First Alternative Cookie Notice


Background

This Cookie Notice lets you know how we use cookies and should be read together with our Privacy Notice. We’ll keep the Cookie Notice up to date with the latest legal requirements, so please check back here every now and again to see the latest version.

Just so everything’s clear, in this Cookie Notice the words “First Alternative”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to esure Insurance Limited and esure Services Limited; while “you” refers to anyone who uses the [esure.com] [sheilaswheels.com] [firstalternative.com] website. If you’ve got a question about this Cookie Notice, please contact our Data Protection Officer by either emailing [email protected] or writing to esure Group plc, Attn: Data Protection Officer, The Observatory, Reigate, RH2 0SG.
 

What are cookies?

Cookies are small pieces of information that are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. Each time you visit that site, cookies are sent back to it (or to another website that recognises that cookie). Why? Generally, to make the website work – or work more efficiently – and to provide information to the owners of the website.

Cookies do lots of different jobs. In general terms they:
• Let you navigate between website pages quickly and easily
• Remember your preferences (to improve your online experience)
• Allow a website to recognise the device you are using (without uniquely identifying you as the person using that device)
• Make it easier for you to log on and use the site
• Tell us which parts of our websites you visit (so we can assess the effectiveness of the site and improve your experience)
• Make sure any adverts you see are as relevant as possible to you and your interests
• Help us to keep our website secure

For more detailed information about cookies – including how to see which have been set, plus how to manage, block and delete them – please visit aboutcookies.org or allaboutcookies.org.
 

Your consent

By using our websites, you accept the use of cookies in accordance with this Cookie Notice in addition to the Terms of Use.

If you don’t accept the use of cookies, please disable them. You can find out how to do this in the section ‘How to manage cookies’ below.
 

What types of cookies do we use?

There are different types of cookies and they’re usually split into the following categories. However, not all are used on every website and some cookies fit into multiple categories:

Strictly Necessary COOKIES


These are essential for a website to function properly and to make sure you have the best experience on it (this category includes any third-party partner cookies).

Cookie name Cookie type Lifespan Description 
__atuvc PERSISTENT 395 DAYS This cookie  is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget which is commonly embedded in websites to enable visitors to share content with a range of networking and sharing platforms. It stores an updated page share count.
__atuvs PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This cookie is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget which is commonly embedded in websites to enable visitors to share content with a range of networking and sharing platforms. This is believed to be a new cookie from AddThis which is not yet documented, but has been categorised on the assumption it serves a similar purpose to other cookies set by the service.
__cflb PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This cookie is used by Cloudfare for load balancing.
__syn_authorization PERSISTENT 0 DAYS Synthetix cookie to allow functionality of First Aternatives live chat service
ASP.NET_SessionId SESSION END OF SESSION General purpose platform session cookie, used by sites written with Miscrosoft .NET based technologies. Usually used to maintain an anonymised user session by the server.
atData PERSISTENT 364 DAYS Cookie set by the Optimizely website optimisation plaftform. This cookie is a unique user identifier.
atRef PERSISTENT 364 DAYS Cookie set by the Optimizely website optimisation plaftform. This cookie is a unique user identifier.
AWSALB PERSISTENT 6 DAYS AWS ELB application load balancer
AWSALBCORS SESSION 6 DAYS This cookie is managed by AWS and is used for load balancing.
AWSELB SESSION END OF SESSION This cookie name is associated with the Amazon Web Services Elastic Load Balancing functionality for routing client request on the server.
BIGipServer~PROD~esure-http_pool SESSION END OF SESSION This cookie name is associated with the BIG-IP product suite from company F5. Usually associated with managing sessions on load balanced servers, to ensure user requests are routed consistently to the correct server. The common root is BIGipServer most commonly followed by a domain name, usually the one that it is hosted on, but not always.
 
