Terms & Conditions
Old Oak Insurance Brokers Ltd is an Independent Insurance Intermediary and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Our Firm Reference Number is 310084. You can check this on the Financial Services register by visiting the FCA's website www.fca.org.uk or by telephoning the FCA on 0800 111 6768.
DISCLOSURE
Under the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure & Representation) Act 2012 it is your duty as a consumer to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to an insurer. Under the act a consumer is defined as an individual who enters into an insurance contract wholly or mainly for purposes unrelated to the individual's trade, business or profession. A failure by the consumer to comply with the insurers request to confirm or amend particulars previously given is capable of being a misrepresentation for the purpose of the act. It is important that you ensure all statements you make on proposal forms, claims form and other documents are accurate and we recommend that you keep a copy of all correspondence in relation to the arrangement of your insurance.
Under the act an insured has a remedy against a consumer in respect of qualifying misrepresentations in breach of the consumers' duty of reasonable care where the insured deems the misrepresentation to be either deliberate, reckless or careless. If in doubt at any point in relation to your duty to take reasonable care and subsequent qualifying misrepresentations please contact us immediately.
You are reminded that it is an offence under the Road Traffic Act to make any 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'.
QUOTATIONS
All quotations are subject to change in respect of the amount of premium indicated, and/or the terms and conditions that are applied.
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.
PREMIUMS AND FINANCIAL ASPECTS
In order to be able to offer you credit facilities, we are authorised and regulated by the FCA in respect of our Consumer Credit Permissions. Before some insurers are able to offer the best rate, they may use publicly available data from credit reference agencies and other sources; the result of which will appear against your credit report whether or not an application commences, your contract changes or is renewed. When you receive any contract for finance, kindly examine the detail to ensure it is consistent with the information we provided with reference to your monthly instalments and the Finance Cost. Please contact the Finance House (if applicable) in the first instance if you are unsure of, or you wish to query, the terms and conditions. Credit is usually extended to those aged 18 years or over who hold a bank or building society account and are resident in the UK. Credit is offered subject to status.
We normally accept payment by cash, guaranteed cheque, BACS or the following credit/debit cards mastercard, visa, delta, switch/maestro, solo.
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 receive placement commission on premiums financed in this way, details of which are available on request. If you choose to pay for your insurance premium using a finance provider your details will be passed onto them. You will be provided with a breakdown of the costs of your monthly instalments and subsequently a document outling key features of their credit agreement with you including any fees they apply and the cost of default charges, it is important that you take time to read this document and must contact us if you do not receive this.
RENEWAL PREMIUMS PAYABLE BY DIRECT DEBIT
In good time before the renewal of your policy, we shall contact you with the renewal premium and terms for the coming year. If you have not contacted us before the renewal date, we shall renew the policy automatically on your behalf. If you do not wish to renew 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 it is your intention to renew the policy, no action is required by you, and the policy will renew automatically. We shall send your new certificate of insurance to you.
OUR SERVICE
We offer a wide range of insurance products and have access to leading insurers in the marketplace. the advice give by the firm is on a personal recommendation based on a fair and personal analysis of the market, however for some types of insurance we deal predominantly with a single or limited number of insurers which we have selected as offering value for money and quality service. In circumstances the firm does not give a personal recommendation on the basis of a fair and personal analysis we will provide you with the name of the insurers which the firm may and does conduct business with. We will give you details of these arrangements before you make any commitment on any product we offer you. We will explain the main features of the products, cover and benefits, any unusual restrictions or exclusions, any significant conditions or obligations and the period of cover. We will make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs, or advise you if we are unable to place your insurance. In some circumstances we provide information only and do not therefore make a personal recommendation. The document we provide will make it clear whether the sale is provided on an advised or non-advised basis. We will also make clear in our documentation prior to conclusion of the contract areas where we are acting as agent for the customer, the insurer or both.
We cannot guarantee the solvency of an insurer or third party with whom we broker business so you may in such circumstances be liable for any premiums due and be unable to recover premiums paid in full or in part as a result of insolvency.
Our Uninsured Loss Recovery Service is not an insurance product and is not covered by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Regulations. We will give you full details of any such arrangements before you make a commitment to purchase any product we offer you.
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 us immediately. We will inform the insurer without delay and in any event within 3 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 shall 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 to give your informed consent, and you have given that consent.
We shall forward any payments received from insurers in respect of any claim, to you, without delay if your premium has been paid to us in full.
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 requirements.
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; whichever is later.
This Mediation Contract can be cancelled at any time by either party in writing by giving 14 days notice. If you wish to give notice of cancellation, please write to us at the above address. If we wish to cancel this Mediation Contract or we are instructed to do so by the insurer we shall write to you at the last known address for you on our records and the notice period in these instances is usually 7 days.
You will remain liable to pay for any transactions or adjustments effective prior to the termination and we shall be entitled to retain any and all commission and/or fees payable in relation to insurance cover placed by us prior to the date of written termination.
RETURN PREMIUMS
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 to you. In view of the costs involved, we will not issue any return premium that is less than (£20) (after deducting reclaimed commission). An amount less than (£20) will be held to your credit and can be utilised against any future insurance policy with us.
If a policy is amended or cancelled, we will refund any return premium due (after deduction of the commission and our charge) in a timely manner after the net return is confirmed by the insurer on their statement, usually 60 days following written cancellation.
