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Regulatory Status
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Constructaquote is a trading name of Moorhouse Group Limited.
Moorhouse Group Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority to arrange general insurance contracts. Our FSA registered number is 308035and you can check these details on the FSA’s Register by visiting the FSA’s website www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.
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Our Service To You
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Moorhouse Group Limited (from now on referred to as “we/us/our”) is an independent intermediary and we act on your behalf as your agent, providing you with choice and helping you to find the policy that best suits your needs. We accept responsibility for any advice that we give.
We will advise you on your insurance needs, arrange your insurance cover with insurers to meet your requirements (including ongoing changes) and assist you with any claim you need to make.
We use facilities made available by a range of General Insurance Companies and Lloyds Syndicates for most of the products that we offer. However, for some products we use a limited number of insurers. We will give you details of these insurers when we provide your quotation. A full list of products and insurers that we deal with is available on request.
We may advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs. This will include the type of cover you are looking for, together with the costs. Any costs that you may incur will be made known to you, before you have a liability to pay them.
Insurance cover will be subject to the individual insurer’s policy document, terms and conditions.
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Issuing of Cover
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All quotations and requests for insurance are completely based on the information you provide to us at the time of the quotation, and are subject to acceptance by the insurers. Premiums and terms quoted are also subject to confirmation and agreement by insurers.
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Your Responsibilities
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You have a legal duty to tell us of all material information relating to the insurance. In particular, you must be sure of the accuracy and completeness of the information you give to us and the insurer.
“Material information” is any information relating to the insurance risk, which would influence the insurer in deciding whether to offer the insurance cover, and if so, for what price and terms.
It is your responsibility to give 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.
If you don’t tell us about material information or correct any inaccuracies in your answers, this could result in all or part of a claim not being paid, or the policy being cancelled. If you are unsure whether a fact is material, you should tell us about it.
You should check all insurance documents that we send to you immediately to make sure they are correct. This is especially important if the information was given by someone on your behalf. If anything is incorrect or if you are unsure about anything, please contact us straight away.
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Changes to your Policy
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Any change in your circumstances or in the risk must be reported to us immediately and cover may be invalid until the change has been accepted by the insurer.
Examples include (but are not limited to):
For Vehicle Insurance – changes to your address and/or your vehicle, modifications to your vehicle, change of use of the vehicle, and for all drivers/riders – convictions, accidents and matters relating to health.
For Home Insurance – a change of address, occupation or use of the property.
For Commercial Insurance – a change to the Sum Insured, change of address, change of occupation or trade.
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Policy Documentation
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Our aim is that policy documents will be issued within 3 days of purchase. Your policy documents will confirm the type of cover, the insurer, and be accompanied by a policy summary and premium details.
The dates that payments are due, together with any penalties, will be clearly shown. Where possible, before purchase you will be given a statement of demands and needs. It will set out your demands and needs and confirm whether we have personally recommended the contract, and if so, the reasons for the recommendation. You should read all these documents carefully to make sure the policy is adequate for your needs.
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Renewals
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You will be provided with renewal terms at least 14 days before expiry of the policy. We will tell you of any changes to the policy terms at that time. For cover to continue, you must arrange this with us on or before the renewal date. There are no ‘days of grace’ and it is your responsibility to make sure that your insurance is valid and in force.
Mid-term changes to your policy will be processed in good time, before the change takes effect. If there will be a cost involved in making any mid-term change, you will be notified of this cost before you confirm the change is to take place.
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Payment of Premium
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You must pay the premium in cleared funds, as shown in our invoice or premium summary. If you don’t make your payments on time, this may lead to your policy being cancelled or lapsed. We are entitled to recover all expenses reasonably incurred by us when this happens.
We may, at our discretion, agree to accept payment of the premium by instalments. If so the balance of the premium will, at any time, be payable on demand by us and will be due to us as a debt.
Please note that after a claim, insurers do not normally allow any refund of premium, and direct debit payments must be maintained in full.
Other taxes and/or costs may exist in relation to the products and services offered by us, but which are not imposed by us.
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Payment for our Services
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We will charge you for our services in addition to the insurance commission (which is a percentage of the insurance premium) paid to us by the insurer.
