Protecting the privacy of your personal information is a responsibility we take seriously. Below we outline why we collect information as well as our procedures to ensure your personal information is private and protected.
What is Personal Information?
Personal information is collected, depending on the type of insurance being purchased, the method of payment selected or the form of communication you prefer. Where there are additional drivers or household members, we require the same from each family member or employee of your business. This may include:
- contact information (name, address, telephone, e-mail address)
- date of birth
- marital status
- driver’s license and motor vehicle information including information about lien/lease holders, prior accidents/highway traffic violations
- banking information
- credit card and credit reports
- mortgage holder
- motor vehicle and driver records
- prior insurance and claims history
Using Your Personal Information
Your personal information is used to serve you in the following ways:
- evaluate your coverage needs and assess the risk
- consideration of your application for insurance
- communicate with you and respond to your inquiries
- detect and prevent fraud
- review and pay claims
- provide information about products and services that meet your needs
- extend renewal offers, billing, policy changes and other administration
- comply with applicable federal, provincial and territorial legislation
- compile statistics
We do not sell your personal information to anyone and we never divulge information to unauthorized agencies or persons.
We may be legally required to share personal information with others, whether by court order, the order of a regulatory body, or otherwise. Should there be a legal requirement, it is our policy to disclose information only when and to the extent legally required.
We maintain relationships with selected companies which provide insurance related and other products and services. We may share your personal information with these companies, as permitted by law, so that they can provide you with information about their products and services and develop new products to meet your needs.
Securing Your Consent
We are committed to seeking your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. The form of consent may vary depending on the circumstances and the type of information being sought. By providing information to us about additional household members and employees of your business, you are confirming that those persons have consented to the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information for the purposes of processing your application, policy administration and payment of claims.
You may, at any time, withdraw consent to the use of your personal information, subject to certain limitations. If you do not wish us to use or disclose your information for purposes related to your application or renewal, we will not be able to offer you insurance or renew your existing policy. Once a policy is issued or renewed, you may not withdraw your consent to use or disclose information related to your application, administering your policy and paying your claims.
Protecting Your Personal Information
We maintain appropriate policies to ensure customer information is available only to those employees and authorized service providers who have a need to know, in order to serve you. We take all reasonable steps to develop and maintain security measures to protect against loss, theft, unauthorized access, use, alteration, destruction or disclosure of your personal information contained in electronic and/or paper record files. We continually enhance our security measures to meet market standards.
We may transfer your information to service providers who may process or store some or all of your personal Information on servers or computers located in jurisdictions outside of Canada, including the United States. These jurisdictions may have privacy laws or standards that are different from those in effect in Canada. In the event that customer information is stored or processed in jurisdictions outside of Canada, regulatory agencies or law enforcement authorities may be able to access your information under their laws or regulations. If you require information respecting our policies and procedures relating to service providers outside Canada or have any questions regarding such service providers, please contact our Ombudsman as noted below.
Any information you supply when applying for insurance or filing a claim is kept in a property or auto insurance file or a claim file in your name, which is maintained at our Head Office in Welland, Ontario.. We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes identified and to meet our legal obligations. When we destroy personal information, we use safeguards to prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access to the information during or after the destruction process.
Accessing and Updating Your Personal Information
We welcome any inquiry you may have regarding your policy file. You may ask to see the personal information that we have on file, subject to some limitations prescribed by law. For example, you may not be able to view a file if it contains confidential information about other persons.
The accuracy of your personal information is important. If you advise us that information in your files is outdated, inaccurate or incomplete, it is our policy to take reasonable steps to correct this information.
Why We Collect Your Personal Information
We collect personal information for verification purposes from sources such as other insurance companies, consumer reporting agencies, industry data bank and government files. For property insurance, we may require an inspection and verification of the value and condition of your property.
Information obtained from other sources is treated with the same confidentiality as the information you provide on your application. This information is necessary for us to provide the product or service applied for.
In the process of reviewing and paying a claim, we collect information relevant to that claim as well as other prior claims, financial and credit report information.
Questions and Concerns
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of your personal information or our privacy policies and procedures, please contact us.
Cookie Policy
When you visit the Site, we automatically collect certain information about your device, including information about your web browser, IP address, time zone, and some of the cookies that are installed on your device. Additionally, as you browse the Site, we collect information about the individual web pages that you view, what websites or search terms referred you to the Site, and information about how you interact with the Site. We refer to this automatically-collected information as “Device Information”.
We collect Device Information using the following technologies:
“Cookies” are data files that are placed on your device or computer and often include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are small snippets of information stored by a web browser on your hard drive as text files. The only personal details they contain are what you supply, in many cases saving you time by eliminating the need to re-enter frequently requested information and gives us the ability to enhance your online experience. Cookies are not able to read any other data off your hard drive or any files created by other websites and they are not tied to your personally identifiable information.
