Privacy Statement
1. General Statement:
We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. This privacy statement explains our policies and practices regarding online customer information. It is through this disclosure that we intend to provide you with a level of comfort and confidence in how we collect, use, and safeguard personal and other information we collect or that you provide through this website, and how you can contact us if you have any questions or concerns. It is our sincere hope that by explaining our data handling practices we will develop a trusting and long-lasting relationship with you. By using the site, you agree to the terms of this privacy statement.
2. Information About Our Organization and Website:
This Privacy Statement applies to m.ford.com/certified-used/ and m.lincoln.com/certified-used/, (collectively referenced herein as “certified-used”). certified-used is administered by a third-party vendor on behalf of Ford Motor Company, 16800 Executive Plaza Drive, P.O. Box 6248, Dearborn, MI 48126-4207.
The business purpose of this website is to provide you information on Certified Pre-owned vehicles and special offers.
On certain portions of this website, you may have the opportunity to request information or a contact from your local dealer through various shopping tools. These shopping tools may include Search Dealer Inventory, Request a Local Quote, and Trade-in Value. When you provide your personal information in those instances, it is collected by Ford Direct, an independent company that assists our dealers. If you choose to provide your personal information to Ford Direct, please note that it will be subject to the Privacy Policy of www.FordDirect.com
3. Personally Identifiable Information We Collect From You:
During a visit to our site, no personally identifiable information about you is collected. All information on our site is free to browse at your leisure without the need for you to provide us with any personally identifiable information.
4. Other (Non-Personally Identifiable) Information We Collect From Site Visitors:
certified-used collects other information, non-personally identifiable information from site visitors. This means that we do not track these items on an individual basis that identifies the site visitor, but rather gather and collect this information on an aggregate [or anonymous] basis that includes all site visitors. Non-personal information includes tracking the site pages that are visited or the amount of time spent on our site.
Our primary goal in collecting aggregate information from you is to be able to perform site metrics that allow us to improve the functionality of the website. We need to collect aggregate information in order to track page visits and peak site usage times and to perform site clickthrough analysis and site layout re-design.
We may use session and persistent “cookies,” session logs, spot light ads/web beacons/GIF/pixel tags, banner ads or links, and third-party click tracking analytics tools (such as DART, Omniture tags, DoubleClick and Google Analytics) to collect aggregate or other non-personally identifiable information about site visitors. An explanation for each of these items and how they work is included in Section 6 - Methods Used to Collect Information.
We collect additional non-personal information which may include the type/model of the mobile device viewing the site and the mobile devices’ service provider.
5. How We Use the Aggregate or Non-Personally Identifiable Information We Collect:
Non-Personally identifiable information collected on certified-used may be used to:
• Compile aggregate and statistical data to help in website design and to identify popular features
• Measure site activity to allow us to update our site to better meet user wants and needs
• Make the user experience more customer friendly
certified-used utilizes non-personal data for the purpose of performing analytics on the users’ experience while visiting this site. This analysis:
• Is performed on an aggregate level and does not identify you or your information personally
• May involve the use of a third-party vendor acting on behalf of certified-used
• Is performed in order to improve our website and the user experience
• May include the use of session and/or persistent cookies to track user movement across this and other Ford Motor Company websites or to track other events within or across this and other Ford Motor Company websites
• Any information that is provided to a third-party vendor is to be used only for the purpose of performing the analytics and compiling reports of the data. The third-party vendor is restricted from using this data in any other way other than to provide these services to Ford Motor Company and they may not share or resell this data
6. Methods Used to Collect Information:
A “cookie” is a small text file that helps us in many ways to make your visit to our website more enjoyable and meaningful to you. For example, cookies avoid you having to log in every time you come back to one of our websites. They also allow us to tailor a website or advertisement to better match your interests and preferences. There are a couple different types of cookies.
A “session” cookie is stored only in your computer’s working memory (RAM) and only lasts for your browsing session. When you close all your browser’s windows, or when you shut down your computer, the session cookie disappears forever.
A “persistent” cookie is stored on your computer’s hard drive until a specified date, which could be tomorrow, next week, or 10 years from now. Persistent cookies stay on your computer until either a) they expire, b) they are overwritten with newer cookies, or c) you manually remove them. Most browsers can be configured not to accept cookies, however, this may prevent you from having access to some site functions or features.
