TERMS OF BUSINESS LETTER

PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT AS IT IS VERY IMPORTANT

First of all may we thank you for placing your business with us.

ABOUT US

Rampdale Ltd is an independent Insurance broker. We are authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Our permitted business is arranging general motor insurance contracts. Our FSA Register number is 300279. These details can be checked on the FSA's Register by visiting the FSA's website http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.

We are required to comply with the FSA Regulations relevant to an insurance intermediary. These include the following:

• A firm must conduct its business with integrity, and pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.


• A firm must conduct its business with due skill, care and diligence.


• A firm must pay due regard to the information needs of its clients and communicate information to them in a way
  which is clear, fair and not misleading.


• A firm must manage conflicts of interests fairly, both between itself and its customers and between a customer and another client.


• A firm that holds client money has to meet certain specified conditions.


• A firm must take reasonable care to establish and maintain such systems and controls as are appropriate to its business.


• A firm must maintain and keep up to date a list of the insurance undertakings it selects from and be able to provide a
  copy of this list in a durable medium to a customer on request.

For your benefit and in order to ensure an efficient administrative process, we may discuss with and take instruction to change your Insurance policy from these people:

• You, your spouse or partner, your parents, drivers already named on the Insurance policy or the person who paid for the policy.

 

PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT VERY CAREFULLY

It sets out the terms on which we agree to act for our clients and contains details of our regulatory and statutory responsibilities.
We specifically draw your attention to the following sections:

(a) Non-statutory trust
(b) Segregation of designated investments
(c) Interest on client money

Please contact us immediately if there is anything in these terms of business that you do not understand or with which you disagree.

RELATIONSHIPS

As independent insurance intermediaries we act as the agent of our client. We are subject to the law of agency, which imposes various duties on us. However, in certain circumstances, we may act for and owe duties of care to other parties. We will advise you when these circumstances occur so you will be aware of any possible conflict of interest. We are not affiliated to any other organization.

We offer products from a fair analysis of the market.
We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs. This will include the type of cover you seek together with the costs.
Upon receipt of your instructions we will place insurance with insurers, and keep you informed of the progress of our negotiations. We will advise you of any inability to place your insurance.

SECURITY

We do not guarantee the solvency of any insurer we place business with. A liability for the premium, whether in full or pro rata, may arise under policies where a participating insurer becomes insolvent.

POLICY DOCUMENTATION

Our policy is that policy documentation will be issued in a timely manner. This will normally be within 42 days of the contract of insurance being concluded.
Your policy documentation will confirm the basis of the cover, give details of the insurers, and be accompanied by a policy summary and a debit note or premium billing. The dates that the premium is due, together with any penalties, will be clearly shown.
Prior to the conclusion of the contract you will be given a statement of demands and needs. You should read this carefully. It will set out your demands and needs and confirm whether the contract has been personally recommended and if so, the reasons for making that recommendation.
You will be provided with renewal terms in a durable medium no less than 21 days before expiry of the policy, or notified that renewal is not being invited. Attached to the renewal terms will be a statement of any changes to the terms of the policy, and changes to directive-required information (information required under the EU directives), statement of price and information about cancellation.
You will be given an explanation of any changes, where necessary and in good time, which may appear in your policy and you will be advised of your right to request a new policy statement.
If renewal is not being offered you will be notified no less than 21days before the expiry of the policy.
Mid-term changes to your policy will be provided in good time, prior to the change taking effect.
It is our policy to retain documents for business affected on your behalf in electronic or paper format for up to 5 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 you keep such documents safely.

Failure to advise us that the registration number is incorrect will cause your vehicle not to show up on the motor insurance database and could lead to it being seized by the police at a cost, which we will not be liable for as it is your responsibility to check that all details are correct.

Please note that a newsletter maybe sent to you by email advising you of further products that we can offer, if you object to this then please contact us.

CLAIMS

You must notify us as soon as possible of a claim or circumstances, which may give rise to a claim.
In the event of a claim you should contact the Insurers help line (as per policy booklet), or contact us directly. You should have available the following information, your reference number, third party details including Name/Address/Registration number of the vehicle/Third party Insurance details i.e. policy number and Insurer name and address.
We will remit claims payments to you as soon as possible after they have been received on your behalf and the full premium and any outstanding administration charges have been paid.

We will provide you with every assistance in submitting a claim and seeking to obtain reimbursement for you subject to policy conditions/cover. However in the event that an insurer becomes insolvent or delays making settlement, we do not accept liability for any unpaid amounts.

