IMPORTANT NOTICE TO CLIENTS OF DOUGLAS INSURANCE SERVICE EXPLAINING OUR TERMS OF BUSINESS AND                           INDEPENDENT INTERMEDIARY STATUS

 

  1. Definitions. a) ‘’We/us’’ means P.J. Sutton (Insurances) Ltd t/a Douglas Insurance Service, 19/20 Cross Street, Rugby CV21 3NL, telephone 01788 576877. Our main business is Insurance Brokers. b) FCA means The Financial Conduct Authority, 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN, telephone 0800 111 6768
  2. Regulation. We are authorised and regulated by FCA, our FCA firm reference number is 300331. Our permitted business is arranging and administering general insurance contracts. You can check this by visiting the FCA’s website www.fca.org.uk/register or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.
  3. Status. We act as an independent intermediary (broker) on your behalf, we are not owned in whole or part by any insurance company and we do not have any holding either direct or indirect in any insurance company. Our service includes: assessing your insurance needs, arranging your insurance cover with insurers to meet your requirements and helping you with any subsequent event or alteration to your insurance that we have placed on your behalf. We only offer products from a limited number of insurers, a list of the insurers for each product class is available on request, and we will advise you should we have any special arrangements with them or should you have to deal directly with the insurer for ongoing policy administration.  We may issue policies and handle claims on behalf of some insurers.  For certain types of insurance we may represent only one company and we will advise you should this be the case. You are entitled, at any time, to request information regarding any commission which we may have received as a result of placing your business. We are agents of insurers for the purpose of collecting, holding and refunding insurance premiums. We will communicate in English only and will provide this notice and contract terms and conditions in English only. English law applies to all dealings between us and customers.
  4. Professional Indemnity. We conform to FCA rules in respect of professional indemnity insurance.
  5. Disclosure of Information. It is important that you understand that any information, statements or answers made by you to us or your insurer are your responsibility and must be correct. Your attention is particularly drawn to the importance of the declaration and signature on any insurer’s proposal forms, as any failure to disclose facts material to the insurer or any misrepresentation in your answers may invalidate your insurance cover in part or in whole.  Facts material to the insurance are matters or information which may influence your Insurer as to the acceptability or otherwise of your proposal or renewal and must be disclosed at the earliest opportunity and during the currency of the policy.  You are advised to keep copies of documentation sent to or received from us for your own protection.  Please do consult us if you are in doubt on any aspect.  If we believe that any disclosure of material facts is not true, fair or complete, we will request you to make such full disclosure, failing which we must consider declining to continue acting on your behalf.
  6. 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 the proposal form / statement of fact that are 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.
  7. Remuneration and Charges. We arrange the policy with the insurer on your behalf. We receive commission from the insurer which is a percentage of the total premium. We may also receive commission from COBRA Network Ltd for commercial policies with certain insurers which is a percentage of the total annual premium. We reserve the right to make charges in addition to any insurance premiums for the arranging, amending, renewing and cancellation of any policy of insurance. These charges will always be advised to you before you purchase the insurance and as they are incurred. The first amendment under a policy in a year of insurance will attract no service charge, thereafter there will be a £10 charge per amendment. Cancellation of policy will be subject to a charge of 10% of the refunded premium increasing to 20% if the policy is cancelled due to non payment, or voided from inception by the insurer, except in circumstances described in 12.Cancellation below.  There is a possibility that other taxes or costs may exist that are not paid via us or imposed by us.
  8. Claims. If you have occasion to claim on your policy, you must notify us immediately 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 nor agree to any course of action, other than emergency measures carried out to minimize the loss, until you have agreement from your insurer.
  9. Complaints. It is always our intention to provide a first class service. However, should you have any cause for complaint you should in the first instance contact us in writing, by telephone, by email or in person. Your complaint with be acknowledged within 5 business days advising who is dealing with the complaint and providing full details of our complaints handling procedures. A copy of our complaints handling procedure is available on request. If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Your insurer also operates a complaints procedure, details of which are in your policy.
  10. 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, which are due immediately unless specifically agreed otherwise, have been made. We reserve the right to cancel any policy if payment is not made when requested. 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.
  11. Financial Services Compensation Scheme. 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. 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.
  12. Cancellation. For insurance policies sold to a consumer (an individual acting for purposes which are outside any business they may carry on) which are not travel insurance or similar short term policies intended to be of less than one month’s duration, an initial cancellation period applies. This period applies for 14 days from the receipt of this letter and details of the contract terms and conditions, or from the inception date of the policy whichever is the later. The request to cancel may be by email to info@douglasinsurance.co.uk or by written instructions from and signed by the policyholder sent to us at our address shown in 1.above and should include any covernote, certificate or original confirmation of cover letter. A premium and charge will be made for the period of cover provided, proportional to the originally quoted premium, plus £20 service charge.

 

PRIVACY NOTICE (HOW INFORMATION ABOUT YOU WILL BE USED)

 

Legal basis for processing data. The processing of your data is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interest pursued by Douglas Insurance Service except where such interests are overridden by the interests, rights or freedoms of the data subject (you).

What Information we collect about you. When you contact us for an insurance quotation or when we administer an insurance policy we collect the relevant information needed by an insurer to understand your insurance needs, calculate the premium and administer the policy.  The information varies dependant on the risk to be insured.

When we collect this information. We collect this information during our meetings and /or telephone conversations with you and through questions, the completion of fact finds and inputs to electronic or online quotation systems.

How we store your personal data. We hold your personal data electronically at a remote server controlled by our software provider SSP Ltd and this system is securely backed up. We also hold some of your data in hard copy within our office.

How your information will be used and who might we share it with. The information we collect may be passed to insurers or other insurance intermediaries to enable them to consider and calculate insurance quotations, to administer your insurance policy and to handle any claims.  Information provided by you may be put onto a register of claims and shared with other insurers to prevent fraudulent claims. We may share your data with other third parties in order to meet our legal or regulatory requirements. Should you wish to pay your premium by instalments we may pass your information to a premium finance provider. We may share your information with, and obtain information about you from, credit reference agencies.  Please note that any searches undertaken prior to you proceeding with your application will be soft searches and will not affect your credit rating.

How long we will keep your data for. We will retain any information we have collected about you for up to 7 years after an insurance policy has expired, however data held electronically may be retained for longer.

Your rights of access to your data. Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) you have a right, to obtain a copy of the personal information that we hold about you free of charge.  If you believe that any information held is incorrect or incomplete, you should contact us (see contact details below). Any information that is found to be incorrect or incomplete will be amended promptly.

Erasure Rights. You have the right to request the deletion or removal of your personal data if you feel there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.

Your right to object. Under the GDPR you have the right to object to us processing personal data based on grounds relating to your particular situation.  If you object to us processing your personal data we will stop unless: there are compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms or, the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim.

Your Right to Complain. You have a right to complain to the Information Commissioners Office if you feel there is a problem with the way Douglas Insurance Service is handling your data.  Please contact https://ico.org.uk/concerns/handling/

Marketing. Here at Douglas Insurance Service we take your privacy seriously and will only use your personal information to administer your account and to provide the products and services you have requested from us. We will not use your information or share your information with any other company for marketing purposes without your prior consent.

Contact Details. If you need any further information or need to contact Adrian Sutton, 19/20 Cross Street, Rugby CV21 3NL, email info@douglasinsurance.co.uk tel. 01788 576877.