Terms of Business

Updated on 11th September 2020

Accepting our Terms of Business

By asking us to quote for, arrange or handle your insurances, you are providing your informed agreement to these Terms of Business. We draw your particular attention to:

The section headed ‘Use of personal data’ and specifically the paragraph explaining how ‘sensitive personal data’ will be used; and
The section headed ‘Handling money’, which explains our terms for handling client money in a Non-Statutory Trust account

For your own benefit and protection, you should read these terms carefully. If you are unsure about any aspect of our Terms of Business or have any questions regarding our relationship with you, please contact us at the address overleaf.

The Financial Conduct Authority

Chauffeur Plan Insurance Services, Commercial Plan Insurance, Plan Assist, Plan Insurance Services, Taxi Plan Insurance Services, Trade Plan Insurance Services, Plan Insurance Brokers, Yellow Jersey are trading names of The Plan Group Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Our FCA Register number is 307249. Our permitted business is introducing, advising, arranging, dealing as agent and assisting in the administration and performance of general insurance contracts and credit broking which is limited to the broking of credit agreements related to insurance premiums. You may check this on the FCA register by visiting the FCA website, www.fca.org.uk/register or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.

Our service

Our role is to advise you and, after we have assessed your needs, to make a suitable recommendation. We will not in any circumstance guarantee the solvency of any insurer.

Our product range and the range of insurers used

We select personal and commercial insurances from a range of insurers, but for certain products, we can only select products from a limited number of insurers or can only offer products from a single insurer. We will give you further information about this before we finalise your insurance arrangements; where we select products from a limited number of insurers you may ask us for a list of the insurers we deal with for these products.

Complaints and compensation

We aim to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times but, if you are not satisfied, please contact the Operations Director in writing at the address shown overleaf or by phone on the number shown overleaf. When dealing with your complaint, we will follow our complaint handling procedures; a summary of these procedures is available on request. If you are still not satisfied, you may be entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). For further information, you can visit FOS website www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

Access to the FOS is available for complainants coming within one of the following categories at the time we receive their complaint:

Consumers (private individuals acting for purposes which are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft, or profession)
Small businesses with an annual turnover of less than £6.5 million; and employing fewer than 50 persons and with a balance sheet total of less than £5 million
Charities with an annual income of under £6.5 million
Trustees of a trust with a net asset value of under £5 million

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 on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. If you are eligible to claim from the FSCS, compensation is available as follows:

90% of the claim, without any upper limit;
100% of the claim without any upper limit for
- compulsory classes of insurance (such as Third Party Motor or Employers Liability); and
- ‘pure protection’ contracts, professional indemnity insurance, and general insurance claims arising from the death or incapacity of the policyholder owing to injury, sickness or infirmity, all where the insurance intermediary has failed to pay money to an insurer, pay away money it has received from an insurer or has failed to take steps to allow the insurer to effect the contract of insurance.

Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS on 0800 678 1100 (freephone) or 020 7741 4100 or www.fscs.org.uk.

Payment for our Services

We normally receive a commission from insurers or product providers. We also charge you for handling your insurances as follows: Any charge applied by us for the arranging of a new policy or the renewal of an existing policy will be clearly identified and shown separately prior to the conclusion of the contract. A charge of £65 will be made for each adjustment made to an existing policy. The total balance of all fees charged is due for payment immediately prior to the commencement of cover or to the commencement of work undertaken by us and are non- refundable under any circumstance. In the event of policy cancellation or voidance, we will charge a fee of £65. Where the charge results in a premium refund by the insurer, we will also charge a percentage of the returned premium to replace commission reclaimed by the insurer as follows: Motor Trade Road Risks 15%, Taxi Private/Public Hire 17.5%, Commercial Insurance 10%. You will receive a quotation which will tell you the total price to be paid, and which identifies any fees, taxes and charges separately from the premium before your insurance arrangements are concluded. On request, we will be pleased to provide information about any commission received by us in the handling of your insurances. We also draw your attention to the sections headed ‘Cancellation of insurances’ and ‘Ending your relationship with us’.

Payment methods

We normally accept payment by cleared cheque, BACS or credit and debit cards.