If you pursue a personal injury claim through Linder Myers we will receive a referral fee, which is currently £350

If a road traffic accident does occur, we strongly recommend that you report it immediately to the police and obtain a reference number as confirmation of it. Failure to do so may result in you being unable to utilize the motor insurance bureau should the third party being uninsured.

Please note that if you are paying on a monthly basis and a claim is made against the policy, the full yearly premium including documentation charges and instalments charges will become due immediately.

 

DUTY OF DISCLOSURE TO INSURERS

You must disclose to insurers, before the contract is concluded, any fact or circumstance which is known to you (or which ought to be known to you) in the ordinary course of your business and which is material to the risk. A fact or circumstance is material if it would influence the judgment of a prudent insurer in fixing the premium or determining whether he would take the risk. Should you not act with the utmost good faith or fail to disclose any material fact or circumstance to insurers, insurers may avoid the contract.

PREMIUM/ADJUSTMENTS/CHARGES

Please note that we are unable to carry out any request unless you or your representative is able to provide us with your password, which you gave us at the inception of your policy.

You must provide the premium due in cleared funds in accordance with the amounts and payment dates specified in our debit/promissory note. Failure to meet the payment date may lead to insurers canceling your policy.
Where insurers have specified that the premium must be received by a certain date, failure to comply can result in the automatic termination of your insurance contract.
If your bank dishonours a cheque, a £25.00 administration charge will apply due to additional administration.

We list below the most common adjustments usually carried out on policies:

Please note that we do not accept adjustments by fax or e-mail unless you comply with the below (i.e this type of communication will not take precedence over normal post).

If a change of driver / additional / temporary additional driver takes place, we will require the additional drivers form, copy driving licence, CBT (if applicable), obsolete Certificate of Insurance or current cover note (if applicable) and any additional premium to be received in this office before the adjustment can take place. Ideally, we should be given at least ten working days notice to ensure that the relevant documentation is dispatched to you for your completion.

If you are in the process of moving address, please ensure that you notify us in writing the full address, postcode, telephone number together with advices as to whether the vehicle is garaged or not, a minimum charge of £20.00 will apply. If the administration fee is not paid, we will not notify your insurers and this could invalidate any potential claim.

You will then be notified in writing any additional premium applicable, which must be paid prior to the adjustment taking place. If you are moving to a lower rated area, any refund will only be given once we have received your Insurers endorsement in this office.

If a change of vehicle takes place, we will require the obsolete Certificate or Insurance or current cover note and any additional premium to be received in our office before the adjustment can take place. If you require the cover note to be sent to motorcycle dealers, please ensure we have ample time to deal with this (ideally no less then seven working days). If the vehicle is on a chassis number we maybe able to issue cover depending on the insurer.

If you require a policy to be cancelled, you must return the Certificate of Insurance to us (by recorded delivery) together with a letter confirming no accidents or claims have occurred. This request would only be carried out from the date that the letter is received and not when it has been posted.  If an accident has occurred during this policy period, a cancellation may still take place but no monetary refund will be given until you provide documentary proof that you have made a full 100% recovery from the Third Party. Any refund, which will take up to four weeks to process, will be as per your policy less any instalment/administration charges, legal policy, breakdown cover, our 20% brokerage charges and £20 cancellation charge, the £20 charge will be refunded if a new policy is taken out within one year of the cancellation date. (Minimum brokerage charge of £50.00). Any refunds £10 or below will not be given but will be kept on your account against any future policy. If you wish for someone else to cancel the policy on your behalf then they must put your password on the letter otherwise we will unable to carry out this request.

If we are processing a refund for you, we will endeavour to refund by the same method as how you paid the deposit or full payment (excludes cash).

 

In addition to the premiums/charges applied by insurers, we make the following charges to cover the administration of your Insurance:

• £40.25 for changing your vehicle, or up to 50% of the quoted additional price dependent on the work involved.


• £20.00 for change of breakdown cover.


• £35.00 for changing drivers, or up to 50% of the quoted additional price dependent on the work involved.


• £35.00 for changing usage on policy, or up to 50% of the quoted additional price dependent on the work involved.


• £20.00 for changing address.


• £10.00 for requesting green cards.


• £10.00 for requesting a duplicate certificate.


• £10.00 for correcting/changing a registration number, due an error by you or your dealers.


• £15.00 for changing a registration number to a private or personalised plate


• £40.00 to bring an inception date of policy forward.


• £20.00 charge should we have to write to you by recorded delivery, (due to non-payment other than direct debit), or you not replying to a previous correspondence).


