1. Introduction
This Privacy Policy sets out how Škoda collects, stores, uses and discloses personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles ("APPs") contained in the Privacy Act 1988. The APPs govern the use of "personal information", which is information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable. At Škoda, we take care to respect your right to privacy and to comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
2. Who are we
In this Privacy Policy, 'Škoda', ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’ refers to Volkswagen Group Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 14 093 117 876). Škoda distributes and sells a range of vehicles, parts and accessories in Australia through its appointed dealer network.
3. What information do we collect and hold
Škoda may hold and collect the following personal information about you:
• contact information and identification such as your name, date of birth, telephone number(s), email address(es), residential and/or business address(es), ABN, demographic information (such as postcode, age, gender) and driver’s licence details;
• payment details (such as account or credit card details) and payment-related information in connection with your purchase of our products and/or services;
• vehicle warranty and servicing details provided by our dealer network, affiliates or third parties including vehicle registration, vehicle purchase details, name of your selling or servicing Škoda dealer, service appointment bookings, vehicle service and repair history (including in relation to warranty, repairs and recalls, if applicable), geo-location data and data collected as a result of on-board vehicle telematics;
• your preferences for receiving marketing communications and market research surveys;
• information collected from marketing campaigns, product research, customer surveys, your interactions with Škoda including via social media, or publicly available information that you post or publish; and
• any other relevant information.
If you apply for a job with Škoda or are an employee, contractor or consultant we may collect, for example, your full name, contact details (including address, phone number and email address), job title, passport details, employment history and education details, names and contact details of referees, next of kin details (in the event of an emergency) and superannuation fund and Tax File Number details.
If you choose not to provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with the products or services you require, or the level of service on which we pride ourselves.
Sensitive information:
We will only collect sensitive information about you with your consent (unless we are otherwise allowed or required by law to collect that information). Sensitive information includes information about, for example, your health, race, ethnic origin and religious beliefs.
Providing someone else’s personal information:
If you provide us with personal information about another person (such as a joint vehicle owner or authorised driver or contact person), please tell them about this Privacy Policy so they are aware that you have provided their information to us and that they can read this Privacy Policy to understand how their information will be handled.
Information we collect automatically:
Whenever you visit or interact with Škoda’s website or other online platforms (“Platforms”), we, as well as third-party service providers and/or advertisers, may use a variety of technologies that automatically or passively record information about how the Platform is accessed and used (“Usage Information”).
Usage Information may include your IP address or other unique identifier for the device used to access a Platform ("Device Identifier"), browser type, device type (computer, mobile phone, tablet or other device), operation system, application version, date and time of visit, pages viewed, preceding page views and your use of features or applications on the Platform such as interactions with connections or groups.
Usage Information helps us keep our Platforms relevant to users and allows us to tailor content to a user’s interests. Usage Information is generally non-identifying, but if we associate it with you as a specific and identifiable person, we will treat it as personal information.
We may use Device Identifiers to help us administer Platforms, diagnose problems with our servers, analyse trends, observe Platform usage and activity over time, help identify you and your shopping cart, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.
Cookies:
We or our external service providers may collect cookies from you (data files placed on a Device when it is used to visit a Platform) for security purposes, to facilitate site navigation and personalise your experience while visiting our Platforms (such as allowing us to select which ads or offers are most likely to appeal to you, based on your interests, preferences, location or demographic information).
To learn how you may manage cookies, or delete cookies that have already been installed, please refer to your browser’s help menu or instructions. If you disable or opt out of receiving cookies, some features and functions on our Platforms may not work properly. In addition, the offers we provide may not be as relevant to you or tailored to your interests.
Remarketing:
We use search engines and social media to advertise our products and services online. Third party vendors, including Google, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram use cookies to display relevant ads based on your past visits to our Platforms. Remarketing allows us to tailor our marketing to better suit your needs and display ads that are relevant to you. Any data collected will be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy, or the privacy policy of other remarketing services that we may use.
You can control your ad privacy settings by visiting https://myaccount.google.com/u/0/privacy?pli=1#ads.
