Privacy Policy
RH Insurance
RH Insurance Inc. is an Ontario registered general insurance broker. For simplicity, in this privacy policy, RH Insurance Inc. will be referred to as “we” or “us” and the members of the public as “you”. The purpose of this privacy policy is to inform you about the information we may collect, use, or disclose about you in the course of our operations.
Some of the information we collect, use, and disclose is considered personal information. Personal information is information about an identifiable person; or put another way, it is information that can identify you.
Necessarily we must:
- collect some information about you to provide you with the services we offer,
- use some of that information to give you the best services we can, and
- disclose some of that information to other parties to ultimately deliver and refine those services.
As some collection, use, and disclosure of personal information is necessary to carry out the services we provide you, we strive to strike the proper balance between the information we need and the principals outlined in Canada’s privacy legislation: accountability, purpose identification, consent, limiting collection, limiting use disclosure and retention, accuracy, safeguards, and openness.
This privacy policy outlines the: How, Why, and Who of the information that we collect, use, or disclose. Also, this policy describes some of ways we protect the personal information we have in our possession and gives you the information to contact us if you have any questions or concerns. This privacy policy covers how we deal with your information generally as well as how collect, use, and disclose the information about you we gain from our website.
How?
How do we collect your personal information? We collect your information ourselves and from other companies.
When we collect your personal information, we rely on your voluntary, implicit consent in providing the information to us and our team members. This process is generally facilitated by you filling out an electronic or physical form which solicits personal, demographic, and financial information about you and details of the property you wish to insure and other property you may own. We may also collect this information from in-person or telephone conversations with you or other electronic means of communicating. In each circumstance you will be aware of the personal and demographic information being collected as well as any information we collect about your property, as you will be the one providing it. Some of this information includes:
- Name, address, telephone & fax numbers, and email addresses
- Date of birth and martial status
- Similar information about family members to be insured
- Information about prior claims
- Driving information including driver’s license number, past violations, driving experience and vehicle ownership information
- Employment information
- Details about personal and real property including value and location
- Financial information
- Payment information
We may also collect information passively when you visit our website. This information includes your IP Address, the url or search engine you used to access the website, and the type and version of browser or operating system you used. We also aggregate information, such as demographic statistics, number of visitors, pages viewed, and average time spent on our website. This information on its own cannot be used to personally identify you.
Additionally, we collect information about you from other companies.
Generally, the other companies we may collect information about you from are companies which: provide us with information about individuals who are seeking insurance, may have information that is relevant to securing the best policy for your situation and needs, or help in the process of getting you insured.
When we collect your information from other companies to offer you insurance, this information is limited to the necessary personal information to identify and contact you as well as to offer to you the services you sought. This includes leads from our affiliates and other parties that you have provided your information to with the intention of being contacted based on the information you provided.
Using the information you’ve provide and the information we’ve collected about you, on occasion we may collect additional information about you, the property you wish to ensure, and your driving record from other companies that specialize in ensuring the accuracy of this information.
We also collect information from other companies involved in providing insurance. We may learn from these partners about past or existing policies you may have with that insurance carrier, broker, or agent, about past claims you may have made on policies you have had, or other information relevant to providing you the best service. These other companies include insurance companies, insurance brokers, insurance agents, insurance adjusters, motor vehicle & licensing authorities, and financial institutions.
We collect information about you from other companies, we collect it by their voluntary transmission of this information. We ensure that the other companies we receive personal information from have policies in place that govern their collection of your information.
Why?
Why do we use your information? We use your information with the goal of providing you advice on the best insurance options available for your needs and ultimately to provide you with peace of mind by giving you to the appropriate insurance policy. We use your information both directly and indirectly to achieve this goal.
We use your information directly when provide you with our services. We use your information to select the best insurance policies for your needs with reference to your desired coverage, premiums, endorsements, and the other parameters of your insurance needs. The availability of different policies will depend on the information you provide. We may use your information to make you aware of insurance products that suit your needs or to alert you when it is time to renew your existing policies.
We use your information indirectly when we engage in marketing practices, analytics, and business development. We aggregate data to better understand our customers and potential customers. We want to understand our customers to be able to seek out the best insurance carriers, to find the best policies to serve them, and to understand what type of insurance they may need in the future.
Who?
Who do we disclose your information to? Primarily, we disclose your personal information to other insurance industry participants, like carriers, brokers, agents, and adjusters, that use that information to make underwriting, policy, and claim decisions. We may also disclose your personal information to financial and credit organizations, in the normal course of industry practice, as necessary to obtain, maintain, administer, and adjust claims with respect to the insurance policy. We may also disclose identifying and contact information about you other providers of insurance products or other products or services we do not offer.
It may also be the case that your information is indirectly disclosed to third parties with whom we have obligation to make the information available to to ensure our compliance with our regulatory and contractual obligations. These obligations include the right to make information available to be audited to ensure we are, among other things, properly storing, protecting, and complying with this privacy policy.
Indirectly, deidentified information about you may be disclosed to our consultants, advisors, and other industry professionals to support the general administrative requirements of our business. These consultants, advisors, and professionals include accountants, lawyers, and business development consultants.
Also, we use cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service providers in our day-to-day business. We use these providers for certain needs that allow us to achieve our goals as insurance brokers, specifically to access and compare various providers and policies that could be applicable to you. To the extent that storing your personal information in a machine-readable-only format on third-party server constitutes a disclosure, we disclose your personal information to these digital service providers.
Protection of Personal Information
We take stringent measures to protect all the personal information we collect and use. These measures include physical, digital, and contractual security over all sensitive data.
We implement and enforce physical security practices at our premises through restricted access to areas where sensitive information is stored as well as physical locks and barriers to prevent unauthorized access. Digitally, we follow best practices for accessing digital materials including maintaining usernames and passwords in compliance with industry standards. Further, we ensure that all our partners, vendors, and other related service providers agree to strict confidentiality obligations when engaging with us and accessing or using your data.
In the unlikely event of a breach, we will follow industry standards and applicable law to address the unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Measures may include alerting applicable authorities, implementing new standards and guidelines to prevent further breaches, and informing our users about the breach.
What guides how we collect, use, and disclose your information?
We strive to deal with all information in compliance with applicable laws, industry standards, and good business practice. Several sources inform our practices with respect to your data. As a private, registered insurance broker of Ontario, we are bound to comply with Ontario’s Registered Insurance Brokers Act, Insurance Act, and their regulations. Additionally, the requirements and principals set out in Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act govern how we deal with your information. Finally, we have obligations from the companies and individuals we do business with to maintain the confidentiality of certain materials we receive, use, and disclose.
It is important to remember that we are one link in a chain that quotes, offers, and administers your insurance policy. We ensure that all collection, use and disclosure of your personal information is done in accordance with this policy, but your particular concern may be best addressed by information provided by other members of the insurance industry with whom we do business.
Want to know more? Have Questions?
If you have any questions about anything covered in this privacy? Would you like to know what personal information we have of yours? Or would you like us to destroy all the information we have about you on file? Please feel free to reach out to: Jennifer Pollock, VP of Finance & Operations, [email protected].