A full list of our fees can be found below under “Our Charges”. Any amount which is not specified as a premium is considered to be a fee. Any commission due to us from insurers is payable out of the premium.
Commission and fees are earned for the policy period and we are entitled to keep all fees and commission for the full policy period, even if you cancel after the first 14 days. If you cancel within 14 days of receiving the policy, you will only be charged for the costs of the cover during that period.
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Our Charges
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For setting up your policy or at renewal, a fee up to 20% of the total premium including Insurance Premium Tax will be charged.
Policy changes during the period of cover will result in an administration fee to a maximum value of £30.00, depending on adjustment type and effective date of the adjustment. This is in addition to any premium charged or refunded by the Insurer. If this change is within 14 days of renewal, there will be no administration fee charged.
If a cheque is stopped and/or returned, a charge of £15.00 will apply.
For duplicate documents of any kind, requested by you, a charge of £15.00 will apply.
Direct Debit instalment plans are subject to a variable interest rate depending upon the total premium. The actual rate will be detailed on the quotation document. Note: If a split payment has been agreed, a minimum charge of £10 per instalment will be charged for this facility.
Mid-term cancellation of your policy will attract a minimum charge of £50.00 (in addition to any charge the insurer makes for the time you have been on cover). We also reserve the right to charge for any commission your insurer may reclaim from us due to the cancellation.
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Proof of Payment
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We will provide you with proof of payment automatically for credit card or debit card payments. For any other payment method, proof can be supplied free of charge on request.
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Agent of the Insurer
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We collect premiums as agent of the insurer for some of the insurance companies that we deal with. This means that once we have collected premiums from you, they are treated as having been paid to the insurer. We will not pay you the amount of any interest we earn from investing your premium before paying it to the insurer.
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Client Money
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The money you pay us in respect of our fees and premiums will be held in a designated client bank account, and is referred to as ‘Client Money.’
We are governed by strict rules on Client Money, set out by the FSA. These rules are designed to protect you in the event that we are unable to transfer any premium money we have received from you to the insurer, or any claims or return premium money we have received from the insurer to you.
The Client Money bank account is an approved Non-Statutory Trust with Segregation of Designated Investments. Our own money is kept separate from Client Money.
We require your permission to hold your monies in this type of trust account. We will take your reading of this document, and continuance of the application process to indicate that you understand, and have given your consent for us to hold your monies in the non-statutory trust.
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Claims
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It is a term of your policy that you tell us as soon as possible about a claim or possible claim. You can do this by calling us on 02920 881500. Outside of office hours you can contact the insurer’s claims department directly on the number shown in your policy booklet.
As part of our service we will help you to submit your claim. But, we do not settle claims on behalf of insurers and any claim will be made in accordance with the policy.
We will send claim payments to you as soon as possible after they have been received on your behalf. In the event that an insurer becomes insolvent or delays making settlement, we are not responsible for any unpaid amounts.
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Cooling Off Period
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If you are a consumer (i.e. a client buying cover either wholly or partially outside of your business or profession) you have the right to change your mind and cancel any insurance you buy through us within 14 days following the day of purchase or the day that you received your policy documentation, whichever is the later. This right may also apply if you are a commercial customer and your insurer allows it (you will be notified if you have this right when you take out your policy).
In order to cancel your policy within this time you must write to us confirming your intentions and for vehicle insurance, enclosing your certificate of insurance.
We will return your premium to you less a charge for the period of cover and any fees and insurer administration charges.
If you are cancelling a motor insurance contract, any additional covers e.g. Uninsured Loss Recovery you hold with us will also be cancelled.
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Cancellation
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You have the right to cancel your policy at any time. If you wish to cancel your policy, you must send us a letter (with your current Certificate of Insurance for motor insurance or employers liability, if applicable) saying that you want to cancel your policy. It is important to remember that cancelling your direct debit does not cancel your policy.
If you are paying by direct debit then, on cancellation, any credit will first be used to clear the insurers charge for the time on cover. If there is not enough credit to pay this, we will invoice you for the outstanding balance. Any overpayment will be returned to you.
Premium paid for additional insurance products, purchased with your main insurance policy, for example legal expenses insurance, are non-refundable in the event of cancellation.
