Legal & Privacy Statement

Privacy Statement last updated – May 18, 2018
Legal Agreement last updated – May 18, 2018

In this Privacy Statement and Legal Agreement (the “Statement and Agreement”), we use “we,” “us” or “our” to refer to Auto Care Association and its committees, organizations and segments and “User,” “you” or “your” refer to you, the user or visitor to any of our web sites (the “Sites”).  Our Sites are offered to you based upon the condition that you accept and agree to, without modification, the terms, conditions, and notices contained in the “Legal Agreement” below.  This Statement and Agreement has been separated into two basic sections.  The first section (the “Privacy Statement”) addresses important issues concerning our use of information about you collected when you visit the Sites or which you otherwise provide to us either when visiting the Sites or when using any of the Services.  The second section contains legal terms and conditions generally applicable to your use of the Sites to which you agree by use of the Sites (the “Legal Agreement”)

Access to and use of the information, products and services available through the Sites (collectively, the "Services") are subject to the following terms and conditions. Please direct any questions to:

Auto Care Association 
7101 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 1300
Bethesda, MD 20814-3415

Unless expressly provided herein, the Services are licensed to you, the User, for your online viewing only. No further reproduction or distribution of the Services is permitted.

Section One – Privacy Statement

Our commitment to your privacy, is based on the following principles which we apply to our use of both your personally identifiable data (“Personal Data”) and to certain anonymous information we collect when you visit our Sites (“Technical Information”, and together with Personal Data, “Your Data”):

• We will describe Your Data we will collect;
• We will inform you clearly about our collection and use of Your Data;
• We will either seek your express informed consent or rely on other lawful bases for the use of Your Data – either way, we will inform you of the basis for our use of Your Data;
• We will give you control over the privacy preferences that apply to Your Data, including the rights to (a) change your mind about our use, (b) have access to change or correct inaccurate aspects of Your Data, and (c) require that we delete all or parts of Your Data;
• We will not sell or rent Your Personal Data to others;
• We endeavor to maximize the protection of Your Data, and provide you with prompt notice in the unlikely event that a data loss incident or breach occurs; and
• We will endeavor to be completely transparent and open about our data privacy policies and practices.

How do We Collect Your Data?

We collect Your Data in the following basic ways:

• You give it to us when you register on or one of our Sites or for one of the Services, including one of our events, a webinar, signing up for a newsletter or making a comment on a blog or social media;
• You give it to us in email inquiries or in your public comments;
• We automatically collect Technical Information when you visit our Sites; and
• We obtain legally available information from outside sources, including commercially available geographic and demographic information along with other publicly available information, such as public posts to social networking sites.

What Information Do We collect? 

• On the Sites, we may request certain Personal Data, for purposes such as registering for an event, participating in discussion groups, submitting inquiries and comments, or registering for a webinar or our conferences or events. This may include name, title, company/organization name, postal address, email address, work, home and mobile phone numbers.
• We or our authorized vendors may collect Technical Information that is not associated with any individual User. This information includes - 
  • how many visits we have to the Sites,
  • when those Sites are visited,
  • browser types used for Site visits,
  • name of the Internet service providers,
  • the Internet Protocol (IP) address through which you access the Internet;
  • pages that you access while at one of the Sites, and
  • the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly one of the Sites.

How Do We Use Your Data Collected at Our Sites?

• We do not sell or rent any Personal Data supplied by you. We occasionally work with other companies, consultants, and contractors to provide limited services on our behalf, such as website hosting, public relations, mailing, answering customer questions about products and services, and sending information including but not limited to our research, white papers, policy positions and events. We will only provide those companies the Personal Data they need to perform the service for which they are retained and they agree to treat information confidentially and to only use it for the purposes of providing services under our agreement with them.
• We may use Your Data to provide you with more effective customer service and to improve the Sites and any related products or services we may provide or make available. 
• We may use your Personal Data to provide you with important information about your membership or other aspects of your use of the Services.
• We may use Technical Information to periodically analyze Site logs to assess aggregate usage trends in order to better serve the needs of Users and maximize the User viewing experience. Under some circumstances this information may be used for purposes of systems administration, fraud prevention or server troubleshooting and security. This information may also be used to help improve the Sites, analyze trends, and administer the Sites.
• We may disclose Your Data if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on us or the Sites; (b) protect and defend our rights or property, (c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of our employees and staff, agents, users of our products or services, or members of the public, or (d) effect any merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, in which case you will be provided notice of the following via email and/or a prominent notice on the relevant Site, (i) the change in ownership, (ii) the uses of Your Data in the transaction, and (iii) choices you may have regarding Your Data. To the extent we are legally permitted to do so, we will take reasonable steps to notify you in the event that we are required to provide your personal information to third parties as part of legal process.

