Terms of Business
Please read this document carefully as it sets out the terms on which we agree to act for our clients and contains important regulatory and statutory information.
Definitions
“We/us/our” means Caunce O’Hara Insurance Brokers Ltd of 19 York Street, Manchester M2 3BA Telephone 0161 833 2100 / E-mail [email protected]
Status
We act as an Independent Insurance Broker and we are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN. Our FCA registration no. is 841497. You can check this on the FCA’s register by visiting their website www.fca.org.uk/register or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.
Complaints
If you wish to make a complaint, please contact our Complaints Officer, Diane Bradford, at the above address, or by telephone on 0161 833 2100. If we cannot settle the complaint satisfactorily, you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Details of how will be provided to you in these circumstances.
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Full details and further information on the scheme are available from the FSCS.
Scope of Capacity and Services
- Advice with a personal recommendation – We will advise and make a personal recommendation once we have assessed your needs, our service includes arranging your insurance to meet your requirements and assisting you with ongoing changes.
- Capacity – We act as your agent when sourcing a policy, placing the insurance and in the event of a claim, we are acting on behalf of the Insurer when we collect your premium, where this occurs in other circumstances, you will be advised at the time.
Selection
- We have conducted a ‘fair and personal analysis of the market to meet your demands and needs, we have reviewed a sufficiently large review of the markets that have your product available.
- To obtain a product that most meets your needs, we will be using another intermediary to assist in placing your business.
- We only offer products from a single Insurer and you will be notified separately who your Insurer is.
Products
A list of insurers is available on request. We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs. This will include the type of cover you seek together with the costs. We will endeavour to conduct a fair analysis of the marketplace when dealing with your insurance, in the event of us only using one carrier for a product you will be advised at the time of negotiation.
Use of other intermediaries
Where we consider it to be appropriate and for your benefit, it may be necessary for us to request another broker or intermediary to act as our agent and assist in the placement of your insurance product. In such cases, we will provide specific instructions to such sub-agents to meet your insurance requirements.
Transparency
You will receive information about any fees we receive relating to the product you are being offered. Our remuneration will either be a fee as agreed with you or commission which is a percentage of the premium paid by you, or a combination of both where appropriate. In addition, we may receive payment from insurers and premium finance providers to reflect the level and profitability of business placed. Quality of cover and competitive premiums remain paramount in determining the placement of business in the interests of treating our customers fairly.
We are committed to ensuring complete transparency of our remuneration and we will, at your request, fully disclose our remuneration
Source and Type of Fees
- We arrange the policy with the insurer on your behalf, you do not pay us a fee for doing this, we received commission from the insurer which is a percentage of the total annual premium.
- When you take out a policy with us, we will charge you a fee and you will be advised of the exact amount at the time. In addition, the insurer pays us a percentage of the annual premium after the policy starts
- When we sell you a policy the insurer pays us a percentage commission from the total premium. When sale reaches specific profit targets the insurer also pays us an additional bonus.
- Fees and commission earned are non-refundable
Payment of Premiums
We normally accept payment by cheque or by the usual Debit or Credit cards (a handling fee for which is charged). You may be able to spread your payments through insurers’ instalment schemes or a credit scheme which we have arranged with Premium Credit Limited. We will give you full information about your payment options when we discuss your insurance in detail
MID Disclaimer
If your policy requires you to populate & update the Motor Insurance Database, it is entirely your responsibility to ensure this is done even if you request us or your Insurer to do this on your behalf. We are unable to accept responsibility if you fail in your obligations to ensure the MID is correct as per current legislation.
Health & Safety
We cannot be held responsible for any client who fails to comply with current Health & Safety (or other relevant) legislation
Duty of Fair Presentation (non-consumer clients)
Before entering into a contract of insurance, prior to a midterm alteration and ahead of your policy renewal, it is your statutory duty to make a fair presentation of your risk. This information must be provided in a clear and accessible format. You must disclose, where practical, all material circumstances about your risk, this being information that might affect the judgement of a prudent insurer in deciding whether to accept your risk or not – should you require additional explanation of what constitutes a material circumstance, please contact us immediately. You must make reasonable enquiries before presenting your risk and ensure that all individuals holding knowledge about the risk have been approached in the compilation of this information. If you feel you have not been able to do so, please advise us so we can allow underwriters to make further enquiries if they wish to do so. You must complete any proposal forms or fact finds provided to you, honestly, accurately and in good faith. Any deliberate or reckless misrepresentation may involve part, or your entire claim being declined and in some circumstances; the Insurer may be entitled to retain your premium whilst avoiding the policy or apply additional terms to your policy.
