Volkswagen Canada Cookies Policy

We use digital markers such as cookies and other similar technologies (“cookies”) on our website to help us enhance your user experience on our website, analyze and improve our services and the performance of our website, and learn what information interests you in order to serve you with more personalized marketing and advertising content. This Cookies Policy forms part of our Privacy PolicyOpen external link.

If you have questions about this Cookie Policy, or our personal information handling practices, please contact our Privacy Officer at: privacy@vw.caOpen mail link.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small items of data that some websites place on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. They are generally used to recognize a user’s device each time they revisit a website, to remember a user’s preferences, to analyze general non-identifying information such as how a user landed on a website (e.g., did they click on a link to the website from another website?; through a search engine?), or to track how a user uses or interacts with a website more generally.

What types of cookies do we use?

Generally, the cookies we use on our website or applications can be sessional or persistent, and can be set by either us (first-party cookies) or our partners or third-party service providers (third-party cookies).

  • Per-session (sessional) cookies. While you are active on a website or in an app, a session cookie is temporarily stored in your device’s memory, which stores a session identifier to prevent you from having to log in again every time you change pages. Session cookies are deleted when you log out, close your browser or exit an app, or lose their validity as soon as your session has automatically expired.
  • Persistent or log cookies store a file on your device for the period specified in the expiration date. These cookies allow websites and apps to remember your information and settings the next time you visit. This leads to faster and more convenient access, since you do not, for example, have to change your language setting for our portal again each time you log in. Once the expiry date has passed, the cookie is automatically deleted when you visit the website or app that generated it.
  • Third Party Cookies come from providers other than the operator of the website or app. For example, they can be used to collect information for advertising, customized content and web statistics.

We use the following types of cookies on our website and for the following purposes:

  • Necessary Cookies. These cookies are essential to enable you to move around the website and use its features. These functions include the vehicle configurator, or the Ensighten Privacy Manager (our consent management tool). Ensighten Privacy Manager uses cookies to store information on whether or not and if so, for which categories of cookies users have declared their consent to. The Ensighten Privacy Manager is provided by our service provider Tagman Ltd. Without these cookies, the website may not behave as expected or some of its parts or features may be unusable or inaccessible.
  • Functionality Cookies. These cookies are anonymous and don’t track browsing activity across other websites. They aren’t essential to the functionality of our website or apps but they do support additional functionality that help us provide you with an enhanced experience. For example, a functional cookie may remember your region, chosen language or other settings to provide you with a more personalized experience. They may also be used to give you the ability to publish comments on a website or blog, use webchats, and keep your preferences active. You can deactivate these cookies but we do not recommend doing so since it will result in a suboptimal experience for you.
  • Performance Cookies. These cookies collect information about how users use our website (e.g., pages most often visited, features most often interacted with and if users get error messages from one of our web pages). We and our affiliates analyze that information to help us improve the functioning and performance of our website. For example, we use Adobe Analytics cookies provided by Adobe Systems Software Ireland Limited, 4-6 Riverwalk, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, Republic of Ireland, to record and systematically evaluate the interactions of our website users. In this regard, partial IP addresses are processed (the last octet of the IP-address is masked) and cannot be assigned to a specific user’s device.
  • Relevant Advertising Cookies. These cookies can be used by us and our partners such as Ad network providers, data providers, social media companies, publishers and other media-related companies, and/or analytics service providers. They are often used in conjunction with other cookies that creates a unique identifier of your device to record how you interact with them and create a profile of your interests. For example, they may record your preferences and purchasing history, whether you viewed and/or clicked on an advertisement on a site, or whether you opened or clicked on marketing emails sent to you. When corresponding with you via HTML capable email, we may use "format sensing" technology, which allows pixel tags to let us know whether you received and opened our e-mail.  That information is used by us and our partners to show you more relevant content and ads on our and other websites and on social media, to send you advertising and marketing-related material tailored to you and your interests, to limit the number of times you see an advertisement, to help measure advertising campaigns’ effectiveness, and to help us better analyze and improve our services and marketing activities overall. For example, we may have Facebook or Instagram serve you relevant posts and ads of Volkswagen vehicles that we think will be of interest to you, based on your profile information.

The “interest-based” or “personalized” advertising powered in part by these cookies is usually more relevant to you, but it also generally involves the collection and use of more information about you and your browsing history. You are free to have these cookies active or inactive depending on your preference – see the “How To Control Your Cookie Preferences” section below on how to adjust your cookie settings. More information about interest-based or personalized advertising can be found through various sources available on the Internet, such as www.allaboutcookies.orgOpen external link or https://optout.networkadvertising.orgOpen external link.

How To Control Your Cookie Preferences

There are a variety of ways in which you can control the information collected by cookies and similar technologies when you use our websites or apps. For example, when you first visit our website, you will be prompted with a request to provide your consent for non-essential cookies. You may choose to consent to all non-essential cookies by selecting “Accept all cookies” or you can view cookies by category by choosing “Manage cookie settings” and setting any category to the “on” position to give consent.

You may also use “Cookie Settings” link available from the footer of our website to access the cookie tool we make available for VW.ca. You may withdraw your consent by setting the option for any of the cookie categories to the “off” position, or give your consent by setting any option to the “on” position.

You can also control the cookies used by modifying the settings in your browser or on your device that allow you to change the setting of all or some cookies. Through those settings, you should also be able to delete cookies that have already been placed on your device.

Please bear in mind that your choices only ever affect the browser you used when you made such choices. If you use different browsers or end devices, you may need to exercise your choice regarding Cookies again. Under certain circumstances after updates, or if you delete the Cookies from your browser, the settings can be reset to the basic configuration and we may ask you to exercise your choice regarding Cookies again upon your next visit to our website.

The following links will assist you in managing your Cookies browser settings, or you can use the ‘Help’ option in your internet browser for more details:

Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=enOpen external link
Microsoft Edge: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacyOpen external link
Mozilla Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/firefox/protect-your-privacy/cookiesOpen external link
Opera: https://help.opera.com/en/latest/web-preferences/Open external link
Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265Open external link

For more information, you can also see hereOpen external link.

Please note that if you use your browser or device settings to block all cookies, you may not be able to access or take advantage all or parts and features of our websites, apps, or services. 

You can also opt-out of network advertising programs that track your activities across multiple websites to deliver personalized advertising content to you. For example, see the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada Opt-Out PageOpen external link, or the NAI Opt-Out PageOpen external link for more information.

Those websites provide tools that identify member companies that have cookies on your browser and provides mechanisms to opt-out of those cookies. You will still receive other types of advertising from participating companies; however, they will not be based on your interests. Deleting browser cookies can remove your opt-out preferences, so you should use these tools periodically to ensure that your preferences are up-to-date.

Last Updated: September 2023