Terms of Business

Definitions

We/Us/Our     means:     Haulage UK Insurance Solutions
You/Your     means:     The Company or persons making an application for insurance and Existing Policy Holders
FCG     means:     FC Gardner & Co
FCA     means:     Financial Conduct Authority

The Terms of Business outlines Our key commitments to You and the standard of services and quality that You can expect from us. We have also detailed the action We need from You to ensure that the insurance arranged is appropriate for Your needs and operates, as You require.

Our Status and Services provided: We offer a wide range of insurance products and act as an independent Intermediary advising You on Your insurance needs; arranging Your insurance cover with insurers to meet Your requirements helping You with any subsequent event or alteration to Your insurance that We have placed on Your behalf.

Scope & Timescale

These Terms of Business apply for the length of Our appointment.

Who Are We And How To Contact Us

Haulage UK Insurance Solutions is a trading name of Goods in Transit Claims Management Limited which is registered in England and Wales under Company Number OC376529 Registered Office: Brook Lane Much Hoole Preston Lancs PR4 5JB. Goods in Transit Claims Management Limited is an Appointed Representative of FC Gardner & Co who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 307624

Haulage UK Insurance Solutions      F C Gardner & Co      Financial Conduct Authority
Brook Lane Much Hoole      38 Red Lion Street      25 The North Colonnade
Preston Lancs PR4 5JB      Aylsham Norwich NR11 6ER      London E14 5HS
Tel: 01772 958000      Tel: 01263 733313      Tel: 0800 111 6768
Email:info@haulageukinsurance.co.uk      Email:john@fcgardner.co.uk            

Duty of Disclosure

It is Your responsibility as a proposed insured to disclose to Insurers all material information when obtaining cover, whether or not proposal forms are applicable or completed. Information is material if it would have an effect on the mind of a prudent Insurer in estimating the risk, and influence the decision on what premium terms to apply. There is no duty on the Insurer to make enquiries and the burden falls upon You as the insured to fully disclose all material information.

Instructions

Please provide Your instructions to Us in writing (by letter / facsimile / email) in order to avoid any misunderstandings about the cover which You have requested. In the case of verbal instructions received from You , We will confirm Your instructions by email within 5 working days.

Proposal Forms

If required, We will ask You to complete a proposal form. We will be happy to provide any advice and assistance as Your insurance broker, although We prefer not to complete the form on Your behalf. However in certain circumstances We will complete a proposal form on Your behalf but We will ask You to confirm in writing the correctness of the information and sign the form after completion. We particularly refer to Your duties of disclosure as set out below as it is essential that We and / or Insurers are advised of all material facts prior to completing the placement of cover on Your behalf.

Information About The Proposed Insurance

We will always endeavour to act in Your best interest:

  1. We provide You with adequate information in a comprehensive and timely way to enable You to make an informed decision about the insurance being proposed
  2. We explain to You the differences in and the relative costs of the types of insurance, which We think, will suit Your needs.
  3. We explain the key features of the insurance proposed, including the essential cover and benefits, any significant or unusual restrictions, exclusions, conditions or obligations and the period of the cover.
  4. If We are unable to match Your requirements, We will explain the differences between those requirements and the insurance that We are proposing.
  5. Unless otherwise stated quotations for insurance given to You will be valid for 15 days

Confirmation of Cover

We will provide You with cover notes / Certificates of Insurance where applicable and written confirmation that covers has been affected, the terms thereof and the Insurers involved. These will normally be sent to You within fourteen days of inception of cover. You agree to review all information upon receipt and advise Us immediately if the details of the cover or the participating Insurers, do not meet with Your approval, or do not reflect the instructions previously given to Us, and particularly if any cover You require is excluded. Contract documentation will be forwarded promptly following inception of cover. Please contact Us if You wish to cancel any policy that We have arranged for You. You should refer specifically to the cancellation premium refund terms as stated in Your policy as these do vary. You may have the right to cancel Your policy and be entitled to a full refund of the premium paid within a stated cancellation period. If this is available to You this will be subject to no claims occurring and some insurers may charge an administration fee. Any request to cancel must be in writing to Our usual office or email address.

Payment of Premium

We will advise You of premiums due from You to Insurers on Our Demands and Needs statement in respect of new Instructions and or Renewals and/or changes to Your policy(s) have been carried out in accordance with Your instructions. The premium is due on attachment of cover. In order that We can settle with Insurers We will require payment of the premium within the terms of trade specified on the cover/debit note or covering letter. This will normally be immediately. In certain circumstances Insurers may impose a specific premium term whereby they require payment of premium by a certain date. We must stress that breach of that term may enable Insurers to void the policy from inception of cover. Non Payment of premiums may lead to the policy being cancelled. In such cases We will endeavour to contact You but if this has not been possible and premiums remain outstanding cover may cease. You agree that the settlement of premiums in good time is Your responsibility. Receipts for payment will be provided on request. 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.

FCG holds all client money in a statutory trust client account in accordance with FCA rules which only allows Us to pay the insurer with monies You pay Us for a particular policy. Rebates can only be released to You once We have received the money from Your insurer. We cannot use other client's money to pay Your premium and for this reason it is not possible for You to offset refunds against premium owed on another policy. Unless You tell Us otherwise You are consenting to Us holding Your money in this way. Where necessary for the purposes of a transaction We may allow other FCA Authorised Intermediaries to hold Your money.

