Privacy Policy

This policy is from Uobo Canada Inc. ("Uobo", "we", "us"). It covers our websites, our personal car agent (an AI that helps car shoppers by text), and Uobo Connect (our voice assistant for dealerships). It explains what we collect, why, who sees it, and the choices you have.

The short version

• We use what you tell us to help you. We do not sell your personal information. Our websites use advertising tools from Google and Meta, which you can turn off.
• Our personal car agent and our voice assistants are AI. People on our team can read conversations to run and improve the service.
• We share your name, number and email with a dealership only when you say yes.
• If you phoned a dealership that uses Uobo Connect, the dealership is the one responsible for your call. We handle it for them.
• Reply STOP to any text to stop hearing from us. To see, fix or delete your information, email support@uobo.ca.

Who we are, and the two roles we play#

Uobo Canada Inc. is based in London, Ontario, Canada. We play one of two roles, and which one decides who answers to you.

When we act for a dealership, we use your call information only to provide the service to that dealership and as its agreement with us allows. The dealership decides what to do with it. Our agreement with the dealership sets out how we handle call information for it.

What we collect#

On our websites and free tools#

• Forms you fill in (a demo request, a message to us, joining as a dealership): your name, email, phone number, dealership name and your message.
• Device and visit information: your browser and device type, pages visited, links clicked, and approximate location from your IP address. The Cookie and Tracking Notice explains the tools involved and how to turn them off.
• The free tools run in your browser. Your answers stay on your device unless you choose to send them to us, either by texting them to us or, on tools that offer it, by entering your postal code and mobile number and ticking the box to have Uobo text you. Then we receive your postal code, your mobile number, which tool you used and your answers to it, and we use them to start your car search by text. If a tool asks for your take-home pay, that figure never leaves your device. Some tools look things up through an outside service, such as decoding a vehicle identification number; that service receives what you entered for the lookup.
• Car search forms (such as Find That Car): your name, mobile number, email, postal code, how you prefer to be contacted, and your answers about the car you want, including anything you write in the free-text boxes. Please do not put health or financial details there. The form is run for us by a service provider, which may save a form you have started before you send it.

When you text our personal car agent#

• Your mobile number, and your name, email or postal code if you give them to us.
• The messages you send us and we send you, and when.
• Your car search: the kind of car you want, your budget, how you will use it, what you like and do not like, and when you plan to buy and how you plan to pay, if you tell us. The agent keeps short notes so it does not ask you twice.
• The emails we exchange with dealerships about cars for you.
• Records of your consent: when you texted us first or agreed to hear from us, and when you opted out.
• Service records: whether each message was delivered, and the searches we ran for you.

We do not need your SIN, driver's licence, banking or card details, or credit information. Please do not send them.

When you call a dealership that uses Uobo Connect#

• The audio of the call and a written transcript.
• Your phone number, what you asked about, any name, vehicle or appointment details you give, and a short summary.
• Call details such as time, length, and whether the call was passed to a person.
• Scores that help the dealership decide who to follow up with first, such as how urgent the request sounded.

From dealership staff who use Uobo Connect#

Name, work email, role, and how they use the service.

Why we use it#

• To reply to you and help you: understand what you need, search listings, explain options, book what you ask for.
• To pass a request to a dealership when you ask, or (for a call) to give the dealership its record of your call.
• To keep the service working and safe: fix problems, prevent abuse and keep costs in check.
• To improve the service, for example by reviewing conversations to make our assistants more accurate and helpful. For Uobo Connect calls, we use call records, including full transcripts, to test and improve our voice AI, under confidentiality and only within Uobo and the providers who help us. We train our AI only on transcripts that have had identifying details removed, and only as the dealership's agreement allows.
• To meet legal duties, such as honouring your opt-out.

We use your information only for these purposes unless you agree to something else or the law requires it.

Information that no longer identifies you#

We may combine information or remove the details that identify people, so that it can no longer reasonably be linked to you, and use the result for any purpose, such as research, improving our products, and insights about the car market for us and for businesses. We keep it that way: we do not try to identify anyone from it, and we require anyone we share it with not to try either.

