Privacy policy

This policy covers alongsideinsurance.com and the personal information we collect when you request a quote, contact us, or become a client. The site and the agency are operated by Alongside Insurance Group, LLC, doing business as Alongside Insurance ("we", "us"), a Texas-licensed insurance agency.

As an insurance agency we are a financial institution under the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and Chapter 602 of the Texas Insurance Code. This policy is also our notice under those laws of how we handle your nonpublic personal information. It does not replace the separate privacy notices that insurance carriers give you when you apply for or buy a policy.

What we collect

On the site. The quote form asks for your name, mobile number, and what you need a quote for. You can then add more, all optional: email address, ZIP code, current insurance company, renewal timing, details about your home, vehicles, drivers, or business, and notes. The optional questions save each time you press Continue, so if you stop partway we still have what you typed up to that point.

During quoting and servicing. An accurate quote often needs more than the form asks for, and a carrier may require it before issuing a policy. Depending on the coverage, we may ask for things such as dates of birth, driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers (used by carriers for identity checks and credit-based insurance scores), vehicle identification numbers, property details and photos, mortgage or lienholder information, prior claims and losses, current and past policies, and for business coverage, revenue, payroll, employee counts, and operations. If we place a policy, we also collect what is needed to service it, including payment details for premiums. We keep whatever you tell us by email, phone, video, or in person, and we may record or transcribe calls where the law allows and we have told you.

Recorded automatically. When you submit a form we record the date and time you agreed to be contacted, the exact consent wording, the page you submitted from, any campaign tags in the link you arrived by, your IP address, and your browser's user agent string. We keep these as proof of your consent. Our hosting provider keeps short-lived server logs of requests, including IP addresses, for security, and runs a bot check on forms.

From other sources. We may receive information about you from insurance carriers and rating platforms, from your current or former insurer or agent when you ask us to review or move a policy, from tools you use to share your policy details with us, from data providers (for example property records, vehicle history, and address verification), from public records, and from people you authorize to act for you. When we quote, carriers may order reports about you as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Texas law allow, such as driving records, claims history, and credit-based insurance scores, and we may see the results.

Sensitive information. Please don't send Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, card numbers, or full dates of birth through the web form or in plain email. When a carrier needs them we will ask for them through a secure channel. We don't collect health information unless a specific coverage requires it, and we will tell you when it does.

Cookies and analytics

We use Google Analytics to see which pages people visit, how they found us, and where the quote form loses people, so we can improve the site. It sets cookies (such as _ga) that give your browser a random identifier. It doesn't tell us who you are, and we don't connect it to your quote request. Google describes what it collects at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. You can opt out with Google's browser add-on or by blocking cookies in your browser settings. Our hosting provider may also set a small number of cookies needed for security and bot protection. We don't sell personal information and we don't share it for targeted advertising. If we add advertising measurement we will update this section.

How we use it

• To respond to you and to call or email you about your quote, policy, or question.
• To prepare quotes, place coverage with carriers, and service your policies, including renewals, changes, billing, and claims.
• To verify your identity and prevent fraud.
• To keep the records that Texas insurance rules and our carrier agreements require, and to keep proof of your consent to be contacted.
• To run and improve the agency and the site, including analytics and training of our staff.
• To tell you about coverage or services we think fit you, where the law and your choices allow.
• To protect our systems, comply with the law, and enforce our terms.
• For other purposes we describe when we collect the information, or that are compatible with the purposes above.

Who else sees it

We share personal information with the companies and people needed to do the things above. Our service providers may only use it to do work for us, and none of them may use it for their own marketing. The specific providers change from time to time; the categories are:

• Insurance carriers and their partners. The carriers we quote and place coverage with, and the managing general agents, wholesalers, rating platforms, inspectors, premium finance companies, and other providers they and we use to rate, issue, and service a policy.
• Agency software. Our agency management system, customer relationship tools, comparative rating and quoting platforms, e-signature, document storage, and the workflow automation that moves information between them.
• Hosting, communication, and productivity tools. Web hosting and analytics, email delivery, phone platforms, video meeting tools, and software that helps us draft, summarize, or transcribe our work.
• Payment processors. If you pay a premium or fee through us rather than directly to the carrier.
• Professional advisers. Our accountant, attorney, or errors-and-omissions insurer, when a matter requires it.
• Regulators and the law. The Texas Department of Insurance, other regulators, courts, and law enforcement when the law requires or allows it, or to protect our rights or someone's safety.
• People you authorize. A spouse, business partner, mortgage company, or anyone else you ask us to work with on your insurance.
• A successor. If the agency or its book of business is sold, merged, or transferred, your records go with it, under the same restrictions.

Under federal and Texas privacy law, we do not disclose your nonpublic personal information to nonaffiliated third parties except as those laws permit for servicing your insurance and the other purposes listed here. Because we only disclose it in those permitted ways, there is no separate opt-out to offer.

Calls and email

We only call you if you checked the consent box on a form or asked us to contact you. To stop calls, tell us by email or phone. We keep an internal do-not-call list and honor the Texas no-call list. Every marketing email we send has an unsubscribe link.

Every marketing email we send has an unsubscribe link, and using it stops the marketing without affecting service messages about your quote or policy.

How we protect it

The site is served over HTTPS, and we use reputable providers with their own security controls. We limit who can see your records to the people who work on your insurance. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so we can't promise that nothing will ever go wrong. If a security incident affects your information, we will notify you as Texas law requires.

How long we keep it

• If you request a quote but never become a client, we keep your request and the consent record for four years, then delete it.
• If you become a client, we keep your records for as long as we serve you, and after that for as long as Texas insurance record-keeping rules, our carrier agreements, and our legal needs require.
• Backups may hold a deleted record for a short time after deletion.
• If you ask us not to contact you, we keep your number or address on our do-not-contact list so we don't contact you again.

Your choices

Ask us to see, correct, or delete what we hold about you by emailing hello@alongsideinsurance.com. We will confirm the request using the phone number or email we have on file and answer within 30 days. We will do what you ask unless a law, carrier agreement, or open claim or dispute requires us to keep the record, in which case we will tell you.

Children

The site is for adults. We don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18 except as part of a parent's or guardian's policy. If you think a minor has sent us information on their own, email us and we will delete it.

Outside Texas

We are licensed in Texas and the site is for people insuring property, vehicles, or businesses in Texas. We don't market to people outside the United States. If you contact us from elsewhere, your information is processed and stored in the United States under this policy.

Other sites

Links to carriers, the Texas Department of Insurance, Google, and other services lead to sites with their own privacy practices, which we don't control.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. If a change matters to how we handle a client's information, we will also email the client.

Contact

Privacy questions and requests: hello@alongsideinsurance.com.