Terms of Business
Export & General Insurance Services Ltd – Our Terms of Business for General Insurance.
If you are considering taking out a policy, utilising any of our services or appointing us as your broker, you must read our Terms of Business fully. A copy can be posted / emailed upon request if more convenient.
Who regulates us?
With effect from April 1st 2013, Export & General
Insurance Services Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial
Conduct Authority. Our regulated Firm number is 310881. Full details can
be found on the Financial Services Register by visiting register.fca.org.uk
You can contact the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) at:
25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS
You can also call their Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768 (freephone),
0300 500 8082
From abroad: +44 20 7066 1000
Email: consumer.queries@fca.org.uk
Additional information can be obtained from www.fca.org.uk
1. Our Service
We act as an Independent Intermediary (Broker) on your behalf. We offer a full range of personal & commercial insurance products and our service includes: advising you on your insurance needs; arranging your insurance cover with insurers to meet your require-ments and helping you wish any subsequent event of alteration to your insurance that we have placed for you. We also assist you when making a claim. We deal with a number of Insurers and will advise you should we have any special arrangements with them or should you have to deal directly with the insurer for ongoing policy administration. We may issue policies and handle claims on behalf of some insurers. For certain types of insurance (Legal Expenses Insurance & breakdown cover) we represent only one Company and we will advise you should this be the case. We will also advise you should we place your insurance through any other intermediary regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority).
2. Disclosure
It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to
insurers when you take out your insurance policy, throughout the life of
your policy, and when you renew your insurance. Failure to disclose
information pertaining to your insurance, or any inaccuracies in
information given, could result in your insurance policy being invalid or
cover not operating fully. It is important that you ensure all statements
you make on proposal forms; claim forms and other documents are full
and accurate. If a form is completed on your behalf, you should check
that the answers shown to any questions are true and accurate before
signing the document. If you are in any doubt about whether information
is material, you should disclose it. You are reminded that it is an offence
under the Road Traffic Act to make false statements or withhold any
relevant information to obtain a Certificate of Motor Insurance.
Please note that under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 you are
not required to disclose convictions regarded as “spent”. It is imperative
that you understand that any information, statement or answers made
by you to us, or your insurer, are your responsibility and must be correct.
Your attention is particularly drawn to the importance of the declaration
and signature on any Insurers proposal form as any failure to disclose
facts material to the insurance or any inaccuracies in your answers may
invalidate your insurance cover in part or in whole. Facts material to the
insurance are matter of information which may influence your insurer as
to the acceptability or otherwise of your proposal or renewal and must
be disclosed at the earliest opportunity and certainly at each renewal.
You are advised to keep copies of documentation sent to or received
from us for your own protection. Please do consult us if you are in any
doubt on any aspect. If you are in doubt about whether information is
material, you should disclose it.
3. Confidentiality and data protection
All personal and sensitive information about our customers is treated as
Private & Confidential. We will only use and disclose the information we
have about customers in the normal course of arranging and
administering their insurances, and will not disclose any information to
any other parties without your written consent. Unless we are notified of
any changes, we shall assume the personal and sensitive data we hold
about our customers is correct, and shall use it to provide quotations
when policies fall due for renewal.
In the interests of security and to improve our service, telephone calls
you make to us may be monitored and/or recorded. We may pass
information about you to credit reference agencies for the purposes of
arranging payments by instalments, and my also pass them, details of
your payment record with us. Under the Data Protection Act 1998,
individuals have a right to see personal information about them that we
hold in our records. A charge may be made for this service. If you wish to
exercise this right, or have any other related queries, you should write to
us at the above address. Unless by law, public interest, requirement by
the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) or you giving your consent, all
information you supply will be kept confidential to us and parties
involved in the normal course of arranging and administering your
insurance.
Motor and home insurance anti-fraud registers Insurers share
information with each other via the Claims & Underwriting Exchange
register, and the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register, to aid
the prevention of fraudulent claims. In the event of a claim, the
information you supply on the claim form, together with any other
information relating to the claim, will be put on the registers.
