This Terms of Business Agreement (‘Agreement’) sets out the terms upon which we agree to act for our clients and contains details of our regulatory and statutory responsibilities. It also sets out some of your responsibilities. Please read it carefully.
Please contact us immediately if there is anything in this Agreement which you do not understand or with which you disagree.
About us
Snowcard Insurance Services Limited is an independent insurance intermediary and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to transact general insurance business. The Financial Services Register number is 964643. You can check this information on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA’s website at https://register.fca.org.uk/ or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768 (freephone) or 0300 500 8082.
Who do we act for?
We act as the agent of the insurer in our dealings with you.
Do we make personal product recommendations?
Our service does not include making a personal recommendation about the insurance products we offer.
Insurer security
Whilst we monitor the financial strength of the insurers with whom we place business it should be noted that the claims-paying ability of even the strongest insurers could be affected by adverse business conditions. We cannot, therefore, guarantee the solvency of any insurer or underwriter.
A liability for the premium, whether in full or pro rata, may arise under policies where a participating insurer becomes insolvent.
Risk information
The terms of any insurance that we arrange on your behalf will be based upon the information provided by you to us or to your insurers.
If you are a consumer (an individual buying insurance wholly or mainly for purposes unrelated to your trade, business or profession) you must take reasonable care to answer all questions put to you about your proposed insurance fully, honestly and to the best of your knowledge. If you do not understand the meaning of any question, or if you do not know the answer, it is vital that you tell us. Once cover has been arranged, you must immediately notify us or your insurer of any changes to the information that has been previously provided. The most serious consequence of failing to provide full and accurate information before you take out insurance, or when your circumstances change, could be the invalidation of your cover. In that instance it would mean that a claim will be rejected.
If you are a commercial customer, or someone buying insurance mainly for purposes related to your trade, business or profession, unless we advise you otherwise, you have a duty to give a ‘fair presentation’ of the risk to insurers. This means that you must clearly disclose every material circumstance which you, your senior management or persons responsible for arranging your insurance, know or ought to know following a reasonable search, before your cover is placed, when it is renewed and at any time that it is varied. Your policy wording may also stipulate that this duty continues throughout the period of insurance cover. A material circumstance is one that may influence an insurer’s judgement over whether to take the risk and, if so, on what terms. If you are in any doubt as to whether a circumstance is material you are advised to disclose it. Failure to disclose a material circumstance may entitle an insurer to impose different terms on your cover or reduce the amount of a claim payable, and in some cases your cover could be invalidated which would mean that a claim would not be paid.
You are advised to keep copies of any correspondence you send to us or direct to your insurers.
Our remuneration
Unless we tell you otherwise before you take out or renew an insurance policy with us, we are remunerated for our services in the form of commission from the insurer, which is a percentage of the total premium payable.
Our entitlement to commission, where this forms part of or all of our remuneration, arises as soon as you give us instructions to take out or renew a particular policy.
Charges
Unless we tell you otherwise when you take out or renew a policy through us, we make no charges in addition to the insurer’s premium.
In the event of a policy being cancelled during the currency of its term and not replaced by another policy, we will deduct the amount of our commssion from any refund of premium which is allowed to you.
Snowcard Insurance reserve the right to charge an administration fee of £25 for policy changes or additional work as may be required during the term of your policy.
Methods of payment
We only accept payments by debit or credit card via our secure website. We will not automatically renew your policy. When your policy is due to expire we will let you know and you are responsible for taking out a new policy.
Handling client and insurer money
We collect and hold money as agent of the insurer.
Confidentiality
All information provided by our customers is treated as confidential and only disclosed in the normal course of negotiating, arranging and administering your insurance. This may include disclosing information to agents and service providers such as loss adjusters and approved contractors.
With a few exceptions, for example information requested by a court, a regulatory body, or information which is already in the public domain, we will not release information to any other party without your consent.
Details of how we use personal data will be provided to you separately in a privacy notice.
