ChoiceQuote Insurance Services Ltd - Terms of Business
WHO WE ARE. "We/us/our" means ChoiceQuote is a trading name of Bollington Insurance Brokers Limited, who is a subsidiary of The Bollington Group (Holdings) Ltd. Our Group Head Office is Adlington House, Bollington, Cheshire, SK10 5HQ. Telephone 01625 574342. Fax 01625 574879. The majority shareholding in the Bollington Group is held by GUK Broking Services Ltd, which is wholly owned by Groupama S.A.
REGULATION. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS (FSA) to sell general insurance products. Our FSA reference number is 229342. These details can be checked on the FSA register by visiting their website www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.
OUR EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS & SERVICES: We are an independent intermediary acting on your behalf. Our service includes advising you on your insurance needs, arranging cover with insurers to meet your requirements and assisting you with any ongoing changes to the insurance we have arranged on your behalf. We offer a range of general insurance products and have access to a number of insurers with whom we place your insurance. We will give you details of these insurers where we discuss with you your individual requirements. For certain products we have negotiated an exclusive facility with the insurer. Where this is the case, we will give you details of those products where we have discussed with you your individual requirements, before you buy from us. Exclusive products/facilities will not be available to you through other intermediaries, either mid term or at renewal. For some classes of insurance, where we have delegated authority from an insurer to issue policies, we may act as agent of the insurer. When this occurs we will inform you, where we have discussed with you your individual requirements, before you purchase insurance from us.
DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION. Any information, statements or answers you give to us, or your insurer, are your responsibility and must be correct. Failure to disclose facts material to the insurer or any inaccuracies in your answers may invalidate your insurance cover in whole or in part. A material fact is any information that may influence your insurer in assessing your risk and should be disclosed as soon as you become aware of it. You are advised to keep copies of correspondence or documents sent to or received from us. Please do consult us if you are in doubt on any aspect.
AWARENESS OF POLICY TERMS. When a policy is issued you are strongly advised to read it carefully. It is the policy document, the schedule and any certificate of insurance that is the basis of the insurance contract you have purchased. Please ask our advice if you are in any doubt over any of the terms or conditions.
REMUNERATION. Our remuneration is normally a commission payable to us by the insurer. If commission is not payable on any policy we will confirm our fees before you purchase your insurance. In addition, for all policies, we may make an administration charge of up to:
- £125 for arranging your new policy
- £25 for amending your existing policy, other than at renewal
- £125 for renewing your existing policy
- £40 for arranging payment by instalments
We may also charge an additional £25 for arranging our Uninsured Loss Recovery Service.
If we or you cancel your policy, and a refund is due to you, it will exclude any fees you have paid and commission already received by us from the insurer. We may also receive additional payments from insurers reflecting profitability and/or volume of business
CLAIMS. If you have to claim on your policy or have been involved in an incident that may result in a claim you must notify us immediately. Telephone 0800 970 2460. Failure to do so may invalidate your claim. In an emergency, or outside our business hours, please refer to your policy for guidance. You should not admit liability, or agree to any course of action other than emergency measures to minimise a loss, until you have agreement from your insurer.
CUSTOMER PROTECTION. Our intention is to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times. If there are occasions when we do not meet your standards please contact our Compliance Manager at Group Head Office, Adlington House, Bollington, Cheshire, SK10 5HQ. Telephone 01625 574342. We will advise you within 5 working days who will deal with your concerns. If we cannot address your concerns immediately a full reply will follow within 20 working days, unless we are waiting for information from another party, in which case we will advise the likely timescale involved. If we cannot settle your complaint you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
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. In respect of insurance advising and arranging, the maximum level of compensation for claims against firms declared in default on or after 1 January 2010 is 90% of the claim with no upper limit. Claims for compulsory insurance are protected in full. Further information about the compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS at www.fscs.org.uk.
DATA PROTECTION. We are registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 and we undertake to comply with the Act in all our dealings with you. Your personal information will be kept secure. You should be aware that all insurers supply details of insurance policies to a database which the Police and other insurers access. We may use your details to provide you with information about other products and services available from the Bollington Group. If you do not wish to receive marketing material from us please let us know. You have the right to request personal information which we hold on our records, we may make a charge for the provision of this information.
CLIENT MONEY. The FSA rules are designed to protect you in the event that an insurance intermediary fails or is unable to transfer:
- any premium money it has received from you to the insurer
- any claims or return premium monies that it has received from the insurer to you.
We are governed by strict rules pertaining to Client Money, set down by the FSA. Where we hold monies in a client bank account we may
earn interest on monies held, which will be retained by us. Our agreement terms with different insurers vary as to whether we hold premiums
as an agent of the insurer. When this is the case, the premiums we collect are treated as being paid to the insurer. When we do not act as
agent of the insurer you will be advised, and we will process your premiums in accordance with the FSA rules.
We may transfer client money to another person, such as another broker, for the purpose of effecting a transaction on your behalf through
that person. We remain responsible to you in respect of that money.
MISCELLANEOUS. These terms of business shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law. Please contact your advisor if there is anything in these terms of business you do not understand, need further clarification on, or with which you disagree.
