RACQ Group Privacy Policy

The protection of your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information is important to RACQ.

RACQ Group

The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland Limited is the owner of a group of companies, which include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • RACQ Operations
  • RACQ Insurance
  • Members Banking Group Limited trading as RACQ Bank
  • Club Insurance Holdings
  • Club Finance Holdings

(collectively referred to as the ‘RACQ’, ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’).

RACQ collects, holds, uses and discloses your personal information in a number of ways. RACQ is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles contained within the Act.

Purpose

The purpose of this privacy policy is to clearly outline the types, and circumstances, of personal information collected by us, and how we handle, use and disclose that personal information. It provides general information about how RACQ manages your personal information. If you purchase or acquire a product or service from RACQ Bank, you will receive further information about how we deal with your personal information (including credit-related information). Please refer to the RACQ Bank Privacy and Credit Reporting Policy for further information. If you purchase or acquire a product or service from RACQ Operations Pty Ltd and its wholly owned subsidiaries, RACQ-Queensland Driving Excellence Centre Pty Ltd and Automotive Assistance Services Pty Ltd, please refer to the RACQ Operations Credit Information Management Policy for further information about how these entities deal with your personal information (including credit-related information).

RACQ collects personal information from you, in order to identify you and provide products, benefits and services to you. To discuss the exact information we require for each product, please contact us on 13 19 05 or visit any RACQ branch. You may also email us at privacy@racq.com.au.

Commitment

The protection of your privacy and confidentiality of your personal information is important to us.

If you choose not to provide us with the information that we have requested for, in most cases, we will be unable to provide the product, service or benefit you have applied for, or administer a service you have already purchased. Where this arises, we will advise you why.

If at any time you have any concerns about your privacy, please contact us on 13 19 05, visit any RACQ branch, or email us at privacy@racq.com.au. RACQ will appropriately support and assist with your concerns where possible.

RACQ recognises that many of us could be facing difficult situations and we endeavour to help and support as best as we can, if needed, and to protect your privacy.

If your finances are being controlled by someone else in a way that is causing you concern, or if you are being threatened, controlled, coerced, or experiencing violent acts that may be causing you to be fearful, speak to one of our staff who can help you by protecting your privacy and managing the products you hold, or wish to hold with us, to reasonably suit your needs. We have many options appropriate for complex and challenging times and we are here to provide care and additional support to our members.

Call 000 if you are in immediate danger.

Call our Group Member Advocate Office on 1800 848 869 between 8:30am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday. We can arrange the National relay Service or an interpreter, if required. To find out more how the Member Advocate Office can help you, refer to the Group Member Advocate Office page here.

To access other support services, refer to the RACQ Supporting vulnerability page here.

Questions, comments, and complaints

If you have any questions or comments regarding your privacy in relation to RACQ, please contact us on 13 19 05 or email us at privacy@racq.com.au.

If you believe that we have not fulfilled our obligations under the Privacy Act or you do not agree with a decision made by RACQ in relation to the access or update of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us by writing to us at:

Privacy Officer
Group Risk & Compliance
PO Box 4 Springwood QLD 4127
email: privacy@racq.com.au

Once we have received your complaint, we will investigate and endeavour to respond to you within 15 working days. If you are unhappy with the response from RACQ, you can direct your complaint to the Federal Privacy Commissioner at:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 1042
Phone: 1300 363 992
TTY: 1800 620 241
email: privacy@privacy.gov.au

Changes to this privacy statement

This privacy statement was last updated on 18 March 2024. RACQ continuously reviews its privacy statement and procedures to keep up to date with relevant legislative and operating requirements. As a result, we may update and change this privacy statement from time-to-time and the updated version will be published on our website. If you have a concern or query about this process and how it may affect you, please contact us at privacy@racq.com.au.

Your consent

You consent to RACQ collecting, handling, using and disclosing your personal information in accordance with this privacy statement, as it applies from time-to-time, and as permitted by any law.

From time-to-time we may require your consent to collect, handle, use, and disclose your personal information in order to continue to provide you the products, services or benefits you have requested or have already purchased. Your consent can be express or implied.

Express consent can be verbal or written, for example when you apply for membership, after signing the application, you are giving express consent to share your information with other roadside assist organisations should you require assistance outside of Queensland.

Your implied consent is taken when RACQ can reasonably conclude by some action you take, or if you decide to take no action, for example when you call us and continue to speak to us after hearing that calls may be recorded or when you provide us with personal information that we have not specifically requested.