Your consent#

In Canada we rely on your consent, which can be express (for example, you agree on a form) or implied (for example, you text us first, or you stay on a call after the dealership tells you it is recorded). You can withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal limits. We will tell you what it means for the service.

Texting with us#

When you text our number or agree on a form to hear from us, you agree to receive texts from the agent about your car search. The rules for those texts, including how to stop them, are in the Text Messaging Terms.

We do not share your mobile number or your text-message consent with anyone for their own marketing.

AI#

The agent and our voice assistants are AI. To write replies and understand speech, your messages or call audio are processed by AI services run by our providers. AI can make mistakes. AI Transparency explains where we use it, what it cannot do, and how to reach a person.

For the agent, every request to an AI model asks for zero data retention, and our AI gateway sends it only to providers that have agreed to keep nothing after they reply and not to train on what we send. For Uobo Connect calls, AI providers process the call only to provide their service to us.

Who we share it with#

• Service providers that run our products for us, under agreements that limit how they can use your information. They provide texting, email, hosting, databases, AI and vehicle listings. Ask us for the list at support@uobo.ca.

• Vehicle listings: to find cars near you, the agent sends search criteria, including your postal code, to a vehicle listings data provider. We never send your name or contact details.

• Dealerships: only what you agree to. When you ask the agent to check a car, it emails the dealership about the car, roughly how far away you are, when you plan to buy if you told it, and your questions. That email does not include your name or contact details. The agent gives a dealership your name, phone number and email only if you say yes, for that dealership and that car. Our team checks each email before it goes. You can tell the agent at any time to stop contacting a dealership for you. For a Uobo Connect call, the dealership you called receives its record of the call.

• Legal reasons: when the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety.

• A change of ownership: if our business is sold or merged, your information may move to the new owner, who must keep protecting it as this policy says.

• Advertising partners: we advertise on Google and Meta (Facebook and Instagram). Their tools on our websites tell them which pages you visited, so they can measure our ads and show them to people who visited. They receive information about your visit and your device. The Cookie and Tracking Notice explains how to turn this off.

We do not sell personal information for money. Under some US state privacy laws, sharing visit information with advertising partners counts as "sharing" or a "sale"; you can opt out using your browser and the ad settings the Cookie and Tracking Notice lists.

Where it is stored#

The agent’s database is in Canada. Some of our service providers store or process information outside Canada, mainly in the United States: texting, email, the AI models, and the servers that run the agent. There it is subject to the laws of that country, and its authorities may be able to access it. If you live in Alberta, our Privacy Officer can answer your questions about our service providers outside Canada: email support@uobo.ca.

How long we keep it#

Your rights#

You can ask us to:

• tell you what we hold about you and give you a copy;
• correct it;
• delete it, except what we must keep (such as your opt-out);
• stop using it, or withdraw your consent.

If you phoned a dealership, ask the dealership first, because it holds your call record. You can also email us and we will pass your request on and help.

US residents in states with privacy laws can also ask what we collect, to delete or correct it, and to opt out of any sale or sharing of their information. We do not sell it. We will not treat you worse for asking. If we refuse a request, you can appeal by replying to our answer.

How to ask: email support@uobo.ca. We may need to confirm who you are. We answer within 30 days in Canada and 45 days for US requests (we may extend once, and we will tell you why). If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca), or your provincial privacy commissioner.

Security#

We protect your information with reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards suited to how sensitive it is, including sign-in controls and encryption while it travels over networks. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we will tell you and the regulator, as the law requires. Where a dealership is responsible for your information, we tell the dealership so it can do the same.

Who can use our services#

Our services are for adults. Do not use the agent if you are under the age of majority where you live. Our services are not offered in Quebec at this time. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

Changes to this policy#

We post changes here with a new version and date. If a change is significant, we tell you by text or email before it takes effect.

Contact#

Privacy Officer, Uobo Canada Inc., 788 Jackpine Way, London, Ontario N5X 0L9. Email support@uobo.ca.