Privacy Policy
Scope and purpose
This policy is applicable to the Processing of customers' Personal Data at Polestar Performance AB and affiliates ("Polestar" or "we"). The purpose of this policy is to provide our current, former and potential customers (jointly referred to as "customers" or "you") with a general understanding of:
- The circumstances under which we collect and process your Personal Data
- The types of Personal Data we collect
- The reasons for collecting your Personal Data
- How we handle your Personal Data
- Distribution of responsibility for the Processing of Personal Data between various legal entities in the Volvo Cars Group
- Contact details for requests for rectification of Personal Data or subject access requests.
This policy is updated continuously to reflect the measures taken by Polestar in relation to your Personal Data.
Data control at Polestar
Polestar is responsible for marketing, sales and customer relations as well as market-specific services for all markets in which Polestar has operations. Polestar is Data Controller for the Processing of Personal Data taking place for these purposes. In markets without a Polestar presence, an affiliate usually has the same responsibility as Polestar. Therefore, the affiliate is the Data Controller in these instances.
Principles of data processing
The Processing of your Personal Data forms an important part of our provision of products and services to you. We appreciate the trust you place in us when providing us with your Personal Data, and consider your privacy an essential part of the services we offer. In order to safeguard your Personal Data while increasing the customer value and offering enhanced and safer driving experiences, we adhere to the following five general principles.
Freedom of choice
Your Personal Data belongs to you. We strive not to make any assumptions regarding your privacy preferences and aim to design our services so that you can choose whether or not to share your Personal Data with us.
Balance of interests
Where the Processing of your Personal Data is necessary for the pursuit of a legitimate interest, and where this interest outweighs the need to protect your privacy, we may process certain Personal Data without obtaining your express consent if so permitted by law. In certain other situations, we may also process your Personal Data without your consent if so required in accordance with applicable law. For more information, see the "Consent" section below. Where your Personal Data is processed for the public interest, we base that on the potential benefits to (including the safety of) our customers and the general public.
Proportionality
Polestar will only process its customers' Personal Data if it is adequate, relevant and necessary in relation to the purpose for which it has been gathered. We aim to anonymize your Personal Data when a function or service can be achieved with anonymized data. If we combine anonymized or non-Personal Data with your Personal Data, it will be treated as Personal Data for as long as it remains combined.
Transparency and security
Polestar believes in being transparent about which Personal Data we process and for which purposes. To us it is also vital to protect your Personal Data, Polestar will provide customers with further information regarding our Processing and protection of your Personal Data.
Legal compliance
It is Polestars' policy to comply with the applicable laws, rules and regulations governing privacy and data protection in each and every country where we operate. Where necessary, we will adjust our Processing of your Personal Data as described in this policy to ensure legal compliance. The Personal Data that Polestar collects about you and the vehicle will be used:
- To provide you with products and services, including to verify your eligibility for certain purchases and services as well as to offer you enhanced offers and experiences;
- To inform you of updates to, or changes in, our products and services, including but not limited to changes to our terms and conditions and policies;
- To inform you of new products, services and events;
- For product development purposes: for example, to improve product performance, quality and safety;
- To evaluate and improve our offerings to and communication with customers;
- To comply with legal requirements or requests from lawful authorities;
- To inform you about our products and services and identify those that may be of interest to you;
- To carry out market research; and
- For purposes of analysis and customer profiling (online and social included) done by ourselves and our chosen providers.
Helpful definitions
The following terms, used throughout this policy, have the meanings set out in Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the Processing of Personal Data and on the free movement of such data.
- "Data Controller" means a natural or legal person, public authority, institution or any other body which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the Processing of Personal Data.
- "Data Processor" means a natural or legal person, public authority, institution or any other body which processes Personal Data on behalf of the Data Controller.
- "Personal Data" means all information relating to an identified or identifiable physical person ("registered"). An identifiable physical person is a person who can be identified, directly or indirectly.
- "Processing" means any operation or set of operations which is performed upon Personal Data or sets of Personal Data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, limitation, erasure or destruction.
In addition, Polestar defines:
- "Sensitive Personal Data" as Personal Data that is likely to cause harm or particular concern to the data subject if disclosed. Examples of such data are: Specific Personal Data categories (as defined below), credit card number and other financial information about the registered person, personal ID number and location details.
