Data Disposal

Data disposal refers to the proper destruction or deletion of sensitive information that a dealership no longer needs to retain. This includes paper records (such as photocopies of driver’s licenses, credit applications, or deal files) and electronic data (like old customer databases or finance records). In Canadian dealerships, secure data disposal is part of compliance with privacy laws – simply throwing documents in the trash or deleting files without proper wiping can lead to data breaches if someone retrieves that information. Best practices include shredding physical documents (cross-cut shredders or professional shredding services) and using secure wipe utilities or physical destruction for old hard drives and USBs. Dealerships often have policies for how long to keep records (e.g., six years for deal paperwork in Ontario [oai_citation:12‡omvic.examzify.com](https://omvic.examzify.com/question/how-long-does-the-mvda-3b960ca29549c523#:~:text=The%20Record,no%20less%20than%20six%20years) [oai_citation:13‡omvic.examzify.com](https://omvic.examzify.com/question/how-long-does-the-mvda-3b960ca29549c523#:~:text=That%27s%20right%2C%20the%20MVDA%20stipulates,no%20less%20than%20six%20years)) and then ensure safe disposal. This protects customer information and mitigates the risk of identity theft or corporate espionage from discarded data.