Privacy policy

Last updated: October 18, 2024

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy outlines how 4Car Auto Spares collects, uses, and discloses your personal information when you visit our site, utilize our services, or make a purchase from 4Car Auto Spares. It also applies to any communications you have with us regarding the Site. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, "you" and "your" refer to the user of the Services, whether you are a customer, a website visitor, or another individual whose information we have collected in accordance with this policy.

We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy carefully. By accessing or using any of the Services, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as detailed herein. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, we kindly request that you refrain from using or accessing any of the Services.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, including to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will post the revised Privacy Policy on the Site, update the "Last updated" date and take any other steps required by applicable law.

How We Collect and Use Your Personal Information

To provide the Services, we collect personal information about you from a variety of sources, as set out below. The information that we collect and use varies depending on how you interact with us.

In addition to the specific uses set out below, we may use information we collect about you to communicate with you, provide or improve our Services, comply with any applicable legal obligations, enforce any applicable terms of service, and to protect or defend the Services, our rights, and the rights of our users or others.

What Personal Information We Collect

The types of personal information we obtain about you depends on how you interact with our Site and use our Services. When we use the term "personal information", we are referring to information that identifies, relates to, describes or can be associated with you. The following sections describe the categories and specific types of personal information we collect.

Information We Collect Directly from You

Information that you directly submit to us through our Services may include:

• Contact details including your name, address, phone number, and email.

• Order information including your name, billing address, shipping address, payment confirmation, email address, and phone number.

• Account information including your username, password, security questions and other information used for account security purposes.

• Customer support information including the information you choose to include in communications with us, for example, when sending a message through the Services.

• Some features of the Services may require you to directly provide us with certain information about yourself. You may elect not to provide this information, but doing so may prevent you from using or accessing these features.

Information We Collect about Your Usage

We may also automatically collect certain information about your interaction with the Services ("Usage Data"). To do this, we may use cookies, pixels and similar technologies ("Cookies"). Usage Data may include information about how you access and use our Site and your account, including device information, browser information, information about your network connection, your IP address and other information regarding your interaction with the Services.

Information We Obtain from Third Parties

We may collect information about you from third parties, including vendors and service providers who gather information on our behalf. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Support Services: Companies that assist us in operating our Site and Services, such as Shopify.

• Payment Processors: Entities responsible for processing payments, who collect relevant information (e.g., bank account details, credit or debit card information, and billing addresses) to fulfill your orders and deliver the products or services you have requested, in accordance with our contractual obligations to you.

• Tracking Technologies: When you visit our Site, open or click on emails we send, or engage with our Services or advertisements, we, along with third parties we collaborate with, may automatically collect certain information through online tracking technologies. These technologies may include pixels, web beacons, software development kits, third-party libraries, and cookies.

Any information obtained from third parties will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Please refer to the section below regarding Third Party Websites and Links for additional information.

How We Use Your Personal Information

Providing Products and Services
We utilize your personal information to deliver the Services and fulfill our contractual obligations to you. This includes processing payments, fulfilling orders, sending notifications related to your account, purchases, returns, exchanges, and other transactions. Additionally, we manage your account, arrange shipping, and facilitate returns and exchanges, along with other functionalities related to your account.

Marketing and Advertising
Your personal information may be employed for marketing and promotional purposes, such as sending marketing communications via email, text message, or postal mail. We may also display advertisements for products or services tailored to your interests. This enables us to enhance the Services and advertising on our Site and across other platforms.

Security and Fraud PreventionWe use your personal information to detect, investigate, and take action against potential fraudulent, illegal, or malicious activities. If you choose to register an account with us, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials. We strongly advise against sharing your username, password, or other access details. If you suspect that your account has been compromised, please contact us immediately.

Communicating with You and Service Improvement
Your personal information is used to provide customer support and enhance our Services. This aligns with our legitimate interests to be responsive, deliver effective services, and maintain our business relationship with you.

Cookies
Similar to many websites, we utilize cookies on our Site. For specific information regarding the cookies we employ in connection with our Shopify store, please refer to Shopify's Cookie Policy. Cookies are used to power and improve our Site and Services, including remembering your actions and preferences. They also assist in analytics, helping us better understand user interactions with our Services, thereby allowing us to administer, improve, and optimize our offerings.

We may permit third parties and service providers to use cookies on our Site to tailor services, products, and advertising both on our Site and others. While most browsers accept cookies by default, you have the option to adjust your browser settings to remove or reject cookies. Please note that removing or blocking cookies may adversely affect your user experience and could cause some Services, features, and general functionality to work improperly or become unavailable. Additionally, blocking cookies may not entirely prevent us from sharing information with third parties, such as our advertising partners.