Motor Insurer Information Centre (MIIC) Insurers are legally required to
provide details of motor insurance policies to the MIIC. The information
describing your insurance cover will be added to the Motor Insurance
Database (MID), to which the police and other government agencies have
access. This helps the pursuance of claims following accidents and aids
detection of those who are in contravention of the law by not taking out
insurance.
Use for marketing purposes We may use information held about you to
provide you with information about other products and services, which
we offer, and which we fell may be appropriate to you, by email,
telephone post or other means. You may exercise your right to give
notice to stop data being processed for marketing purposes by
contacting us at any time. Please contact us on 0208 2550617 or write to
us at Worting House, Church Lane, Basingstoke, Hampshire,
RG23 8PX.
4. Claims
We have no authority to handle claims on behalf of insurers. In the event
of an incident occurring which may give rise to a claim under your policy,
you should notify the insurer direct as soon as possible using the contact
details in your policy document, and/or please notify us and we will
promptly advise you and, if appropriate, issue you with a claim form for
completion to enable us to pass all details to your insurer. You should not
admit liability nor agree to any course of action, other then emergency
measures carried out to minimise the loss, until you have agreement
from your insurer.
When we receive notification of an incident that might give rise to a claim under your policy, we will inform the insurer without delay and, in any event, within 2 working days. We shall use our best endeavours
when acting on your behalf in relation to a claim, to handle all elements
of the claim with due care, skill and diligence. We will advise you
promptly of insurers requirements concerning claims, including the provision, as soon as possible, of information required to establish the nature and extent of a loss.
If there is any conflict of interest, we shall only handle a claim on your behalf after we have disclosed to you all information you require, to
enable you to decide whether o give your informed consent. We will
forward any payments received from insurers in respect of any claim, to
you, without delay. We will notify you of any request for information we
receive from your insurers.
5. Complaints
It is our intention to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times. If there are occasions when we do not meet these standards, please contact the member of staff you were dealing with, either verbally, or in writing, if you remain dissatisfied, please ask to speak to the Manager in Charge of the General Insurance Department. Your complaint will be acknowledged within 5 business days advising you who is dealing with the complaint and indicating when you may expect an answer. We will provide a formal written response within 20 business days from the receipt of the original complaint. If the complaint cannot be resolved within this timescale we will write with an explanation as to the progress and the likely timescales involved. You will be advised of any further redress available to you, should you believe the matter has not been resolved to your satisfaction. Your insurer also operates a complaint procedure, details of which are in your policy book. For private policyholders we are member of the Financial Ombudsman Scheme (FOS), which provides a dispute resolution facility for settling complaints. Their full details together with other important contact details are to be found in the "How to Complain" leaflet which will be issued with your policy booklet. The FOS facility is only available to eligible complainants – they do not apply to commercial clients with a turnover in excess of £1,000,000 (one million pounds).
6. Cancellation rights (the mediation contract)
The Mediation Contract is the agreement between you and us for the
insurance mediation services that we provide to you in respect of your
insurance requirement. Once you have entered into the Mediation
Contract with us, you are entitled to a period of reflection during which
you may decide whether to proceed with the purchase of the Mediation
Contract. The duration of this cancellation period is 14 days and
commences from either:
- - The day of conclusion of the Mediation Contract or
- - The day on which you receive the full terms of the Mediation Contract detailing the full contractual terms, conditions and information of the contract;
To cancel the Mediation Contract within the cancellation period, please write to us at Export House, Elms Farm, Tockington, Bristol BS32 4LQ. If you do cancel this Mediation Contract within the cancellation period, you may be charged a proportion of any of our fees that you have incurred. This Mediation Contract can be cancelled at any time by either party in writing giving 7 days notice. If you wish to give notice of cancellation, please write to us at Worting House, Church Lane, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG23 8PX. If we wish to cancel this Mediation Contract, we shall write to you at the last known address we have for you on our records. If you decide to cancel the Mediation Contract with us at any time other than during the cancellation period, we will retain in full any fees that you have paid.
