Privacy policy

Commitment to privacy

Garrett Agencies values your business and we thank you for your confidence in choosing our firm as your source for insurance advice. We are committed to protecting your privacy. We respect your privacy, and want you to understand how we safeguard your personal information. Users can access GARRETT AGENCIES LTD. Online Services through our website, garrett.ca, on any device.

A "device" is any computer used to access GARRETT AGENCIES LTD. Online Services, including without limitation a desktop, laptop, mobile phone, tablet, or other consumer electronic devices.

This Privacy Policy governs your access of GARRETT AGENCIES LTD. Online Services, regardless of how you access them, and by using our Online Services you consent to the collection, transfer, processing, storage, disclosure, and other uses described in this Privacy Policy. All of the different forms of data, content, and information described below are collectively referred to as "information".

1. The information we collect and store

When you do business with GARRETT AGENCIES LTD., you share personal, medical, and financial information so that we may provide you with products and services that best meet your needs. We may also share your information with third-party insurance planning firms with whom we are affiliated when necessary, in order to provide you with the best advice, products, and experience. When you disclose this information to us we assume your consent for our firm to use this information in an appropriate manner. We may use and disclose this information in order to:

1. Communicate with you in a timely and efficient manner
2. Assess your application for insurance and other services available to you by our firm
3. Assess your insurance needs and contact you with suitable products available in the marketplace
4. Evaluate claims and underwriting tasks when required
5. Detect and prevent fraud
6. Analyze business results
7. Act as required or authorized by law

We may collect and store the following information when running GARRETT AGENCIES LTD. Online Services:

Information you provide

When you contact us through our website, we collect the information you choose to give us, such as your name, email address, phone number and your message.

Forms and files

When you send a message through our contact form, it is sent to us by email through our email delivery provider, Resend, and reaches our customer service inbox. Our website doesn’t store it. We use what you send only to reply to you and to help with your request.

Log data

When you visit our website, our hosting provider records standard information about each request, such as your device’s Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, the page requested, the page you came from and the date and time. When a page isn’t found, we also record the address you asked for and the page you came from, so we can fix broken links.

Cookies

We also use "cookies" to collect information to improve our Services. A cookie is a small data file that we transfer to your device. Our analytics providers, Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity, use cookies to understand how you interact with our website and to measure overall traffic. We also store your analytics choice in a cookie (garrett_consent) for 12 months, so we don’t ask again. If you are in Quebec, we ask for your consent before any analytics runs, and nothing is collected unless you accept. Elsewhere, analytics is on unless you turn it off. You can change your choice at any time with "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page. You can also set your browser to refuse cookies; our website works without them.

Use of Microsoft Clarity

We use Microsoft Clarity to see how visitors use our website, through behavioural metrics, heatmaps and session replay (a recording of how a page was scrolled and clicked), so we can improve it. What you type into forms is masked and never recorded. Clarity uses first- and third-party cookies, including cookies Microsoft sets on its own domains. In Quebec, Clarity runs only if you accept; elsewhere you can turn it off with "Cookie settings". For more information about how Microsoft collects and uses your data, visit the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Use of Google Analytics

We employ Google Analytics to understand how visitors engage with our website. Google Analytics uses cookies and other tracking technologies to collect information about your interactions with our site, such as the pages you visit, the time spent on those pages, and the links you click on. This data helps us analyze and improve our website's performance, understand user behaviour, and tailor our content and marketing strategies to better meet your needs.

Besides page views, we record a few actions on our site: the words you search for in our Learning Centre and Insuropedia (we skip very short searches and any that look like an email address or phone number), and when you use the call or phone buttons in an article or the "Spot a mistake?" link. We record which page it happened on, never what you write in an email. Pages that aren’t found are recorded as page views, with the address and the page you came from. We don’t use Google’s advertising features, and advertising signals are always off.

Google Analytics collects information and reports website trends without identifying individual visitors. We use this aggregated information to gain insights into how our website is used, which assists us in our commitment to provide you with a more relevant and effective user experience.

For more detailed information on how Google collects and processes your data, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page. If you prefer to opt out of Google Analytics tracking, Google provides a Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, which you can find at Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

In Quebec, Google Analytics runs only if you accept. Elsewhere, it runs unless you turn it off with "Cookie settings". You can also use Google’s opt-out add-on, above.

2. How we use personal information

Personal information

In the course of using the Services, we may collect personal information that can be used to contact or identify you ("Personal Information"). Personal Information is or may be used: (i) to provide and improve our Service, (ii) to administer your use of the Services, (iii) to better understand your needs and interests, (iv) to personalize and improve your experience, and (v) to send you information about products and services you have asked about. If you no longer wish to receive communications from us, please follow the "unsubscribe" instructions provided in any of those communications.

Geo-location information

Some of the information we collect from a Device, for example its IP address, can be used to estimate the Device's approximate location. Our analytics providers use this to report which regions our visitors come from. Our website also uses your approximate location (your province or territory, from our hosting provider) to decide whether to ask for your consent before analytics runs. We don’t store it.

