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Current as of October 1, 2021

BRITISH COLUMBIA AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION PRIVACY POLICY

A. Introduction and Scope of Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how the British Columbia Automobile Association and its member companies identified below (together referred to as “BCAA” in this Policy) collect, use and disclose personal information through the BCAA website, social media sites and mobile apps (the “Site”) as well as through in-person and telephone exchanges.

By using the Site and otherwise providing BCAA with your personal information you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.  BCAA may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time.  The date at the top of the Privacy Policy is the date it was last updated and you are encouraged to review the Privacy Policy from time to time in order to ensure that you continue to agree to have your personal information collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the current terms.

 BCAA’s member companies (which are included in the term “BCAA” in this Policy) means:

  • British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA);
  • B.C.A.A. Holdings Ltd.;
  • BCAA Travel Agency
  • B.C.A.A. Associated Services Ltd.;
  • BCAA Insurance Corporation;
  • BCAA Insurance Agency Ltd. (formerly known as Pacific Sunspots Tours Inc.)
  • BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation.

You can choose not to provide BCAA with some or all of your personal information. However, this choice may prevent BCAA from providing you with the products, services, or information requested or offered

B. What is Personal Information?

This Policy applies to “personal information” meaning information about an identifiable individual, other than his or her business contact information.  The personal information that BCAA collects, uses and discloses will depend on the purpose being fulfilled.  Generally BCAA collects, uses and discloses the following:

  • personal contact information including your name, address, phone number and email address;
  • drivers’ license and driving record;
  • ·vehicle information;
  • information obtained during the course of dispatching a service vehicle including the type of service required and the tow destination;
  • information related to insurance including driving records, medical history, claims history, information on dependents, insured residence particulars or next of kin particulars;
  • travel needs, including such items as travel arrangements and medical or dietary restrictions for travelers;
  • payment information;
  • credit information in order to permit BCAA to perform credit checks;
  • technical information about you such as your IP address, browser type, addresses of referring websites and your browsing history in the Site;
  • information that is linked to your BCAA account;
  • products and services history at BCAA; and
  • publicly available information.

    Personal information does not include information that is in the aggregate and from which you cannot reasonably be identified. 

  • C. Accountability

    BCAA is responsible for your personal information under its control. We have appointed a Chief Privacy Officer who is accountable for BCAA's compliance with this Privacy Policy. The Chief Privacy Officer can be contacted at privacy@bcaa.com.

    D. Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

    How Does BCAA Collect Personal Information?

    Usually, we collect personal information directly from you through application forms, surveys, online registration, over the phone, use of the Site or at the counter in any of BCAA's offices.

    If appropriate we obtain personal information from third-party sources. For example:

  • BCAA is a member of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) and affiliated with the American Automobile Association (AAA) and will collect personal information from those other clubs in relation to members requiring products, services or insurance coverage in other jurisdictions;
  • In relation to insurance BCAA will exchange personal information with underwriters, agents, brokers and reinsurers as appropriate;
  • Driving records and credit information may be obtained from third-party sources such as other insurers or credit reporting agencies, as appropriate given the product or service;
  • Personal Information may be obtained from lawyers, private investigators and other third parties when we are investigating, evaluating and adjusting claims.


    Why Does BCAA Collect, Use and Disclose Personal Information?

    Generally, BCAA collects, uses and discloses personal information for the following purposes:

  • to provide you with the products and services requested;
  • to contact you for mailing and renewal purposes;
  • to contact you to advise you of any existing services and benefits that may be of interest to you, including via direct marketing, provided BCAA is able to communicate with you for that purpose given the anti-spam laws that apply to BCAA;
  • to promote products and services with the member companies of BCAA;
  • to coordinate and liaise with other CAA and AAA clubs as is appropriate in the circumstances;
  • to meet legal or statutory requirements or obligations to investigate fraud or other potential criminal activity;
  • to enable third party service providers to provide specialized services (in which case we ensure through contractual protection that they will protect your personal information);
  • to ensure coordination of dispatch for members needing assistance by the use of external services such as Google Maps Coordinates Software;
  • to process, investigate and administer claims and assessments of losses in the event of a claim;
  • to allow the establishment of the risk premium associated with an insurance policy;
  • to underwrite and price your policy application and any subsequent policy changes or renewals;
  • to comply with laws, regulations, subpoena or court order;
  • to analyze business results, compile statistics, perform administrative tasks such as accounting and information system activities and conduct marketing and underwriting research and modeling;
  • to develop personalized experiences and services and proactively offer those experiences and services to you; 
  • to train our agents, including virtual agents, and for compliance purposes; 
  • to protect the personal safety of our employees, our clients or third parties; and
  • to fulfill any other purpose permitted by the law that applies to BCAA.
  • An Example of BCAA's Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

    If you obtain travel:

  • BCAA and its providers need your personal information (including credit card information) to process and confirm your travel reservation;
  • your personal information has to be disclosed to hotel, airline, rental car and/or other travel suppliers whose products you have purchased;
  • BCAA will share the information with travel suppliers to confirm your reservation and travel preferences, similar to other travel agencies;
  • Travel suppliers may also contact you directly as necessary to obtain additional information about your confirmed reservation.
  • How and When is Consent Obtained to Collect, Use and Disclose Personal Information?