7. Premiums and financial aspects
In order to be able to offer you credit facilities, we are registered under
the Consumer Credit Act. We normally accept payment by cash,
guaranteed cheque or the following credit/debit cards
(Visa/Mastercard/Delta & Solo). Credit Cards incur an interest charge of
2.5% on use, and debit cards are free. You may be able to spread your payments through insurers instalment schemes, a credit scheme with a
third party finance provider, or a facility we have arranged ourselves. We
will give you full information about your payment options when we
discuss your insurance in detail.
We may keep certain documents, such as your insurance policy documents or Certificate, while we are waiting for full payment of premiums. In these circumstances, we will ensure that you receive full
details of your insurance cover and will provide you with any documents
that you are required to have by law. By accepting this agreement, you
agree that delivery of any certificates of insurance to us shall constitute
delivery to yourself in accordance with statute law. We conform to FCA
(Financial Conduct Authority) requirements in respect of Professional
Indemnity Insurance. This type of insurance is mandatory for FCA
members.
Risk Transfer Premiums that we collect from you are held in an insurance bank account specifically used for the purpose of holding client
premiums. By virtue of agreements we hold with insurers, we collect
premiums as agent of the insurer. Therefore once we have collected
premiums from you, under the terms of our agreements with insurers,
those premiums are treated as having been paid to the insurer. We will
remit the premiums to insurers, after deduction of our commission, in
accordance with the terms of our agreements with insurers.
8. Client money segregation (Statutory trust)
Premiums that we collect from you will be segregated into and held in a
Client Money Bank Account. The client money will be held by us as
trustee on your behalf. The Client Money Bank Account is set up as a
trust governed by FCA rules. This means that once the client money is
segregated into the Client Money Bank Account, it falls into our legal
ownership but remains in the beneficial ownership of customers whose
premiums are deposited in the Account. If we become insolvent, the
terms of the trust dictate that customers will have a prior claim on the
client money in the Account according to their respective interests in the
client money. The costs relating to the distribution of client money may
have to be borne by the trust. The trust account will be managed in strict
compliance with the FCA requirements to ensure client money is
protected and forwarded to the insurer as they become due and payable.
Return premiums and Charges Return premiums usually arise if an insurance risk is reduced or a policy cancelled. On a return premium, we repay commission on the amount to your insurer and this will be deducted from the final amount due and below we outline our charges to you.
9. Awareness of Policy Terms
When a policy is issued, you are strongly advised to read it carefully, as it is that document, the schedule and any certificate of insurance that is the basis of the insurance contract you have purchased. If you are in any doubt over any of the policy terms or conditions, please seek our advice promptly.
10. Charges and Background to Charges
We may make the following charges to cover the administration of your insurance: - Arranging New Policies, normally £5, but we reserve the right to charge an additional amount to the insurer premium to cover the cost of extra work involved on more complex cases. This amount will be notified to you prior to your committing to the policy. If you wish to cancel your insurance before the policy expiry date please contact us for further advice on 02028 2550617. You will need to confirm this in writing and return your certificate of insurance before your policy can be cancelled. Your Insurer may refund some of our premium by applying a “short term” cancellation charge that will not be proportionate to the annual premium that means in some instances there may not be a refund due, for example, in the event of a claim. The cancellation rate may vary between insurers and any refund will be less the agent’s commission and a fee. Your insurer, (or us with their permission), may cancel your insurance by giving you seven days notice to your last known address. If we do this, you must send us your certificate of insurance (if you do not, it is an offence under the Road Traffic Act). Providing a claim has not been made under this insurance your insurer will refund part of your premium for the period of insurance remaining after the cancellation date. If your insurance is cancelled because you have not paid the premiums on time, your insurer will not refund any part of the premium you have already paid, and they will calculate any outstanding premium, charging for the time you have been covered by your insurance. Any other specific charges and purposes of any additional charges will always be advised to you in advance.
11. Instalment & Adjustment Charges
Payment of the premium can be made by cash, cheque, credit/debit card,
or can be financed by a premium instalment plan. In addition to the
insurance premium, your monthly instalments will incur and instalment
charge the current rate if which will be specified in the credit agreement,
and some plans will include an additional administration charge of
approximately £10 (ten pounds). Please ensure that you refer to the
terms illustrated in your credit plan, paying particular attention to the
section concerning default payments.