- "Special Categories of Data" means Personal Data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the Processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health, or data concerning a natural person's sex life or sexual orientation.
Data collection
You may provide us with information about you when utilizing Polestars' services or in other contacts with Polestar, for example through our websites or customer centers (in this context, please note that phone calls may be recorded, with your consent, for quality assurance purposes). Such data ("customer-provided Personal Data") may include:
- Your contact information (name, address, telephone number, email address, etc.);
- Demographic information (age, marital status, household composition, etc.);
- Location data generated by your activities (navigation assistance, search queries, location sharing, etc.); and
- Data pertaining to your purchase and use of our products and services (customer preferences and settings, purchase history, etc.).
We are particularly careful and apply additional measures if and when collecting and Processing Sensitive Personal Data, as required by applicable law. For the avoidance of doubt, note that applicable law may require other kind of data to also be treated as Sensitive Personal Data.
Notice
Where reasonably practical or as required by applicable law, we will, in collecting or recording your Personal Data, provide you with (i) specific information as to the purposes of the Processing of your Personal Data, (ii) the identity of the Data Controller, (iii) the identities of any Third Parties to whom the data may be disclosed, and (iv) other information that may be necessary to ensure that you are able to safeguard your rights.
Consent
Where reasonably practical or as required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent prior to collecting or using your Personal Data. The request for your consent will be clear and specific and will provide you with a reasonable basis with which to make your decision. We will never take your consent for granted. Instead, we will make sure that you can actively consent in a clear and transparent manner. Your consent is voluntary and can always be revoked, for example by terminating a particular service or contacting Polestar at the address indicated in the "Information and Access" section below. If you do not give your consent, it may not be possible to use services or parts of services.
Third-party applications
You may access applications and other services linked with a Polestar product but provided by a Third Party, which may, for example, require transmission of location data and other Recorded Data to this Third Party. Polestar is not responsible for the collection or use of Personal Data in applications or services provided by a Third Party, and recommends that you carefully review applicable terms for (and any integrity policy related to) such applications or services before you use them. If you have questions concerning a certain Third-Party use of your Personal Data, please contact the Third Party directly.
International transfers
Polestar may transfer your Personal Data to recipients in countries outside of the European Economic Area which may have differing data protection laws. This includes countries which the EU Commission does not consider to have an adequate level of protection for personal data. If this occurs Polestar will ensure there is are legal grounds for the transfer in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. You will also be informed about the legal grounds, what safeguards were implemented, and where you can obtain a copy of these safeguards.
Data use
For most Processing acts, you are able to terminate our use of your Personal Data by updating your preferences, terminating a particular service, revoking your consent to the Processing by contacting Polestar at the address indicated in the "Information and Access" section below or as otherwise instructed by us. However, and unless otherwise provided in applicable law, you may generally not opt out of the Processing of your Personal Data:
- When we perform such Processing in order to send you important notices, such as changes to our terms and conditions and policies or in case of product recalls; and
- When we perform it in order to comply with our legal obligations.
Retention
We will only retain your Personal Data for as long as it is necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy or the purposes of which you have otherwise been informed. This means that when you have consented to our Processing of your Personal Data, we will maintain the data for as long as the customer relationship lasts (and where applicable, until the expiration of the warranty period) or until you withdraw your consent. If you decide to end your customer relationship, we will retain the data for a period of five (5) years after which your data will be deleted. If we have not received your consent for Processing, the data will only be retained to the extent we are permitted to do so by law.
Data quality
When we process your Personal Data, we strive to ensure that it is correct and up to date. We attempt to delete or correct Personal Data that is incorrect or incomplete. For more information regarding your right to ensure the accuracy of your Personal Data held by us, please see the "Information and Access" section below.
Information and access
As stated in the "Notice" section above, we may provide you with specific information concerning our Processing of your Personal Data when collecting or recording such data. Once per year you have the right to request, and receive free of charge, information on (i) what Personal Data relating to you that we process, (ii) where the Personal Data is collected, (iii) the purpose of the Processing, and (iv) the recipients or recipient categories with which the Personal Data is shared. Requests for such information must be made in writing and be signed by you personally, and include information on the name, address and ideally the email address as well. You are also entitled to request that we correct, block or delete any incorrect information related to you. Requests should be sent to the legal entity indicated at the end of this document. Your requests will be dealt with in a prompt and proper manner. Requests to delete Personal Data will be subject to any applicable legal requirements. Where the applicable law allows for an administrative fee for complying with such a request, such a fee may be charged by Polestar.
