by Vimeo and is used for video hosting and sharing. |
| Zapmap (laravel_session) | 1 year | This cookie is for our Zapmap plug-in and helps to deliver third-party functionality. |
| Google Analytics (_ga, _gat, _gali, _gid, _gcl & collect, IDE, _cc_, NID, G_ENDABLED_IDPS, DSID, RUL, FLC) |
2 Years | These cookies are performance cookies that are used as part of our web analytics activity to monitor traffic and report on how users use our websites. They’re used to capture anonymous data about a user's journey around our website so we can use it to analyse trends and make improvements to our website. “_gat” will expire after 2 years, and the other cookies will expire after the session has ended. |
| CRAZY EGG (is_returning) | Session | The Crazy Egg cookie lets us get information about how visitors interact with our website. We then evaluate the online customer experience and where necessary, make changes to provide a better user experience for our customers. It’ll collect information like how visitors navigate around our website and the most clicked links on a specific web page, for example. This will not include any personally identifiable information like your name, phone number or email address. More information can be found here: http://www.crazyegg.com/privacy. |
| Heap Analytics (H) | 1 year | Heap is a user behavioural analytics product and service. We use Heap to collect and analyse data about how our users are interacting with our services. It collects data on what users are doing, including what webpages they visit, what they click on, their location, what browser or platform they’re using, and lots of other forms of behavioural data. |
| Formisimo | Session | Formisimo is a web analytics tool that helps website owners understand how their visitors interact with forms. It collects anonymous information and reports website trends without identifying individual visitors. It uses a single cookie within a session to work out how visitors progress through a form. The cookie expires when a user closes their browser window. |
| Reevoo (reevoo_) | 1 year | These cookies are used to improve and tailor our third-party product review service. These cookies track customers who viewed product reviews and chose to purchase products online. This gives us insight into products and services that our customers value and lets us tailor the products to suit their needs. |
| CONTENT SQUARE _cs_id _cs_s _cs_c _cs_cvars _cs_ex _cs_optout _cs_mk _csrl |
1 year | This site uses the Content Square UX analytics service. The Content Square service helps us analyse how visitors use our website. We don’t collect personal data from the Content Square service or transfer any personal identifiable information about our users to them. We only use Content Square to record anonymous information like mouse clicks, mouse movements and scrolling activity. To do this, Content Square puts cookies in our domain to analyse visitors’ user experience. The information can’t be used to personally identify website users. Content Square doesn’t create a user profile to track a user across unrelated websites. |
| clickID, mediacode, GID | 2 years | These cookies are performance cookies and are used as part of our web analytics activity to monitor traffic and compile reports on how users are using our websites. The cookies are used to capture anonymous data about a user's journey around our website so we can analyse trends and make improvements to our website. “_gat” expires after two years and the other cookies expire after you’ve ended the session. |
| landingPageURL | Session | This cookie is used to capture data about how users are using our websites. |
| Optimizely (optimizelyEndUserId, optimizelyRedirectData) |
Session | These cookies test and adapt our website to offer a better customer experience. They store an anonymous ID with other information about a user’s current session. For more information, visit: https://www.optimizely.com/ |
| Crunchbase (Lantern) | Session | This cookie is used to capture data about how our website is performing and what improvements can be made. |
| ADMSL | Unlimited | This cookie is essential for tracking visitor behaviour on our website. By collecting anonymous data on how users navigate and interact with our site, we can personalise their experience to better meet their needs. This includes tailoring content, recommendations, and advertisements to enhance the user’s journey. The information gathered is aggregated and used solely to improve the overall user experience, ensuring that each visit is as relevant and engaging as possible. This cookie does not store any personally identifiable information. |
| ADMPQ | 31 days | This cookie is essential for tracking visitor behaviour on our website. By collecting anonymous data on how users navigate and interact with our site, we can personalise their experience to better meet their needs. This includes tailoring content, recommendations, and advertisements to enhance the user’s journey. The information gathered is aggregated and used solely to improve the overall user experience, ensuring that each visit is as relevant and engaging as possible. This cookie does not store any personally identifiable information. |
Advertisement
We don’t want you to waste your time looking at adverts that aren’t right for you. Advertisement cookies give our website visitors customised adverts based on the pages they’ve visited before. We also use them to analyse how effective our ad campaigns are, so our ads are better than the last.
