Data and Privacy policy

The Autohome Group is committed to protecting the privacy of the individuals we encounter when conducting our business.  “Personal Information” is information that identifies and relates to you or other individuals.  

This Privacy Policy describes how we handle Personal Information that we collect through:

• our website (the “Site”);
• Telephone calls, emails, written correspondence and other communications with us;
• the software applications made available by us for use through mobile devices (the “Apps”);
• our social media pages;

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Who to contact about your personal information?

If you have any questions about our use of your personal information, you can email dataprotectionofficer@autohome.co.uk or write to Data Protection Officer, Autohome Ltd, Mayleigh House, Orchard Hill, Little Billing, Northampton, NN3 9AD

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Personal Information that we collect

Depending on your relationship with us (for example, as a member; or insured or non-insured policy holder; commercial broker or appointed representative; or other person relating to our business), Personal Information collected about you may include: 

• General identification and contact information
  Your name; address; e-mail and telephone details; passwords (including on our systems); claims history; vehicle information such as make model and registration.
• Identification numbers issued by government bodies or agencies
  Driver’s license number and Road Tax or MOT. 
• Financial information and account details
  Payment card number; bank account number and account details; and other financial information. 
• Medical condition and health status
  Injury or disability information; urgent medication information only required in a vehicle breakdown situation or accident
• Other sensitive information
  In certain cases, we may also obtain sensitive information if you voluntarily provide it to us (for example, if you express the need for a specific recovery resource and provide a medical or other reason for this). 
• Telephone recordings
  Recording of telephone calls to our representatives and control centres.
• Information enabling us to provide products and services
  Location and identification of the vehicle insured (for example, kept at property address, vehicle license plate or identification number);
• Marketing preferences and customer feedback
  You may let us know your marketing preferences, sales promotion, or respond to a voluntary customer satisfaction survey.
• Social media account and information from Apps
  We may receive certain Personal Information about you when you use our Apps or Social Media Content, including your social media account ID and profile picture, and other Personal Information that you provide to us.  If you elect to connect your social media account provided by another social media service provider to your account(s) on any of the Autohome Groups, Personal Information from your social media account will be shared with us, which may include Personal Information that is part of your social media account profile or your friends’ profiles. When using any of our assistance Apps you will be providing us with personal information; name, mobile telephone number, policy number and your current location via GPS co-ordinates.

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How we use your Personal Information

We use this Personal Information to: 

• Communicate with you and others as part of our business.
• Send you important information regarding changes to our policies, terms and conditions, and other administrative information.
• Make decisions about whether to provide insurance; provide insurance and assistance services.
• Provide improved quality, training and security (for example, with respect to recorded or monitored phone calls to our contact numbers).
• Prevent, detect and investigate crime, including fraud.
• Carry out market research and analysis, including satisfaction surveys.
  Provide marketing information to you (including information about other products and services offered by selected third-party partners) in accordance with preferences you have expressed.
• Identify you to our control centres to whom you send messages through our Apps
• Allow you to participate in promotions, and to administer these activities. Some of these activities have additional terms and conditions, which could contain additional information about how we use and disclose your Personal Information, so we suggest that you read these carefully.
• Facilitate social media sharing functionality.
• Manage our infrastructure and business operations, and comply with internal policies and procedures, including those relating to auditing; finance and accounting; billing and collections; IT systems; data and website hosting; business continuity; and records, document and print management.
• Resolve complaints, and handle requests for data access or correction.
• Comply with applicable laws and regulatory obligations (including laws outside your country of residence), such as those relating to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism; comply with legal process; and respond to requests from public and governmental authorities (including those outside your country of residence).
• Establish and defend legal rights; protect our operations or those of any of our group, our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our group companies, you or others; and pursue available remedies or limit our damages.

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International transfer of your Personal Data

For the purposes of providing assistance outside of the UK we may transfer Personal Information to parties located in other countries (including Europe and any other countries that we provide cover for).  For example, we may transfer Personal Information in order to process international assistance insurance claims and provide emergency roadside assistance or recovery services when you are abroad.

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Who is responsible for Personal Information?

The Autohome group comprises of a number of companies, including, Autohome Limited, Autohome Insurance Limited, MHS International Limited T/A Autohome Recovery, Mayleigh House Corporate Limited T/A Autohome Fleet Rescue.

Each Autohome group company that processes your Personal Information is responsible for looking after it in accordance with this Privacy Policy, our internal standards and procedures, and the requirements of data protection law.