Premiums paid by cheque or debit/credit card may incur and instalment charge illustrated in your new business or renewal documentation. If a cheque is presented and fails to clear with the bank, you will incur a charge of £20 (twenty pounds) to cover the additional cost involved in representing each cheque. If you need to alter your insurance details,
you will need to contact us as changes should be advised in advance. If
your insurer agrees to cover you, we will tell you about any change in
your premium. We reserve the right to apply a charge for administering
any mid-term adjustment made to a policy of up to £30 (thirty pounds). A
Certificate of Insurance is a legal binding contract between you and your
insurer and you should prevent loss or damage from occur-ring. If a
duplicate certificate is required, you will incur a charge of £15 (fifteen
pounds).
12. Amendments to your Policy and Non Disclosure
You must tell us as soon as possible about changes, which may affect your insurance. If you need to make an alteration to your policy once it is in force, you will be required to provide us with full and accurate information, as any change in detail could affect your insurance cover. Any inaccurate, misleading or omitted information may result in you not being covered by your policy in the event of a claim. If you are ever in doubt about the facts that need or need not be disclosed, please contact us immediately for further advice on 0208 2550617. Please be aware that when an adjustment is made to your policy, payments in addition to the insurer premium will usually be required to cover the cost of the extra work involved in processing the amendment.
13. Quotations
All quotations are subject to change in respect of the amount of premium indicated, and/or the terms and conditions that are applied. All our quotations are based on the information supplied by you. Quotations will remain for 14 days after they are given, unless otherwise advised, providing there are no changes in the details or circumstances upon which the quotation was based. We do reserve the right to withdraw quotations before they are taken up and to apply changes notified by us to insurers after the quotation was given.
14. Policy terms, conditions and warranties
You should read through all policy terms, conditions and warranties shown on your policy documentation. Please ensure you understand them and are able to follow their requirements exactly. If not, please advise us immediately, as a breach of any terms, conditions or warranties may enable your insurer to terminate your policy from the date of that breach, and/or repudiate a claim under your policy.
15. Renewal premiums paid by instalments
In good time before the renewal of your policy, we shall contact you with the renewal premium and terms for the coming year. Due to the differing means of instalment facility (company/third party etc.) and differing instalment numbers & methods, there is a distinct possibility of confusion as to whether there is cover in operation or not. It is Company policy to NOT AUTOMATICALLY RENEW INSTALMENT CASES. You must give your renewal instructions before the renewal date. If you have not contacted us before the renewal date, your policy may be automatically lapsed. If you do not wish to renewal the policy please let us know as soon as possible. We should also advise you to cancel your direct debiting instruction with your bank prior to renewal date, if you do not wish to renew. If it is your intention to renew the policy you must inform us, as the policy may not be renewed automatically. We shall confirm renewal or lapsing in writing to you no later than 3 days after the renewal date. But pleased note it is imperative that we receive renewal instructions PRIOR TO RENEWAL DATE to be assured of cover.
16. Disclosure of commission
If you would like to know the amount of commission that we are paid in respect of your insurance contract, this information is available on request Earning interest in customer premiums We hold premiums that you pay us in a Client Money Bank Account. Under FCA regulations, we have to inform you that we may earn interest from the money held in our Client Money Bank Account, which may exceed £20 (twenty pounds) for any one transaction that you make with us. Or policy for the payment of interest is that this is used to offset the costs of running the Bank Accounts of Export and General Insurance Services Ltd. By accepting these Terms of Business, you are giving your consent for us to act in the manner described in this Section.
17. Customer money passed to another person
In accordance with FCA Regulations, we have to inform you that in managing and/or arranging your insurance requirements, we may transfer money that you have paid us, in payment of an insurance premium, to another insurance intermediary. By accepting these Terms of Business, you are giving your consent for us to act in the manner described in this Section.
18. Governing law
This agreement shall be governed by the laws of England & Wales and the parties agree herewith that any dispute arising out of it shall be subject to the (non) exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
19. Other taxes or costs
Other taxes or coasts, or both, may exist in relation to the products and services offered by us which are not paid through, nor imposed by us.
Please Email or Call 0208 255 0617 for quote.