Misrepresentations Act (Consumers only)
You are respectfully reminded of your duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation in any information that is provided by you to insurers and to answer all questions asked by insurers honestly. Under the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, a misrepresentation may amount to a failure to comply with a request from an insurer for confirmation, or amendment, of details previously provided by you. Please be aware that the duty to take care not to make a misrepresentation exists not just prior to any placement being effected but also at any subsequent renewal and any variation of the contract terms during the period of insurance.
In the event of a deliberate or reckless misrepresentation, insurers may avoid the contract. Under the Consumer Insurer (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, a deliberate or reckless misrepresentation is a misrepresentation where you know it to be untrue or misleading (or do not care either way) and that you know (or do not care) that the matter to which it relates is relevant to insurers. Insurers may also avoid the contract where a careless misrepresentation has been made. A careless misrepresentation is a misrepresentation that is neither deliberate nor reckless. In such instances, if insurers would not have entered into the contract had the careless misrepresentation not been made, then insurers may be entitled to avoid the contract. However, if insurers would have imposed different terms had the careless misrepresentation not been made, then insurers may be entitled to treat the contract as if those terms applied.
IMPORTANT
Insurers pass information to the Claims and Underwriting Exchange run by Insurance Database Services Ltd and the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register run by the Association of British Insurers. The aim is to check information provided and prevent fraudulent claims. Motor Insurance details are added to the Motor Insurance Database run by the Motor Insurers’ Information Centre that has been formed to help identify uninsured drivers and may be secured by the Police to help confirm who is insured to drive. In the event of an accident the database may be used by Insurers and the Motor Insurers Bureau to identify relevant policy information. Other insurance related databases may also be added in the future.
Credit Checks
To make sure you get the best offer from insurers or third parties involved in your insurance, i.e. finance providers, now or at any renewal or at any time and to protect their customers from fraud and to verify your identity, they may use publicly available data which they obtain from a variety of sources, including a credit reference agency and other external organizations. Their search will appear on your credit report whether your applications proceed.
As well as these searches they or us may use a credit check to ascertain the most appropriate payment options for you. This credit check will also appear on your credit report whether your applications proceed. Unless you contact us to confirm you do not wish us to carry out these searches, we will assume your consent has been given.
Security
We do not guarantee the solvency of any insurer we place business with. A liability for the premium, whether in full or pro rata, may arise under policies where a participating insurer becomes insolvent.
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 doubt over any of the policy terms or conditions, please seek our advice promptly.
Prior Insurance Contracts
In circumstances where you appoint us to act as your insurance intermediary and administer policies arranged by another intermediary or intermediaries, we will not be liable for any loss resulting from the advice or possible negligence of your previous intermediary or intermediaries howsoever caused. Unless instructed otherwise we will not undertake to review any of your previous insurance contracts other than contracts currently in force at the time of appointment. We will discuss with you how current and future claims arising from policies not arranged by us will be administered.
Claims
You must notify us as soon as possible of a claim and circumstances which may give rise to a claim. In the event of a claim you should contact this office and we will promptly advise you and if appropriate, issue you with a claim form and pass all details to your Insurer. You should not admit liability or agree to any course of action, other than emergency measures carried out to minimise the loss, until you have an agreement from your Insurer. We will remit claims payments to you as soon as possible after they have been received on your behalf. If an insurer becomes insolvent or delays making settlement, we do not accept liability for any unpaid amounts.
Client Money
In most cases premiums are collected in line with strict agency agreement known as Risk Transfer and when we collect these premiums we are acting on behalf of the insurer. Where Risk Transfer does not apply, client money is held in a statutory trust in accordance with the FCA Client Assets Sourcebook (CASS) with our nominated bank. Holding money in line with CASS ensures your money is protected and used only for the settlement of insurer accounts. We may transfer money to another person/firm in certain circumstances. Copies of these rules are available on request. Any interest we earn on client money & any investment returns will be retained by us for our own use.
Documents
With your consent we reserve the right to retain certificates or other policy documents at this office until all payments due under the policy have been made. Any agreed facilities for payment of premiums by instalments through us will be the subject of a written agreement, which will include authority to retain certificates of insurance or other policy documents until all payments have been received. 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. Should we withhold any documents we will ensure you receive full details of your insurance cover.
