Cookie Policy

1. What Are Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device (computer, tablet, or smartphone) when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work more efficiently, to provide a better user experience, and to supply information to website owners. Cookies can be "persistent" (remaining on your device until they expire or you delete them) or "session-based" (deleted automatically when you close your browser). AutoDeal Canada uses both types of cookies to operate the platform, remember your preferences, analyze traffic patterns, and deliver relevant advertising content.

2. Types of Cookies We Use

• Essential Cookies

  Required for the website to function properly. These cannot be disabled. They include the next-auth.session-token cookie used for user authentication and session management, the next-auth.csrf-token cookie for cross-site request forgery protection, the next-auth.callback-url cookie that stores the redirect URL after login, and the NEXT_LOCALE cookie that stores your preferred language setting (English or French). Without these cookies, core functionality such as logging in, maintaining your session, and displaying content in your chosen language would not be possible.

• Preference Cookies

  Remember your preferences such as language selection (NEXT_LOCALE), theme (dark/light mode), recently viewed vehicles, saved search filters, and your preferred sorting options for future visits. These cookies enhance your browsing experience by personalizing the platform to your needs. They typically expire after 365 days but are renewed each time you visit the site.

• Advertising Cookies

  Used by our advertising partners to display relevant ads based on your browsing activity. These cookies may track your activity across different websites to build a profile of your interests and show you targeted advertisements. See sections 3 and 4 below for detailed information about specific advertising cookies used on our platform.

3. Google AdSense Cookies

AutoDeal Canada uses Google AdSense to display advertisements on our platform. Google AdSense uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our website and other websites on the internet. Google, as a third-party vendor, uses the DoubleClick DART cookie to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our site and other sites across the web. The DART cookie enables Google and its partners to serve targeted ads based on your browsing patterns and interests.

The specific Google AdSense cookies used on our platform include: the __gads cookie, which is used to measure interactions with ads displayed on our site and prevent the same ads from being shown too many times (expires after 13 months); the __gac cookie, which contains campaign-related information and is used by Google Ads to measure campaign activity (expires after 90 days); and the IDE cookie set by DoubleClick, which is used to register and report website user actions after viewing or clicking one of the advertiser's ads, with the purpose of measuring the efficacy of an ad and presenting targeted ads to the user (expires after 13 months).

You may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google Ad Settings page at https://adssettings.google.com. For more information about how Google uses cookies in advertising, please visit Google's cookie policy at https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies.

4. Analytics Cookies

AutoDeal Canada uses Google Analytics to help us understand how visitors interact with our website by collecting and reporting information. Google Analytics uses several cookies to track user activity and generate statistical reports. The _ga cookie is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier; it is set on the first visit and has a default expiration of 2 years. The _gid cookie is used to distinguish users and expires after 24 hours. The _gat cookie is used to throttle the request rate to Google Analytics and expires after 1 minute.

Google Analytics tracks information such as: which pages you visit and how long you spend on each page; how you arrived at our site (direct visit, search engine, referral link, or social media); your approximate geographic location based on your IP address (anonymized); your device type, browser, screen resolution, and operating system; and your interactions with vehicle listings, search features, and other platform elements. We use this data to improve the platform, optimize user experience, and understand which features are most valuable to our users. Google Analytics data is retained for a period of 26 months.

5. Third-Party Cookies

Some cookies on our site are placed by third-party services that we use to enhance our platform and provide additional functionality. We do not control these cookies and recommend reviewing the respective privacy policies of these services. The following third parties may set cookies on your device when you use AutoDeal Canada:

• Google Analytics

  Web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic. Cookies: _ga, _gid, _gat. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

• Google AdSense

  Advertising platform that displays targeted ads. Cookies: DART, __gads, __gac, IDE. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

• Square (Payments)

  Payment processing service used for dealer subscriptions. Square may set cookies for fraud detection, security, and payment session management. Privacy policy: https://squareup.com/legal/privacy

• NextAuth.js (Authentication)

  Authentication framework that manages user login sessions. Cookies: next-auth.session-token, next-auth.csrf-token, next-auth.callback-url. These are essential cookies required for secure authentication and cannot be disabled.

6. Cookie Consent

When you first visit AutoDeal Canada, a cookie consent banner is displayed at the bottom of the page, informing you about our use of cookies and requesting your consent for non-essential cookies. Essential cookies, which are strictly necessary for the operation of the platform, do not require your consent and are set automatically. For all other categories of cookies, including analytics, preference, and advertising cookies, we seek your explicit consent before setting them on your device.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by clearing your browser cookies and revisiting our site, at which point the consent banner will reappear. You may also manage your cookie preferences through the cookie settings link available in the footer of every page on our platform. Changes to your cookie preferences take effect immediately, though some cookies that were already set may persist until they reach their expiration date unless you manually delete them.

7. How to Delete Cookies

You can delete cookies that have already been set on your device and configure your browser to prevent new cookies from being placed. Below are instructions for the most common browsers:

• Google Chrome

  Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Cookies and other site data. From here you can clear all cookies, block third-party cookies, or manage cookies on a per-site basis. You can also type chrome://settings/cookies directly in your address bar.

• Mozilla Firefox

  Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data. Click "Clear Data" to remove stored cookies. You can also manage exceptions and choose your preferred level of cookie blocking (Standard, Strict, or Custom).

• Safari

  Go to Safari > Preferences > Privacy. Click "Manage Website Data" to view and remove cookies from specific websites, or click "Remove All Website Data" to delete all cookies. Safari also offers Intelligent Tracking Prevention which automatically limits cross-site tracking.

• Microsoft Edge

  Go to Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Manage and delete cookies and site data. You can clear existing cookies, block all cookies, or block only third-party cookies. You can also choose to clear cookies every time you close the browser.

8. Do Not Track

Some web browsers transmit "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals to websites. At this time, there is no universally accepted standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals. AutoDeal Canada currently does not respond to or take action based on DNT signals from your browser. However, you can manage your privacy preferences through the cookie consent mechanisms described in this policy, including disabling non-essential cookies and opting out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. We will continue to monitor developments in DNT technology and update our practices accordingly if a uniform standard is adopted.

9. Cookie Table

The following table provides a comprehensive overview of all cookies used on AutoDeal Canada, organized by category:

10. Managing Cookies

You can control and manage cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies, delete existing cookies, or be notified when a cookie is set. Please note that disabling essential cookies may severely affect the functionality of our website, including the inability to log in or maintain your language preferences. Disabling analytics and advertising cookies will not affect core platform functionality but will limit our ability to improve the platform based on usage data and may result in less relevant advertising content being displayed.

11. Contact

If you have questions about our Cookie Policy or how we use cookies on AutoDeal Canada, contact us at [email protected]. You may also reach us by mail at AutoDeal Canada, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.