VGM Insurance Services is committed to safeguarding your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information. This notice explains how we collect, use, protect, and manage your personal information. For purposes of this policy, references to “you” and “your” include, as applicable, the insured customers of any of our agent or broker partners that provides personal information to us.
HOW DOES VGM INSURANCE DEFINE PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Personal information, or personal data, is defined in the General Data Protection Regulation as any information that directly or indirectly identifies or is identifiable to you as a natural person. Personal information includes your name, address, e-mail, telephone number, IP address, or any other identifier through which you may be contacted online or offline.
WHY DO WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION, AND HOW IS THE INFORMATION USED?
We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information so that we can provide you with products and services including:
- Arranging and administering insurance.
- Risk analysis and underwriting.
- Management of claims, including investigation and settlement.
- Accounting and auditing.
- Complaints and disputes management.
- Legal, regulatory and compliance purposes.
Without your personal information, we may not be able to issue insurance coverage, administer your insurance, answer your questions or concerns, or process your claim.
Personal information is also used for communication and marketing purposes, including:
- Contacting you with information relating to products and services offered by us (unless you have opted out of marketing, or we are otherwise prevented by law from doing so).
- Providing you with applicable risk management and educational resources and information.
- Personalizing the marketing messages we send you to make them more relevant and interesting, and to customize and enhance your experience with us.
- Communicating with you regarding your account or changes to our policies, terms and conditions.
WHAT TYPES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOLD?
We collect and hold a range of personal information from and about our agent and broker partners, and about individuals who are insured, or have submitted a claim, under our insurance policies. Depending on the products or services we are providing to you, we may collect and hold the following information about you:
- General identification and contact information, which may include some or all of the following information:
- Name
- Address
- E-mail address
- Telephone number(s)
- Date of birth
- Social Security Number.
- Federal Employer Identification Number.
- Driver’s license information.
- Financial and banking information and account details to enable us to underwrite insurance for you and process payments to or from you or your agent or broker.
- Policy numbers and types.
- Information relating to insurance claims.
- Medical information regarding injuries and treatment.
- Other information we receive from you via applications or required questionnaires.
- Information we collect automatically from you (e.g., click stream data, personal information and other data collected using cookies and other device identifying technologies (see our Cookies Policy below).
We may also collect personal information from our employees, prospective employees, service providers and third-party contractors.
HOW DO WE COLLECT AND HOLD PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Where it is reasonable and practicable to do so, we collect personal information directly from you or from your insurance agent or broker. This information may be collected using various means including in writing, in person, by telephone, by email or through other electronic messages or means.
We may also collect your personal information from:
- Our website.
- Marketing organizations or platforms.
- Third parties you have asked to provide your personal information to us.
- Publicly available services.
- Service providers.
- Other insurance carriers.
- Credit check bodies.
- Law enforcement or dispute resolution bodies.
We will only collect and use your personal information in accordance with applicable privacy laws. Some laws require your consent to collect certain personal information from you and we will first obtain your consent where required by law to do so.
HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION ON FILE?
We will keep your personal information for as long as we have a relationship with you. Once our relationship with you has come to an end, we will retain your personal information for a period of time that enables us to:
- Maintain business records for analysis and/or audit purposes.
- Comply with record retention requirements under the law.
- Defend or monitor any existing or potential legal claims.
We will delete your personal information when it is no longer required for these purposes. If there is any information that we are unable, for technical reasons, to delete entirely from our systems, we will put in place appropriate measures to prevent any further processing or use of the personal information.
WHAT SECURITY MEASURES ARE IN PLACE TO PROTECT THE PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT?
We implement technical, organizational, administrative and physical measures to help ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk to the personal information we collect, use, disclose and process. These measures are aimed at ensuring the on-going integrity and confidentiality of personal information as it is transmitted and stored. We evaluate these measures on a regular basis to help ensure the security of the processing. Please be aware that, despite our ongoing efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.
We restrict access to your personal information to those who require access to such information for legitimate, relevant business purposes.
TO WHAT OTHER ORGANIZATIONS OR THIRD PARTIES DO WE DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION?
We may make your personal information available to third parties as permitted by applicable law to administer our insurance policies or when required by law to do so. We may provide your personal information to:
- Contractors or third parties providing services to us related to the administration of insurance policies such as agents and brokers, claims and loss assessors, claims managers, and other insurance carriers.
- Our related bodies or organizations that provide administrative services, including processing insurance policies and completing regulatory reporting.
- Banks and financial institutions for the purpose of processing your application and payments to/from you or your agent or broker.
- Third party administrators, emergency providers, and investigators for the purpose of processing, administering or defending claims.
- Governmental authorities, law enforcement agencies and dispute resolution bodies and agencies, or persons or entities from which we receive a subpoena or court order.
VGM Insurance does not sell personal information to marketing organizations.
HOW DO YOU ACCESS OR UPDATE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
We take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date.
If you wish to access the personal information we may hold about you or if you believe that the personal information we hold about you is not accurate, complete or up-to-date, you can request access to or correction of the information by contacting us at info@vgminsurance.com or 800-362-3363.
In order to process any request for access or correction of personal information, we may need to obtain a minimum level of information, including:
- Full name.
- Date of birth.
- Details of the request, including supporting information, evidencing the individual’s right to access the data.
If you are seeking access to, or correction of, information on another person’s behalf, we will also require written authorization from that individual.
We reserve the right to refuse access to personal information under grounds permitted by applicable privacy laws.
CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY
We reserve the right to make changes to our Privacy Policy at any time consistent with applicable laws. Where changes to this policy will have a fundamental impact on the nature of our processing of your personal information, or otherwise have a substantial impact on you, we will give you sufficient advance notice so that you have the opportunity to exercise any rights you may have under applicable law (e.g., to object to the processing). Changes will be posted on this page. We encourage you to review our website and our Privacy Policy periodically for any updates or changes. The "revised" legend at the bottom of this web page indicates when the last revision was made.
COOKIES POLICY
WHY DO WE USE COOKIES?
We may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a ‘cookie’ file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive. They help us to improve our site and to deliver a better and more personalized service. They enable us to:
- Estimate our audience size and usage pattern.
- Store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customize our site according to your individual interests.
- Speed up your searches.
- Recognize you when you return to our site.
WHAT INFORMATION IS COLLECTED BY COOKIES?
The primary information usually collected through cookies is statistical and technical information about equipment and visitor actions on our website, such as:
- Traffic data
- Location and IP address
- Communication data
- Operating system
- Browser
With the exception of IP address, none of the information collected through these methods is personal data.
HOW CAN YOU REMOVE COOKIES OR WITHDRAW CONSENT TO THE USE OF COOKIES?
You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent cookies from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some services and functionalities may not work.
You can also restrict or disable the use of cookies through your web browser. Find more information on how to manage cookies through your web browser by visiting your browser provider’s website and/or support channel.
HOW DOES VGM INSURANCE RESPOND TO ‘DO NOT TRACK’ SIGNALS?
Currently, there is no consensus on what "Do Not Track" means and how to respond to "Do Not Track" signals. For that reason, we do not respond to those signals. Be advised that third-parties providing content and applications to the website set their own policies regarding responses to "Do Not Track" signals.
Last Revised: February 1, 2022