4. Links to other websites
The Škoda website (and other materials we provide to you) may contain links to third party websites. The operators of those websites may have privacy policies and practices which differ from our own. We not responsible for the content of any third party website or the privacy practices of any third party
5. How we collect personal information
Škoda collects personal information in a variety of ways, including:
• when you interact with us in person or by telephone, by electronic messages (including email and SMS) or other forms of communication;
• via our website (for example, when you request information);
• when you use data-collecting devices, products or systems;
• from our dealer and repairer network when you purchase a vehicle or have your vehicle repaired;
• from our dealer and repairer network when you otherwise make enquiries with our dealer or repairer network;
• from our related body corporates and group companies (see Section 9 below);
• from your agents or representatives who act on your behalf;
• from competition entry forms, surveys or at our promotional activities or sponsored events;
• from third parties we contract to collect and/or manage data on our behalf;
• from third parties who you have asked or permitted to provide your personal information (including those parties from whom you purchase goods and services and from recruiters and your referees);
• from marketing organisations;
• from law enforcement, dispute resolution, statutory and regulatory bodies.
Please note that calls to our customer service team will be recorded for training and quality assurance purposes
6. How we use your personal information
Your personal information may be used in order to:
• provide our products and services and those of our related companies and dealerships (whether directly or through our related companies and dealerships);
• market our products and services and those of our related companies and dealerships (whether directly or through our related companies and dealerships or third parties, such as search engines or social media);
• communicate to you in relation to our products, services and our promotional activities (directly or through third parties such as search engines or social media);
• provide customer assistance and support such as vehicle service reminders, service campaigns, roadside assistance and assisting with warranty claims (whether directly or through our dealerships);
• conduct events and administer competitions;
• improve your customer experience and our marketing, including through data analytics, product planning, product development and research;
• comply with our legal obligations (i.e. in the event of a Vehicle Safety Recall), assisting government and enforcement bodies or regulators, or where otherwise required or authorised by or under law, or an order of a court or tribunal;
• monitor our performance and to help us manage our services;
• identify and contact individuals who do business with us;
• train our employees, agents, dealers and representatives;
• conduct customer and market research and analytics to improve the quality of our products and services;
• assess and process employment applications and manage employment issues; and
• handle complaints and disputes; and
• detect, investigating and preventing fraud.
We may contact and communicate with you either via telephone, post, facsimile, email or SMS.
We may publish (including by posting on social media) customer testimonials/images/videos which may contain personal information. In each case, we will obtain the customer’s consent prior to publishing any content.
If you are a job applicant, employee or contractor with Škoda, we will use your personal information for purposes relating to your engagement, training, performance management, payroll, superannuation, health and safety, for administration and staff management purposes. Where we consider it appropriate, we may also conduct reference checks (or engage a third party to do so on our behalf).
7. Direct marketing
Škoda (including our agents and contractors if any are acting on our behalf) and our dealers may send you direct marketing to inform you about products or services, special offers, promotions and events that may be of interest to you. These marketing communications may include joint promotions with Škoda dealers or other promotion partners, and may be sent to you using any contact details provided by you, such as post, phone, email or SMS.
Your consent to receive direct marketing communications from Škoda in the above ways will be collected explicitly, or otherwise inferred if you do not opt out when you are offered the opportunity to do so, and will remain current on an ongoing basis unless and until you advise otherwise. If you do not want to receive such offers from us or do not want us to disclose your personal information to our related entities or dealerships for marketing purposes, you can opt out at any time by contacting us using our contact details provided below or by utilising the “unsubscribe” function in the electronic communications. In some circumstances we may need to contact you to obtain additional information, verify your identity or to clarify your request, in order to action it.
If the law requires us to provide you with information about our products or services (for example, product recalls), we will provide that information even if you have elected not to receive information about our products and services generally.
8. When we disclose your personal information
We may disclose your personal information to organisations outside of Škoda.
These organisations may include:
• our appointed dealers and repairers;
• outsourced service providers who manage services we provide to you including:
• government, regulatory and law enforcement authorities and organisations, as required or authorised by law;
• our related body corporates (see Section 9 below);
• the agent(s) of any of those entities referred to above;
• your employer (where applicable); and
• our advisors (including legal and accounting advisors).
Those entities are not authorised by us to use personal information for anything other than the purpose for which we supplied that information to them. We may also disclose personal information where you consent to us doing so. That consent may be written, verbal or implied from your conduct.
Where you have applied for finance with Volkswagen Financial Services Australia Pty Ltd (VWFS) or if you have otherwise provided consent, your personal information will be shared with VWFS so that VWFS can contact you and manage its relationship with you, including to prepare your finance contract, download invoices that VWFS will pay on your behalf and for associated administrative purposes. VWFS and Škoda are related entities. VWFS will handle your personal information in accordance with the VWFS Privacy Policy, which is available at www.vwfs.com.au/privacy-policy.html
Details of outstanding service campaigns and recalls may be made available to subsequent owners (if any) and/or prospects. We do not disclose your personal information to subsequent owners of your vehicle.