• £15.00 charge should we have to write to you by recorded delivery, (due to the direct debit mandate being cancelled, defaulted payment or rejected)


• £5.00 charge should we have to write to you by recorded delivery due to you not advising the registration number of your motorcycle (if policy set up on a chassis number) within 20 days of the inception.


• Up to £35 documentation charge will be included on renewal price and you will be advised of this charge before you pay.

You may pay any monies by debit or credit card but a surcharge of 2.5% will apply for the latter.

This list is not endless and any adjustment not listed will be subject to a charge, details of which will be advised prior to us undertaking any work.

If your policy has been set up on a chassis number, you would have been advised that you have 27 days from the inception of the policy to register the vehicle and advise us of the registration number of your motorcycle or the policy would be cancelled (Please note that we are unable to offer an extension under any circumstances). A minimum charge of £66.50 would apply if a new policy were to be set up within 30 days of this cancellation.

In addition to the above, please note that until you have contacted our office to advise the registration number you will only be covered on a Third Party Only basis.

Please note that if you wish to activate the cooling off period, you must return all the documents to us by Recorded Delivery within the first 14 days along with a letter confirming that you have had no accidents or claims.  You will then be given a pro-rata refund (Minimum Charge £15.90) on the annual policy premium less our administration charge of £40.00, which have been disclosed in our initial conversation and disclosed on the demands and needs statement.

If you telephone this office to discuss an adjustment to your policy, please ask for a reference number referring to the conversation, (the onus is upon you to request this) - this will not be your file reference number.
If your policy has been set up based on you having no claims bonus, it must have been earned on a motorcycle and it must not be in use on any other vehicle or have expired more than a year ago.

Please note that we reserve the right to contact the previous insurer to confirm that the bonus was earned and is not being used or expired. However, if it transpires that you don't have any bonus we will write to you for the annual difference plus an administration charge of £35.00.

Please note that we will request a copy of your driving licence and cbt pass certificate (if applicable (including photo card and endorsement section) at the inception of the policy to confirm that the details which you have provided are correct. This must be received within Twenty days from the inception date otherwise we will write to you by recorded delivery to cancel the policy and you will be charged £20.00 for the extra administration.

In the event that the additional premium is not paid we will write to you by recorded delivery to cancel the policy. The cancellation charge will be calculated on the correct rate excluding the no claims bonus. This will also include our standard cancellation terms and the above administration charge.

If you telephone this office to discuss an adjustment to your policy, please ask for a reference number referring to the conversation, (the onus is upon you to request this) - this will not be your file reference number.

REMUNERATION

A full statement of our fees is attached to this letter. Anything, which is not a premium, is considered to be a fee. Any commission, which is due, is payable out of the premium. Our remuneration may be as a fee, or as brokerage, which is a percentage of the insurance premium paid by you and allowed by the insurer with whom the insurance in placed. Brokerage and fees are earned for the policy period and we will be entitled to retain all fees and brokerage in respect of the full policy period in relation to policies placed by us.
In the event of a mid-term adjustment we will be entitled to a fee as detailed in our introduction letter.
In addition to client fees and/or brokerage payments we may receive remuneration by way of administrative fees or commissions for services proved to underwriters.

CLIENT MONEY

Client money is money of any currency that we receive and hold in the course of carrying on insurance mediation on behalf of our clients (including you) or which we treat as client money in accordance with the client money rules. A copy of these rules is available on request.
Client money can be held in one of the following ways:
a) It can be subject to a statutory trust
b) It can be subject to a non-statutory trust or
c) In accordance with the FSA client assets sourcebook (CASS)
Client money will only be held on behalf of an insurer or underwriter in accordance with a written agency agreement. You will be notified if this should happen.

NON-STATUTORY TRUST

The aim of the trust is to protect the client in the event of the failure of the firm, or the failure of the bank or a third party at which the money may be held. In such a circumstance, the firm’s general creditors should not be able to make claims on client money, as it will not form part of this firm's property.
The fact that we will hold money on trust gives rise to fiduciary duties, which will be owed to you until the client money reaches the insurer or product provider.
We hold client money subject to a non-statutory trust. This means that we are entitled to and may use client money held on behalf of one client to pay another client’s premium before the premium is received from that other client, and to pay claims and premium refunds to another client before we receive payment from the insurer. However, we are not entitled to use client money to pay commissions before we receive the relevant premium form the client.

SEGREGATION OF DESIGNATED INVESTMENTS

We keep client money separate from our own money. We may do this by paying it into a client bank account. However, we may also do this by arranging to hold separately permitted designated investments with a value at least equivalent to the money that would otherwise have been paid into a client bank account. If we do this we will be responsible for meeting any shortfall in our client money resource which is attributable to falls in the market value of a segregated investment.