Keeping your information safe

RACQ has policies and procedures that prescribe how we handle and store information, and to ensure that information is only accessed by people that have the authority and need to do so. Both physical (such as locks and security systems) and electronic (such as firewalls and access controls for computer systems) security mechanisms are in place and undergo routine review and testing.

RACQ will destroy personal information if it is no longer needed for the purposes for which we collected it, or for the purposes of meeting legal and regulatory requirements. RACQ will properly dispose of all paper files, correspondence and any other hardcopy documents. Electronic records will be appropriately deleted from systems.

Types of personal information that we collect

We will only collect information from you that is reasonably necessary to undertake our business activities and functions. The types of information that we collect will depend on the products, benefits and services you have asked us to provide. Additionally, the types of information that we collect will depend on the means which you chose to communicate with us, such as e-mail, online, telephone or in person.

The types of personal information we may ask for include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • your name, address, and date of birth;
  • your contact details;
  • identification information such as drivers license or passport details;
  • vehicle or property details;
  • relevant licensing or registration details;
  • your driving history
  • your preferences and history in regards to products, services, benefits and marketing; or
  • your communication history with us.

RACQ does not use any government identifiers (your drivers licence, tax file number, Medicare number) as your membership, policy or application number.

Collection of personal information via online resources

When you engage with us through our online resources including, but not limited to, websites and mobile applications ‘apps’.

The types of personal information we may ask for include, but are not limited to:

  • server or IP addresses;
  • date and time of visit to our site;
  • pages visited;
  • documents downloaded;
  • the site you visited prior to visiting our website;
  • the browser that you are using to access our resources;
  • if you have visited our website before; or
  • tracking user preferences.

In addition to the above, mobile ‘apps’ may collect location data, however, you will be notified if this is the case. Most of our online resources use sessions and/or cookies. The functionality of these resources will continue if you disable sessions and/or cookies, however, you may be unable to access some functions if these are disabled.

If you use the RACQ Bank internet banking facility available on the RACQ Bank website, we may collect the following information:

  • login time and date (successful and unsuccessful)
  • logout time and date
  • account transactions (including type, time and date)
  • home phone number
  • work phone number
  • mobile phone number
  • fax number
  • email address
  • postal address
  • transaction payee details
  • transaction biller details, and
  • password changes (including time and date).

We use up-to-date security measures on our website to protect your personal information and your credit information. Any data containing personal, credit or related information which we transmit via the internet is encrypted. However, we cannot guarantee that any information transmitted via the internet by us, or yourself, is entirely secure. You use our website at your own risk.

Types of sensitive information that we collect

Sensitive information, as defined by law, includes any information about a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record or health information.

We will always explain the purpose for collecting sensitive information. For example, we may request health information to assess, process and manage a claim made under an insurance policy.

Third-party suppliers

RACQ also use third party providers. Whilst we will only deal with reputable service providers, we recommend that you read the privacy statement of the third-party site if you are redirected.

Unsolicited Personal Information

Unsolicited personal information includes personal information that RACQ has not requested or taken any active steps to receive.

Where we receive unsolicited personal information, we will determine whether we could have received the personal information under the Australian Privacy Principles. If we determine we could not have reasonably collected the personal information, we will as soon as practicable either destroy or de-identify the personal information, if lawful and reasonable to do so.

How we collect your information

In most cases, we will only collect information from you directly, including written applications, face-to-face transactions in our branches or when you contact us via telephone or an electronic means such as the Internet or email.

If you wish to deal with us anonymously or by a pseudonym you must advise us and RACQ will assess whether both lawfully and practically we can comply with the request.

We may collect personal information from other parties when required, such as to process an insurance claim, or when you provide personal information to one of our business partners to provide you a product, service benefit connected to your RACQ membership.

RACQ is a Member of the Insurance Reference Services Limited (IRS). IRS is a member-based organisation supporting Australian general insurance company members with understanding policy holder claims history, for the purpose of supporting claims management, claims investigation, loss assessment, fraud detection and risk underwriting. We may collect personal information from IRS for these purposes by accessing the IRS Database.

When you provide us with personal information of a third party

When you provide us with the personal information of a third- party (such as an authorised party on your account, or the details of a driver in a claim) you warrant that you have notified that third-party that you will be providing the personal information to RACQ, and the purpose for which it is provided.

When you provide us with the personal information of a third-party we will only use, handle or disclose that personal information for the purposes for which it was provided.

Using your information to provide you with requested products and services

We use the personal information we collect to provide services, benefits and products to you. In order to do this, we may need to disclose some of your personal information to other people or organisations. This may include, but is not limited to contractors, agents, our business partners or organisations that we have an alliance or arrangement with.

