BMW Melbourne Privacy Policy

At BMW Group people's privacy is important to us. This document sets out the Privacy Policy of BMW Australia Ltd (trading as BMW Group Australia) and its retail subsidiaries BMW Melbourne Pty Limited and BMW Sydney Pty Limited (BMW) and BMW Australia Finance Limited (BMWF) and explains how we manage personal information.

1.  What privacy laws apply to us?
Whenever BMW and BMWF collect, hold, use, disclose or otherwise deal with any personal information (including credit, health or other sensitive information), we are bound by and must comply with Australia's national privacy laws. These are mainly found in the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) as amended from time to time and the National Privacy Principles (NPPs) in the Privacy Act which came into force in December 2001.

2.  What is personal information?
Personal information includes any information or opinion (whether true or not) about a person who can be identified from that information, which is recorded in some material form, including as part of a database. This ranges from basic personal details such as name, address, e-mail address and telephone numbers to credit, health and other sensitive information including information made as a consequence of providing products or services.

BMW and BMWF may hold the following information about a person:

• name, address, email details, contact numbers, date of birth and driver’s licence;
  
• vehicle details and any vehicle finance provided by BMWF;
  
• purchase date and name of the person's authorised dealer or broker (BMW Dealer/Broker);
  
• warranty and service details;
  
• information collected from marketing campaigns, product research and customer surveys;
  
• any other information a person provides to us; and
  
• any other personal information which BMW or BMWF are required to collect for identification verification purposes.

3.  What we expect
BMW and BMWF take great care at all times to deal with all personal information in a compliant and confidential manner and expect all of our employees, BMW Dealers/Brokers, contractors, business partners and service providers to comply with Australian privacy laws and treat personal information accordingly.

4.  Collection of personal information
BMW and BMWF may collect personal information directly from the individual or via our website, email, SMS or Customer Interaction Centre or from marketing campaigns including BMW or BMWF competitions, promotions, events, sponsorships or other partnerships.  Collection includes when we keep personal information that we come across by accident or have not asked for.  We may also collect personal information:

• from BMW Dealers/Brokers;
• from other companies which are part of the BMW Group, including from each other;
• from our service providers such as the roadside assistance and accident management provider;
• at any time when a person enters into a transaction with us; and
• when a person requests information about our products or services.

We will only collect personal information that is necessary for one or more of our functions and activities.

We will collect personal information about a person from them whenever practicable. Collection will only be done in a lawful and fair manner. Whenever we collect personal information, we will take all reasonable steps to inform the person whose information is being collected:

• that BMW or BMWF is collecting their information,
• how to contact BMW or BMWF;
• the particular purposes for which BMW or BMWF is collecting the information;
• the organisations or types of organisations to whom BMW or BMWF may disclose the information;
• the main consequences (if any) for that person if all or part of the information is not provided to us (unless this is obvious);
• the fact that the person can access their information; and
• any law that requires BMW or BMWF to collect the information.

There will be times when we collect personal information about a person from someone else, for example from BMW Dealers/Brokers. When this happens, we will take appropriate steps to make sure that the person is aware of the matters listed above.

We will not collect sensitive or health information from anyone unless they have consented or the collection is otherwise required or permitted by law.

5.  Uses and Disclosures of personal information
The personal information (apart from a person's consumer credit information) which we collect and hold will in general be used and disclosed for the purpose of carrying out our functions and activities, as companies in the business of manufacturing and selling vehicles, parts, accessories, related products and services, and financial services. These purposes include:

• sales and aftersales activities including warranty and roadside and accident management provisioning;
• customer contact, care and information;
• customer surveys and analysis;
• marketing activities, including communication of information about BMW, BMWF or BMW Group products and services;
• research and development relating to BMW, BMWF or BMW Group products and services;
• deciding whether to offer a person additional credit or to renew credit;
• to provide information for the purpose of securitisation;
• for any other purpose which we tell the person about when we collect their personal information or to which they have given their consent;
• for any related purpose which would be reasonably expected in the circumstances; or
• where otherwise permitted or required by any law.

BMW and BMWF will only use a person's consumer credit information:

• to assess a person's application for consumer credit and their creditworthiness;
• to assess whether to accept a person as a guarantor for an application for credit or otherwise;
• for purposes directly related to the internal management of a person's loan from or provision of credit by BMWF, including to assist them if they default on their credit obligations (although BMWF accepts no responsibility should this happen); or
• in accordance with the consents and authorities a person has given in their consumer credit application. 