    Your knowledge and consent are required for the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information unless such consent is not required given the applicable law. 

    While you may provide express consent in some circumstances, you should also understand that use of the Site or providing BCAA with your personal information through any channel of communication constitutes your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. 

    Except as set out in this policy, or as required or permitted by applicable law, BCAA does not sell or disclose any of your personal information to any other organization. BCAA is allowed by law to disclose your personal information without consent in certain circumstances including:

    • where disclosure is in your interests but we cannot obtain your consent in a timely way;
    • where disclosure is necessary to collect a debt;
    • where the disclosure is to a public body or law enforcement agency in Canada concerning an offence or an investigation;
    • where the disclosure is required by law.

    You may withdraw your consent by:

    • contacting any BCAA office; or
    • contacting the Chief Privacy Officer in writing:

    BCAA

    4567 Canada Way

    Burnaby, BC V5G 4T1

    Attention: Chief Privacy Officer

    or fax us at 604.268.5585

    or email us at privacy@bcaa.com

    E. Storage of and Access to Personal Information

    Your personal information may be stored and accessed outside of Canada in which case it will be subject to the laws of that foreign jurisdiction. You may contact the BCAA Chief Privacy Officer for further information about how and where your personal information may be stored and accessed.

    F. Limiting Collection of Personal Information

    We only collect the information that we reasonably require to deliver products or services and information to you.

    G. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention of Personal Information

    We do not use or disclose your personal information for any purposes other than those for which it was collected or otherwise as set out in this Policy, except with your consent or as required or permitted by applicable law.

    Your personal information is retained for as long as it is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected (unless applicable law or a reasonable business purpose justifies a longer retention period).

    H. Accuracy

    Your personal information is kept as accurate, complete and up-to-date as is necessary and reasonably practical for the purposes for which it is to be used. If you have any concern with the accuracy of your personal information please contact BCAA.

    I. Safeguards

    We protect your personal information by using safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

    Each of our employees is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of all personal information to which they have access. We keep our employees informed about our policies and procedures for protecting personal information.

    BCAA maintains comprehensive security controls to protect against non-authorized access, use, alteration, duplication, destruction or disclosure. For example:

    • While we may collaborate with partners to provide products and services our partners only have access to the personal information required to provide their services to BCAA;
    • If we use a third party to deliver our products and services and that third party may receive personal information in the course of providing services to BCAA, contractual measures will be in place to protect the personal information;
    • BCAA maintains the appropriate level of security for personal information regardless of the format in which the information is maintained;
    • BCAA has strict procedures in place for the destruction, deletion and disposal of personal information when appropriate.

    J. Openness

    We will make our policies and practices relating to the management of your personal information readily available to you.

    K. Access to Your Personal Information

    Upon completion and submission of an Access to Personal Information request, you will be informed of the existence, use and disclosure of your personal information if permitted by law.

    You may access your personal information by contacting BCAA at the following address:

    BCAA

    4567 Canada Way

    Burnaby, BC V5G 4T1

    Attention: Chief Privacy Officer

    or fax us at 604.268.5585

    or email us at privacy@bcaa.com

    BCAA will respond to your request in the time required.

    You can ask to correct any of your personal information and such a request will be honoured if appropriate in the circumstances.  Contact BCAA using the contact information set out above if you believe your personal information is incorrect.

    L. Challenging Compliance

    If you disagree with how BCAA has responded to a request to access your personal information or to a request to correct your personal information you can challenge BCAA’s compliance with BCAA’s Chief Privacy Officer.

    BCAA has an internal complaint resolution procedure for privacy and information matters. Complaints are reviewed by the Chief Privacy Officer, who will consult with management personnel, regional officers or others as appropriate. A written response will be provided to the individual, usually within thirty (30) days.

    M. Site Specific Information

    This Privacy Policy applies to BCAA’s collection, use and disclosure of your personal information regardless of the way in which BCAA obtains that personal information. 

    However, there are specific issues that arise when you use the Site that you should be aware of.  Use of the Site constitutes your acceptance of this Privacy Policy and the explanation below about how your personal information may be used:

  • When you visit the Site your IP address will be tracked by BCAA;
  • Some of the resources on the Site require you to submit personal information through the Site including an on-line application for membership or purchase of insurance;
  • You can create an account using the Site which will require that you provide your personal information to BCAA and BCAA will use that personal information to administer your account;
  • BCAA uses “cookies” in order to track users of the Site (a cookie is a file sent by a website and stored on your computer);
  • BCAA also uses cookies to track hits on the Site to help BCAA provide you with information that may be useful to you to personalize future visits to the Site;
  • BCAA uses information about the use of its Site for statistical and survey purposes to improve our Site;
  • If you provide personal information through the Site it will be used and disclosed by BCAA as described in this Privacy Policy;
  • We use standard web server log files, to help us count visitors, improve our Site and evaluate our site's technical capacity.
  • The Site contains links to other, third party sites. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy and security policies of the new site. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of any site that you visit, particularly if you provide personal information through that other site. 

    N. California Residents

    If you are a California resident, do not enter your personal information through this site or other electronic means. You may inquire about our services through our call centre at 1.888.268.2222.

    BCAA does not sell or rent any personal information.