1. Who we are
Top Gear Insurance Group LLC ("Top Gear," "we," "us," or "our") is an independent insurance agency with its home office in Oak Brook, Illinois, operating under agency license #22282459. We place commercial transportation insurance — auto liability, motor truck cargo, physical damage, general liability and related coverages — for motor carriers, owner-operators and fleets.
We are licensed to transact insurance business in the following 28 states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
This Privacy Policy explains what we do with information collected through our website at topgearig.com, our client and quote portals, our text messaging program, email and phone calls with our office.
By using our website, submitting a form, or communicating with us, you agree to the practices described here.
2. Information we collect
We collect only what we need to quote, place and service insurance for you. The categories below reflect the kinds of information an insurance agency handles.
Information you give us
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | Name, business name and DBA, mailing and garaging address, phone number, email address |
| Business & operating data | USDOT and MC numbers, federal EIN, authority date, radius of operation, commodities hauled, annual revenue, years in business |
| Vehicle data | Year, make, model, VIN, stated value, lienholder or loss payee information |
| Driver data | Driver names, dates of birth, CDL numbers and issuing state, years of experience, dates of hire |
| Insurance history | Current and prior carriers, policy numbers, limits, deductibles, premiums, loss runs and claims history, cancellations or non-renewals |
| Claim information | Accident details, police reports, photographs, bills of lading, repair estimates |
| Communications | Emails, text messages, portal messages, notes from calls with our staff, and recordings of phone calls (see Section 6) |
Information we obtain from others
With your authorization, and as permitted by law, we obtain information from:
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) — public carrier registration and safety data associated with your USDOT number
- Motor vehicle records (MVRs) from state licensing agencies for the drivers you list
- Insurance carriers and prior agents — loss runs, declarations pages and policy history
- Consumer and commercial reporting agencies, where a carrier requires it for underwriting
Information collected automatically
When you visit our website we automatically receive standard technical data: IP address, browser and device type, pages visited, referring page, and dates and times of access. See Section 7.
We do not ask for personal Social Security numbers, personal bank account numbers or payment card numbers through this website. If a carrier or premium finance company requires that information, it is collected directly by them through their own secure system — never by email or through a form on this site.
3. How we use your information
We use the information we collect to:
- Prepare submissions and obtain insurance quotes from carriers on your behalf
- Bind, issue, service, endorse and renew your policies
- Issue certificates of insurance to the holders you designate
- Report and assist with claims
- Respond to your questions and provide customer service by phone, email, text or portal
- Record calls to improve service quality, train our staff and confirm instructions you gave us
- Send you policy, billing, renewal and service notices
- Verify your identity and comply with insurance, licensing, anti-fraud and recordkeeping laws
- Maintain and improve our website and portals
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use the information you give us to build advertising profiles.
4. How we share your information
We share information only as needed to do the job you hired us for, or as the law requires. Specifically, with:
- Insurance carriers, wholesalers, managing general agents and underwriters — to quote, bind and service your coverage
- Certificate holders you designate — brokers, shippers, lenders and lessors, limited to the coverage information a certificate contains
- Claims adjusters, appraisers and third-party administrators — to handle a reported loss
- Premium finance companies — if you choose to finance your premium
- Service providers who operate our systems under contract — website and portal hosting, our telephone and messaging provider (RingCentral), email, document storage, agency management software, and, where used, artificial-intelligence document processing tools. These vendors may only use the information to perform services for us.
- Government agencies and regulators — for required filings such as MCS-90 or BMC-91X, and in response to lawful requests, subpoenas or court orders
- Professional advisors — our attorneys, auditors and errors & omissions carrier
We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.
5. SMS text messaging program
Top Gear Insurance Group LLC operates a text messaging program so we can reach you quickly about your insurance — a certificate request, a renewal deadline, a document we need, or a claim.
Mobile information will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All of the sharing categories described in Section 4 exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties. We share your mobile number only with the service providers that deliver our messages, and only for that purpose.
How you opt in
We send text messages only to people who have given express written consent. You may opt in by:
- Checking the text messaging consent box on a form on our website or in one of our portals
- Providing written consent on a signed application or service agreement
- Texting us first at our business number
Consent to receive text messages is not a condition of purchasing any insurance product or service from us.