Disclosure of Personal Information

We may disclose your personal information to third parties under specific circumstances, in accordance with this Privacy Policy, for purposes such as contract fulfillment, legitimate business interests, and other valid reasons.

Such circumstances may include:

• Sharing information with vendors or third parties that provide services on our behalf, including IT management, payment processing, data analytics, customer support, cloud storage, and fulfillment and shipping.

• Collaborating with business and marketing partners to deliver services and targeted advertising. These partners will handle your information in accordance with their own privacy policies.

• Disclosing information when you request or consent to such disclosure, such as for shipping products or through the use of social media widgets or login integrations.

• Sharing information with our affiliates or within our corporate group to further our legitimate business interests.

• Engaging in business transactions, such as mergers or bankruptcies, complying with applicable legal obligations (including responding to subpoenas and search warrants), enforcing our terms of service, and protecting our services, rights, and the rights of our users and others.

We disclose the following categories of personal and sensitive personal information for the purposes outlined in "How We Collect and Use Your Personal Information" and "How We Disclose Personal Information":

Categories of Recipients

Identifiers such as basic contact details and certain order and account information

Commercial information such as order information, shopping information and customer support information

Internet or other similar network activity, such as Usage Data

Geolocation data such as locations determined by an IP address or other technical measures

Vendors and third parties who perform services on our behalf (such as Internet service providers, payment processors, fulfillment partners, customer support partners and data analytics providers)

Business and marketing partners

Affiliates

We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information without your consent or for the purposes of inferring characteristics about you.

Third Party Websites and Links

Our Site may provide links to websites or other online platforms operated by third parties. If you follow links to sites not affiliated or controlled by us, you should review their privacy and security policies and other terms and conditions. We do not guarantee and are not responsible for the privacy or security of such sites, including the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of information found on these sites. Information you provide on public or semi-public venues, including information you share on third-party social networking platforms may also be viewable by other users of the Services and/or users of those third-party platforms without limitation as to its use by us or by a third party. Our inclusion of such links does not, by itself, imply any endorsement of the content on such platforms or of their owners or operators, except as disclosed on the Services.

Security and Retention of Your Information

Please be advised that while we implement various security measures, no system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee "absolute security." Additionally, any information transmitted to us may be vulnerable during transit. We strongly recommend that you avoid using unsecured channels for communicating sensitive or confidential information.

The retention period for your personal information depends on several factors, including our necessity to maintain your account, deliver our Services, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce relevant contracts and policies.

Your Rights

Depending on your place of residence, you may possess some or all of the rights outlined below concerning your personal information. Please note that these rights are not absolute, may apply only under specific circumstances, and, in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law.

1. Right to Access / Know: You may request access to the personal information we hold about you, including details regarding how we use and share your information.

2. Right to Delete: You have the right to request the deletion of personal information that we maintain about you.

3. Right to Correct: You may request that we correct any inaccurate personal information that we hold about you.

4. Right of Portability: You may have the right to receive a copy of your personal information and request its transfer to a third party, subject to certain circumstances and exceptions.

5. Restriction of Processing: You may request that we stop or restrict the processing of your personal information.

6. Withdrawal of Consent: If we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

7. Appeal: Should we decline to process your request, you have the right to appeal our decision by replying directly to our denial.

8. Managing Communication Preferences: We may send you promotional emails, from which you can opt out at any time using the unsubscribe option provided in those emails. Please note that opting out of promotional emails will not affect non-promotional communications, such as those related to your account or orders you have placed.

You may exercise any of these rights as indicated on our Site or by contacting us using the details provided below.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. To verify your identity before responding substantively to your request, we may need to collect certain information, such as your email address or account information. In accordance with applicable laws, you may designate an authorized agent to make requests on your behalf. Before accepting a request from an agent, we will require proof of your authorization and may need to verify your identity directly with us. We will respond to your request promptly, as required by applicable law.

Complaints

If you have complaints about how we process your personal information, please contact us using the contact details provided below. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, depending on where you live you may have the right to appeal our decision by contacting us using the contact details set out below, or lodge your complaint with your local data protection authority.

Contact:

Should you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, or if you would like to exercise any of the rights available to you, please call or email us at info@mvaspares.co.za or contact us at 102 Van Riebeeck Avenue, Johannesburg, GP, 1610, ZA