Costs & Remuneration

We Will:

  1. Provide details of the premium costs of each of the insurances offered
  2. In addition to the premium and/or charges made by insurers for arranging a contract of insurance, We may make a policy issue charge at the inception or renewal of a policy. This charge is currently set at £20 for Motor Insurance/Commercial Property Risks and £10 for Goods in Transit Insurance. It is Our policy not to make a broker charge for any mid term policy changes required, although if a charge is made by insurers this will be passed on to You. However, We reserve the right to make an appropriate charge if We consider that the frequency of mid term changes are unusual or excessive.
  3. Not impose any fees or charges in addition to the premium required by the Insurer without first disclosing the amount and purpose of the charge prior to any work being carried out.
  4. Be remunerated for arranging the insurance in the form of commission or brokerage paid to Us by the Insurers underwriting the insurance, unless the arrangement that We have with You, is that Our services will be provided solely in return for an agreed fee.
  5. If a policy is cancelled mid term We will refund any return premiums due to You but We may deduct the balance of Our commission. All fees are non-refundable.
  6. Provide full details of Our remuneration in relation to Your transactions with Us on request.
  7. In addition to such brokerage or commission, or agreed fee basis of remuneration as appropriate, We may be entitled to benefit from: earnings which We are able to generate due to the volume and/or profitability of business placed with certain insurers or premium finance providers, and through management of cash balances held on behalf of Insurers and clients which are not identifiable to any specific client. Details relating to Your transactions are available on request. In the normal course of operating as insurance brokers We sometimes ask other brokers to assist Us in responding to Your instructions where We believe this is to Your benefit. Unless a fee arrangement has been agreed these brokers will usually be remunerated by brokerage which will be included in the premiums charged.

Claims

It is a requirement that You report any claim or circumstances which could give rise to a claim to US and/or Insurers. Such notification should include all material facts concerning the claim. Failure to do so may entitle the Insurers to deny claims. The Policy wordings will explain in detail the procedures and conditions attaching to making a claim.

  1. We will provide a claims handling service for as long as You remain Our client and We will:
  2. If You require Us to do so, give You guidance in pursuing a claim under the policy; handle claims fairly and promptly and keep You informed of their progress; inform You in writing if We are unable to deal with any part of a claim; account to You, without avoidable delay, once a claim has been agreed and settled

Retention of Documentation

We will maintain records of the insurance contract(s) that We arrange on Your behalf and Our policy is to maintain placing and claims records in accordance with best practice within the insurance industry. Data is stored electronically and in paper form and will be archived as appropriate. Any personal data held will be dealt with in accordance with data protection legislation relating to deletion of data from computer systems. However, for certain types of insurance cover it is possible that a claim may be made against a policy long after this period. Please therefore keep such documents in a secure place. We recommend that You retain a copy of each Certificate of Employers' Liability issued to You.

Market Security

As a Broker We may utilize both UK and overseas Insurers to obtain the best terms and conditions available for clients. However, the levels of regulation vary in each Jurisdiction and if Non-EU or Non UK Insurers participate in insurance contracts, the future ability of an insured to issue legal proceedings and/or execute judgment may also vary. In selecting security a wide variety of factors including financial statements of the Insurer in question are taken into account. However, We cannot guarantee the future ability of any Insurer to meet policyholder obligations and therefore the final decision on the suitability of any Insurer rests with You. If You have any concerns about the security offered please contact Us immediately to discuss the matter.

Data Protection, Confidentiality & Security

We will treat any information received by Us from You with the utmost respect and, where or subsequent regulations replacing these acts. Information provided by You, or, which is obtained from other appropriate, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or any subsequent regulations which come in to force. Information provided by You, Or which is obtained from other sources in the course of Our dealings with You, may be used by Us to facilitate the provision of the services applied for or requested. For this purpose We may share Your data with third parties, insurers and agents. We may share information with Our own insurers and professional advisors on terms that preserve confidentiality or where We are required by law or by order of the court to disclose such confidential information. However, We will not be bound to keep any information confidential where it is or becomes in the public domain, it was already known to Us or becomes known to Us independently of You, or if You authorise Us to disclose such information. We may use providers which may involve, without limitation, carrying out credit checks to verify identity and for the detection and prevention of crime and fraud &/or for the provision of premium finance. You are entitled to a copy of Your personal data held by Us upon written request and payment of a fee. We will take appropriate steps to make sure that any money, documents, other property or information that We handle or hold for You is secure

Complaints

It is always Our intention to provide a first class service. However, should You have any cause for complaint about the provision of Our service outlined above, please contact Us orally or in writing to:

Mr John Ennals, F C Gardner & Co, 38 Red Lion Street, Aylsham, Norwich NR11 6ER, marking the envelope 'Private & Confidential'.

Your complaint will be acknowledged within five business days to advise You who is dealing with it. We will provide a formal written response within twenty business days from receipt of the original complaint. If the complaint cannot be resolved within this timescale We will write with an explanation as to the progress and the likely timescale involved. If We are unable to settle Your complaint with Us, You may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service at: Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9SR. Your insurer also operates a complaints procedure, details of which are in Your Policy.

Compensation Arrangements

FCG are covered by the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme). 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. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £2,000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of insurance, insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without any upper limit.

Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.

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.

Statutory Rights

Your normal Statutory Rights are not affected by this agreement. THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. These terms of business exclude any rights, which may be conferred upon Third Parties by the Contracts (Third Party Rights) Act 1999.