Terms of Business
The Financial Services Authority
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is the independent watchdog that
regulates financial services. PJ Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised
and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Our FSA Register
number is 304340 and you can check our status at www.fsa.gov.uk/register
or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.
Our permitted business includes advising, arranging, dealing in and
assisting with the placing and administration of all types of General
Insurance policies.
Confidentiality and Data Protection
We will treat all your personal information as private and confidential
to us and anyone else involved in the normal course of arranging and
administering your insurance, even when you are no longer a customer. We
will not give anyone else any personal information except on your
instructions or authority, or where we are required to do so by law, or
by virtue of our regulatory requirements. We may use information we hold
about you to provide information to you about other products and
services, which we feel may be appropriate to you. Under the Data
Protection Act 1998 you have the right to see personal information about
you that we hold in our records. If you have any queries please write to
us at our usual office address.
Our Service
We are an independent insurance intermediary, who acts on our customers
behalf in arranging insurance. Our services include: advising you on
your insurance needs; arranging your insurance cover with insurers to
meet your requirements; and helping assist you with any claim you need
to make and tell you what your responsibilities are in relation to
making claims. Telling you when you need to renew your policy in time to
allow you to consider and arrange continuing cover.
Whose products we offer
We usually offer advice from a range of insurers, representing a fair
analysis of the market, however, under certain circumstances we may only
deal with a limited panel, or single insurer. We will confirm, for each
individual policy we provide you with, the basis of our advice on our
Initial Disclosure Document.
The service we will provide you with
We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed
your demands and needs. Our advice will be confirmed in a demands and
needs and suitability statement, giving reasons for our recommendations.
What you will pay for our services
We usually recive a commission fro the Insurer with whom we place your
business and in addition to the premiums charged by Insurers we may
charge a professional fee to cover the placing and ongoing handling for
your insurance. We make the following standard charges to cover the
administation of your insurance.
- Arranging new policies- Up to £25.00
- Renewals- Up to £25.00
- Mid-term adjustment- Up to £25.00
Or where policies are net rated, by agreement.
Replacement Policies/Duplicate Certificates - £10.00
Setting up credit arrangements for your insurance - £10.00
Handling claims with insurers - negotiable,
depending upon the complexity of the claim. Other charges apply when the
brokerage paid by the Insurer does not cover our administration costs. A
fee to reflect this will be made in addition to the above charges.
The specific amount and purpose of any professional fee and administation
charges will always be advicsed to you in advance. We earn the entireity
of our commission and/or fees when your risk is successfully placed and
take our commission and/or fees immeadiatley upon receipt of payment
unless agreed otherwise with your Insurer. In the event of a adjustment
that results in a return premium or cancellation mid-term we will refund
the premium due net of our full commission and any charge made by
Insurers. Where the premium is being paid by instalments, we will claim
out full commission along with any charge mage y the Insurers in the
cancellation of any outstanding monies.
Payment by Credit Cards 1.50% - max charge £20.00
Occassionally we may arrange a policy on which we earn
no commission (a "net-premium policy") and in these cases we will advise
you of the arrangement fee before you take the policy out. Specific
charges, which apply to individual policies will be shown on the Initial
Disclosure Document applicable to that policy.
The specifc charge and purpose of any additional charges will always be advised to you in
advance.
What to do if you have a complaint
Our aim is to provide a first
class service, however, if you wish to register a complaint, plese
contact us by writing to Mr Peter Robinson, PJ Insurance Brokers Ltd,
113 Queens Road, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 9UN or, by phone Telephone 0870
770 5331, by fax 0870 770 5332.
We will provide you with a copy of our
full complaints procedure and respond to you as a matter of urgency, and
always within 5 working days. We will aim to make a final response to
you within four weeks, or keep you informed as to why this is not
possible. In the event that your complaint relates to activites or
services provided by another party, we will ensure that your complaint
is appropriately forwared, and will track the progress of the complaint
and responses of that party. After our final response has been issued,
if you still cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitles
to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, for an independent
assessment and opinion.
The FOS Consumer Helpline is on 0845 080 1800
and their address is: Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183
Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR
Premium and Financial Aspects
In arranging your insurances we may
employ the services of other intermediaries who are regulated by the FSA
and your premium may be passed to these intermediaries for payment to
Insurers. Please note, we retain interest on client money heldin our
client account and by accepting these Terms of Business you give consent
for us to retain such interest.
Your Right to Cancel (Applicable to Personal Lines/Retail customers
only)
You have a legal right to cancel your policy for any reason,
subject to no claims having occurred, within 14 days of receiving the
full terms & conditions. You will always be advised where this Right
applies. A charge will apply for the period of cover provided and, in
addition, we make an administration charge as detailed above.
If you wish to cancel a policy you must advise us in writing, prior to expiry of the 14-day cancellation period, to either PJ Insurance Brokers Ltd, 113 Queens Road, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 9UN; or CD Shortell Insurance Brokers, 5 Heath Road, Petersfield, Hampshire GU31 4JF.
Are we covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)?
We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The
FSCS is the UK's statutory fund of the last resort for customers of
authorised financial services firms, like ourselves. The primary aim of
the Scheme is to provide protection for private individuals and small
businesses. The FSCS can pay compensation if an authorised firm is
unable or likely to be unable to pay claims against it, usually because
it has gone out of business or is insolvent.
Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £2,000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without an upper limit. For compulsory insurances (for example, motor insurance and employers' liability insurance), insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without an upper limit. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.
Payment Options
We normally accept payment by guaranteed cheque or
the following credit/debit cards - Visa, Mastercard, Maestro. You may be
able to spread your payments through insurers' instalment schemes or a
credit scheme, which we have arranged with an established insurance
premium finance provider. We will give you full information about your
payment options and the appropriate finance agreement when we discuss
your insurance in detail.
Claims and Underwriting Exchange & Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud
Register
Insurers pass information to the Claims & Underwriting Exchange
Register operated by Database Services Ltd and the Motor Insurance
Anti-Fraud Register compiled by the Association of British Insurers. The
objective is to check information provided and to prevent fraudulent
claims. Motor Insurance details are also added to the Motor Insurance
Database operated by the Motor Insurers' Information Centre which has
been formed to help uninsured drivers and may be accessed by the Police
to confirm who is insured to drive. In the event of an accident, this
database may be used by Insurers, MIIC and the MIB to identify relevant
policy information. Other insurance related databases may also be added
in the future.
Language Used and Applicable Law
The English language will be used
for all communications, the contractual terms and conditions, and any
information we are required to supply to you, before and during the
duration of the contract. This terms of business is subject to English
Law.
Information on how we treat Payments You make to Us
Under the terms
of our agreements with the Insurance companies with whom we place
business, we normally receive premiums you pay to us as Agent of the
Insurer. All insurance premiums you pay to us re protected in a
Statutory Trust Client Account until we pay insurers. We will retain any
interest earned on our client account. Please note your premiums may be
passed to other intermediaries who are also authorised by the FSA.
Your Duty to Give Information
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.
It is important that you ensure that all statements you
make on proposals forms, statements of fact, 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 of the questions are true
and accurate before signing the documents. Please note that if you fail
to disclose any information or change in circumstances to your insurers
which could influence the cost, or their decision to accept your
insurance, this could invalidate your insurance cover, and could mean
that part or all of claim may not be paid.
