top of page

Privacy Policy 

Version 21.04.2022 / English Version 21.08.2023
 
 
1. Privacy Policy 

 

This privacy policy explains how we collect and otherwise process personal data. This privacy statement is not exhaustive; other privacy statements, general terms and conditions or conditions of participation, contracts and similar documents may cover specific issues. Personal data refers to all information that relates to an identified or identifiable person.  

   

If you provide us with personal data of other persons (e.g. family members or data of work colleagues), please make sure that these persons are aware of this privacy policy and only share their personal data with us if you are allowed to do so, the persons concerned agree, and if this personal data is correct. 

 

2. Person in Charge / Representative 

 

The company designated in the legal notice is responsible for the data processing that we describe here, unless otherwise specified in individual cases. If you have any data protection concerns, you can inform us of these at the contact address given in the legal notice. In the case of requests for information and deletion, please enclose a copy of your identification. You can also address your concerns to us via the contact data provided in the legal notice. 

 

3. Collection and Processing of Personal Data 

 

We primarily process personal data that we receive from our customers and other business partners in the course of our business relationship with them and other persons involved in it, or that we collect from their users in the operation of our websites, apps and other applications. 

 

To the extent permitted, we also take certain data from publicly accessible sources (e.g. debt collection registers, land registers, commercial registers, the press or the Internet) or receive such data from other partners, from authorities and other third parties (such as credit agencies or address dealers). In addition to the data about you that you give us directly, the categories of personal data that we receive about you from third parties include, in particular, information from public registers, information that we learn in connection with official and legal proceedings, information in connection with your professional functions and activities (e.g. so that we can conclude and process transactions with your employer with your help), information about you in correspondence and meetings with third parties, creditworthiness information (insofar as we process transactions with you personally), information about you that is given to us by people close to you (family, advisors, legal representatives, etc.) so that we can conclude or process contracts with you or involving you (e.g. references, your address for deliveries or powers of attorney), information on compliance with legal requirements such as anti-money laundering and export restrictions, information from banks, insurance companies, sales and other contractual partners of ours on the use or provision of services by you (e.g. payments made or purchases made), information from the media and the Internet about you (if this is relevant in the specific case, e.g. in the context of an application, press review, marketing/sales, etc.), your addresses and, if applicable, interests and other sociodemographic data (for marketing) or data in connection with the use of websites (e.g. IP address, MAC address of the smartphone or computer, information about your device and settings, cookies, date and time of visit, pages and content accessed, functions used, referring website or location information).           

 

4. Purposes of Data Processing and Legal Basis 

 

Primarily, we use the personal data we collect to close and process contracts with our customers and business partners, in particular concerning vehicle trading, repairs, financing and leasing of vehicles, the purchase of products and the provision of services by our suppliers and their subcontractors, as well as to comply with our legal obligations at home and abroad. If you work for such a customer or business partner, your personal data may also be affected in this capacity.

  

In addition, we also process personal data of you and other persons, as permitted and as we deem appropriate, for the following purposes, in which we (and sometimes third parties) have a legitimate interest corresponding to the purpose:

  

  • Our offers and further development of our offers, services and websites, apps and other platforms on which we are present; 

  • Communicating with third parties and processing their inquiries (e.g. applications or media inquiries);

  • Testing and optimizing procedures for needs analysis for the purpose of directly addressing customers as well as collecting personal data from publicly available sources for the purpose of customer acquisition;

  • Advertising and marketing (including the organization of events), insofar as you have not objected to the use of your data (if we send you advertising as an existing customer of ours, you can object to this at any time; we will then place you on a blocking list to prevent further advertising mailings);

  • Market and opinion research, media monitoring; 

  • Assertion of legal claims and defense in connection with legal disputes and official proceedings; 

  • Prevention and investigation of criminal offenses and other misconduct (e.g., conducting internal investigations or data analyses to combat fraud); 

  • Ensuring the running of our operations, in particular IT, our websites, apps and other platforms;

  • Video surveillance to maintain property rights and other measures for the security and protection of our IT, building and facility, of our employees and other persons and of assets belonging to or entrusted to us (such as access controls, visitor lists, network and mail scanners or telephone records);

  • Purchase and sale of business units, companies or parts of companies and other transactions under company law and the associated transfer of personal data, as well as measures for business management and compliance with legal and regulatory obligations and internal regulations. Insofar as you have given us consent to process your personal data for certain purposes (e.g. when you register to receive newsletters or carry out a background check), we process your personal data within the scope of and based on this consent, insofar as we have no other legal basis and/or require such a basis. Consent can be revoked at any time, but this has no effect on data processing that has already taken place.

