Terms of Business Agreement
The Financial Services Authority
The Financial Services Authority is the independent watchdog that
regulates financial services. Grenville Westinsure LTD is
authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Our
FSA Register number is 307417 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 we will advise you
separately prior to the commencement of each contract if this
alters. Our services include: advising you on your insurance needs;
arranging your insurance cover with insurers to meet your
requirements; and helping you with any ongoing changes you have to
make. As part of our service, we will assist you with any claim you
need to make and tell you what your responsibilities are in
relation to making claims.
If you mislay your policy at any time, we will issue a replacement
policy document, if you request it.
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. In certain circumstances we will use the services of
another intermediary to place your insurance and in these
circumstances we will state the name of the intermediary we use and
the name of the risk carrier in the form of “underwritten
by”
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 & needs and suitability statement, giving reasons for
our recommendation. In respect of Legal Expenses/Motor Breakdown
policies you will not receive advice or a recommendation from us
and you will then need to make your own choice about how to
proceed.
What you will pay for our services
We usually receive a commission from the insurer with whom we place
your business. We also receive commission for arranging finance
agreements for the payment of premiums and we may also receive
commission or fees for passing introductions to other
professionals. In addition, we normally make the following charges
to cover the administration of your insurance:
Arranging new policies
£NIL
Mid term adjustments
£NIL
Mid term cancellations and other refunds are refunded NET of
commission. We may, in addition, charge a £50.00
administration fee.
Renewals
£15.00
Replacement/duplicate certificates or cover notes
£nil
Payment by Credit Cards
2%
We reserve the right to charge variable admin fees on commercial
policies.
Consumer policies cancelled during the ‘Right to
Cancel’ period will be subject to an administration charge of
£50.00, in addition to the premium charged by the insurer for
the period of cover provided.
Occasionally 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
advised to you prior to the commencement of each contract
applicable to that policy. The specific charge and purpose of any
additional charges will always be advised to you in advance.
Prior to the conclusion of each insurance contract, or upon
renewal, we will remind commercial policyholders of their right to
be advised of the level of commission which we receive from
underwriters. You are entitled, at any time, to request information
regarding any commission which we may have received as a result of
placing your insurance business.
To make sure you get the best offer from insurers, 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 organisations. Their search
will appear on your credit report whether or not your applications
proceed. As well as these searches insurance companies 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 or not your applications proceed. By continuing you agree
to these uses of your information.
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, please contact us by writing to Mr Robin
Glover Grenville Westinsure LTD 80 High Street Bideford Devon EX39
2AA, or, by phone Telephone 01237 474806 , by fax 01237
471729
We will provide you with a copy of our full complaints procedure
and respond to you promptly, and always within 5 working days. We
will aim to make a final response to you within eight weeks, or
keep you informed as to why this is not possible. In the event that
your complaint relates to activities or services provided by
another party, we will ensure that your complaint is appropriately
forwarded in writing, 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 entitled 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
Your Right to Cancel (Applicable to Consumers 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 our usual office
address.
Are we covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
(FSCS)?
We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
(FSCS). You may be entitled to compensation from the FSCS if
we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of
business and the circumstances of the claim. Full details and
further information are available from the FSCS.. The FSCS is the
UK’s statutory fund of last resort for customers of
authorised financial services firms, like us. 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 90% 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 Visa, MasterCard, and
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.
Please Note: Your policy cover will cease if you fail to keep up
payments on an instalment agreement or premium finance facility
related to it.
Language Used
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.
Applicable Law
This Terms of Business is subject to English Law and the
jurisdiction of the English Courts
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. In certain circumstances you may have the
additional protection of insurance companies accepting that monies
paid to us are treated as being received by them (Risk Transfer)
Please ask for details. All insurance premiums you pay to us are
protected in a Statutory Trust Client Account until we pay
insurers. We do not pay any interest on premiums held by us in the
course of arranging and administering your insurance. In arranging
your insurance 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.
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
proposal forms, statements of fact, claim forms and other documents
are full and accurate.
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 a claim
may be not be paid.
Version 2 (14/05/2010)