dtCookie SESSION END OF SESSION This cookie name is associated with, software from Dynatrace, an application performance management (APM) software company.
Their software manages the availability and performance of software applications and the impact on user experience in the form of deep transaction tracing, synthetic monitoring, real user monitoring, and network monitoring.
ESURE_ENSIGHTEN_PRIVACY_BANNER_LOADED PERSISTENT 364 DAYS This cookie is associated with Ensighten and our cookie consent and Tag management tool
fp_token_7c6a6574-f011-4c9a-abdd-9894a102ccef PERSISTENT 364 DAYS Verification for device recognition and fraud protection
_GRECAPTCHA PERSISTENT 364 DAYS Google recaptcha for My Account login
io_token_7c6a6574-f011-4c9a-abdd-9894a102ccef PERSISTENT 364 DAYS Verification for device recognition and fraud protection
JSESSIONID SESSION END OF SESSION General purpose platform session cookie, used by sites written in JSP. Usually used to maintain an anonymous user session by the server.
OptanonAlertBoxClosed PERSISTENT 365 DAYS This cookie is set by websites using certain versions of the cookie law compliance solution from OneTrust.  It is set after visitors have seen a cookie information notice and in some cases only when they actively close the notice down.  It enables the website not to show the message more than once to a user.  The cookie has a one year lifespan and contains no personal information.
OptanonConsent PERSISTENT 365 DAYS This cookie is set by the cookie compliance solution from OneTrust. It stores information about the categories of cookies the site uses and whether visitors have given or withdrawn consent for the use of each category. This enables site owners to prevent cookies in each category from being set in the users browser, when consent is not given. The cookie has a normal lifespan of one year, so that returning visitors to the site will have their preferences remembered. It contains no information that can identify the site visitor.
optimizelyDomainTestCookie PERSISTENT 179 DAYS These Optimizely cookies allow us to test different versions of website pages to different users at the same time and to track how users navigate around our website. We use this information to test new features and make the website easier to use. Optimizely cookies help deliver essential regulatory content.
optimizelyDomainTestCookie PERSISTENT 364 DAYS These Optimizely cookies allow us to test different versions of website pages to different users at the same time and to track how users navigate around our website. We use this information to test new features and make the website easier to use. Optimizely cookies help deliver essential regulatory content.
optimizelyEndUserId PERSISTENT 179 DAYS Cookie set by the Optimizely website optimisation plaftform. This cookie is a unique user identifier. Optimizely cookies help deliver essential regulatory content.
optimizelyOptOut PERSISTENT 364 DAYS Cookie set by the Optimizely website optimisation plaftform. This cookie is a unique user identifier. Optimizely cookies help deliver essential regulatory content.
optimizelyRumLB SESSION END OF SESSION Cookie set by the Optimizely website optimisation plaftform. This cookie is a unique user identifier. Optimizely cookies help deliver essential regulatory content.
prevPage PERSISTENT 0 DAYS Stores previous page navigation to allow users to navigate back and forth between web pages for functionality purposes
rxVisitor PERSISTENT 729 DAYS This cookie is used to store an anonymous ID for the user to correlate across sessions on the world service.
 
rxVisitor SESSION END OF SESSION This cookie is used to store an anonymous ID for the user to correlate across sessions on the world service.
 
rxvt SESSION END OF SESSION This cookie is used to store two timestamps to determine session length and the end of a session.
 
TS01xxxxxxxx SESSION END OF SESSION These cookies are set by our web server infrastructure to ensure your web requests are consistently processed by the same server in our infrastructure for the duration of your session.
userInGlobalHoldback SESSION END OF SESSION Cookie set by the Optimizely website optimisation plaftform. This cookie is a unique user identifier. Optimizely cookies help deliver essential regulatory content.

 

 

Performance & Analytics COOKIES


These let the website collect information about how the website is used – e.g. which parts are visited the most or to flag any errors (this category includes any third-party partner cookies)