What we send
| Program | Description |
|---|---|
| Customer care | Conversational messages with our staff about a quote, policy, certificate, endorsement, billing question or claim |
| Account notifications | Renewal reminders, expiring documents, payment due notices, and requests for information needed to complete your file |
Message frequency, rates, HELP and STOP
- Message frequency varies and depends on your account activity and the questions you send us.
- Message and data rates may apply. Your mobile carrier's standard rates apply to messages you send and receive.
- To get help, reply HELP to any message, or call us at (773) 645-7840.
- To stop receiving messages, reply STOP to any message at any time. You will receive one confirmation message and then no further texts. You may also ask us to remove your number by calling or emailing our office.
- Opting out of text messages does not opt you out of phone calls, email or postal mail, and does not affect your insurance coverage.
Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Message delivery is subject to your mobile carrier's network availability.
6. Phone calls and call recording
Calls to and from our office are recorded. You hear an announcement at the beginning of every call telling you so. By continuing with the call after that announcement, you consent to being recorded. If you would prefer not to be recorded, tell the person you are speaking with and we will continue by email or text instead.
Why we record
Recordings are used to improve the quality of our service — training our staff, checking that a request was handled correctly, and confirming the details of an instruction you gave us, such as a change to a policy or a certificate request. We do not use recordings for marketing, and we do not sell them or share them for any purpose outside those described in this policy.
Where recordings are stored
Our phone service is provided by RingCentral. Call recordings, voicemails and text messages sent through our business number are stored on RingCentral's systems under our account, protected by RingCentral's security controls and accessible only to authorized Top Gear staff. RingCentral acts as our service provider and may not use the content of your calls for its own purposes.
Access and deletion
We keep recordings only as long as they serve the purposes above and as our recordkeeping obligations require, then delete them. You may ask us for a copy of a recording of your own call, or ask us to delete one, using the contact details in Section 14. We will verify your identity first, and we may need to keep a recording that relates to an open claim, a dispute or a legal obligation.
We also keep written notes of calls in your client file whether or not a recording exists.
Illinois requires the consent of all parties to record a private conversation (720 ILCS 5/14-2). The announcement you hear at the start of the call is how that consent is obtained — which is why it plays on every call, including ones we place to you.
7. Cookies and analytics
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to keep the site working, remember your preferences, and understand how visitors use it. We may use analytics services such as Google Analytics, which set their own cookies and receive usage data governed by their privacy policies.
Our quote and intake portals store your in-progress answers in your own browser's local storage so you can leave and come back without losing your work. That data stays on your device until you submit the form or clear your browser.
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Some parts of the site may not work correctly if you do.
We do not currently respond to "Do Not Track" browser signals, because no common standard for them has been adopted.
8. How we protect your information
We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards designed to protect the information in our care. These include encrypted transmission of data submitted through our website, access controls limiting employee access to what their job requires, and confidentiality obligations for our staff and vendors.
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, and we encourage you not to send sensitive identifiers such as Social Security or account numbers by unencrypted email or text.
9. How long we keep information
We keep records for as long as you are a client and afterward for the period required by Illinois insurance law, our carriers' contracts, and our errors & omissions obligations — generally at least seven years after a policy ends or a claim closes. Quote submissions that do not result in a policy are kept for a shorter period. When information is no longer needed, we dispose of it securely.
10. Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
- Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate
- Ask us to delete information, subject to our legal and recordkeeping obligations
- Withdraw consent for text messages (reply STOP) or marketing email (use the unsubscribe link)
- Ask us not to sell or share your personal information — note that we do not sell personal information
To make a request, contact us using the details in Section 14. We will verify your identity before acting on a request, and we will respond within the time required by applicable law. We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights.
11. Insurance privacy notice
As an insurance agency we are also subject to the privacy provisions of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Illinois Insurance Code, and the insurance privacy laws of each state in which we are licensed. Nonpublic personal information we collect about you is used and disclosed only as described in this policy and as permitted by those laws — principally to place and service your insurance, to handle claims, and to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
12. Children
Our website and services are directed to businesses and to adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If we make a material change to how we handle your information, we will provide additional notice. Continuing to use our website or our text messaging program after a change means you accept the updated policy.
14. How to contact us
Questions about this policy, or about the information we hold on you:
Top Gear Insurance Group LLC
Privacy and data requests go to our main office inbox and are answered within five business days.