In addition, we will use Your Data to:

• Provide information or a service requested by or consented to by you.
• Assist in the performance of our activities and public interest functions.
• Comply with relevant contractual obligations with you and other third parties.
• Improve Site performance and content, including troubleshooting and diagnostics.
• Improve your engagement and interaction with other Members of our community.
• Improve our engagement and interaction with you.
• Facilitate your attendance at and participation in our events, communities or blogs.
• Confirm your identity.
• Process a request or payment / donation submitted to us.
• Comply with legal requests.

 Legal Bases for Using Your Data

We will only use Your Data in reliance on a valid legal basis for such use.  Our goal and commitment is to inform you when we would like to use Your Data, the purposes for which we will use it and the legal basis for our use.  We may ask for your express consent to the use of Your Data.  There may be a contractual relationship between you and the Auto Care Association (the contract does not have to be in writing) where we need to use Your Data to provide you with the services you are entitled to under the agreement.  We will tell you when we are relying on our obligation to comply with our contractual obligations to you for the use of Your Data.  Under limited circumstances, we may rely on a “legitimate interests assessment” where we take into account your expectations about our use of Your Data and the limited way we will use Your Data, always seeking to maximize your privacy. 

Data Security

While no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100 percent secure, we take reasonable and appropriate measures designed to protect the security of data transmitted to us upon receipt. We are a strong advocate of privacy enhancing technologies including encryption. By default, the Sites encrypt connections between client devices and our servers to minimize the ability of any third party to “eavesdrop” on Your Data. In addition, where feasible, data is stored encrypted. If your browser does not support HTTPS encryption, you are encouraged to contact us by email at info@autocare.org or in writing to the address set forth above.  Our databases and system administration logs, are restricted to access by authorized and authenticated users. We use reasonable industry security standard safeguards (which may include physical, procedural and technical measures) to protect against the unauthorized disclosure of Personal Data. We take reasonable steps to ensure that Your Data is complete and relevant to its intended use. We will take reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction of Your Data.

Cross Border Transfers

If you visit our Sites from a country other than the United States, your communications will likely result in the transfer of Your Data across national borders. Our servers or offices may be located in countries other than the country from which you access our Sites, also resulting in the transfer of Your Data across international borders. If you provide Your Data when visiting one of our Sites from outside of the United States, you acknowledge and agree that this data may be transferred from your then current location to our offices and servers and to those of our affiliates, agents, and service providers located in the United States and in other countries. The United States and such other countries may not have the same level of data protection as those that apply in the jurisdiction where you live.

For Site visitors who reside in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the United Kingdom, we will only transfer Your Data  (a) to jurisdictions with “adequate protection” as used in the General Data Protection Regulation governing transfer of personal data outside of the European Union (the “GDPR”), or (b) to recipients with appropriate safeguards in place, including where contractual arrangements exist which include Standard Contractual Clauses (as defined in the GDPR) without any additions, modifications, or omissions

Data Retention

We will only retain Your Data stored on our servers in accordance with the legitimate needs of our business and as required or permitted by applicable law.  We will not retain any unused Personal Data on our systems longer than necessary for legitimate business purposes or we no longer have a valid legal basis for retaining the information.

Use of Cookies; Technical Information Collection

Our Sites use third parties for web analytics services, including Google Analytics, to collect Technical Information.  Along with these third parties we do or may use “cookies” or similar technologies, which are text files placed on your computer, to help analyze how you use a Site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of a Site (including your IP address) will be stored in the United States. This information will be used to evaluate your use of our Sites, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and Internet usage. This information may be transferred to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on our behalf. You may refuse and block the use of all of our (and third party) cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of our Sites and it might impact your overall experience.

The three types of cookies we use are strictly necessary, analytics and performance, and advertising. Below are details about the cookies we’re using.

Strictly Necessary Cookies:

ASP.NET_SessionId: Used to maintain an anonymised user session by the server that tracks an active session. The cookie is deleted at the end of the session.

.ASPXAUTH: Indicates whether you have logged in.

PersonifyShoppingCartGUID: Stores your shopping cart content as anonymous user. Items can be transferred once user logs in.

EktGUID: A unique identifier for the current user is generated and assigned at the time they first arrive on the site.

Analytics and Performance Cookie (Google Analytics tracking includes, but is not limited to):

EkAnalytics: This cookie is associated with Ektron (Auto Care Association content management system), and is used to collect visitor information to enable performance measurement and improvement.

_ga: Google Analytics cookie is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier.

_utma: Google Analytics cookie used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.

