Privacy Policy

At autoWORKS (Pty) Ltd., we are firmly committed to protecting the privacy of our customers and those who sample autoWORKS’ services. autoWORKS is the sole owner of the information collected on this site. We will not share, sell, or otherwise distribute the financial or personal information of our customers, or those who otherwise provide personal information to sample our products and services, to any other persons or organisations in any way other than what is disclosed in this document.

All financial and personal information collected by autoWORKS is held in the strictest confidentiality. Any information, such as email, billing and shipping addresses, and other contact information – submitted via a purchase form, registration form, download form, newsletter subscription or online application service – remains the sole property of autoWORKS. This information is used to help us process such items as service provision, payment and to send registration information to our customers.

Furthermore, any third party personally identifiable information, submitted on your behalf by an outside party (e.g. in the case of the "email-a-friend" feature, or a gift purchase) is treated with the same care as primary information.

If, at any time, autoWORKS wishes to use your personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify you via email. It is entirely at your discretion whether we may use your information in this different manner. In addition, if autoWORKS makes any material changes in our privacy practices that do not affect user information already stored in our database, we will post a prominent notice on our website, notifying users of the change. In some cases, when we post the notice, we will also email those users who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.

autoWORKS only collects information that is relevant and necessary for the purpose that it is required for. The information we require is dependent on the service(s) being provided. Without this information, we may not be able to provide our services or administrate our business.

The information gathered for the autoWORKS User Forums is completely voluntary. A user need only enter a name and email address. Whether or not this information is displayed on the website is up to the user. This simply provides a means with which to interact with other Forum Users. This information is not required by autoWORKS. Any information posted to a non-secure User Forum is considered in the public domain.

From time to time, autoWORKS will request more specific information about our customers. This is done in the form of surveys and is completely voluntary. The information gathered in these surveys helps us determine who our customer base is and what their needs are. By compiling this data, we can work to improve customer experiences with the company.

The information commonly collected by autoWORKS includes:

• Contact information: name, personal or business address, telephone or cellphone number and email address;
• Vehicle information: VIN, registration number(s), service and maintenance repair information, mileage and warranty;
• Website information: Live chat records, pages visited on our website and how long they were visited, as well as the website address from where the website was accessed;
• Social media information: Usernames, as well as any posts, likes, mentions or tags related to autoWORKS or on our pages;
• Date and time our services were used;
• Recording, monitoring and storing data from calls to our customer service centre(s);
• Other information may be obtained voluntarily from clients.

The above information is collected through:

• Data you provide us with directly;
• Visiting or using some parts of autoWORKS’ websites and/or services we might ask you to provide personal data to us;
• Data we collect automatically;
• Data we get from 3rd parties.

Children’s Privacy

This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for autoWORKS. If you any have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact us by email info@autowork.co.za. In accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), autoWORKS does not, at any time, knowingly collect information from, or market our products or services to, children under the age of 13.

Cookies

There are also instances when autoWORKS will use cookies in order to track website usage. These cookies do not collect personal information and are usually terminated once customers leave the site. Cookies record the time of your visit, the date, the "referring" page that brought you to our site, and the IP address that your ISP has assigned to your computer at the time of your visit. This anonymous information is used to assist us in refining our websites to create a better user experience.

Personal data collected by autoWORKS may be used to:

• operate our websites and generate site analytics that improve our site layout, content, product offerings and services;
• provide you with information you’ve requested from us or information we are required to send to you, as well as to provide you with any services you have requested;
• manage our relationship with you, i.e. by responding to your comments or queries submitted to us;
• enhance our products and services and develop new ones;
• ensure that everyone is using our website and services properly and in accordance with our terms and conditions;
• market you another product or service we think you might be interested in, in accordance with your marketing preferences;
• comply with legal requirements;
• protect you through verifying your identity when you sign into our systems;
• produce aggregated and anonymized analytics and reports, which we may share publicly with third parties;
• provide administrative and performance functions and activities, to process your job application or for the purposes of training our staff;
• contact you if necessary in the course of processing or shipping an order for products or services.

Personal information provided by customers, or those who sample autoWORKS products or services, is sometimes used to contact individuals regarding new information about our services. Anyone contacted by us with services/product information can request to be removed from further updates at any time.

There will be times when we need to share your personal data with third parties. We will only disclose your personal data to:

• third party service providers and partners who assist and enable us to use the personal data, such as support delivery or provide functionality on the website or services, or to market or promote our goods and services to you;
• subcontractors and service providers who assist us in connection with the ways we use personal information;
• our professional advisers;
• regulators, law enforcement bodies, government agencies, courts or other third parties when we think it’s necessary to comply with applicable laws or regulations, or to exercise, establish or defend our legal rights. Where possible and appropriate, we will notify you of this type of disclosure;
• regulators and government authorities in connection with our compliance procedures and obligations;
• a third party to respond to requests relating to a criminal investigation or alleged or suspected illegal activity;
• a third party, in order to enforce or defend our rights, or to address financial or reputational risks;
• other people where we have your consent or where we are authorised or required by law to do so.

We store personal information on secure servers that are managed by us and our service providers and occasionally hard copy files that are kept secure. Personal information that we store or transmit is protected by security and access controls, including username and password authentication, two-factor authentication and/or data encryption where appropriate.

To further protect the privacy of our customers, access to information by our employees is restricted within the company. Only select employees with an absolute need to use that information – in order to better serve customers – are able to view any personal details submitted.

In some areas of the website, autoWORKS may choose to link to another website. We cannot be held responsible for any of the content on these external sites. We are also not responsible for the privacy policies in place on those sites. We encourage any user to read and understand the privacy policy of any third-party website before making extensive use of that website’s content and functionality.

How long do we keep your information for?

The length of time we keep your personal data depends on what it is and whether we have an ongoing business need to retain it (in order to provide you with a service you’ve requested or to comply with legal requirements).

It’s your personal data and you have certain rights relating to it. When it comes to marketing communications, you can ask us not to send these to you at any time – just send your request to info@autowork.co.za.

You also have rights to:

• know what personal data we hold about you and to make sure it’s correct and up to date;
• request a copy of your personal data or ask us to restrict processing your personal data or delete it;
• object to our continued processing of your personal data.

You can request to exercise these rights at any time by sending an email to info@autowork.co.za.

These rights are restricted in some situations. The provision of data is mandatory when we require your personal information to comply with legal requirements or contractual obligations. If such data is not provided, then we will not be able to manage our contractual relationship with you, or to meet obligations placed on us.

Overall, we at autoWORKS strive to treat our customers as each one of us would like to be treated. We value our privacy and we value yours too. It is our goal to make your experience with us a safe and positive one.