Privacy Policy

This policy explains how [legal business name], operating as CanWheels ("we", "us"), handles personal information. We follow the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the federal law governing how Canadian businesses handle personal information in the course of commercial activity.

It applies to this website, to enquiries you send us through it, and to information we collect at our showroom at 410 Industrial Dr, Milton, ON L9T 5A6.

What we collect

When you submit an enquiry or a financing request through this site, we collect the name you give us, and your email address or telephone number so that we can reply. Depending on the form, we may also record the vehicle or vehicle type you are interested in, a description of your current credit situation, and any message you write to us.

If you apply for financing, we will subsequently collect the further information a lender requires to assess an application. That typically includes your date of birth, home address and residency history, employment and income details, and your consent to a credit check. We collect this directly from you, not from third parties, except where you authorise us to obtain a credit report.

If you visit the showroom, book a test drive or trade a vehicle in, we collect the information needed for that transaction, including your driver's licence details for test drives and insurance purposes, and vehicle ownership details for a trade-in.

Why we collect it

We use your information to respond to your enquiry, to arrange test drives and appraisals, to prepare and perform a sale, to submit financing applications on your behalf where you ask us to, to meet our record-keeping obligations as a registered motor vehicle dealer, and to contact you about a vehicle or application you have asked us about.

We do not use your information for any purpose materially different from the one you provided it for without first obtaining your consent.

Consent

By submitting a form on this site you consent to our collecting and using the information in it for the purposes described above. For sensitive information, in particular anything relating to your credit, we rely on your express consent, which we will ask for separately at the point we need it.

You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal and contractual restrictions and to reasonable notice. Withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer progress a financing application or complete a sale. To withdraw consent, contact us using the details at the end of this policy.

Where you agree to receive marketing messages from us, you may unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email or by contacting us directly, in line with Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).

Who we share it with

We disclose personal information to third parties only as needed to deliver what you have asked for, or where the law requires it. In practice that means: lenders and financial institutions, where you have asked us to seek financing; credit reporting agencies, where you have consented to a credit check; insurers, registration and licensing authorities such as ServiceOntario, and warranty or protection product providers, where these form part of your transaction; and our professional advisers and service providers, who are bound to protect the information and to use it only for the services they provide to us.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not rent or trade mailing lists.

Some of our service providers may store or process information outside Canada. Where that is the case, the information may be accessible to the courts and law enforcement authorities of the country in question under that country's laws.

How long we keep it

We keep enquiry information only as long as needed to deal with the enquiry and for a reasonable period afterwards. Where a sale or financing agreement results, we retain the associated records for the period required by law and by our regulatory obligations as a motor vehicle dealer, which is generally a minimum of seven years.

When information is no longer needed for any legal or business purpose, we destroy, erase or de-identify it.

How we protect it

We apply physical, organisational and technological safeguards proportionate to the sensitivity of the information: access is limited to staff who need it to do their jobs, our website submits form data over an encrypted connection, and paper records are held securely at the showroom.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. Please do not send us financial account numbers, your Social Insurance Number, or copies of identity documents by email.

Your rights

You have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you, what we have used it for, and to whom we have disclosed it. You have the right to ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.

We will respond to a written request within 30 days. In limited circumstances the law permits or requires us to withhold information, for example where disclosing it would reveal information about another person; if we do so we will tell you why.

To make a request, contact our Privacy Officer at [privacy contact email] or write to us at the showroom address.

Cookies and website analytics

This site uses only the cookies necessary for it to function and to remember your display preferences. It does not use advertising cookies and does not track you across other websites.

If we add analytics or advertising technology in future, we will update this policy and, where consent is required, ask for it before that technology is enabled.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last changed. Material changes affecting how we use information you have already given us will be brought to your attention directly.

Contact and complaints

Privacy Officer, CanWheels, 410 Industrial Dr, Milton, ON L9T 5A6. Telephone (905) 266-2275. Email [privacy contact email].

If we cannot resolve your concern to your satisfaction, you may bring a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca or by calling 1-800-282-1376.