Cookie name Cookie type Lifespan Description 
__utma PERSISTENT 729 DAYS This is one of the four main cookies set by the Google Analytics service which enables website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. This cookie lasts for 2 years by default and distinguishes between users and sessions. It it used to calculate new and returning visitor statistics. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. The lifespan of the cookie can be customised by website owners.
__utmb PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This is one of the four main cookies set by the Google Analytics service which enables website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. This cookie determines new sessions and visits and expires after 30 minutes. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. Any activity by a user within the 30 minute life span will count as a single visit, even if the user leaves and then returns to the site. A return after 30 minutes will count as a new visit, but a returning visitor.
__utmc SESSION END OF SESSION This is one of the four main cookies set by the Google Analytics service which enables website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. It is not used in most sites but is set to enable interoperability with the older version of Google Analytics code known as Urchin.  In this older versions this was used in combination with the __utmb cookie to identify new sessions/visits for returning visitors.
When used by Google Analytics this is always a Session cookie which is destroyed when the user closes their browser. Where it is seen as a Persistent cookie it is therefore likely to be a different technology setting the cookie.
__utmt_UA-nnnnnnnn PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This is a pattern type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. It appears to be a variation of the __utmt cookie which is used to limit the amount of data recorded by Google on high traffic volume websites.
__utmz PERSISTENT 182 DAYS This is one of the four main cookies set by the Google Analytics service which enables website owners to track visitor behaviour measure of site performance. This cookie identifies the source of traffic to the site - so Google Analytics can tell site owners where visitors came from when arriving on the site. The cookie has a life span of 6 months and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.
_gaf PERSISTENT 0 DAYS Used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third party advertisers
_ga PERSISTENT 729 DAYS This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics - which is a significant update to Google's more commonly used analytics service. This cookie is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. It is included in each page request in a site and used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data for the sites analytics reports.  By default it is set to expire after 2 years, although this is customisable by website owners._ga
_gat_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx PERSISTENT 0 DAYS Google Analytics Cookies
_gid PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics. This appears to be a new cookie and as of Spring 2017 no information is available from Google.  It appears to store and update a unique value for each page visited._gid
AMCV_ PERSISTENT 729 DAYS This is a pattern type cookie name associated with Adobe Marketing Cloud. It stores a unique visitor identifier, and uses an organisation identifier to allow a company to track users across their domains and services.
AMCVS_ SESSION END OF SESSION This is a pattern type cookie name associated with Adobe Marketing Cloud. It stores a unique visitor identifier, and uses an organisation identifier.
demdex PERSISTENT 179 DAYS This cookie helps Adobe Audience Manger perform basic functions such as visitor identification, ID synchronization, segmentation, modeling, reporting, etc.
dpm PERSISTENT 179 DAYS Adobe Audience Manager - data management platform uses this cookie to record information around synchronisation of IDs.
 
dtLatC SESSION END OF SESSION This cookie name is associated with, software from Dynatrace, an application performance management (APM) software company.
Their software manages the availability and performance of software applications and the impact on user experience in the form of deep transaction tracing, synthetic monitoring, real user monitoring, and network monitoring.
 
dtPC SESSION END OF SESSION This cookie name is associated with, software from Dynatrace, an application performance management (APM) software company.
Their software manages the availability and performance of software applications and the impact on user experience in the form of deep transaction tracing, synthetic monitoring, real user monitoring, and network monitoring.
 
dtSa SESSION END OF SESSION This cookie is used to save action names across pages so that performance can be monitored across pages.
RT PERSISTENT 6 DAYS The roundtrip (RT) Boomerang 
cookie is used by Akamai to measure page load time and/or other timers associated with the page.
s_xxxx PERSISTENT 29 DAYS This domain is owned by Adobe/Omniture. The main business activity is: Analytics
s_xxxxx SESSION END OF SESSION This domain is owned by Adobe/Omniture. The main business activity is: Analytics
sc.ASP.NET_SESSIONID SESSION END OF SESSION This cookie name is associated with the SessionCam web analytics application from ServiceTick.
sc.UserId PERSISTENT 364 DAYS This cookie name is associated with the SessionCam web analytics application from ServiceTick.
Glassbox SESSION END OF SESSION This cookie is used by Glassbox to help understand how the user interacts with the page.
test SESSION END OF SESSION Adobe Analytics site tracking.
GA4 Tracking SESSION END OF SESSION Google Analytics site tracking.

 

 

Marketing COOKIES


These make sure that any marketing messages you see from us (and our third-party partners) are as tailored as they can be to your interests. If you don’t wish to consent to this category, it’s important to note that you may still receive generic advertising or service messages, but they may be less relevant to you. But don’t worry, you will still be informed of important notifications about your account via other channels.