_utmz: Google Analytics cookie stores the traffic source or campaign that explains you reached our site. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.

feathr_session_id: This cookie allows to monitor how users move from one page within a website to another.

Advertising Cookies (specific advertising cookies include, but is not limited to):

_dc_gtm: This cookie is used to help identify visitors using Google Tag Manager.

How to control cookies on your browser:

You can delete cookies on your computer at any time by checking the delete cookies option in your browser of choice. Please note that after you delete your cookies, you may be asked to login again on many websites where you may have stored a login cookie.

Please follow the links below to helpful information for the most popular browsers:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies
• Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
• Mozilla Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences
• Apple Safari: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21411?locale=en_US

Compliance

Our collection and use of any of Your Data is subject to the laws and regulations of the countries and political subdivisions in which our you reside or of which you are a citizen.  We are and remain committed to complying with all such legal obligations and use these legal requirements as the minimum beginning point for our use and collection of Your Data. Included in these laws and regulations are (a) the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which governs among other things, consents, uses and cross-border transfers of personal data concerning European Union residents and citizens, and (b) the California Online Privacy Protection Act, governing such matters with respect to California residents. If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Statement or you feel that the Sites are not following these legal requirements or our stated information policy, please contact us by email at info@autocare.org or at the address set forth above. You may also contact us at that address if you have any concerns about the accuracy of, or wish to correct, your Personal Data we have collected from you.

“Do Not Track” Notice

We respect enhanced user privacy control and support the development and implementation of a standard “Do Not Track” (DNT) browser feature, designed to provide users universal and persistent control over the collection, sharing and use of information by third parties regarding their web-browsing activities. Once the specification is finalized we intend to honor user’s requests with respect to browser tracking.

Children/Minors

The Sites are not targeted at, directed to or intended for the use of children under the age of thirteen.  No person under the age of thirteen should use any Site or under any circumstances provide any Personal Data or other information at a Site.  If you become aware that any individual under the age of thirteen has used any Site, please contact us immediately at  info@autocare.org.  By use of any Site you represent and warrant that you are over the age of thirteen.

Your California Privacy Rights

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 entitles California residents to request information concerning whether a business has disclosed Personal Data to any third parties for their direct marketing purposes. As stated in this Privacy Statement, we will not sell your Personal Data to other companies and we will not share it with other companies for them to use for their own marketing purposes without your consent.  For further information concerning your California Privacy Rights including “Do Not Track,” visit  https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/cybersecurity/making_your_privacy_practices_public.pdf

California Web Site Data Collection

We do not knowingly allow other parties to collect personally identifiable information about your online activities over time and across third-party web sites when you use the Sites. We provide information about the opt-out or opt-in choices available to users.

Contact Us

Any user, including California residents, who wish to request further information about our compliance with these requirements, or have questions or concerns about our privacy practices and policies, may contact us at privacy at info@autocare.org or by mail at the address set forth above.

Changes to this Privacy Statement

We routinely update this Privacy Statement to provide additional explanation and clarification of our practices and to reflect new or different privacy practices, such as when we add new services, functionality or features to our Sites. You can determine when this Privacy Statement was last revised by referring to the Effective Date above on this page. We will also provide an archive of our past privacy policies with the ability to plainly see the changes from one to another. Any changes to this Privacy Statement will also be announced on our home page.

Section Two – Legal Agreement

Disclaimer, Representations and Limitations:

Materials contained on the Sites are intended to be used for informational purposes only. Statements of fact and opinions expressed throughout the Sites are those of the authors, and the Auto Care Association assumes no responsibility for them. Such statements of fact or opinions expressed are not intended, nor should they be construed as a solicitation of or suggestions by the Auto Care Association for any agreed-upon course of conduct or concerted action of any kind. The information and services published on the Sites may include inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information on the Sites. The Auto Care Association reserves the right to make improvements and/or changes to the content of the Sites at any time, with or without notice. The Auto Care Association makes no representations about the suitability of the information and services contained on the Sites for any purpose. The Auto Care Association makes no, and expressly disclaims, any representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the Sites, including, without limitation, the accuracy, completeness or reliability of text, graphics or links. All information and services contained in the Sites are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, and no advice or information published by the Auto Care Association, its agents or representatives shall create any warranty.

The Auto Care Association cannot control and cannot edit content provided by a third party prior to transmission on the Sites, nor can the Auto Care Association ensure prompt removal of inappropriate or unlawful content after transmission. Third party postings are not reviewed for truth or accuracy and do not represent the opinions, beliefs, or statements of the Auto Care Association.

