Vehicle Privacy

Privacy Statement effective April 15, 2019

Lincoln.com and Owner.Lincoln.com 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.  For information regarding the data that Vehicle Health Report and SYNC Services (where equipped) collect from you to provide you with these services, see Terms and Conditions.

 

For additional information regarding Lincoln Way feature and program functionality provided on the owner.ford.com website, see the Lincoln Way Privacy Policy located at https://www.lincoln.com/lincolnway/en_us/termsprivacy.html.

 

2.  Information About Our Organization and Website and General Data Collection Practices:

This Privacy Statement applies to www.Lincoln.com and its related mobile website m.Lincoln.com and to Owner.Lincoln.com (collectively referenced herein as “site” or “website”) which are owned by Ford Motor Company, Marketing, Sales and Service Division, 16800 Executive Plaza Drive, Dearborn, MI 48126.

 

Lincoln.com

The business purpose of Lincoln.com website is to provide visitors: (1) with knowledge of the features and benefits of the complete line of cars, crossovers, and SUVs; (2) with purchasing-related information such as available incentives, services, product inventory and dealership contacts; (3) the ability to save and share certain content that is of interest to you such as your favorite vehicles, technologies, and photos and videos; (and (4) the ability to access the Concierge service which allows members to submit questions and schedule chats with Lincoln representatives.       

 

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 include Build and Price, Search Dealer Inventory, Incentives and Offers, Request a Local Quote, and Trade-in Value.  When you provide your personally identifiable information in those instances, it is collected by Ford Direct, an independent company that assists our dealers.  If you choose to provide your personally identifiable information to FordDirect, please note that it will be subject to the FordDirect Privacy Policy located at http://www.forddirectprivacy.com/.

 

Certain features that are available on www.lincoln.com may not be available on the related mobile site and vice versa.

 

Owner.Lincoln.com

The business purpose of Owner.Lincoln.com is to provide Lincoln vehicle owners a web destination that aggregates resources for convenience, savings, and vehicle maintenance.  Owner.Lincoln.com provides access to vehicle and dealer information, discounts, coupons, service rebates, service history tracking, and SYNC product information, including SYNC software and support documentation.   Also, where applicable, this site provides owners the ability to manage your SYNC Services and Vehicle Health Report accounts including setting various preferences, manage Lincoln Access Rewards loyalty program, and access Lincoln Extended Service Plan information and purchase processing.

 

For added convenience, a select set of site features are accessible from web-enabled mobile devices as a mobile-optimized web experience.  The intent is to provide screens that are optimized for the size of screen and operating system.  On some devices these site features may be limited in functionality. 

 

Online Tracking Information

When you visit this site other parties such as third-party advertising partners and analytics providers may collect information about your digital activity over time and across digital platforms. This information may include identifiers that may permit those parties to serve tailored ads to your device(s).  For more information about third-party advertising partners’ collection and use of such data for interest-based advertising purposes (and opting out of such use), see “Interest-Based Advertising” in Section 7. 

 

Because there is not yet a common understanding of how to interpret web browser-based “Do Not Track” (“DNT”) signals other than cookies, Ford Motor Company does not currently respond to undefined “DNT” signals to its US websites.

 

Most browsers can be configured not to accept cookies, however, this may prevent you from having access to some functions or services on our sites.

 

See Sections 5 and 7 for more information.

 

3.  Personally Identifiable Information We Collect From You:

 

When you visit this site we will not collect any personally identifiable information about you unless you provide it to us voluntarily.  For purposes of this Privacy Statement “personally identifiable information” is information that identifies you as an individual, for example your name, street address, telephone number, email address and credit card number.  If you opt not to provide us with personally identifiable information you can still access our website, however you will be unable to participate in certain promotions, activate or use a service, have a purchase order fulfilled, receive product information, use the Concierge service, or on the Owner.Lincoln.com site initiate a text message containing the name, address and telephone number of a dealer.

 

Lincoln.com - Saving Content

Some functionality and services we provide you offer the opportunity to save certain content two ways.  You can save it anonymously (in that instance, content will be associated with your computer by placing a session or persistent cookie on it), or by creating login credentials described in the next paragraph.