 

5. Cookies / Tracking and other Technologies in Connection with the Use of Our Website

 

We typically use "cookies" and similar technologies on our websites and apps to identify your browser or device. A cookie is a small file that is sent to your computer or automatically stored on your computer or mobile device by the web browser you are using when you visit our website or install our app. When you revisit this website or use our app, it allows us to recognize you, even if we don't know who you are. In addition to cookies that are only used during a session and deleted after your website visit ("session cookies"), cookies can also be used to store user settings and other information for a certain period of time (up to two years maximum) ("permanent cookies"). However, you can set your browser to reject cookies, store them for one session only, or otherwise delete them pre-emptively. Most browsers are preset to accept cookies. We use permanent cookies so that you can save user settings (e.g. language or autologin), so that we can better understand how you use our offers and content, and so that we can show you offers and advertising tailored to you. Corresponding functions can also be used by our contractual partners, who in this context learn, for example, which users from our website also visit their website. However, under no circumstances will they learn from us who they are insofar as we ourselves should know this at all.

Some cookies are set by us, others by contractual partners with whom we cooperate. If you block cookies, certain functionalities (such as language selection, shopping cart or ordering processes) may no longer work.

  

In some instances and as far as permitted we may include visible and invisible image elements in our newsletters and other marketing emails by retrieving them from our servers in order to determine if and when you have opened the email so that we can measure and better understand how you use our offers in order to tailor them to you. You can block this in your email program (most email programs are already preset this way).

  

By using our websites, apps and consenting to receive newsletters and other marketing emails, you agree to the use of these techniques. If you do not want this, then you must set your browser or email program accordingly, uninstall the app (if this cannot be adjusted via the settings) or unsubscribe from the newsletter. 

 

We sometimes use Google Analytics or comparable services on our websites. These are services provided by third parties, which may be located abroad (in the case of Google Analytics, it is Google LLC in the USA, [www.google.com](http://www.google.com)). With the services of these third parties, we can measure and evaluate the use of the website (non-personal)[; this information, which is also non-personal, can also be used by certain contractual partners of ours (e.g. Volkswagen)]. Permanent cookies set by these service providers are also used for this purpose. These service providers do not receive any personal data from us (and do not retain any IP addresses), but they may track your use of the website and combine this information with data from other websites that you have visited and that are also tracked by these service providers, and use these findings for their own purposes (e.g., controlling advertising). To the extent that you have registered with these service providers yourself, these service providers also know you. The processing of your personal data by these service providers then takes place under the responsibility of the service providers in accordance with their data protection provisions. The service providers only tell us how our respective website is used, and no information about you personally is provided.  

 

We also use so-called plug-ins from social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest or Instagram on our websites. This is apparent to you in each case (typically via corresponding icons). We have configured these elements so that they are disabled by default. If you activate them (by clicking on them), the operators of the respective social networks can register that you are on our website (in particular also where within our websites) and can use this information for their purposes. The processing of your personal data is then the responsibility of these operators in accordance with their data protection provisions. We do not receive any information about you from them.

 

6. Data Transfer and Data Transmission at Home and/or Abroad

 

In order to provide our services, we rely on the transfer of personal data within and outside the company. We therefore also disclose personal data to third parties in the course of our business activities, insofar as this is permitted by the purpose in accordance with Section 4 and appears appropriate to us, whether because they process the data for us or because they wish to use the data for their own purposes. This applies in particular to the following parties: 

  

  • Service providers of us such as banks or insurance companies, including order processors (such as IT providers); 

  • dealers, service partners, suppliers, subcontractors and other business partners; 

  • customers; 

  • domestic and foreign authorities, official agencies or courts; 

  • media; 

  • the public, including visitors to websites and social media; 

  • competitors, industry organizations, associations, organizations and other bodies; 

  • acquirers of or parties interested in acquiring businesses, companies or other parts; 

  • other parties to any potential or actual legal proceedings; 

  • all joint recipients.  