| Cookie ID | How long it lasts | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Google Marketing Platform (ads, GoogleAdServingTest, ar_debug, test_cookie, APC) |
30 days |
We use Google Ads as a search marketing tool. Google collect data and uses cookies for ad personalisation and measurement. Conversion tracking cookies are used by Google Ads to monitor behaviour and make sure activity is tailored to the user’s needs where the advertiser has opted into conversion tracking. Cookies are added to a user’s computer when they click on an ad. If the cookie is active when they visit certain pages of the advertiser’s website, Google and the advertiser will be able to tell that they’ve clicked on the ad and gone to that page. These cookies expire within 30 days and don’t contain information that can personally identify our users. If a user has a Google account and have allowed Google to associate their web and app browsing history, Google might collect a Google identifier which enables them to identify a user’s Google account and show them more relevant ads on their services, and on website and apps that partner with them. Google uses this data alongside other data they might collect about users, which might include their web and app activity, location history, device information, YouTube history, etc., to provide us with aggregated data and anonymous information to help us understand how individuals use our website and tailor ads that could be more useful for them. You can find out more about how Google manages data in its ad products here. You can opt out of ad personalisation here. |
| Facebook pixel and social media (FBsr) | 1 year | The Facebook Pixel is used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third-party advertisers. |
| Awin affiliates agency | 1 year | These cookies are in place to track conversions from our affiliate partners. |
| VE interactive | 1 year | These cookies record a user’s visit to our website, the pages they have visited and the links they've followed. With our agency, we use this information to make sure advertising is more relevant to the user. For more information, visit VE’s Cookie Policy: www.ve.com/cookies-policy. |
| Microsoft (_uetsid, gat_UA, MUID, _UETVID, MUID, MC1, MSFPC, ANON, CC, PPAuth, MSPAuth) |
1 year | Microsoft uses these cookies to work out what ads to show users that might be relevant to them and anyone who’s previously used it. |
| Instagram (Csrftoken) |
1 year | Instagram uses this cookie to decide what ads to show users that might be relevant to them and anyone who’s previously used it. |
| Youtube (GPS, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE & YSC, CONSENT) |
1 year | We use YouTube to display videos on our website and collect view behavioural data. YouTube registers a unique ID on mobile devices to turn on tracking based on geographical GPS location and keeps statistics of what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
We use services provided by a third party for fraud prevention. These services help us decide whether to accept transactions from devices by checking whether they’ve been identified with fraudulent transactions in the past, like reported instances of identity theft, account takeovers or malware attacks.
If you set your browser or device to reject these cookies, you might not be able to finish some transactions through our website or application. We share information about the device you’re using, which may also have been used or appropriated by others. They don’t identify you or reveal your transaction’s details to that third party.
Use of cookies by associated websites and third parties
Our website includes links to and from other websites. We don’t accept responsibility or liability for the content of these websites or the cookies they use. If you choose to visit another website via our website, you’ll need to contact them separately to have your personal information deleted from any records they might hold. It’s also the responsibility of those websites to have their own detailed cookie policy and to get the right consents from you to use them.
While you’re on our website, you might notice some cookies that aren’t related to us. This usually is embedded content from websites like YouTube and social media bookmarks. When you visit a page with content embedded from these websites and choose to interact with this content, you’ll be presented with cookies from them. We don’t control these, and you should check the third-party websites for more information.
Managing, disabling and enabling cookies
You can accept or decline cookies from any website by changing the settings in your browser or accessing the permission tool on our website. If you want to restrict or block the cookies set by our website, you can do this through your browser settings. For information about how to manage and disable cookies, use the ‘Help’ function in your browser or visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. But be aware that deleting or disabling cookies could affect our website’s functionality, and you might not be able to access certain areas or features of our site.
To opt out of being tracked by Google Marketing Platform (Analytics) across all websites,
visit: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Further information on our use of cookies
Still have some questions? If you want to know more about our cookies or how we use them, please contact our Data Protection Officer at: yourinformationrights@admiralgroup.co.uk, or write to:
Data Protection Officer
Admiral Group plc.
Tŷ Admiral
David Street
Cardiff
CF10 2EH
January 2025