For more information about cookies, and how to disable cookies, visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org.
“Log files” track actions occurring on the Site, and collect data including your IP address, browser type, Internet service provider, referring/exit pages, and date/time stamps.
“Web beacons”, “tags”, and “pixels” are electronic files used to record information about how you browse the Site.
Additionally, when you complete any form on the Site, we collect certain information from you, including your name, email address, and phone number. We refer to this information as “Form Information”.
When we talk about “Personal Information” in this Privacy Policy, we are talking both about Device Information and Form Information.
Please note that our policies do not apply to the privacy practices of third party sites. Read the privacy policy of other websites carefully as we are not able to affect third party sites.
How do we use your personal information?
We use the Form Information that we collect generally to provide you with further information on our services. Additionally, we use this Form Information to:
Communicate with you;
When in line with the preferences you have shared with us, provide you with information or advertising relating to our products or services.
We use the Device Information that we collect to help us screen for potential risk and fraud (in particular, your IP address), and more generally to improve and optimize our Site (for example, by generating analytics about how our customers browse and interact with the Site, and to assess the success of our marketing and advertising campaigns).
We may also use this information to provide retargeting/advertising on other sites including Google and Facebook.
Sharing Your Personal Information
We share your Personal Information with third parties to help us use your Personal Information, as described above.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to help us understand how our customers use the Site — you can read more about how Google uses your Personal Information here: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/. You can also opt-out of Google Analytics here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Finally, we may also share your Personal Information to comply with applicable laws and regulations, to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other lawful request for information we receive, or to otherwise protect our rights.
Behavioral Advertising
As described above, we use your Personal Information to provide you with targeted advertisements or marketing communications we believe may be of interest to you. For more information about how targeted advertising works, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s (“NAI”) educational page at http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising/how-does-it-work.
You can opt out of targeted advertising by using the links below:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=ads
Google: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/anonymous
Bing: https://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/policies/personalized-ads
Additionally, you can opt out of some of these services by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out portal.
Google Adwords
Google Adwords, including the Search and Display Network, allows us to choose the audience that will see ads based on who they are, what they are looking for and what they like. Visit Google Privacy Policy to understand your controls or to opt-out.
Facebook & Instagram
Facebook uses information based on your activity on websites or apps off Facebook for the purpose of showing you ads for interest-based advertising. Visit Facebook Ad Preferences This is an external link. to manage your settings.
We advertise on additional partner websites to deliver customized ads we think you’ll find interesting. If you would like to opt-out of these customized ads, visit the links below.
Go to LinkedIn Privacy Policy to opt-out This is an external link..
Go to Twitter Privacy Control to opt-out. This is an external link.
European Residents
If you are a European resident, you have the right to access personal information we hold about you and to ask that your personal information be corrected, updated, or deleted. If you would like to exercise this right, please contact us through the contact information below.
Additionally, if you are a European resident we note that we are processing your information in order to fulfill contracts we might have with you (for example if you make an order through the Site), or otherwise to pursue our legitimate business interests listed above. Additionally, please note that your information will be transferred outside of Europe, including to Canada and the United States.
Data Retention
When you complete a contact form through the Site, we will maintain your Form Information for our records unless and until you ask us to delete this information.
Changes
We may update this privacy policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to our practices or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons.
Contact Us
For more information about our privacy practices, if you have questions, or if you would like to make a complaint, please contact us by e‑mail at dave.brooks@thebig.ca or by mail using the details provided below:
Billyard Insurance Group
Re: Privacy Compliance Officer
38 Main Street, Welland, ON L3B 3W3
Overview
This website is operated by Billyard Insurance Group Inc. Throughout the site, the terms “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Billyard Insurance Group Inc.. Billyard Insurance Group Inc. offers this website, including all information, tools and services available from this site to you, the user, conditioned upon your acceptance of all terms, conditions, policies and notices stated here.
By visiting our site and/ or purchasing something from us, you engage in our “Service” and agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions (“Terms of Service”, “Terms”), including those additional terms and conditions and policies referenced herein and/or available by hyperlink. These Terms of Service apply to all users of the site, including without limitation users who are browsers, vendors, customers, merchants, and/ or contributors of content.
Please read these Terms of Service carefully before accessing or using our website. By accessing or using any part of the site, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not access the website or use any services. If these Terms of Service are considered an offer, acceptance is expressly limited to these Terms of Service.
Any new features or tools which are added to the current store shall also be subject to the Terms of Service. You can review the most current version of the Terms of Service at any time on this page. We reserve the right to update, change or replace any part of these Terms of Service by posting updates and/or changes to our website. It is your responsibility to check this page periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to the website following the posting of any changes constitutes acceptance of those changes.