Changes to your cover
We will normally deal with any requests to increase or amend cover on the day your instructions are received, or the next working day if a weekend or public holiday. Sometimes changes cannot be processed without obtaining additional information. If additional information is required we will contact you as quickly as possible.
We will confirm changes to your policy, once agreed, in writing. We will also advise you of any extra premiums you must pay or premiums we must return to you.
Receipt of instructions
We do not consider instructions to arrange or change cover which are sent to us by post, electronic mail/messaging services or facsimile, or left on voicemail, to have been received until they reach the relevant personnel in our offices.
We do not accept responsibility for instructions which do not reach us at all due to failures in the postal, electronic or telecommunications systems.
Documentation
Our aim is to produce documentation and issue correspondence in a clear and understandable format. In the event that clarification is required, we would ask you to let us know immediately.
You should check all policy documentation to ensure that the details are correct and the cover provided meets with your requirements. Any errors should be notified to us immediately.
All policies contain conditions and exclusions and some contain warranties and excesses. It is your responsibility to examine the document to familiarise yourself with these. A breach of a policy condition may result in non-payment of a claim if compliance with that condition would have reduced the risk of the loss which actually occurred. Breach of a warranty may suspend the insurer’s liability to pay any claims directly related to such breach, until such time that the breach has been remedied.
We recommend that you keep policy documents for as long as a claim is possible under the policy.
Making a claim
You should consult your policy documentation for contact details.
Please ensure that you report all incidents that could give rise to a claim as soon as you become aware of them by contacting your insurer on their helpline. You will be advised if you need to complete a claim form or produce documentation to support your claim.
In certain circumstances late notification may result in your claim being rejected.
If the claim involves damage to your property, please do not dispose of damaged items and/or authorise repair work (except in an emergency or to prevent further damage) until your insurers or we advise that you can.
If your claim involves damage to third party property or injury to persons please pass copies of all correspondence, including solicitors’ letters, to us immediately and unanswered. Any attempt to negotiate or respond to the incident, without prior reference to your insurers or us, may prejudice your cover.
Complaints
If you wish to register a complaint or request a copy of our complaints procedures please contact us:
- In writing, addressed to Russell Dadson, Snowcard Insurance Services Limited, Lower Boddington, Daventry, Northants NN11 6XZ
- By email to [email protected]
If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). You can find out more about this by visiting the FOS website at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
If you are a consumer and your complaint relates to insurance purchased from us via electronic means (e.g. on-line or via email or mobile ‘phone) then you are also able to use the EC On-line Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/who will notify FOS on your behalf.
Compensation
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 insurance transacted and the circumstances of your claim for compensation.
Further details about compensation scheme arrangements are available from the FSCS.
Cancellation right
Under ICOBS 7.1 (https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/ICOBS/7/1.html) a consumer has the right to cancel, without penalty, within 14 days of purchase, unless it is a short term travel policy of less than one months duration.
If you are not satisfied with your policy and have not taken a trip protected by the cover provided and have not made a claim against the policy and there has been no incident likely to give rise to a claim (such as the cancellation of a booked trip), you can cancel your policy within 14 days from the date you receive the policy wording and policy schedule. We will then refund your premium in full.
We will not refund your premium after the 14 day period. If you have a single trip policy, we will only refund your premium if the period from the date we issued the policy until your scheduled return date home is greater than 28 days. For both single trip and annual multi trip no refund of premium will be available after the 14 days. If you want to cancel your policy please contact Snowcard Insurance.
Should any claim occur prior to the exercise of the Cancellation Right, your insurers may not allow a refund of any of the premium paid.
To exercise the Cancellation Right you should contact Snowcard Insurance via the contact form on our web site or email [email protected].
Law and jurisdiction
This Agreement 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 this Agreement we both irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
YOU ARE DEEMED TO HAVE ACCEPTED THIS AGREEMENT AND GIVE YOUR CONSENT FOR US TO OPERATE IN THE WAYS DESCRIBED, UNLESS YOU ADVISE US OTHERWISE WITHIN SEVEN DAYS OF RECEIPT.