EFFECTIVE DATE
This Privacy Policy is effective and was last updated on 09/19/17
Group 1 Automotive ("we" or "Dealer") has created this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our commitment to your privacy. This policy sets forth how we collect, protect, use and share information about you in connection only with this website (the "Site") and does not apply to any other Dealer website or service. If you do not agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, you may not access or otherwise use this Site. We also direct you to our Terms of Conditions and Use Statement, which governs your use of the Site.
INFORMATION WE COLLECT
1. Information about you.
When using the Site, we may ask you to provide us with certain information that could reasonably be used to identify you, such as your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, mobile telephone number and date of birth. We may collect this information when you request a quote, apply for a loan, schedule a service visit or send us an e-mail, or when we seek feedback from you about the Site or our products and services in the form of a questionnaire or survey. We may also ask you to create a screen name and/or a password, where applicable, and provide us with demographic information (such as information about your age or gender), information regarding your interests or similar information.
We will only collect your information when you voluntarily provide it to us. You can always choose not to provide certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of or participate in certain features of the Site.
2. Other Information.
When you visit the Site, we may also collect from you certain information that does not identify you personally, such as an IP host address, the pages viewed, the browser type, the Site usage, and other data, which do not identify any individual personally. When your computer or other device contacts our web servers (for example, when you visit the Site, view an HTML e-mail or download material from the Site), this web-based or browser information may be collected automatically. We also may determine the applicable technology available to provide you with the most appropriate version of a web page, e-mail or similar service.
The Site may also use browser "cookies." Cookies are pieces of information that may be placed on your computer or other device by a website for the purpose of facilitating and enhancing your communication and interaction with a particular website. We may use cookies to customize your visit to the Site and for other purposes to make your visit more convenient or to enable us to enhance our service. For example, we may use cookies to track usage patterns on the Site or to analyze web activity. You may stop or restrict the placement of cookies on your computer or other device or remove them from your browser by adjusting your web browser preferences. If you do so, you may still use the Site, but you may not have access to certain of the Site's features, and some features of the Site may not function properly. We do not use cookies to retrieve information from your computer or other device without your knowledge.
In addition to cookies, the Site uses a variety of technical methods for tracking purposes, including web beacons (web beacons are sometimes also referred to as "pixel tags"). Web beacons are small pieces of data that are embedded in images on the pages of websites. We also use these technical methods to analyze the traffic patterns on the Site, such as the frequency with which our users visit various parts of the Site.
HOW WE USE THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
We use information you share with us to: (i) inform you about our products and services and changes affecting our products and services, which may include offers from us and our affiliated companies, (ii) deliver the products or services you request, (iii) improve and enhance the Site and (iv) better understand your preferences, and (v) aggregate your information with other analytics we obtain about you to deliver products and services of interest.
When you provide us your telephone and/or mobile telephone number, you expressly authorize us to contact you by telephone. If the number you provide is for a mobile telephone, you expressly authorize us to send you text messages. Please be advised that your wireless carrier may charge you for the receipt of such messages, and other charges may apply. If you do not wish to receive such messages, you should not provide us with your mobile telephone number. In addition, you may opt-out of receiving such messages by following the opt-out procedures below.
We may also conduct joint promotions with other companies from time to time. We may share with our promotional partners (and their service providers) your information as necessary to conduct the promotion. We will not share this information with our promotional partners for any other purpose unless you provide us with your consent to do so. Similarly, we may also combine the information we collect about you at the Site with information available to us from other sources. For example, you may provide your information to us at other Dealer websites, or our co-promoter or sponsors may provide us with information about users who choose to participate in a promotional opportunity the co-promoter or sponsor is offering with us.
From time to time, we may use and share information we collect about you with third parties to show general demographic and preference information among users of the Site. In these circumstances, the shared information will neither contain nor be linked to any specific individual.
In addition, we may combine information about your visits or interactions with our Site, our other websites, and our online advertising with information you have directly provided us or will provide us during the provision of our services, such as your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, mobile telephone number and date of birth. We do this so we can better understand your interests and serve you better. If you choose, you can opt out of this information sharing and aggregation using the procedures laid out in "Opting Out with Third Parties."
Only in the following circumstances will we disclose your information to any third party who is not affiliated with, a business partner of or a sponsor of Dealer without your express consent: (i) in connection with the sale or merger of Dealer, (ii) as required by courts or administrative agencies, and (iii) to the extent required to permit us to investigate suspected fraud, harassment or other violations of any law, rule or regulation, the Site rules or policies, or the rights of third parties or any other suspected conduct we deem improper.
OPTING OUT OF INFORMATION SHARING
If you wish for us to remove your information from our active records, please email James Sanford at jsanford@Group1Auto.com with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject field and the name of the dealership. Please be aware that we will process your request within a reasonable time after receipt. You should also be aware that we are not responsible for removing your information from the lists of any third party who has previously been provided with your information in accordance with this policy, such as a business partner. In addition, your ability to opt-out from receiving marketing and promotional material does not change our right to contact you regarding your use of the Site or changes to our Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions of Use statement or other policy or terms that affect you and your use of the Site.