A person's commercial credit information will be used in the same way as their other personal information, save that it will not be used to assess an application by them for consumer credit without their prior consent.

BMW and BMWF may disclose personal information we collect (other than a person's consumer credit information) as follows:

• to our BMW Dealers/Brokers so that they may use the personal information for one or more of the above purposes or to assist us to carry out the particular purpose. BMW Dealers/Brokers may in turn disclose the personal information they have collected from BMW or BMWF to one of their service providers;
• to each other and to other companies which are part of the BMW Group or other business partners, service providers or advisers (including mailing houses, vehicle and vehicle product importers and distributors) which may be located or operate both in and outside Australia. BMW and BMWF will only transfer personal information outside Australia if we reasonably believe that the country to which we are transferring the personal information has similar or equivalent privacy laws to those in Australia and we will take reasonable steps to protect all personal information and to ensure that it is treated in accordance with the legislative requirements concerning data protection in that country. Otherwise, we will obtain the person's consent to the transfer of their information or ensure that one of the other prescribed circumstances as provided for in NPP9 exists;
• to any other person or entity to which the person has consented to BMW or BMWF disclosing their personal information;
• any disclosure which is required or authorised by law, including to AUSTRAC in respect of any suspicious or threshold transactions or activities; and
• with the person's consent, to guarantors if a credit arrangement is guaranteed. 

BMW and BMWF will only disclose your consumer credit report information to each other, to other credit providers and to credit reporting agencies and debt collectors as permitted by the Privacy Act.  Your consumer credit report information will not be disclosed to our BMW Dealers/Brokers.  BMW Dealers/Brokers will only be advised of whether or not your application for credit has been successful and, with your written consent, of details of any notification or default contained in that consumer credit report information.

A person's commercial credit information will be disclosed in the same way as their other personal information, save that it will not be disclosed to a credit reporting agency for the purposes of assessing an application by you for consumer credit without your prior consent.

BMW and BMWF may contact and communicate with a person either via the telephone, post, facsimile, email or SMS. Generally, BMW and BMWF will not direct market to anyone unless they have been given an opportunity to opt out of receiving future direct marketing communications.

However, if BMW or BMWF contact a person for the purposes of direct marketing, without having obtained their consent first, because it is impracticable for them to do so, we will at that time provide the person with the opportunity to decline any further marketing communications at no cost to them.

If BMW or BMWF collect sensitive or health information, we will only use this information with the person's consent unless otherwise permitted by law.

6.  Security and management of personal information
BMW and BMWF take all reasonable steps to protect personal information we hold from misuse, loss or unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

BMW and BMWF will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify any personal information which we hold when it is no longer required for any purpose for which it was collected or for which it may be legitimately used or disclosed.

7.  Complaints, access and correction
BMW and BMWF will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the information we collect, hold or disclose about a person is accurate, complete and up to date. 

BMW and BMWF will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the information we collect, hold or disclose about a person is accurate, complete and up to date. 

If a person believes that BMW or BMWF has not dealt with their personal information in a manner that complies with the Privacy Act and the NPPs, they should contact us to resolve their concerns and to discuss how we can better deal with their information. BMW and BMWF may refer the person to the relevant BMW Dealer/Broker or organisation, if appropriate.

All complaints, requests for access to, or to correct, personal information or any queries concerning privacy matters should in the first instance be put in writing via e-mail or post, addressed to the following:

BMW Privacy Officer
783 Springvale Road, Mulgrave
Victoria 3170
Australia
email: privacy@bmw.com.au

8.  Transparency
A copy of this Privacy Policy will be made available to anyone who requests it and a link to this Privacy Policy will be provided from BMW’s and BMWF’s website. A request for a copy of this Privacy Policy may be made via e-mail or post as above or by calling 1800 813 299.

9.  Changes to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be reviewed and amended from time to time and BMW and BMWF will place the updated Privacy Policy on their website.

10.  Privacy Statement and Collection Statements
BMW and BMWF may also issue privacy and collection statements through their website or other points of contact and collection which will refer to this Privacy Policy but will also give more specific information about the collection, use and disclosure of personal information being collected at that time (by reference to the relevant circumstances of collection).

14 July 2009