 

Lincoln.com - Creating Login Credentials

Certain pages of this website may allow you to create login credentials by typing in your user name/ID or email address and password and other information, or by using one of the available social media authentication methods such as Facebook, Google +, and Yahoo.  If you choose to create login credentials using your account with one of the available social media authentication tools, you allow us to access your information that is publicly available or that you have made publicly available (e.g., name, user ID, profile picture), and information you “Allow” the website to access.  By authenticating through one of the social media options, you allow us to receive your information that is accessible.  We encourage you to review the privacy policy and any terms and conditions, for the method you choose to utilize for authentication.

 

Owner.Lincoln.com

VEHICLE HEALTH REPORT PRIVACY NOTICE (if equipped, U.S. only): When you run a Vehicle Health Report, Ford Motor Company may collect your cell phone number (to process your report request) and diagnostic information about your vehicle including odometer and warnings such as seat belt and air bag warnings.  Certain versions or updates to Vehicle Health Report may also collect additional vehicle information.  Ford may use the vehicle information it collects, as well as information regarding individual access to Vehicle Health Reports www.syncmyride.com, for the purposes described below and in the Vehicle Health Report Privacy Notice.   If you do not want to disclose your cell phone number or vehicle information, do not run the feature or set up your Vehicle Health Report profile.  Refer to the Vehicle Health Report Terms and Conditions for more information.

 

Our primary goal in collecting personally identifiable information from you when you visit this site is to provide you the functionality and services that you need to have a meaningful and customized experience while using the site features.

 

This site may use session and persistent “cookies” to collect personally identifiable information in order to verify login credentials, and it may use a third party to deliver site functionality.  An explanation for each of these items and how they work is included in Section 7 – Methods to Collect Information.   

 

If you are linked to this site upon requesting information by text message and you later reply “STOP,” you agree to receive a confirmation text message to your STOP.

 

Email addresses collected at the point of the Tell-a-Friend email tools will be used solely for the purpose of forwarding to your intended recipient.  

 

Please keep in mind that if you disclose personally identifiable information or other sensitive data through a chat room, message board, or other public online forums, this information may be collected and used by others.

 

4.  How We Use the Personally Identifiable Information We Collect:

 

Personally identifiable information collected on Lincoln.com may be used to:

 

·         Fulfill a site user request (e.g., create log in credentials, brochure fulfillment, send marketing or promotional materials including emails or other information, service rebates, price quotes, save or share content, for a chat with a Lincoln representative)

·         Fulfill and deliver an order for goods or services such as, if equipped, a Vehicle Health Report, SYNC Services, or software downloads, or Lincoln Extended Service Plan

·         Respond to your comments or requests for information

·         Meet a request for or to develop new products or services

·         Make the user experience more customer friendly

·         Develop new and improved products, services and marketing

·         Contact you if necessary in the course of processing or shipping an order for products or services

·         Generate site analytics that improve our site layout, content, product offerings and services

·         Compile user data that is stored in our corporate database; for site visitors in the U.S. the data may be used for marketing and other purposes  

·         Match personal data collected here with data about you that we collect through other sources

·         Comply with legal requirements

5.  Other Information We Collect From Site Visitors:

 

Through this website, we collect site usage information from site visitors that may be linkable to you through your device or web browser.  This information allows us to perform site metrics and compile aggregate and statistical data.  This information is used to improve the functionality of the website by identifying popular features and measuring site activity to better meet user wants and needs.  The information collected includes information, such as, site pages visited, time spent on our site, or page clicks, mouse movements, and scrolls.  This includes data provided by a third-party that surveys site visitors on our behalf.

 

This website uses Mouseflow, a third-party analytics tool, to track page content and click/touch, movement, scroll, and keystroke activity. You can opt-out at https://mouseflow.com/opt-out/.  For more information on Mouseflow’s privacy practices go to https://mouseflow.com/privacy/.

 

If you visit this site using a mobile device, we collect additional information which may include the type/model of the mobile device viewing the site, device identifiers, and the mobile device’s service provider and operating system.

 

If your mobile phone has the capability and the GPS feature on the mobile phone is turned on, you can utilize certain locator functionalities on the site which may utilize your GPS data to determine your location in order to fulfill your request.

 

Our primary goal in collecting this information is to analyze site metrics that we use to improve the functionality of the website.     