Your obligations
Polestar recognizes that there may be circumstances in which you may allow someone else to use a product or service that we provide. For example, you may permit another individual to use your Polestar product or service. It is important that if you do allow someone else to use your product or service that you inform them of this Privacy Policy and the privacy choices that you have made. If you sell or otherwise transfer a Polestar product or service, it is your responsibility to delete all information from the products system and contact us to transfer or cancel your account. If you do not delete this information, it may remain on the products system.
Security
Polestar has taken technical and organizational measures in order to protect your Personal Data against accidental or unlawful destruction, accidental loss or alteration, unauthorized disclosure or access and any other unlawful forms of Processing.
Disclosures to third parties
Polestar may share your Personal Data:
- Among Polestar units
- With Polestar authorized dealers and repairers, for the purpose of distributing product and service offers and other communications to you; and
- With other business partners for the purpose of distributing product and service offers and other communications to you or for research and development purposes;
- In connection with the sale or transfer of a Polestar entity or its assets;
- As required by law: for example, in connection with a government inquiry, dispute, or other legal process or request;
- When we, in good faith, believe that disclosure is necessary in order to protect our rights: for example, in order to investigate potential violations of our terms and conditions, or to detect, prevent or disclose fraud or other security issues;
- With other business partners or Third Parties where you have elected to receive a service from them and authorized them to request data from Polestar;
- With our product and service providers who work on our behalf in connection with these uses, such as wireless service providers, companies that host or operate our website, send communications, perform data analytics, credit card processors, or system providers necessary to process, store, or manage credit card or financial information; and
A Polestar entity being the Data Controller of your Personal Data will, as a general rule, only disclose your Personal Data to a Third Party if it has received your consent to do so. However, if permitted by law, we may share your Personal Data without your consent, unless we consider your consent necessary in the individual case or your consent is required by law, in the following situations:
- Situations in which disclosure is required by law; and
- Situations in which disclosure is necessary for the purpose of a legitimate interest pursued by Polestar (for example in order to protect our legal rights, as described above).
Data processing on our behalf
We restrict access to your Personal Data to Polestar employees and providers who need to use the information in order to process it on our behalf, and who are contractually required to keep your Personal Data secure and confidential. We aim to choose the option for Data Processing services that best safeguards the integrity of your Personal Data toward any Third Party. Some of these Processing activities might be per-formed outside of the EEA under a specific legal basis as required by national law.
Marketing
We will not sell your Personal Data to or trade it with Third Parties unless we have your consent to do so. We will not share your Personal Data with Third Parties for their marketing purposes, unless we have received your consent for such disclosures. If you have provided such consent but wish to stop receiving marketing materials from a Third Party, please contact that Third Party directly. We may provide you with information regarding new products, services, events, or similar marketing activities. If you wish to unsubscribe from a particular e-mail newsletter or similar com types of communication from Polestar and to change previously submitted preferences
California privacy rights
If you are a California resident you have the right to request information from Polestar regarding the manner in which we share certain categories of your personal information with Third Parties for the Third Parties' direct marketing purposes. California law provides that you have the right to submit a request to Polestar at the address listed below and receive information about the categories of personal information Polestar disclosed to Third Parties for Third Parties' direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year; and the names and addresses that received such information, or examples of the product or services marketed if the nature of their business cannot be determined by the business name. If you are a California resident, you are entitled to receive a copy of this information in a standardized format and the information will not be specific to you individually. See the below Contact Details to make a request.
Websites and cookies
In general, you can visit Polestar websites without telling us who you are or revealing any information about yourself. However, to be able to provide you with certain services or offerings, we often need to record certain items of Personal Data, such as your name and email address. We may also collect (by means of cookies) anonymous information on how you have used our websites prior to such recording. This information will be helpful to us in order to improve our websites or marketing. All Polestar websites open to our customers include information concerning our use of cookies. For certain countries there is also an online procedure for accepting or declining cookies. For more information regarding our use of cookies, please consult the local information regarding cookies published for your country under www.polestar.com. Polestar does not track its customers over time and across Third Party websites to provide targeted advertising and therefore does not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals. However, some Third Party sites do keep track of your browsing activities when they serve you content, which enables them to tailor what they present to you. Third parties that have content on our Sites such as a social feature may set cookies on your browser or obtain information about the fact that a web browser visited a specific Site from a certain IP address. Third parties cannot obtain any other personally identifiable information from our Sites unless you provide it to them directly.
