Privacy Policy
AutoDiscountGroup.com Consumer Privacy and Security PolicyDate Last Revised: January 9, 2011 AutoDiscountGroup.com understands your concerns with privacy and the use of your personal information. Whether you submit a purchase request for a vehicle or simply browse through our Website, we assure you that we are committed to protecting your personal privacy. This privacy policy covers the web site http://www.autodiscountgroup.com/ ("Website"). We encourage you to read this Policy carefully before providing any personal information on our Website. If you have questions or concerns regarding this Policy, you should contact our Consumer Privacy Advocate by e-mail at Privacy@AutoDiscountGroup.com. 1. Information AutoDiscountGroup.com Collects and How We Use ItPersonal information collected on our Website is used to improve the content of our Website, customize the content or layout of our Website for individual users, provide services requested, notify users of updates to the Website, respond to any questions, problems or complaints, or request feedback and, subject to the limitations set forth below, to develop new products and services and to contact consumers for marketing purposes. AutoDiscountGroup.com collects email addresses of consumers who communicate with us or through our authorized vendors via email. We also collect information about web pages visited (See Cookies and Web Beacons below) and other information that is provided by consumers either on our Website or in response to email communications from us. We also collect information provided to us by consumers in purchase requests submitted through our Website or our authorized vendors' websites ("Purchase Request Information"). Purchase Request Information typically includes name, address, and phone numbers, email address and specific vehicle information. In addition, consumers who express a desire to apply for vehicle financing provide us with and authorize us or third parties with which we have a business relationship to obtain from third parties necessary financial information such as credit reports ("Finance Information"). Finance Information typically includes name, address, and phone numbers, email address, age, occupation, income, social security number and other credit related data. We do not provide financing, but instead transmit those requests to third-party vendors for consideration. We may also collect other types of information during registration or in connection with your other activities on our Website, such as demographic information and information about or contained in postings you make in forums, blogs or any other interactive areas of our Website; your answers to surveys, your participation in sweepstakes, contests, games and promotional offers; and in any email request you send us for any reason (such as to request customer service or provide us with comments or feedback). All information provided by consumers in any of the above-listed ways or otherwise becomes the property of AutoDiscountGroup.com once received by us and may be used and disclosed as permitted in this Policy. Invite/Email-A-FriendIf you choose to use our Website to tell a friend about our Website, we will ask you for your friend's name and email address. We will automatically send your friend a one-time email inviting him or her to visit the Website. AutoDiscountGroup.com does not store this information. We use this third party information (email, name) for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking the success of our invite program. Your friend may contact us at Privacy@AutoDiscountGroup.com to request that we remove this information from our database. Framed Sections of Our WebsiteAutoDiscountGroup.com maintains relationships with outside service providers for some of the products and services offered on our Website. Certain of these providers are found on our Finance, Insurance, Warranty or other pages. The information these providers make available to you may be presented in a "framed" format, where the AutoDiscountGroup.com border will surround the pages served by the service providers, or by directly linking the user to the vendors' websites. In either case, the provider is prominently identified. Please be aware that any information you provide on such pages is provided directly to those providers and is subject to their security and privacy policies. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these outside providers because their privacy policy and practices may differ from ours. Our content may be displayed on or through third-party websites through the use of inline frames or other framing techniques. We may collect personal information in such framed pages or content located on or provided by third-party websites. When you submit personal information to us in this manner, it is treated as personal information under this Policy. The collection and use of personal information by the third-party website directly (i.e., outside of our content framed pages) is governed separately by the privacy policy of those websites. Browsing on our WebsiteIf you browse through our Website without entering any personal data, we will gather and store certain information about your visit. This information does not identify you personally and cannot be linked back to you unless you decide at some point to identify yourself. However, see Cookies and Web Beacons below. PersonalizationAutoDiscountGroup.com offers its users the advantage of personalization on our Website by using Cookies. (See Cookies and Web Beacons below.) Personalized services are offered in designated areas of our Website to users who register with us. AutoDiscountGroup.com may track consumer interest in goods and services marketed to users who are members of our on-site personalization areas. This information is used solely by AutoDiscountGroup.com and its affiliated companies for business purposes. Special Sections of Our WebsiteAutoDiscountGroup.com offers forums and blogs on its Website. Any information you disclose in these forums and blogs is available to all AutoDiscountGroup.com registered members and may increase the risk of receiving "spam" or unsolicited email from other parties. Be careful and use discretion when disclosing information online. Other UsesWe share your personal information with third parties in order to identify products or services in which you may have interest, to improve our user experience