Further, we will share your personal information with all companies that form part of RACQ. If one company within RACQ collects your personal information, other entities within RACQ may use and disclose your personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

If you inform us, or we identify, that you are experiencing difficult circumstances and are in need of additional care and support, and you hold or wish to hold multiple products across companies within RACQ, we can support you by reducing the amount of times you need to talk to us. We will seek your consent before we share your personal information with other companies within RACQ.

We may also use personal information for other purposes where you would reasonably expect us to and the purpose is related to the purpose of collection, or where otherwise permitted by law.

Using your information to market products and services to you

RACQ may use your personal information that we have collected to identify a product or service that may be of benefit to you and may contact you to let you know about these. RACQ may also disclose your personal information to our business partners or related entities to enable them to tell you about a relevant RACQ product or service.

If you do not wish to receive marketing contacts, you can contact us at any time and we will generally process your request within 10 business days of receipt.

Disclosure of your information to third-parties

Personal information that we collect from you may be disclosed to:
  • any entity to which we are required, or authorised by or under law, to disclose such information (for instance, law enforcement agencies and investigative agencies, courts, various other government bodies);
  • other third-parties that you have consented to;
  • our contractors, agents or business partners for purposes directly related to the purpose for which the personal information is collected, for example, other roadside assist organisations should you require assistance outside of Queensland;
  • our professional advisors and other contractors (for example IT consultants);
  • external providers of services where you have engaged us to act as your agent, such as booking flights, hotels tours etc; or
  • other insurers, insurance investigators and claims or insurance reference services, loss adjusters and reinsurers.

RACQ may disclose your personal information, including claim and/or policy information, to IRS and this information is then accessible to other IRS Members via the IRS database. IRS may be used by each IRS Member for a number of authorised purposes such as providing insurance services, including carrying out underwriting processes and issuing an insurance policy, dealing with claims and/or detection of fraud or other unlawful activities. These purposes form the objectives of IRS to prevent fraud.

We may also disclose your personal information where otherwise permitted or required by law.

Disclosure of your information to third parties overseas

RACQ may need to disclose your personal information to an overseas recipient.

You consent to RACQ making these disclosures as we deem necessary to administer and supply the requested services to you. Where we disclose your personal information to an overseas recipient, we will take reasonable steps to include relevant obligations aligned with the Australian privacy laws on how the recipient collects, uses, discloses, stores and retains your personal information.

Your personal information may be disclosed overseas for the following purposes:

  • Where you have engaged us to act as your agent and the services you have requested us to provide require us to deal with overseas organisations (where RACQ acts as your travel agent, it may be necessary for us to disclose personal information to an overseas travel provider for the purposes of arranging your booking with them. As we deal with many providers world-wide, it is not possible for us to set out in this policy, all of the different countries to whom we may send your information, however, should you have any specific questions relating to whom your personal information may be sent, please refer to your travel consultant).
  • Where you have agreed that RACQ may communicate with you regarding your membership, and associated offers, by e-mail (we may disclose to entities in Thailand and China).
  • Where you communicate with us by e-mail, and when we communicate about you, your membership, your insurance policy, or your loan.
  • As required for the maintenance and sustainment of our systems and databases.

We may store your information in cloud or other types of networked or electronic storage. As electronic or networked storage can be accessed from various countries via an internet connection, it’s not always practicable to know in which country your information may be held. If your information is stored in this way, disclosures may occur in countries other than those listed.

Overseas organisations may be required to disclose information we share with them under a foreign law. In those instances, we will not be responsible for that disclosure. Please see our RACQ Overseas Disclosure list for countries that RACQ may disclose your personal information to.

Accessing your personal information

If you request it, we will provide you a summary of any personal information held about you in accordance with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). If you request detailed information, RACQ may charge a fee for the retrieval of this information.

Any requests for information will be processed within a reasonable timeframe (usually within 15 business days). If the retrieval of information involves accessing archived information and will take longer than normal, we will endeavour to provide you with an estimated timeframe.

Under some circumstances, we may refuse you access to personal information where denying access is required or authorised by law, for example if access would pose a threat to life or the health of anyone, where the request for access is regarded as frivolous or vexatious, or where information relates to anticipated or legal proceedings. If you are denied access to your information, we will explain why.

How we keep your information up to date

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate and up to date and we will correct this as soon as we know otherwise. You have the right to ask us to correct your information. If you learn that your information needs to be updated, you should contact us as soon as possible and we will process your request. If we refuse to correct your information, we will explain why in writing, and advise you of the mechanisms available to you to complain. You also have a right for a statement to be attached to your personal information if RACQ disagrees with your request to correct the information held.