We will be entitled to make charges as outlined in the section marked “OUR CHARGES”. These charges will also apply if we cancel your policy.
Please be aware that some Insurers do not give a refund on cancellation and some charge cancelled policies on ‘short term’ rates instead of on a pro-rata basis, especially in the first year that you have been insured with them. This will result in a disproportionately greater charge for the period of insurance and any refund may be much lower than you might expect. No refund will be given when a claim has been reported.
You should discuss with us the likely net refund before deciding to cancel.
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Complaints
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Our aim is to provide you with a first class standard of service at all times.
If you feel that we have not met your expectations then please contact us straight away and we will try to sort out the problem immediately or if not, by the close of business the next day.
If you are not satisfied by our initial response then you should contact, The Compliance Officer, Moorhouse Group Limited, Barclay House, Pontygwindy Road, Caerphilly, CF83 2WJ.
The Compliance Officer is responsible for monitoring the quality of our service and will make sure that your complaint is dealt with correctly. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 business days and tell you who is dealing with your complaint. If our investigations take longer than this we will provide a full written response within 20 business days, or explain the current position of your complaint and give you an indication of when we expect to provide our final response.
If your complaint relates to the insurer or the insurance policy, we will give you contact details for the senior executive of your insurer.
If you remain dissatisfied then you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) who can be contacted at: Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR. Telephone No: 0845 080 1800, Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
The FOS will only consider your complaint if you have given us/your insurer the opportunity to resolve it and you are a private policyholder, a business with an annual turnover of less than EUR 2 million and fewer than 10 employees, a charity with an annual income of less than £1 million or a trustee of a trust with a net asset value of less than £1 million. If, however, we do not resolve your complaint within 40 business days, you can make a complaint to the FOS without waiting for our final response.
These complaint procedures do not stop you from seeking legal advice or taking legal action. However, the Financial Ombudsman Service will not take on a case where litigation has started.
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Compensation
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We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends upon the type of business and the circumstances of the claim.
Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% 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 the compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.
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Data Protection
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We are registered under the Data Protection Act and we aim to comply with the Data Protection principles at all times. These can be viewed on the Information Commissioners website www.dataprotection.gov.uk. All personal information is treated as confidential by us and we will only use or disclose your personal information in the normal course of arranging and administering your insurances, and where we have to by law (including by regulators or law enforcement agencies).
We exchange information with other Insurers to help speed up the processing of your data and to allow checks to be made on that information. Insurers and their agents share information with each other to prevent fraudulent claims and to assess whether to offer insurance, including the terms, via the Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register operated by Insurance Database Services Ltd. Lists of participants are available on request. In dealing with your application this register may be searched. In the event of a claim, the information you have supplied and the claim form, together with other information relating to the claim, will be put on the register and made available to participants.
If relevant, your policy details will be added to the Motor Insurance Database (MID), run by the Motor Insurers Information Centre (MIIC). This may be consulted by the Police in order to establish who is insured to drive the vehicle. If you are involved in an accident, (in the UK or abroad), other UK Insurers, the Motor Insurers Bureau and MIIC may search the MID to ascertain relevant policy information. Persons with a valid claim in respect of a road traffic accident (including citizens of other countries) may also obtain certain information which is held on the MID. You can find out more about this from your Insurer, or at www.miic.org.uk.
You have a legal right of access to your own personal data held within our insurance system - this includes paper files as well as electronic ones. You must apply in writing to the Operations Director at Moorhouse Group Limited (see Complaints procedure for the address), for this information to be copied or printed out. A charge of £10.00 will be made.
We will keep documents for insurance set up on your behalf, in electronic or paper format, for up to 40 years. For some types of insurance cover it is possible that a claim may be made under a policy long after its expiry date, and it is therefore important that you keep such documents safely.
For our joint protection telephone calls may be recorded and monitored.
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Law and Jurisdiction
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These terms of business are governed by and construed in accordance with English law. In relation to any legal action or proceedings relating to these terms of business, we both submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
The headings in these terms of business are for convenience only and do not affect their interpretation.
If any of these terms of business are held to be invalid or unenforceable in the whole or in part, the validity of the other terms will not be affected.
These terms of business may be varied by us from time to time.
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