POLICY TRANSACTION FEES
In addition to the amount charged by insurers we also make charges to cover the administration of your insurance. Any applicable Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) will be shown on the documentation we provide to you. Comprising basic and enhanced. Our basic transaction fees for new business, transferred new business, renewals, endorsements and cancellations for personal lines insurance are £32 but fees for commercial insurance transactions will be more.
Our enhanced fee is based upon the time spent on your affairs and takes account of the degree of responsibility and skill involved, the time necessarily occupied on work carried out (minimum charge 15 minutes) and the commission percentage applicable to the policy. Fees will be charged for each of the main classes of work, director £150/hour, manager £100/hour, senior executive £80/hour, executive £50/hour. Additional charges will be levied on duplicate documents, cheques referred to drawer and insurer scheme direct debit defaults.
Should we arrange a net premium rated policy with an insurer in addition to our basic and enhanced policy fee our placement commission will not exceed 25% of the net premium after Insurance Premium Tax. The charge applicable to cancellations and return premiums is deducted from the net premium refunded to us by the insurance company. Additional default or late payment charges may also be levied.
CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION
We are a data controller for information you provide to us including individual, identification and financial details, policy history and special category data (such as medical or criminal history). Details of our legal basis for processing your information, also with details of any third party recipient whom it may be necessary to share your personal data with in order to fulfil the contract, retention period for data held, security of your data, your rights under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) including the right to complain can be found in our full 'Privacy Notice' attached to these terms of business.
COMMUNICATIONS/DOCUMENTATION
We will issue all documentation to you in a timely manner. Documentation relating to your insurance will confirm the basis of the cover and provide details of the relevant insurers. It is therefore important that the documentation is kept in a safe place, as you may need to refer to it or need it to make a claim. A new policy/policy booklet is not necessarily provided each year, although a duplicate can be provided at any time upon request. You should always check the documentation carefully to ensure all details are correct and if this is not the case you should contact us immediately.
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 Mr Tim Evans in the first instance, either verbally or by writing to the Carmarthen branch. He will take details of your concerns and we will then acknowledge in writing, advising you of who is dealing with the matter. Should you not be satisfied with our final response, you may be entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). More information is available on request or on their website www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk. Further details will be supplied at the time of responding to your complaint. A copy of our full Complaints Handling Procedures is available on request. We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and you may be entitled to compensation from the scheme depending on the type of business and circumstances of the claim if we cannot meet our obligations. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme at www.fscs.org.uk.
RISK TRANSFER
Some premiums that we collect are held in an insurance broking 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.
CLIENT MONEY SEGREGATION (Non-statutory trust)
Some premiums that we collect 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. We may agree to extend credit to other customers using client money from the Client Money Bank Account. We will have in place, and maintain, systems and controls adequate to ensure that we are able to monitor and manage client money transactions and any credit risk arising from the operation of the trust arrangement.
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.
COMMISSION WITHDRAWAL
We receive commission from the premiums that you pay to us. We shall only withdraw commission after we have received the premium from you and in accordance with FCA regulations and agreements that we hold with insurers.
EARNING INTEREST ON CUSTOMER PREMIUMS
We hold premiums that you pay to us in an Insurance Broking Client Money Bank Account. Under FCA Regulations we have to inform you that we may earn interest from the money held in our Insurance Broking Client Money Bank Account which may exceed £20 for any one transaction that you make with us. Our policy for the payment of interest is to recognise interest on income on an accruals basis. By accepting these Terms of Business, you are giving your consent for us to act in the manner described in this Section.
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.
FINANCIAL CRIME
We are bound by UK money laundering regulations which require us to obtain sufficient information about you. We are obliged to cross reference your details against the H.M. Financial Sanctions List and report to, without informing you, the National Crime Agency and or Serious Fraud Office if we suspect financial crime.
LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS OF OUR LIABILITY
The following provisions set out our entire financial liability to you. You acknowledge and agree that you shall only be entitled to make a claim against us and not against any individual employee or consultant engaged by us. Our liability for losses suffered by you arising under or in connection with the provision of our services, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise including our liability for acts or omissions of our senior management, employees and any appointed representatives shall be limited to losses, damages, costs and expenses caused by our negligence or wilful default. However to the fullest extent permitted by law we will not be responsible for any losses whatsoever where you or others supply incorrect or incomplete information or fail to supply appropriate information or where you fail to act on our advice or respond promptly to communication from us, the insurers or interested third parties. Any claim or series of claims arising from one act, error, omission, incident or original cause shall be considered to be one claim. We shall not be liable to you for any loss of profit or loss of business whether directly or indirectly occurring and which arises out of our in connection with the provision of our services. Nothing in this paragraph shall exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence of for loss by our fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation or breach of regulatory obligations owed to you. You are welcome to contact us to discuss increasing the limitations of our liability and or varying the exclusions set out above.
GENERAL
If any provision of these terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the other provisions of these Terms and the remainder of the provision in question will not be affected. These Terms shall be be governed by the laws of England and Wales and the parties agree herewith that any dispute arising out of it shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the relevant courts. These terms supersede all proposals, prior discussions and representations (whether oral or written) between us relating to our appointments as your agent in connect with the arranging and administration of your insurance. These terms constitute an offer by us to act on your behalf in the arranging, administration of your insurance. In the absence of any specific acceptance communication to us by you (whether verbal or written) you are deemed to accept our offer to act for you on the basis of these terms, by conduct, upon your instructions us to arrange, renew or otherwise act for you in connection with insurance matters