OPTING OUT WITH THIRD PARTIES
You can elect to opt out of marketing efforts from many third party advertisers by going directly to their websites, by clicking on the Digital Advertising Alliance's blue triangular icon located at or near the bottom of the applicable website (including the bottom of this Site page) and/or by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices/. These industry alliances make opting out of receiving Interest Based Advertising easier by providing a single location to opt out of ad- targeting from member companies. Please note that you must repeat the opt-out process to reset your preferences if you clear your browser's cookies or use a different browser. When you opt out of Internet Based Advertising on a generalized basis or with respect to CDK Global (the provider of data aggregation services for the Dealer), you will also be opted out of the information sharing and aggregation described above.
Opting out does not mean that we or any third party advertisers will no longer collect information; however, so long as the opt out cookie is on your browser, it does mean that the third party advertisers from whom you have opted out will not display advertisements to you which are tailored to your apparent interests using information collected through cookies and other tracking tools facilitated by our website or the applicable third party advertiser. In addition, this process will not opt you out of all advertising, but rather only those advertisements that are tailored to your apparent interests using information collected through cookies and other tracking tools facilitated by our website or the applicable third party advertiser.
In addition, you can modify the security settings on your computer or other device and reset your browser to approve or reject cookies on a case-by-case basis, block cookies from certain sites, or even refuse all cookies. Similarly, you can disable pixel tags by changing your browser settings to omit images and disable Javascript, or use commercial software packages that can omit pixel tags and most advertisements. However, if you "turn off," purge or disable cookies or pixel tags, you may not be able to use all of the features, functions or services available on the Site.
SECURITY
The security of your information is very important to us. We have put in place reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard the information we collect, including limiting access to the personal information contained on our servers. Only those employees who need access to your information to perform their duties are authorized to have access to your personal information. However, due to the inherent open nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that communications between you and us, or information stored on the Site or our servers, will be completely free from unauthorized access by third parties such as hackers, and your use of the Site is at your own risk. We also recommend that you keep your information safe by, for example, memorizing your password or securing it in a safe place (separate from your account information), logging out of your user account, and closing your web browser once you leave the Site.
CALIFORNIA DO NOT TRACK DISCLOSURE
Do Not Track ("DNT") is a privacy setting in your web browsers that enables you to opt out of tracking by websites and online services. When you activate DNT, the browser will send a message requesting that the website or online service not track you. Currently, our Site does recognize DNT signals. Instead, information collection and sharing practices, as well as the choices we provide you, will continue to operate as described in this Privacy Policy, regardless of whether a DNT signal is received. For more information about DNT, see http://donottrack.us/.
NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS / YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
California residents are entitled to request and obtain certain information from us regarding our disclosure, if any, of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the immediately prior calendar year (e.g., requests made in 2018 will receive information about 2017 sharing activities). As set forth here, we comply with this law by offering our visitors the ability to tell us not to share their personal information with third parties for direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please follow the instructions in the section titled "Opting Out of Information Sharing."
LINKS TO AND FROM OTHER WEBSITES
The Site may contain links to other websites not maintained by us, and other websites may reference or link to the Site. These other websites may set their own cookies, collect data, solicit your information, and/or have their own privacy policies. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our Site and to read the privacy policies and terms and conditions of each and every website you visit. We are not responsible for the practices or the content of other such websites, expressly disclaim any statements or assertions made on such websites, including without limitation, any failure on the part of any linked websites to comply with any privacy policy posted on the website, and deny all liability associated with your use of, and the content on, other such sites.
CHILDREN
The Site is not intended for children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children who are under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13, please do not submit any personal information to us through the Site.
Consent to Transfer
The Site is maintained in the United States of America. If you are located in the European Union, Canada or elsewhere outside of the United States, please be aware that any information you provide to us will be transferred to the United States. By using the Site, participating in any of our services, and/or providing us with your information, you consent to this transfer.
ACCEPTANCE AND CHANGES POLICY
By visiting the Site, you agree to the terms and conditions of the Privacy Policy. We reserve the right to change, modify, alter or otherwise update this Privacy Policy at any time without notice to you. We will post any changes to the Privacy Policy here, so be sure to visit this page often. If at any time in the future we plan to use your personal information in a way that differs from this policy, we will inform you here and provide you with the opportunity to opt-out of such differing uses. Your continued use of the Site after we post changes to this Privacy Policy means that you accept such changes.
Our Website collects two different types of information through our website: anonymous information and personally identifiable information.