Your relationship with us will determine which of our group companies has access to and processes your Personal Information, and which of our group companies are the data controller(s) responsible for your Personal Information. If you are an individual Autohome member, the Autohome group company that underwrites your insurance policy will be the main company responsible for your Personal Information, the controller.

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Who do we share your Personal Information with?

Personal Information may be shared between Autohome group companies and other third parties, including:

• service providers
• government authorities
• third parties involved in legal proceedings.

In detail:

In connection with the purposes described above (see section above ‘How do we use Personal Information?’), we sometimes need to share your Personal Information with third parties. This will only occur in the event that you are in a breakdown situation, and have requested assistance. Our service providers are defined as, but limited not to; recovery operators, transport operators, taxi agents, livestock transportation, hotels, hire companies and other third party vendors and outsourced service providers that assist us in carrying out business activities.

Where do we process your Personal Information?

All data is processed and controlled at our main office, Mayleigh House, Orchard Hill, Little Billing, Northampton, NN3 9AD.

How do we keep your Personal Information secure?

Information security is extremely important to us. 

Autohome uses appropriate technical, physical, legal and organisational measures, which comply with data protection laws to keep Personal Information secure. 

As most of the Personal Information we hold is stored electronically we have implemented appropriate IT security measures to ensure this Personal Information is kept secure.  For example, we may use anti-virus protection systems, firewalls, and data encryption technologies. We have procedures in place at our premises to keep any hard copy records physically secure. Our staff are also trained on data protection and information security.

When Autohome engages a third party (including our service providers) to collect or otherwise process Personal Information on our behalf, the third party will be selected carefully and required to use appropriate security measures to protect the confidentiality and security of Personal Information.

If you believe that your Personal Information is no longer secure, please contact us so that we can resolve and report any breaches or potential breaches.

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What is our justification for using Personal Information?

To comply with the law, we need to tell you the legal justification we rely on for using your Personal Information.  The legal justification depends on the purpose for using your Personal Information, but it will usually be considered to be in our legitimate interests or involve your consent.

Our Interests include;

• To communicate with you
• To provide assistance
• To assess you eligibility for insurance cover
• To improve our service, including training and maintaining information security
• To manage risk
• To manage complaints and feedback queries
• To comply with laws and regulations
• To establish legal rights

Interest that will require consent include;

• To provide electronic marketing information
• To carry out research and analysis
• To enter competitions

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Do we record calls and monitor email communication?

We may record telephone calls with you so that we can:

• improve the standard of service that we provide by providing our staff with feedback and training;
• address queries, concerns or complaints;
• prevent, detect and investigate crime, including analyse and manage other commercial risks; and
• comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

In addition, we monitor electronic communications between us (for example, emails) to protect you, our business and IT infrastructure, and third parties including by:

• identifying and dealing with inappropriate communications; and
• looking for and removing any viruses, or other malware, and resolving any other information security issues.

How long do we keep your Personal Information?

We will keep your Personal Information only as long as necessary for the purposes for which we collected it and to comply with applicable law. 
Depending on our relationship with you, we may keep your Personal Information for a number of years after our relationship ends.

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How can you tell us about your marketing preferences?

You can change your marketing preferences at any time.  If you would like to stop receiving marketing information from us, either; Email: dataprotectionofficer@autohome.co.uk
Or write to us; Data Protection Officer, Autohome Ltd, Mayleigh House, Orchard Hill, Little Billing, Northampton, NN3 9AD.

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Your rights under GDRP

Individuals in the European Economic Area (EEA) have a number of rights in connection with their Personal Information. These rights only apply in certain circumstances and are subject to certain exemptions.  These rights include a right to request a copy of the Personal Information we hold about you.

Your rights include:

• Right of access to Personal Information
• Right to rectification of Personal Information
• Right to erasure of Personal Information
• Right to restrict processing of Personal Information
• Right to data portability
• Right to object to processing of Personal Information
• Right to withdraw consent to processing of Personal Information
• Right to complain to the relevant data protection authority
• Right to provide instructions regarding the management of your Personal Information after your death (only where such right applies under applicable law)

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Who to contact about your Personal Information

If you have any questions or concerns about the way your Personal Information is used by us, you can contact us by email or post.

Email: dataprotectionofficer@autohome.co.uk

Or write to us;

Data Protection Officer Autohome Limited
Mayleigh House
Orchard Hill
Little Billing
Northampton
NN3 9AD