Quotations
Unless otherwise agreed any quotation given will remain valid for a period of thirty (30) days from the date of issue of the quotation.
Cancellation Clause
Your insurance contract may include a cancellation clause. If you are a consumer as defined by the FCA, this is mandatory. Full cancellation details will be explained to you during the negotiation process. If you fail to pay your premium by the due date the insurance may be cancelled forthwith, giving notice of the cancellation. In the event of cancellation, insurers may return a pro rata premium to us, but you are advised to check your insurance policy for full details of your insurers’ cancellation clause. Once our remuneration has been earned, if the insurance is cancelled after inception, our fees or brokerage will not usually be returnable.
Money Laundering/Proceeds of Crime Act/Anti Bribery & Corruption
The National Crime Agency (NCA) requires us to obtain evidence of clients’ identity at the start of a business relationship. We may ask or sight of your passport, utility bill or bank statements. For companies, evidence usually consists of a copy of the Certificate of Incorporation or we may check the Companies House register.
Law and Jurisdiction
These terms of Business shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law. In relation to any legal action or proceedings arising out of or in connection with these terms of business we both irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. Your acceptance of these Terms of Business does not affect your normal legal rights.
Termination
Our services may be terminated without cause or penalty by giving one months’ notice in writing. If our services are terminated by you other than at the expiry of the policy, we will be entitled to retain any fees and all the brokerage payable. The responsibility for handling claims reported after the date of termination shall in the absence of an express agreement be the responsibility of the party taking over the role.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY – IMPORTANT NOTICE
- This section forms part of our Terms of Business. We accept instructions to act on your behalf strictly subject to the following limitation upon our liability.
- Our liability to you for any act or omission (including, but not limited to, our negligence and /or the negligence of any other parties in respect of which we are legally liable to you), whether such liability be in damages, equitable compensation or otherwise, shall not exceed the sum of £1,000,000 or its equivalent from time to time in Euros or any other relevant or appropriate currency in respect of any one transaction or series of related transactions.
This figure has been carefully chosen in order to enable us to offer reasonable redress to our clients in the event of a claim, whilst enabling us to retain competitive levels of fees and commissions and make appropriate arrangements to ensure that any proper claim is met.
This section does not apply to awards made by the Financial Ombudsman Services in the exercise of his compulsory jurisdiction.
- In section 2 above:
- “negligence” means a breach of any obligation upon us to take reasonable care, whether that obligation is imposed by virtue of a term (express or implied) of any relevant contract, or by the law of negligence, or otherwise;
- “transaction” means any professional service provided by us to you, including (but not limited to) the arranging of insurance, advising on insurance cover and/or on wordings, notification of claims to insurers, and claims handling generally;
iii. “a series of related transactions” has its ordinary meaning (save that “transaction” has the meaning given at (ii) above), but includes (without limitation), (a) transactions concerning, connected with or arising out of the same policy of insurance or reinsurance arrangement, or, (b) where different policies or arrangements insure or reinsure (as the case may be) all or some of the same risks, transactions concerning, connected with or arising out of some or all of those policies or arrangements.
- We are always prepared to discuss increasing the limit of our liability specified in this section in relation to any individual engagement, if particular reasons exist, but we reserve the right to decline to increase the limit or (in the event that we agree to increase it) to make an additional charge or to impose alternative or additional conditions. No agreement to increase the limit shall be valid unless made in writing and signed by a partner in the firm.
- Under these Terms of Business, you agree not to make any claim against any employee, director, partner, consultant or other individual connected with us. See paragraph 6 below. However, it is also understood and agreed that if for any reason the provisions of paragraph 6 hereof are held to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, any claim made by you against any employee, director, partner, consultant or other individual connected with us is also subject to the limit of liability of £1,000,000 contained in this clause, and you understood and agree that any such individual may avail himself of this limitation.
- You agree:
- that your remedies in relation to the provision professional services by us, arising out of or in connection with this engagement, lie exclusively against us and not against any employee, director, consultant or partner as individuals;
- that you will not make any claim and/or bring any legal proceedings against any employee, director, partner, consultant or other individual, in respect of any act or omission by any such person or persons (whether negligent or not).
You understand and agree that the provisions of this clause may be enforced by any employee, director, partner, consultant or other individual connected with us in accordance with the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999