INTEREST ON CLIENT MONEY
Any interest earned on client money held by us and any investment returns on any segregated designated investments would be retained by us for our own use, rather than paid to you.

BANK ACCOUNTS

Client money will be deposited with one or more approved banks, a list of which is provided to you (If requested). Please notify us immediately if you do not wish us to use any bank or banks on this list.

CANCELLATION CLAUSE

Your insurance contract may include a cancellation clause. A cancellation clause is mandatory for all retail customers. In the event that you fail to pay your premium by the due date the insurance may be cancelled forthwith or by insurers, giving notice of the cancellation. In the event of cancellation of the insurance contract, insurers may return a pro rata premium to us. Once our remuneration has been earned, in the event that the insurance is cancelled after inception, our fees or brokerage will not usually be returnable. If your policy is cancelled, cover will not be reinstated and you could incur financial penalty/charges in excess of 40% of the annual premium for one months cover.

CANCELLATION OF THIS AGREEMENT

Our agreement may be terminated by one of us giving 7 days notice in writing to the other by recorded delivery (any request documentation must also be returned) In the event that our services are terminated by you we will be entitled to retain any fees or brokerage payable.

If the policy is being paid on a monthly basis through the finance company called Giscours ‐ please note that if there is any refund it will be sent to Giscours, they will remove this from what was borrowed and then contact the credit agreement holder to advise if there is still money owed. (In most instances this will be the case, as the policy is not cancelled on pro-rata basis).

POSTAGE/DOCUMENTATION

We recommend that all correspondence be sent by recorded delivery to ensure delivery, we cannot accept that documents/monies are in the post or lost in the post.

All initial new business papers are sent first class, policy documents that follow from the Insurers will be sent by second-class post, if you wish us to send them by Recorded Delivery to ensure safe delivery, please forward a separate cheque in the sum of £10 or £15 if you want them to be sent by special delivery.

COMPLAINTS

We take all complaints seriously. If you wish to register a complaint then please contact the compliance Manager In writing (by recorded delivery is recommended) at ‐

Rampdale Ltd Insurance Brokers, 5 Forum Place, Fiddlebridge Lane, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 0RN

If you are unable to settle your complaint with us, you are entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service at:

South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9SR – Contact number 0800 0234 567 or go online for further information at - http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/.

Copy of our full complaints procedure is available on request.

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 business and the circumstances of the claim. Full details and further information on the scheme are available from the FSCS.

MONEY LAUNDERING/PROCEEDS OF CRIME ACT

UK money laundering regulations require us to obtain evidence of the identity of clients for whom we act at the start of a business relationship. This might, for example be evidenced by sight of a current signed license. For companies (other than listed ones) evidence of identity will usually comprise a copy of certificate of incorporation, a list of directors, a list of shareholders and the registered address.
We are obliged to report to the National Criminal Intelligence Service any evidence or suspicion of money laundering at the first opportunity and we are prohibited from disclosing any such report. Claims payment will be made in favor of you. If you require a payment to be made to a third party then you must confirm the required payee name and details and provide a brief explanation for your request.

DATA PROTECTION

We are registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 and we undertake to comply with the Act in all our dealings with your personal data. Your personal information will be kept secure.
To comply with the data protection act we can only deal with the policyholder over the telephone. If you wish a representative to administer your policy, please confirm in writing their full name, address and date of birth (this is for security purposes), this is important, as should you wish us to carry out an adjustment on your policy we are unable to do so without the above.

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.

Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register
In the event of a claim all premiums will need to be paid in full

Insures pass information to the Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register, run by Insurance Database Services Ltd and the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register, run by the Association of British Insurers.  The aim is to help us check information provided and also to prevent fraudulent claims.  Under the conditions of your policy you must tell us about any incident (such as accident or theft) whether or not it gives rise to a claim.  When you tell us about an accident, we will pass this information to your insurers.

E-MAIL

In certain circumstances we may correspond with you by e-mail, by providing your e-mail address you are consenting to us communicating with you via e-email.
If you request cover or wish to make a change to your policy via e-mail, no cover or changes will take place until your Insurer has accepted your request and we have confirmed this.
You must take reasonable steps to ensure that messages are complete and accurate and are secure against being altered in course of transmission and are free of harmful viruses.

TELEPHONE RECORDING

For our joint protection telephone calls may be recorded and monitored.

Finally we will at all times endeavour to offer you a professional and courteous service and hope you will reciprocate when dealing with our staff, who are here to help you.