 

We may use session and persistent “cookies,” session logs, spotlight ads/web beacons/GIF/pixel tags, banner ads or links, a third party that serves user-requested emails (e.g., a third-party email service provider for share with a friend user-customized emails) and third-party click tracking analytics tools (such as Adobe, DoubleClick, Efficient Frontier, Keynote and Google Analytics; these companies may also use such tools) to obtain site usage information about site visitors.  An explanation on collection methods and how they work is included in Section 7 - Methods to Collect Information, below.   

   

Site visitors that utilize certain email or text message sharing tools may be directed to first use the Google reCAPTCHA tool so that an integrity check can be performed to ensure a bot is not using the sharing tool.  Google collects hardware and software information, such as device and application data, in order to perform the integrity checks.     

 

Google is independently owned and operated, and data collected by Google is subject to its privacy policy.  We encourage you to review the Google privacy policy at http://www.google.com/privacy.html and Google’s How Google uses data when you use our partners' sites or apps (located at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/) so that you can understand how the data is collected, used and shared.

 

6.  How We Use Site usage Information:

 

Site usage information collected on Lincoln.com 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
• Provide you content that may be of interest to you based on pages visited and items viewed
• Make the user experience more customer friendly
• Develop new and improved products, services and marketing       

 

We also use site usage information for the purpose of performing analytics on the user’s experience while visiting this site. This analysis:

• Is performed on an aggregate level
• May involve the use of a third-party vendor acting on behalf of Lincoln.com
• May be combined with data collected by third parties on other sites and apps and across devices
• 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

 

7.  Methods 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 to activate and/or deliver a service, or deliver site functionality such as fulfilling your request to purchase a product or service, including items from our online store.  In performing this function the third party may place a persistent cookie on your computer or have to gather personally identifiable information from you in order to activate and deliver the service, or facilitate the processing of your purchase.

 

This site may use third-party click tracking analytics tools (such as Adobe, DoubleClick, Efficient Frontier, Keynote, Google Analytics and Mouseflow) to capture clickthrough statistics.  These parties may collect information about your use of the site and across different sites and mobile apps, and across devices over time.

 

Lincoln.com may use spotlight 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, the type of device (e.g., mobile or PC) from which they were opened, and the city, state, and county associated with the applicable IP address.  In general, any electronic image viewed as part of a webpage, including an ad banner, can act as a web beacon.   

 

This website may generate a “session log” when you visit our site.  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, the website that referred you, the pages you visited and the date and time of those visits.

 

Users may be directed to this site via banner ads, site links or QR Codes.  Ads, site links or QR Codes may use tools such as cookies or web beacons to deliver metrics on the effectiveness of the ads or links.   

 

Users you may be provided the opportunity integrate with third-party social media sites, and this site may track things like 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.

 

Interest-Based/Online Behavioral Advertising

Interest-Based Advertising.  On some pages of our site we may allow third-party advertising partners to set web tracking and storage technology tools (e.g., cookies, web beacons, pixels) to collect or receive information regarding your activities on those web pages (e.g., your IP address, page(s) visited, time of day).  We may also share such information we have collected with third-party advertising partners.  These advertising partners may use this information (and combine it with information collected from other websites, apps or other digital services) for purposes of delivering future targeted advertisements to you when you interact with other (non-Ford) sites, mobile apps or digital services within their networks, and to provide measurement services.  This practice is commonly referred to as "interest-based advertising".

 

Pages of our website that collect information that may be used by such advertising partners for interest-based advertising purposes are identified by a link to AdChoices in the footer of the page.

 

Opting out

Note: The process to opt-out of interest-based advertising is different for web browsers and mobile apps.  

 

1.  Opting out on website pages.  If you do not want your online browsing while on such pages to be used for interest-based advertising purposes, you may click on the AdChoices link in the footer to opt-out of such uses by the listed advertising partner(s).  An opt-out applies only to the device and browser in use at the time of opting out.  If you clear your browser cookies and wish to remain opted out of interest-based advertising, you must opt-out again.  See the following paragraph to learn more about how opting out works.  Even if you opt-out through this service, we may still collect information regarding your site activities and use it for non-interest-based advertising purposes.  