and generally to engage in market research and for other internal business purposes. We may also aggregate your personal information with others' information and prepare reports on Website usage, purchase history or other factors for sale or distribution to others. Those reports are aggregated and include no personally identifying information. In addition, personal information provided on our Website may be linked together or merged with other personal information we obtain about you so that we may better understand your needs and inform you about our products or services and those of third parties with which we have a business relationship. Also, if we receive personal information from third parties with whom we have business relationships, we may combine this information with the other personal information we maintain about you. In either case, this Policy governs our use of this information. Finally, we may use your personal information to send you communications regarding products or services offered by us or by third parties in which we think you may be interested unless you have declined to receive these third party communications. See Your Right To Decline Communications From Us and Others below. 2. Third Parties That May Receive Your Personal InformationIn addition to our own internal uses of your personal information, we may provide your personal information to non-affiliated third parties under one or more of several circumstances:
In addition, we may release personal information when we believe release is appropriate to protect our users or others from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful use of our Website or its services; to protect our rights or property; to enforce policies or contests, sweepstakes, promotions, or game rules; or if we reasonably believe that an emergency involving immediate danger of death or serious physical, economic or other harm to any person requires disclosure of communications or justifies disclosure of records without delay. Purchase Request Information and Finance InformationPurchase Request Information is used to transmit to third parties requests for products or services and to contact consumers regarding vehicles. Similarly, Finance Information is used to transmit third party requests for vehicle financing. Typically, in either case the information is transmitted to dealers, manufacturers, lenders or fulfillment entities, as applicable, who may be in a position to respond to your request. As part of the request process, we may verify the information you provide, or obtain omitted address or other contact or demographic information, from third parties. Occasionally, in the case of Purchase Request Information or Finance Information, when AutoDiscountGroup.com does not have a dealership or lender available to assist you, we may forward your request information to a manufacturer or another referral service for transmission to a dealer or lender. Your submission of the request authorizes us to do this. Any Purchase Request Information or Finance Information forwarded in this way becomes subject to the security and privacy policies that are posted on the websites of those third parties. Similarly, Purchase Request or Finance Information transmitted to a dealer, manufacturer, lender or fulfillment entity becomes the property of that dealer, manufacturer, lender or fulfillment entity, in addition to AutoDiscountGroup.com. The information is used to process your request and to provide you with information about goods and services. Any request to opt-out of future dealer, lender, manufacturer or other third-party communications must be made directly to that third party. 3. Your Right To Decline Communications From Us and OthersWe provide our users with the ability to choose whether to receive certain communications from us and whether to permit their information to be disclosed to third parties for marketing or related purposes. Users who come directly to our Website will not receive those communications or have their information disclosed to third parties for marketing or related purposes unless they affirmatively consent or are already receiving such communications. Users whose purchase, finance or other requests are submitted through third-party websites and are referred to us will receive those marketing communications and their information will be shared with other third parties unless they elect to opt out of those communications and disclosures. To opt out of a category of email from us, click on the remove link at the bottom of the email. Alternatively, you may email Customer Service at consumercare@autodiscountgroup.com with the word "Remove" in the subject line, and we will remove you from all further email marketing communication within five (5) business days. You may also opt-out at any time by contacting us at consumercare@autodiscountgroup.com. In addition, we provide you the opportunity to indicate your preferences as to what types of offerings of products or services you wish to receive from third parties or – subject to the exceptions below - to opt-out of disclosures to those third parties altogether. You may update your preferences at any time by contacting us at consumercare@autodiscountgroup.com. Those third parties who receive your personal information prior to your opt-out will remain able to send you communications, subject to their privacy policies and practices. In each case, even if you decide not to receive offers or other product or service information, AutoDiscountGroup.com and its member dealers or manufacturers, fulfillment third-parties and other automotive referral services, may use a phone number, mailing address or email address that you have provided to contact you regarding a request or content that you have submitted or in connection with other administrative matters, such as operation of our Website. Additionally, phone numbers may be used to conduct customer surveys regarding individual experiences with AutoDiscountGroup.com or AutoDiscountGroup.com-accredited dealers. Phone numbers are made available only to AutoDiscountGroup.com, its affiliates and member dealers, lenders or manufacturers or other referral services who receive your request. The submission of a purchase or financing request itself is permission for us to submit your Purchase Request Information or Finance Information (as applicable) to third parties to fulfill your request. If you request to opt-out of receiving emails from us and subsequently submit a purchase or finance request (either directly or submitted through third-party websites and are referred to us), we will assume that you wish to reinstate your relationship with us and we will use your information as set forth herein, unless you subsequently request to opt-out. Each time you submit a purchase or finance request, this process will restart. 