This site may use a third-party click tracking analytics tool (such as DART, Omniture tags, DoubleClick, and Google Analytics) to capture clickthrough statistics.
certified-used may use spot light ads/web beacons/GIF/pixel tags which are site instrumentation tools that help us to determine, for instance, whether a page has been viewed or not and, if so, how many times.
Emails or electronic newsletters we send may use tools (e.g., pixel tags or web beacons) to gather
email metrics and information to improve the reader’s experience such as how many of the emails are opened, if they were printed or forwarded, and the type of device (e.g., mobile or PC) from which they were opened. In general, any electronic image viewed as part of a webpage, including an ad banner, can act as a web beacon.
When you visit our website the server housing the pages automatically generates a “session log.” We use session logs to help us determine how people travel through our site. In this way, we can structure our pages so that the information most frequently visited is easier to find. By tracking page visits, we can also determine if the information we’re providing is being used. The only data gathered is the Internet Protocol (IP) address from which you came (which contains no personal information), the website that referred you, the pages you visited and the date and time of those visits.
Users may be directed to certified-used via banner ads or site links. Ads or site links that are placed by certified-used use cookies or web beacons to deliver metrics on the effectiveness of the ads or links. They do not collect personal information from the user.
If you visit this site with an open ID, you may integrate with third-party social media sites, and certified-used may track on an aggregate level the number of visits to this site with an open ID, the number of items “liked” on this site, or items on this site that you choose to share with a third-party social media site.
Online Advertising: Ford may contract with vendors to place advertisements on non-Ford websites. When you visit a non-Ford website, these vendors may target Ford advertisements to you based on information about your previous online activity that the vendor has collected using web tracking tools (e.g., cookies and web beacons). Additionally, Ford advertisements may contain web tracking tools such as cookies and web beacons to collect information on the effectiveness of the advertisements and to deliver future targeted advertisements and other messages to you. These web tracking tools collect information such as IP address, the page visited, and time of day.
7. Sharing Your Information:
certified-used does not share, sell, or rent personally identifiable information with independent companies for their own use without providing you a choice.
Vendors, contractors or partners of certified-used who have access to personal information in connection with providing services for certified-used are required to keep the information confidential and are not permitted to use this information for any other purpose than to carry out the services they are performing for certified-used.
Site metrics for certified-used may be shared with other Ford Motor Company websites or subsidiaries or affiliates. The information shared will be aggregate data and will not include any of your personally identifiable information.
certified-used will disclose personal information, without notice, only 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 Ford Motor Company or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Ford Motor Company and this site; or, (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of Ford Motor Company, its websites, or the public.
8. Security of Your Information:
Safeguarding information of visitors to our website is important to us. We use systems, policies and procedures to maintain accuracy of information and to protect information from loss, misuse or alteration.
Vendors, contractors or partners of certified-used who have access to your personal information in connection with providing services for certified-used are required to keep the information confidential.
Vendors are not permitted to use this information for any other purpose than to carry out the services they are performing for certified-used.
9. Links to Other Sites:
certified-used provides links to other websites. We encourage you to review the privacy statements of all sites that you visit, including those whose links are provided so that you can understand how those sites collect, use and share your information. certified-used is not responsible for the privacy statements, content or data handling practices on other websites.
10. Contacting Us:
If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this online privacy statement for certified-used, certified-used privacy practices, or have any questions regarding the contents of this website please contact us at the Customer Relationship Center toll free at 1-800-392-Ford (3673). 1-800-833-0312 (TDD For the hearing impaired).
Hours (Eastern Standard Time)
8a.m - 8p.m (Monday - Friday)
9a.m - 5:30pm (Saturday)
certified-used is committed to working with consumers to obtain a fair and rapid resolution of any complaints or disputes about privacy and the handling of your data. certified-used will be happy to respond to your questions and comments.
11. Privacy Statement Effective Date and Revision Days:
Occasionally we may update the privacy statement for certified-used in order to reflect any changes to the website or our privacy practices. If we update this statement, the new statement will be posted to the website ten (10) days prior to the changes taking effect.
The effective date of this privacy statement is 08/17/11.