 

1a. Opt-out Compliance Service for interest-based advertisements.  This site and advertisements on third-party sites that link to this privacy statement use the Ghostery assurance service to comply with the cross-industry Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising (now generally known as interest-based advertising) managed by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) (http://www.aboutads.info).  When you opt-out on site pages, or through such advertisements, Ghostery conveys your opt-out election(s) to the applicable advertising partner(s), which then know to place a cookie on your specific computer and browser (and only the specific computer and browser from which you opt-out) indicating that you have opted out.  If you clear your browser cookies and wish to remain opted out of interest-based advertising, you must opt-out again.  The list of our advertising partners that place cookies on this website may be updated from time to time.  To opt-out of internet-based advertising by all DAA-participating companies and to learn more about interest-based advertising, visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.  

 

2.  Opting out of in App interest-based advertisements.  iOS and Android mobile device users, and possibly users of other mobile devices, may control in App advertisements by disabling or resetting the mobile device advertiser ID.  Below are links to instructions for controlling advertising IDs on iOS and Android devices.  

iOS – click here

Android  - click here

 

See the Opting out on website pages section above for opting out of interest-based advertising related to your mobile phone’s browser.

 

3. Opting out through online advertisements.  Advertisements on third-party websites that contain the AdChoices link and that link to this privacy statement may have been directed to you based on information collected by advertising partners over time and across websites.  These advertisements provide a mechanism to opt-out of the advertising partners' use of this information for interest-based advertising purposes.  Even if you opt-out through this service, we may still collect and use information from the advertisements for non-interest-based advertising purposes, such as to determine the effectiveness of the advertisements.

 

4. Opting out of the Adobe Experience Cloud Device Co-op. Ford participates in the Adobe Experience Cloud Device Co-op. This Co-op allows Adobe to better understand how websites and apps are used by linking various devices that appear to be used by the same person. In turn, it helps companies who are members of the Co-op, including Ford, create websites, apps and ads customized for you, across all your devices. You can learn more about the Co-op, how Adobe does this, and how to opt-out at https://cross-device-privacy.adobe.com. 

 

5. Opting out of interest-based advertisements on other digital services.  Users of other digital services (such as cable and direct TV) may be able to opt-out of interest-based advertising through the provider of the digital service.  We encourage you to review the privacy policy of your digital service provider to determine if they engage in interest-based advertising, and, if so, how to opt-out.  

 

8.  Sharing Your Information:

Lincoln.com does not share, sell, or rent personally identifiable information with independent companies for their own use without providing you a choice.  We share hashed emails from our marketing database with social media advertising partners, such as Facebook, so that they can create Custom Audiences and deliver advertisements on our behalf to their members.  Members are identifiable when the Social Media partner matches our hashed data to its hashed data of its members.

 

If you create account credentials, you may be provided the opportunity to use the same account identification (email address) for one or more Ford Motor Company or its affiliates’ websites (including SYNC) or you may choose to create a new account.  To facilitate this for you, when you provide your email address to us on registration on certain portions of this website, we may check whether there is already an existing account with this email address and advise you.  When you register with another Ford Motor Company or affiliate website, we share with such website whether an account exists for the email address you have entered so that you can be advised whether you may use an existing account.

 

Personally identifiable information that you provide to us in the course of using our site features or requesting a product or service through this website may be gathered and stored in one or more of our corporate databases.   For site visitors in the U.S., personally identifiable information may be used for purposes of contacting you for things like promotional offers, marketing programs, or other communications from this website or other Ford Motor Company programs and services.

 

We may share personally identifiable information that we collect about you with other companies within the Ford Motor Company family of companies or subsidiaries.  Our “family of companies” is the group of companies related to us by common control or ownership.  We share information within this “family” as a normal part of conducting business and offering products and services to our customers.

 

Personally identifiable information that you provide to this site, except for mobile numbers provided when requesting text messages and mobile alerts, may be shared with our authorized dealers.  This is necessary, such as, if you choose to set up an online service appointment through Vehicle Health Report (if equipped, U.S. only), to honor your request for a price quote on a vehicle or in order to provide a dealer with information for purposes of contacting you in their regular course of business.   In addition, for VHR account holders, if you choose to set up an online appointment, in most cases your VHR data will automatically be sent to your preferred dealer in your SYNC profile.  The dealer is not restricted by Lincoln Motor Company in their use of your data.    

 

We may share personally identifiable information with vendors, contractors or partners in the normal course of business.  Vendors, contractors or partners of Lincoln.com who have access to your personally identifiable information in connection with providing services for Lincoln.com are required to keep the information confidential and are restricted in their use of the data.                            