4. SecurityAutoDiscountGroup.com understands the importance of security for our users. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. In particular, we use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption technology to protect personal data such as credit card information and finance or insurance information during transmission, and maintain other commercially reasonable precautions to protect information that we store or retain. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. We cannot guarantee protection of all information against interception, misappropriation, misuse, or alteration, or that your information may not be disclosed or accessed by accidental circumstances or by the unauthorized acts of others. Furthermore, we have no control over the security of other websites you might visit. Your registration information is accessible online only through the use of a password. To protect the confidentiality of personal information, you must keep your password confidential and not disclose it to any other person. You are responsible for all uses of the Website by any person using your password. Please advise us immediately if you believe your password has been misused or otherwise misappropriated. We restrict access to personal information about you to our employees and third parties who need to know that information in order to manage your account or provide you with services or information you requested. We review our safeguards from time to time, and strive to maintain them in a manner consistent with applicable regulations, if any, that may be in effect from time to time. Any of our employees who violate these policies and procedures are subject to disciplinary action. If you have any questions about security on our Website, you can send email to us at consumercare@autodiscountgroup.com. 5. ChildrenWe do not intend, and the Website is not designed, to collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If you are under 13 years old, you should not register with or otherwise provide personal information to our Website. 6. Corrections or Changes to Your Personal InformationYou may also make corrections and updates to your personal information by contacting consumercare@autodiscountgroup.com. 7. Cookies and Web BeaconsCookiesWhat is a Cookie? A cookie, also known as a web cookie or browser cookie, is a piece of text stored by a user's web browser that enable recognition of a user’s computer when the user visits websites. Data and information such as the IP addresses, email addresses, websites visited online and personally identifiable information about you can be stored using cookies. A cookie can be used for authentication, storing site preferences, tracking of website use and preferences, personalization and content customization. Online advertisers and website operators often use such information to build behavior profiles and for deliverying targeted advertising and content to users based on user preferences. AutoDiscountGroup.com places or “sets” AutoDiscountGroup.com cookies on your computer when you visit AutoDiscountGroup.com Websites and may also set cookies on your computer on behalf of third parties authorized by AutoDiscountGroup.com or may enable certain third parties to set their own cookies on your computer. When a cookie is set, your browser will check it for length, an expiration date, and where it originated. Cookies without an expiration date exist until the browser terminates, while cookies with an expiration date may be stored by the browser until the expiration date passes. Types of Cookies Set on Your Computer. AutoDiscountGroup.com sets its own cookies on your computer when you visit an AutoDiscountGroup.com Website. These AutoDiscountGroup.com cookies collect data and information about you, including personally identifiable information. For information about our use of information and data collected by Autobytel cookies, see the section of this Privacy Policy entitled “Information AutoDiscountGroup.com Collects and How We Use It AutoDiscountGroup.com uses third party tracking services for which AutoDiscountGroup.com sets cookies on your computer, or enables the third party tracking services to set cookies on your computer, when you visit AutoDiscountGroup.com Websites. These cookies track visits, page views and click stream behavior. Third party tracking services report this data to AutoDiscountGroup.com in aggregated form so AutoDiscountGroup.com can better understand our users and improve our Websites. AutoDiscountGroup.com does not authorize these third party tracking services to store personally identifiable information about you in their cookies. AutoDiscountGroup.com has no access to or control over these third party tracking utilities. AutoDiscountGroup.com shares such anonymous, aggregated information obtained from these cookies with our advertisers, sponsors, promotional and business partners. AutoDiscountGroup.com may also use third party network advertising providers that use cookies. Network advertising providers are third parties that display advertisements based on your visits to the AutoDiscountGroup.com Websites and other sites you visit within the network advertising provider’s advertising network. Although the advertising providers do not have access to AutoDiscountGroup.com’s cookies, AutoDiscountGroup.com may set cookies on your computer on behalf of the third party network advertising providers, which cookies can be accessed by the third party network advertising providers. Cookies allow the third party network advertising providers to serve you targeted advertisements or content in which you might be interested. AutoDiscountGroup.com does not authorize these third party tracking services to store personally identifiable information about you in their cookies. Finally, AutoDiscountGroup.com may also set cookies on your computer on behalf of third parties other than third party tracking services and third party network advertising providers. These third parties collect data and information regarding your internet use and the sites that you visit. They may use this data or information to (i) provide data or information products and services to AutoDiscountGroup.com that we use internally or in turn offer for sale or distribution to third parties; (ii) to provide data and information products and services direct to third party customers of the data collector. AutoDiscountGroup.com does not authorize these third parties to store personally identifiable information about you in their cookies; and (iii) for their own internal analytics. Opting Out of Cookies. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying your browser settings, and our websites are viewable even if you disable the cookie function on your browser. However, if you disable cookies, some advanced and customized features or offerings will not be available to you, including personalization features. If you prefer not to accept cookies, most browsers will explain how to view and disable cookies under the help portion of the toolbar or notify you when you receive a new cookie. Use of third party cookies is subject to the privacy policies and opt-out procedures of these third parties and not AutoDiscountGroup.com’s policy and procedures. Please click here www.networkadvertising.org in order to learn more about the data and information collection and use practices of some of the third parties for which we set cookies on AutoDiscountGroup.com Websites or for which we enable to set their own cookies. Please click here http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp in order to learn more about the "opt-out" procedures of some of these third parties. Not all of the third parties for which we set cookies on AutoDiscountGroup.com Websites or for which we enable to set their own cookies are included in preceding link. One of the third parties for which a cookie is set on your computer and which is not included in the preceding link is Datran Media’s Aperture product. Datran Media’s privacy policy can be viewed by clicking on the following link: http://www.datranmedia.com/privacy/. Should you wish to opt-out of Datran Media’s cookies, you may access Datran Media’s opt-out procedure by clicking on the following link: http://rt.displaymarketplace.com/optout.html Web BeaconsAutoDiscountGroup.com, third party network advertising providers or other third parties may place "web beacons," which are also called single-pixel gifs, on AutoDiscountGroup.com Websites and in email communications. A web beacon is a small, transparent electronic image placed at various sections of our Websites or in Web-based documents or in email messages or newsletters to monitor user traffic. The web beacon records the number of click-throughs to the page where it resides and collects users' IP addresses, time the page was viewed, type of browser used, and existence of cookies from a previous visit. Among other things, they help to better target advertisements on the AutoDiscountGroup.com Websites. Web beacons placed in email messages may be linked to your personal information. Data and information collected by web beacons is used only by AutoDiscountGroup.com, its affiliates and authorized vendors. 8. Interest-Based Advertising PolicyUnder the Google Interest Based Advertising Program (the "Program"), Google will endeavor to enable you to serve advertisements to Users (i) who are on your Remarketing Lists and (ii) based on Google-defined (a) interest categories or (b) similar audiences. The following policies only apply to these Program participants. Definitions "User" means a unique instance of a browser, application or similar technology."User Cookie" means the User identifier (of which a cookie is one example) associated with a User for remarketing or similar audiences. "Remarketing Lists" means a list of User Cookies created or otherwise obtained by you and used in connection with remarketing or similar audiences. "Similar Audiences Lists" means a list of Users created by Google based on a Remarketing List for use in connection with similar audiences. "Properties" means properties or content on which advertisements are shown. 9. Business Transfers and Other TransactionsInformation about our users and our Website is a business asset of AutoDiscountGroup.com. As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy websites, subsidiaries or business units. In such transactions, personal information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to the promises made in any pre-existing privacy policy. Also, in the event that AutoDiscountGroup.com or substantially all of its assets are acquired, personal information will of course be one of the transferred assets. In addition, personal information will be disclosed as part of any creation of a separate business to provide our Website, or to provide other services or fulfill products; debt financing, sale or pledge of company assets, or insolvency, bankruptcy or receivership. We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the acquirer of our users' personal information respects the provisions of this Policy, although this may not be possible in certain legal settings (such as bankruptcy). 10. Changes or Revisions to This PolicyIf we are going to use your personal information in a manner different from that stated in this Policy at the time of collection, we will notify you via email. You will have a choice as to whether or not to allow us to use your information in this different manner. In addition, if we make any material changes in our privacy practices, we will revise this Policy and update the date displayed at the top of this Policy to reflect that the policy has been changed. In some cases we will also email users who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices. 11. DisclaimerWe take our commitment to protection of your privacy, as set out in this Policy, seriously. Nevertheless, NOTHING IN THIS PRIVACY AND SECURITY POLICY IS INTENDED TO CREATE OR PROVIDE ANY RIGHT OF ACTION FOR VIOLATION. 12. Questions or Concerns?If you have any questions or concerns regarding privacy, security, opting-out of email offers or understanding how your personal information is being used, please contact our Consumer Privacy Advocate at Privacy@autodiscountgroup.com. Our mailing address is: 12950 Racetrack Road Ste 220 Tampa, FL 33626 For any other issues, please contact our customer service department at consumercare@autodiscountgroup.com. |