9. Related entities
We may collect and disclose your information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy to our related bodies corporate including Škoda Auto a.s. (‘Škoda AS’) and VFS. We may use, analyse, combine and evaluate this information so that we can deliver the most appropriate customer experience to you by tailoring and making relevant our services and communications, including by making predictions about your current or future needs or interests (for example, when you might be ready to change your vehicle and the models you may be interested in).
10. Disclosure to overseas recipients
Our related entities and some of our service providers (including information technology service providers) may be located overseas and, as a result, personal information collected and held by Škoda may be transferred overseas. The countries in which these recipients may be located will vary from time to time, but may include Germany, Luxembourg, India, Singapore, New Zealand, Spain, Czech Republic, the Philippines. United Kingdom and the United States of America.
11. How we hold and store your personal information
Škoda may hold your personal information in a number of ways, including:
• in our computer systems or databases, which may involve storing data on storage or computer systems provided by third party suppliers;
• in paper records; and/or
• in telephone recordings.
Where the information has been collected from our or your agent, or our service providers or dealerships, they may also hold copies of your personal information.
We may combine personal information we receive about you with other information we hold about you.
Škoda will store your personal information in a secure environment. It is protected by a combination of physical and technological measures. We take all reasonable steps to carefully protect your data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure, alteration or destruction. If you want more information about the way we manage the information we hold, please contact us as we would be happy to provide you with further information on our processes. Our contact details can be found at the end of this document.
12. Help us to ensure we hold accurate information
Škoda takes reasonable precautions to ensure that the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, the accuracy of that information depends to a large extent on the information you provide. We recommend that you:
• let us know if there are any errors in your personal information; and
• keep us up to date with changes to your personal information such as your name and address.
From time to time, we may ask you if your information is still accurate and up to date. If you find that any information that we hold about you is incorrect, you should contact us immediately and we will take reasonable steps to correct it.
13. You can access and correct your personal information
You have a right to access and correct your personal information, subject to some exceptions allowed by law. If you would like to access and request the correction of information we hold about you, you can do so by contacting us in any of the ways set out at the bottom of this Privacy Policy. You may be required to put your request in writing for security reasons and, in some circumstances, we may need to charge a fee to recover the reasonable costs incurred in responding to your access request. This charge is only designed to help us reasonably recover the costs associated with providing you with access and does not apply to the making of the request. Before we act on a request, we will provide an estimate of the access fee and ask you to agree to it.
Your access or correction request may be refused in a number of circumstances, such as where the information relates to anticipated legal proceedings or if the request for access is frivolous or vexatious. If we deny or restrict your access or correction request, we will write to you to let you know why, unless, having regard to the grounds for the refusal, it would be unreasonable for us to do so. If we refuse your correction request, we will include a statement with your personal information about the requested correction, if you ask us to do so. You may make a complaint about a refusal to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
14. Making a complaint
If you believe that your privacy has been compromised, or if you feel that we have breached privacy laws, you are entitled to make a complaint. Complaints can be made by contacting us using our contact details in the “How to Contact Us” section of this Privacy Policy.
You will need to provide us with details of your complaint and any supporting evidence and/or information. You will receive an acknowledgement from us no later than 7 business days after receipt of your written complaint.
We will investigate your compliant in accordance with our internal complaints resolution process and determine the steps (if any) that we will undertake to resolve your complaint. We will contact you if we require any additional information from you. You will be sent the final decision in writing no later than 20 business days after you contact us, if we have all the necessary information to make that decision. When this is not possible, we will contact you and let you know how long it will take for us to resolve your complaint.
If you disagree with our decision, you may refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by visiting www.oaic.gov.au, calling 1300 363 992 or emailing enquiries@oaic.gov.au
15. How to contact us
If you wish to notify us of your new contact details, update your personal information, opt out of direct marketing, make a complaint about a breach of privacy, wish to access your personal information that we hold or have any questions in relation to the accuracy of your information or privacy, please contact our Privacy Officer by:
Telephone
1800 060 936
8:30 am – 5:00 pm (AEST) Monday to Friday (excluding NSW Public Holidays)
privacy@volkswagen.com.au
Privacy Officer
Škoda
Locked Bag 5333, Botany NSW 1455
Please include the identification number of your vehicle (VIN) in all correspondence. This number is 17 characters long and can normally be found on your registration documents.
16. Changes to our Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be amended at any time. Reasonable notice of any material changes will be provided before the changes take effect. You should check this page regularly for changes.
This Privacy Policy was last updated on 24 October 2023.