 

Site metrics for Lincoln.com may be shared with other Ford Motor Company websites or subsidiaries or affiliates.

 

Lincoln.com will disclose your personally identifiable information, without notice, if (1) 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, its affiliates or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Ford Motor Company, its affiliates or this site; or (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of Ford Motor Company or affiliate personnel, users of their websites, or the public; or (2) if required to do so by law.

 

Contest or sweepstakes entrants only:  If you are providing personally identifiable information in connection with a contest or sweepstakes through this website, and if you are selected as a winner, we may include your personally identifiable information in a publicly available winner’s list.  See the applicable contest or sweepstakes rules.

 

9.  Access To and Control Over the Use of Your Information:

 

To correct or update your personally identifiable information contact us at:   

Telephone
800-392-3673
800-232-5952 (TDD for the hearing impaired)

Available Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. EST and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. EST

Mailing Address
Ford Motor Company
Customer Relationship Center
P.O. Box 6248
Dearborn, MI 48126

 

You will be asked for name and address so that we may be able to process your changes.  We will use reasonable efforts to correct any factual inaccuracies in your information.  

 

If you have created a SYNC account you can access this information by logging in to your SYNC account.  To correct or update your personally identifiable information, you will be asked for your password or the answer to your security question so that we may be able to process your changes.

 

The scope of access available for this request is for information stored in the database that holds the data for this site.  Any personally identifiable information that has been collected from you on other Company websites will not be accessible or changeable through the processing of this request.

 

10.  Security of Your Information:

Safeguarding information of visitors to our website is important to us.  While no systems, applications or websites are 100% secure, 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 Lincoln.com who have access to your personally identifiable information in connection with providing services for Lincoln.com 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 Lincoln.com.

11.  Processing of Personal Data:

 

By visiting this site and by providing your personally identifiable information to us, you understand and consent to the collection, use, processing, transfer, and disclosure of your personally identifiable information globally --- including to the United States – in accordance with this Privacy Statement.  Therefore, by visiting this site and by providing such information, you consent to the transfer of such information across country borders, and to the use, processing, and disclosure of such information in global locations.  Your consent shall be deemed to include your consent to transfer of the personally identifiable information to locations that may have different levels of privacy protection than in your own country.

 

12.  Links to Other Sites:

Lincoln.com 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.  Lincoln.com is not responsible for the privacy statements, content or data handling practices on other websites.    

 

Parts of this site may provide dealer and vehicle locator services which are provided by a third-party vendor.  In order to provide you with the closest dealers, we may need to collect your IP address to determine your general location, or we may ask you to provide location information such as zip code or City and State.  In instances where we use a third-party vendor to provide dealer locator services, we will provide them a zip code.

  

If you use available mapping functionality on this website, you agree to be bound by the mapping service’s terms and conditions/privacy policy.  For example, if you use Bing you agree to be bound by the Microsoft Service Agreement and Microsoft Online Privacy Statement.  In addition, if you are on an associated mobile site and the GPS feature on the mobile phone is turned on (if it has such capability), your GPS data may be utilized by the mapping service to determine your location in order to fulfill your request for location services.

 

13.  Children’s Privacy:

 

Lincoln.com does not knowingly intend to collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 years of age.

 

If a child has provided us with personally identifiable information a parent or guardian of that child may contact us at the phone number or mailing address listed in section 14 if they want this information deleted from our records.  We will then make reasonable efforts to delete the child’s information from the database that stores information for Lincoln.com.

 

14.  Contacting Us:

 

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this online privacy statement for Lincoln.com, Lincoln.com privacy practices, or have any questions regarding the contents of this website please contact us at

 

Telephone
800-392-3673
800-232-5952 (TDD for the hearing impaired)

Available Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. EST and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. EST

Mailing Address
Ford Motor Company
Customer Relationship Center
P.O. Box 6248
Dearborn, MI 48126

Lincoln.com 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.  Lincoln.com will be happy to respond to your questions and comments.      

 

15.  Privacy Statement Effective Date and Revision Days:

 

Occasionally we may update the privacy statement for Lincoln.com in order to reflect any changes to the website or our privacy practices.  If we update this statement, including any updates reflecting material changes to our Online Behavioral/Interest-Based Advertising practices, 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 April 15, 2019.