Analytics

We also collect some information (ourselves or using third party Services) using logging and cookies, such as IP address, which can sometimes be correlated with Personal Information. We use this information for the above purposes and to monitor and analyze use of the Services, for the Service's technical administration, and to increase our Service's functionality and user-friendliness. As of the date this policy went into effect, we use Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity, and Vercel Speed Insights, which measures how quickly our pages load without cookies or identifying you. To learn more about the privacy policy of Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity we encourage you to go to their website.

3. Information sharing and disclosure

Service providers, business partners and others

We may use certain trusted third party companies and individuals to help us provide, analyze, and improve the Services (including but not limited to website hosting, data storage, maintenance Services, database management, web analytics, email delivery, and improvement of the Service's features). These third parties may have access to your information only for the purposes of performing these tasks on our behalf and under obligations similar to those in this Privacy Policy.

Third-party applications

We may share your information with a third party application with your consent, for example when you have a form electronically signed through such an application. We are not responsible for what those parties do with your information, so you should make sure you trust the application and that it has a privacy policy that is acceptable to you.

Compliance with laws and law enforcement requests; protection of GARRETT AGENCIES LTD.'s rights

We may disclose information about you to parties outside GARRETT AGENCIES LTD. when we have a good faith belief that disclosure is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with the law, regulation or compulsory legal request; (b) protect the safety of any person from death or serious bodily injury; (c) prevent fraud or abuse of GARRETT AGENCIES LTD. or its clients; or (d) protect GARRETT AGENCIES LTD.'s legal rights.

Business transfers

If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction, but we will notify you (for example via email and/or a prominent notice on our website) of any change in control or use of your Personal Information, Forms or Files or if any of these become subject to a different Privacy Policy. We will also notify you of choices you may have regarding the information.

Non-private or non-personal information

We may disclose your non-private, aggregated, or otherwise non-personal information, such as usage statistics of our service.

What we will not do

We do not sell client information to anyone. We do not, and will never, share client information with third-parties that would use it for the purposes of contacting you about their own products and services.

4. Changing or deleting your information

You may ask us to review, update, correct, or delete the Personal Information we hold about you by contacting our Privacy and Compliance Officer, Kyle Garrett, at compliance@garrett.ca. In some cases we may retain copies of your information if required by law. For questions about your Personal Information on our Service, please contact the same address. We will respond to your inquiry within 2 business days.

5. Data retention

We will retain your information for as long as you are a client or as needed to provide you Services. If you would like us to stop using your information to provide you Services, please contact our Privacy and Compliance Officer, Kyle Garrett, at compliance@garrett.ca. We may retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Consistent with these requirements, we will try to delete your information quickly upon request. Please note, however, that there might be latency in deleting information from our servers and backed-up versions might exist after deletion.

6. Garrett Agencies Ltd. community

We have pages on social networks, and our website publishes articles. You should be aware that any information you provide in these areas may be read, collected, and used by others that access them. Such information could be used to send you unsolicited messages. We welcome testimonials and feedback. However should you choose to submit a testimonial and/or feedback, please be aware it will be subject to the same policy outlined here. For questions about your personal information on our Service, please contact our Privacy and Compliance Officer, Kyle Garrett, at compliance@garrett.ca. Our Site may include links to other Web site whose privacy practices may differ from those of GARRETT AGENCIES LTD. If you submit your personal information to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy statements. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy statement of any Web site you visit.

7. Security

The security of your information is important to us. Our website is served only over a secure, encrypted connection (HTTPS), which protects information you send us so it cannot be read as it travels across the internet. We follow generally accepted standards to protect the information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. No method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure, however. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. We continue to evaluate and adopt new security technology as it becomes available. If you have any questions about security on our website, you can contact our Privacy and Compliance Officer, Kyle Garrett, at compliance@garrett.ca.

8. Cross-border data transfer

Some of the service providers that help us operate this website, including our website host (Vercel), our analytics providers (Google and Microsoft) and the service that delivers contact form messages to us (Resend), are located in or store information in the United States. Information you submit through this website, and information about how you use it, may therefore be transferred to, stored in, or accessed from the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in Canada and where it may be accessible to courts and authorities under those laws. This information is protected through appropriate safeguards and contractual measures.

9. Contacting us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy and Compliance Officer, Kyle Garrett, at compliance@garrett.ca.

10. Changes to our privacy policy

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time. If we make a change to this privacy policy that we believe materially reduces your rights, we will provide you with notice (for example, by email). And we may provide notice of changes in other circumstances as well. By continuing to use our Services after those changes become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised Privacy Policy.

11. Your privacy choices

You can accept or decline analytics on our website at any time with "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page. You may withdraw your consent at any time (subject to legal or contractual obligations and on providing us reasonable notice) by contacting our Privacy and Compliance Officer, Kyle Garrett, at compliance@garrett.ca. Please be aware that by withdrawing your consent you may restrict or entirely prevent us from providing you with requested products and services.