 

To the extent necessary for the provision of our services and taking into account the intended purpose, personal data will be transferred to the entities designated above, both within and outside Switzerland and the EU. In particular, you must expect the transfer of your data to all countries in which we are represented by group companies, branches or other offices (this is Switzerland and Liechtenstein) as well as to other countries in Europe and the USA where our service providers are located (such as Microsoft, SAP, Amazon or Salesforce). When we transfer data to a country without adequate legal data protection, we ensure as required by law by using appropriate contracts and/or measures [here](http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:039:0005:0018:DE:PDF), [hier](http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:385:0074:0084:DE:PDF) und [hier](http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32001D0497:DE:HTML) or so-called Binding Corporate Rules for an adequate level of protection, or rely on the legal exceptions of consent, the execution of contracts, the establishment, exercise or enforcement of legal claims, prevailing public interests, the publication of personal data or because it is necessary to protect the integrity of the data subjects. However, we reserve the right to black out copies for reasons of data protection or confidentiality or to release only excerpts.

 

7. Duration of Storage of Personal Data 

 

We process and store your personal data as long as it is necessary for the fulfillment of our contractual and legal obligations or otherwise for the purposes pursued with the processing, i.e. e.g. for the duration of the entire business relationship (from the initiation, processing to the termination of a contract and the warranty period as well as a subsequent support phase) as well as beyond that in accordance with the statutory retention and documentation obligations. In this context, it is possible that personal data will be retained for the time during which claims can be asserted against us and insofar as we are otherwise legally obligated to do so or legitimate business interests require this (e.g. for evidence and documentation purposes). As soon as your personal data is no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, it will be deleted or anonymized as a matter of principle and to the extent possible. For operational data (e.g. system logs or logs), shorter retention periods apply in some cases.

 

8. Data Security 

 

We take appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data from unauthorized access and misuse, such as issuing instructions and conducting training, IT and network security solutions, access controls and restrictions, pseudonymization and controls.

 

9. Obligation to Provide Personal Data 

 

In the context of our business relationship, you must provide those personal data that are necessary for the establishment and implementation of a business relationship and the fulfillment of the associated contractual obligations (you usually do not have a legal obligation to provide us with data). Without this data, we will generally not be able to enter into or complete a contract with you (or the entity or person you represent). Also, our websites can only be used if certain traffic-securing information (such as IP address) is disclosed.

 

10. Profiling und Automated Decision-Making 

 

We process your personal data partly automatically with the aim of evaluating certain personal aspects (profiling). We use profiling in particular to be able to inform and advise you about products in a targeted manner. In doing so, we use evaluation tools that enable us to provide needs-based communication and advertising, including market and opinion research. 

  

For the establishment and implementation of the business relationship and also otherwise, we generally do not use automatic decision-making (as regulated, for example, in Art. 22 of the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (DSGVO)). Should we use such procedures in individual cases, we will inform you separately about this, insofar as this is required by law, and inform you about the associated rights.

 

11. Rights of Persons Concerned 

 

You have the right to information, correction, deletion, the right to restriction of data processing, the right to object to our data processing and the right to the release of certain personal data for the purpose of transfer to another entity (so-called data portability) within the scope of the data protection law applicable to you and to the extent provided for therein (such as in the case of the GDPR). Please note, however, that we reserve the right to enforce the restrictions provided for by law, for example if we are obliged to retain or process certain data, if we have an overriding interest in doing so (insofar as we are entitled to rely on this) or if we require the data in order to assert claims. In principle, a request for information is free of charge. A fee may be charged in the case of a particularly large amount of work, excessive or notorious requests for information, provided there is no interest worthy of protection. If you incur costs, we will inform you in advance. For the possibility of revoking your consent, please refer to section 4. Please note that the exercise of these rights may conflict with contractual agreements and may have consequences such as the premature termination of the contract or cost consequences. We will inform you in advance if this is not already contractually regulated. 

  

The exercise of these rights requires that you clearly prove your identity (e.g. by a copy of your identity card, where your identity is otherwise not clear or cannot be verified). To exercise your rights, you may contact us at the address indicated in Section 2.

  

Every concerned person also has the right to enforce his or her claims in court or to file a complaint with the competent data protection authority. The competent data protection authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (https://www.edoeb.admin.ch). In Liechtenstein, the competent authority is the Liechtenstein Data Protection Commission ([www.datenschutzkommission.li](http://www.datenschutzkommission.li)).

 

12. Changes to this Privacy Policy  

 

We may amend this privacy policy at any time without prior notice. The latest version published on our website applies. Insofar as the data protection declaration is part of an agreement with you, we will inform you of changes in the event of an update if this is possible without disproportionate effort. 

bottom of page