Cookie name Cookie type Lifespan Description 
__atrfs PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This cookie  is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget which is commonly embedded in websites to enable visitors to share content with a range of networking and sharing platforms. It stores an updated page share count.
__atuvc PERSISTENT 395 DAYS This cookie  is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget which is commonly embedded in websites to enable visitors to share content with a range of networking and sharing platforms. It stores an updated page share count.
__atuvs PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This cookie is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget which is commonly embedded in websites to enable visitors to share content with a range of networking and sharing platforms. This is believed to be a new cookie from AddThis which is not yet documented, but has been categorised on the assumption it serves a similar purpose to other cookies set by the service.
_dlt PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This cookie is associated with Google's real time bidding advertising exchange. The main purpose of this cookie is targeting.
_fbp

PERSISTENT

89 DAYS Used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third party advertisers
_gclxxxx PERSISTENT 89 DAYS Google conversion tracking cookie
_uetsid PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This cookie is used by Bing to determine what ads should be shown that may be relevant to the end user perusing the site. 
_uetvid PERSISTENT 389 DAYS This is a cookie utilised by Microsoft Bing Ads and is a tracking cookie. It allows us to engage with a user that has previously visited our website.
everest_g_v2 PERSISTENT 364 DAYS This cookie carries out information about how the end user uses the website and any advertising that the end user may have seen before visiting the said website.
 
everest_session_v2 SESSION 0 DAYS This cookie carries out information about how the end user uses the website and any advertising that the end user may have seen before visiting the said website.
 
IDE PERSISTENT 389 DAYS This domain is owned by Doubleclick (Google). The main business activity is: Doubleclick is Googles real time bidding advertising exchange
MUID PERSISTENT 389 DAYS This cookie is widely used my Microsoft as a unique user identifier.  It can be set by embedded microsoft scripts.  Widely believed to sync across many different Microsoft domains, allowing user tracking.
NetOutcome PERSISTENT 364 DAYS This cookie name is associated with software from Redeye International Ltd, a UK company providing services for better targeting of marketing messages to a website owner's customers.
NID PERSISTENT 182 DAYS This domain is owned by Google Inc. Although Google is primarily known as a search engine, the company provides a diverse range of products and services. Its main source of revenue however is advertising. Google tracks users extensively both through its own products and sites, and the numerous technologies embedded into many millions of websites around the world. It uses the data gathered from most of these services to profile the interests of web users and sell advertising space to organisations based on such interest profiles as well as aligning adverts to the content on the pages where its customer's adverts appear.
redeye PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This cookie name is associated with software from Redeye International Ltd, a UK company providing services for better targeting of marketing messages to a website owner's customers
test_cookie PERSISTENT 0 DAYS This cookie is set by DoubleClick (which is owned by Google) to determine if the website visitor's browser supports cookies.
uvc PERSISTENT 395 DAYS Tracks how often a user interacts with AddThis
xtc PERSISTENT 395 DAYS This domain is owned by AddThis. AddThis provides web widgets that site owners embed into their pages or other content to enable visitors to create and share links to the content across social networks. They also make use of the data collected to provide advertisers and marketers with profile information for targeted behavioral advertising. 

 

 



As well as serving different purposes, cookies differ in the length of time they remain active:
Session & Temporary Cookies are only active while your browser’s open
Persistent Cookies stay on your device after you’ve closed the browser (e.g. to remember your preferences or username). These are active for a set period of time, but can be disabled
 

How to manage cookies

You can change your non-essential cookie preferences (e.g. disable or delete cookies) by either:

• Navigating our Cookie Preference Centre (click button below)

• Going to the ‘Help’, ‘Edit’ or ‘Tools’ section in your browser and following the instructions provided by your browser

Please note, some web pages may not work if you completely disable all cookies, but many third-party cookies can be safely blocked. Also, if you switch off cookies via your browser, your device won't be able to accept cookies from any website. So, you may struggle to get into any secure area of a website and, ultimately, won't get the best online browsing experience.
 

Email tracking and other technologies

Along with cookies we also use email tracking technologies such as ‘web beacons’ or ‘pixel tags’ to collect information which helps us understand whether emails we send are successfully delivered or opened.
These types of technologies also enable us to collect anonymous statistical information about how many times a particular link embedded in an email was used.


This Cookie Notice was last updated on 04/03/2022.