In no event shall the Auto Care Association, its agents or representatives be held liable for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special or consequential damages, including attorney's fees, lost profits, or lost revenues, arising from or in any way connected with the use of the Sites or with the delay or inability to use the Sites, or otherwise arising out of the use of the Sites, whether based on contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, even if the Auto Care Association and/or its agents or representatives have been advised of the possibility of damages. Portions of the above limitation may not be applicable to Users residing in states or jurisdictions which do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages.

Use of Electronic Communications:

You agree that any electronic communications sent by you to a Site shall be on an unrestricted and non-confidential basis. The Auto Care Association shall have the right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use such communications for any purpose, without restriction, including the developing and/or marketing of services.

Special Disclaimer Relating to the Auto Care Association Message Board, Job Fair/Classifieds and Chat Rooms

We have created the Auto Care Association Message Boards, Job Fair/Classifieds, and Chat Rooms as services to our Users. These services contain information provided by, and links to third parties who are independent from the Auto Care Association. The Auto Care Association cannot control and cannot edit information provided by these third parties prior to transmission on the Auto Care Association Message Boards, Job Fair/ Classifieds, and Chat Rooms, nor can the Auto Care Association ensure prompt removal of inappropriate or unlawful content after transmission. The information contained on the Auto Care Association Connect Boards, and Chat Rooms are not reviewed for truth or accuracy and do not represent the opinions, beliefs, or statements of the Auto Care Association. Therefore, as a condition of using the Auto Care Association Connect Boards, and Chat Rooms, in addition to all other disclaimers, representations, limitations, and indemnifications contained throughout this website, the User expressly represents that User understands and agrees to the following:

The Auto Care Association makes no representations about the suitability of the information contained on the Auto Care Association Connect Boards for any purpose. The Auto Care Association makes no, and expressly disclaims, any representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the Auto Care the Auto Care Association Connect Boards and Chat Rooms, including, without limitation, the accuracy, completeness or reliability of text, graphics or links. All information and services contained on the Auto Care Association Connect Boards and Chat Rooms are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, and no advice or information published by the Auto Care Association, its agents or representatives shall create any warranty.

In no event shall the Auto Care Association, its agents or representatives be held liable for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special or consequential damages, including attorney's fees, lost profits, or lost revenues, arising from or in any way connected with the use of the Auto Care Association Connect Boards, and Chat Rooms, or with the delay or inability to use the Auto Care Association Connect Boards, and Chat Rooms, whether based on contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, even if the Auto Care Association and/or its agents or representatives have been advised of the possibility of damages. Portions of the above limitation may not be applicable to Users residing in states or jurisdictions which do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages.

Links to Internet Web Sites Maintained and Operated by Third Parties:

The Sites contain links to Internet web sites maintained and operated by third parties. Neither the Auto Care Association, nor its agents, nor its representatives operate or control in any way any information, products, or services contained on such third party web sites. Links to Internet web sites maintained and operated by third parties are included solely for the benefit of Users, and do not constitute any endorsement by the Auto Care Association, its agents or representatives. Users expressly assume any and all responsibility related to their use of links to Internet web sites maintained and operated by third parties.

Indemnification of the Auto Care Association by User:

As a condition of using the Sites, User agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Auto Care Association, its officers, directors, employees and agents, and their respective successors and assigns, from and against any cause of action, loss, liability, damage, cost or expense of any nature whatsoever, whether accrued, absolute, contingent or otherwise, including, without limitation, attorney's fees and costs (whether or not suit is brought), arising out of claims resulting from User's use of the Sites, including, without limitation any claims alleging facts that if true would constitute a breach by User of the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

Copyright, Trademark and Service-mark Notices:

All contents of the Sites are: Copyright 2018, Auto Care Association, 7101 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD. All rights reserved.

The Sites are for the User's personal use only. User may not modify, copy, distribute, display, reproduce, publish, transmit, license, create derivative works from, transfer or sell any information or services obtained from the Sites. However, Users may download copyrighted material for their individual and noncommercial use only.

The Auto Care Association, its segments and services are trademarks and/or service marks owned by the Auto Care Association and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Auto Care Association. Other service or product names referred to throughout this web site may be the trademarks, or service marks of their respective owners.

Modification of Terms and Conditions of This Legal Agreement:

The Auto Care Association reserves the right to modify this Legal Agreement at any time by revising the terms and conditions herein. It is the sole responsibility of Users to regularly review such terms and conditions. Continued use of the Sites following any such changes shall constitute User's acceptance of such changes.  The date of the last modification to this Agreement is included above. 

Governing Law

Unless expressly stated to the contrary elsewhere within this Agreement, all legal issues arising from or related to the use of the Services shall be construed in accordance with, and all questions with respect thereto shall be determined by, the laws of the state of Maryland applicable to contracts entered into and wholly to be performed within said state.