Children
Our services are not intended for use by children. We do not knowingly solicit or collect any Personal Data about children under the age of 13 nor market to them. If a child has provided us with Personal Data, a parent or guardian of that child may contact us to have the information deleted from our records. If you believe that we might have any information from a child under age 13, please contact us. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected the personal information of a child under 13, or equivalent mini-mum age depending on jurisdiction, we will take steps to delete the information as soon as possible.
Monitoring
As a result of legal requirements, we have to monitor how our system works. This means that we collect sample data from system use.
Contact details
To exercise your rights, e.g. to obtain information or access to Personal Data which we process, you must contact the Polestar unit responsible for Processing (see under "Data Control" above). Data protection representative: Data Protection Officer, Polestar Johan på Gårdas gata 5A SE-421 50 Gothenburg Sweden
You can also approach local data protection authorities.
Legal notice
When used below “Polestar” means either Polestar Performance AB and its affiliates.
No warranties etc.
Although all reasonable care has been taken to assure the accuracy of the information on this web site (the “Site”), it is provided "as is". In no event shall Polestar be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, consequential or other kind of damages for any use of the Site, or on any hyperlinked web site, including, without limitation, any lost profits, business interruption, loss of programs, loss of data or otherwise, even if Polestar has been expressly advised of the possibility of such damages.
Any warranties and representations in the Site for Polestar products or services that you purchase or use will be subject to the agreed upon terms and conditions in the contract for such products or services.
Information on the Site may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. The information contained on the Site may be changed at any time without prior notification. Further, please note that Polestar reserves the right to at any time make changes to its products and services, including their prices.
Information on the Site may contain references to Polestar products and services which are not announced or available in your country. Such references do not imply that Polestar intends to announce or make available such products and services in your country. Please also note that certain products and services may only be available at extra cost and that some of the information on the Site may not be correct due to product changes having occurred after the launch or latest update of the Site. Please contact your Polestar dealer for complete details regarding the products and services being available to you.
Unsolicited ideas etc.
Polestar appreciates to get input from its community and welcomes comments and feedback related to Volvo cars products and services. However, it is Polestars policy to not accept or otherwise consider information (such as ideas, proposals, suggestion and comments) other than such that Volvo cars has explicitly requested. This policy is intended to avoid misunderstandings or disputes since new products, services, features, business models etc. are continuously developed by Polestar or its suppliers which may be similar or identical to the ideas or information of others, even if developed without any inspiration from such ideas or information of others.
If, despite Polestars request that you do not send information to Polestar, you still send Polestar information, such as an idea, proposal, suggestion, comment etc., (collectively the “Submission”) you agree, regardless of any reservations made by you in an accompanying letter or otherwise:
- that the Submission or parts of it shall be deemed non-confidential and non-proprietary;
- that Polestar shall have no obligations (contractual or otherwise, including, but not limited to, obligations to review, respond to or otherwise process the Submission and/or to keep the Submission confidential) with respect to the Submission or parts of it;
- that Polestar shall have no liability for any use or disclosure of the Submission, or parts of it; and
- that Polestar shall be entitled to unrestricted use in any way of the Submission or parts of it for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without any consideration or compensation to you.
Specific software available on the site
Any software that may be available to download from the Site (the "Software") is the copyrighted work of Polestar and/or its licensors.
Use of the Software is governed by the terms of the end user license agreement, if any, which accompanies or is included with the Software ("License Agreement"). Unless otherwise follows from the License Agreement the Software is made available for downloading solely for use by end users. Further, unless otherwise follows from the License Agreement, the Software may be used solely for the purpose for which the Software is made available. Any reproduction or redistribution of the Software not in accordance with the License Agreement is expressly prohibited and may result in civil and criminal penalties.
The Software is warranted, if at all, only according to the terms of the License Agreement. Except as may thus be warranted in the License Agreement, Polestar hereby disclaims all warranties with regard to the Software, including all implied warranties and conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.