Anonymous Information. We collect and store anonymous, aggregate information (such as internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser types, search engines, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks) from all visitors to our website. You may search our website for car models, prices and other information provided through our website without ever submitting your name, email address or any other personally identifiable information. The anonymous information that we do collect from your visit is never linked to any of your personally identifiable information until you voluntarily submit that personal information, in which case some otherwise anonymous information may be connected to your website activity and personal account. Otherwise, the anonymous information is only used in the aggregate to analyze trends, administer the website, diagnose any problems, track a visitor's movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. We may provide this anonymous information in aggregate form to other parties or use it for our own insight or marketing purposes. Our ability to use this information is not restricted in any way.
We also use "cookies" and "image tags" to collect certain usage information from all customers and visitors to our website. A "cookie" is a small text file that a website can place on your computer's hard drive or on your mobile device's memory in order to collect information about your activities on our website. An "image tag," also known as a clear GIF or web beacon, works together with cookies and is a small image file that may be located in various areas of our website. Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you have the option to change your browser setting to decline them.
Accepting cookies in no way gives us access to your computer or any personal information about you, since cookies are not used to identify anonymous website visitors. Our cookies enable you to proceed smoothly through our website and know whether you've used it before, so as to eliminate some steps that apply to new visitors. Cookies also give us usage data like how often you visit, where you go on our website, and what you do while here.
Similarly, a cookie may be placed by our third-party advertising companies. These companies may use aggregated statistics about your use of our website and third-party media in order to provide you with advertisements about goods and services that you may be interested in. The information they collect does not include your personal information.
The third-party advertising companies may also employ technology that is used to measure the effectiveness of ads. Any such information is anonymous. They may use this anonymous information about your visits to this and other sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of potential interest to you. No personal information about you is collected during this process. The information is anonymous and does not link online actions to an identifiable person.
Further, with your permission, we may collect information about your use or interaction with our website or about the devices you use to connect or interact with our website by automated means, including tracking technologies. As discussed above, these tracking technologies may include "cookies," which are small lines of text/data that are written onto your device by a website. Most browsers allow you to block and delete cookies. However, if you do that, the website may not work properly. Audi of Grapevine and suppliers acting on our behalf may use cookies, pixel tags, beacons, web beacons, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi monitoring and other technologies to operate the website and to provide services. With your consent, we may also use technologies to capture your demographic information and engagement with us in order to present you with a more personalized experience.
With respect to unrelated, third party web sites, such as third party online retailers, advertisers, or unrelated sites that we may happen to link to, or web sites that link to our website, those third parties may collect personal information directly from you. The information policies and practices of these unrelated parties are not covered by this privacy policy. We do not control the privacy policies of third parties even if we may provide hyperlinks or other access to their web sites. We are not responsible or liable for their independent policies and practices. Please review their privacy policies and practices. It is your responsibility to review them and decide if you are satisfied with their protections.
Some browsers have a "do not track" feature that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked. These features are not yet uniform, so we are not currently set up to respond to those signals.
Personally Identifiable Information. We require the submission of certain personally identifiable information when you use some services available on our website. For example, your use of your user name and password allows us to identify you as our customer who is seeking information in connection with our services. Our website uses a variety of contact forms and tracking phone numbers for visitors to request information, products, and services. We collect a visitor's contact information (like his or her email address or phone number) and in some cases, demographic information (like his or her zip code). In limited circumstances, such as when a visitor fills out an online credit application, we collect unique identifiers (like a social security number), and/or financial information (like age, income level, bank account or credit card numbers). We use this information to get in touch with our prospective customers about their requests, and to send them additional information about our products and services.
Note that once you have created an order or otherwise voluntarily provided personally identifiable information to us, we may use cookies to help identify you. Personally identifiable information received from you (such as IP address, phone number, email address, zip code, etc.) may be contained in or linked to a cookie. The only time that we receive such personally identifiable information is when you volunteer it by submitting it to us.
We may use cookies with personally identifiable information so that our website can remember you, enhance your online visit with us, and provide you with the information you're most likely to need. For instance, cookies allow our website to remind you of your past vehicle search interests and website activity and to suggest similar products and services. In some cases, cookies may improve your shopping experience and we use information gained through cookies to track your website activity and to deliver you content specific information
Any financial information we collect is used to check the qualifications of our prospective customers and bill for products and services ordered. If you apply for financing or wish to purchase or lease a car through our online system, we may collect personal information such as your name, address, driver's license number and state, social security number and other credit information. This information goes into a secure database and is used solely to provide the service you requested. The collection, use and storage of your financial information for credit checks, for arranging credit and loans or for purchasing products and services may be subject to additional privacy policies and if so, you will be notified of them at the time of any such collection, use or storage of your financial information as required by law.
Our online surveys may ask visitors for contact information (like an email address or phone number) which they may voluntarily provide. We also may run contests on our website in which we ask visitors for similar contact information in order to participate. We use contact information from our surveys and contests to send information about products and services to these participating visitors.
CONTACT US
If you have any questions, comments or concerns about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, you may contact us at:
Group 1 Automotive, Inc.
800 Gessner
Suite 500
Houston, Texas 77024
Copyright 2008 Group 1 Automotive. All rights reserved.
