What are cookies?

Cookies are small files that hold information; they're placed or 'dropped' on your computer when you access websites on your device. The data contained in the cookie can be retrieved by the website that placed them there. They can also be accessed by websites that have been authorised to use them by the site that first dropped them.

Cookie duration

Some cookies only exist for a short period of time and are then automatically deleted by your device. Others last for longer – these are called 'persistent cookies' – and some exist for years unless manually deleted. These can be used to analyse multiple site visits over time or customise the content that's displayed.

First and third-party cookies

Some cookies are set by the website you're visiting; these are called 'first party' cookies. Others may be set by a third party when you use a site – for example, by a tool built into the website.

AA Limited and cookies

How we use cookies is outlined below. This cookie notice applies to The AA Limited corporate website directly which is managed by Investis on our behalf.

Read more about cookies on the site of the UK Information Commissioner's Office (who regulated data usage).You can also read our privacy notice and get in touch with us about privacy, cookies or data protection.

How we use cookies

We use cookies to make sure you get the best experience from your visit. As well as enabling certain features to work better, cookies also let us collect feedback and information about how you’ve used the site – so we can keep improving it for you. By visiting and using this site, you agree to our use of cookies and other similar technologies.

The 2 main types of cookie we use on our site:

1. Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are essential – without them you might not be able to get the information or service you've asked for. They're needed for things like logging whether you see error messages – so we can make improvements and fix bugs. Technologies that we use (and that use cookies) to make sure the website functions correctly for you include, at the time of writing, are provided by for example Google Analytics and AWS.

Name Description Expiry Category
AWSALB AWS ELB application load balancer 6 days Strictly Necessary Cookies
AWSALBCORS This cookie is managed by AWS and is used for load balancing. 6 days Strictly Necessary Cookies

 

2. Personalisation and testing cookies

These cookies remember choices you've made to personalise the site or are used by us to test site content and functionality with different groups of visitors. They may remember where you are in the site so you can get tailored information, or changes you've made to help you browse, such as increasing the text size. Technologies we use for personalisation or testing include Google Analytics and AWS.

Name Description Expiry Category
_gid This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics. This appears to be a new cookie and as of Spring 2017 no information is available from Google. It appears to store and update a unique value for each page visited._gid 0 days Performance Cookies
vuid These cookies are used by the Vimeo video player on websites. . 0 day Functional Cookies
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA YouTube is a Google owned platform for hosting and sharing videos. YouTube collects user data through videos embedded in websites, which is aggregated with profile data from other Google services in order to display targeted advertising to web visitors across a broad range of their own and other websites. 5 months Targeting Cookies
YSC YouTube is a Google owned platform for hosting and sharing videos. YouTube collects user data through videos embedded in websites, which is aggregated with profile data from other Google services in order to display targeted advertising to web visitors across a broad range of their own and other websites. 0 days Targeting Cookies
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE This cookie is used as a unique identifier to track viewing of videos 5 months Targeting Cookies
TESTCOOKIESENABLED YouTube is a Google owned platform for hosting and sharing videos. YouTube collects user data through videos embedded in websites, which is aggregated with profile data from other Google services in order to display targeted advertising to web visitors across a broad range of their own and other websites. 0 days Targeting Cookies

 

What about links to other websites and their cookies?

We often link to other sites to give you extra information or services. Where these are provided by a third party, you may leave our website by clicking through to theirs. In this case, the cookies policy set out on the third party's website will also apply. As this won't be controlled by us, you should read their policy to find out what information is being collected and how it's used.

How to control cookies

You can restrict, remove or block cookies through your browser settings at any time. For more information about how to do this, and about cookies in general, visit Your Online Choices.eu. You can also opt out of some advertising-related cookies at Your Ad Choices, the NAI site and at Google.