Handling money

Our financial arrangements with most insurance companies are on a ‘Risk Transfer’ basis. This means that we act as agents of the insurer in collecting premiums and handling refunds due to clients. In these circumstances, such monies are deemed to be held by the insurer(s) with which your insurance is arranged. You will be notified if Risk Transfer does not apply and such monies will then be held by us in a Non-Statutory Trust account pending payment. The establishment of the Non-Statutory Trust account follows the rules stipulated by the FCA to protect money held by authorised intermediaries. However, you should be aware that, under the Non-Statutory Trust account rules, we are permitted to use such monies temporarily held to advance credit to clients generally. A copy of the Deed of Trust is available on request or may be inspected at our premises during normal office hours. If you object to your money being held in a Non-Statutory Trust account, you should advise us immediately. Otherwise, your agreement to pay the premium together with your acceptance of these Terms of Business will constitute your informed consent to our holding your money in a Non-Statutory Trust account. Interest earned on monies held in such a Non-Statutory Trust account will be retained by us. For the purpose of some transactions, client money may pass through other authorised intermediaries before being paid to the insurer.

Cancellation of insurances

You should make any request for the cancellation of a policy in writing and any relevant certificate of insurance must be returned to us or to the insurer concerned. In the event of cancellation, charges for our services will apply in accordance with the ‘Payment for our services’ section above. The terms of your policy may allow insurers to retain the premium in full or to charge short-period premiums in the event of cancellation before the policy expires.

Ending your relationship with us

Subject to your immediate settlement of any outstanding premiums and fees, you may instruct us to stop acting for you and we will not impose a penalty. Your instructions must be given in writing and will take effect from the date of receipt. In circumstances where we feel we cannot continue providing services to you, we will give you a minimum of 7 days’ notice. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, if our relationship ends, any transactions previously initiated will be completed according to these Terms of Business. You will be liable to pay for any transactions concluded prior to the end of our relationship and we will be entitled to retain commission received for conducting these transactions, together with all fees charged by us for services provided.

Your responsibilities

If you are a consumer, you are responsible for answering any questions in relation to any proposal for insurance cover honestly and to the best of your knowledge, providing complete and accurate information which insurers will require. This also applies to your responses in relation to any assumptions you may agree to in the process of applying for insurance cover. This is particularly important before taking out a policy but also at renewal or if you make a mid-term amendment to your policy.

If you fail to disclose information or misrepresent any fact which may influence the insurer’s decision to accept the risk or the terms offered, this could invalidate the policy and mean that claims may not be paid.

If you are a commercial customer, you have a duty to give a fair presentation of risk to the insurer. This means that you should disclose every material circumstance relevant to the risk being insured following a reasonable search within your business to identify and verify such information. This should include information which you and where applicable your senior management, persons responsible for arranging your insurance or other relevant third parties know or ought to know and should include all information that would influence the judgement of the insurer or that would put the insurer on notice that it needs to make further enquiries.

Examples of material circumstances are:

Special or unusual circumstances relating to the risk;
Any particular concerns which led you to seek insurance cover for the risk; and
Anything which those concerned with the class of insurance and field of activity in question would generally understand as being something that would be dealt with in a fair presentation of risks for this type of insurance.

The information must be presented in a way which would be reasonably clear and accessible to a prudent insurer. If you are unsure whether to disclose any information you should speak to us. You need to take into account the size & complexity of your business, and allow yourself sufficient time before your renewal date to consider and/or assess your insurance requirements.

Failure to provide a ‘fair representation’ may result in a number of remedies by the insurer. If the breach was deliberate or reckless the insurer can void the contract and keep the premium. If the breach was not deliberate or reckless the insurer can void the contract, proportionately reduce a claim settlement or amend the insurance policy terms and conditions then review the merits of a claim on this basis.

You should therefore always provide complete and accurate information to us when we ask you about the insurance risks your business faces before taking out a policy, at renewal and throughout the life of the policy. This also applies to your responses in relation to any assumptions you may agree to in the process of applying for insurance cover.

Use of personal data

In your dealings with us, you may provide us with information that may include data that is known as personal data. Where we process personal data we comply with statutory data processing requirements as set out by the Data Protection Act 2018. The personal data we will collect will include information relating to your name, address, date of birth, contact details, health and criminal offences.

We will process your personal data to allow us to provide you with our services as your insurance broker in quoting for, arranging and administering your insurances (and in arranging insurance premium finance where applicable). Your personal data will also be used to manage future communications between ourselves. Where you have agreed, or in circumstances where to do so will be in our mutual interests, your personal data will be used to provide you with further information about our wider products and services. You can opt out from receiving such communications by e-mailing data@planinsurance.co.uk.

In processing personal data for insurance purposes about health or criminal offences, we will only do so to enable us to provide our service to you and on the basis of it being in the public interest.

We will only use your data for the purpose for which it was collected. We will only grant access to or share your data within our firm or other firms associated with us, with other authorised third parties and product and service providers such as insurers and premium finance providers where we are entitled to do so by law under lawful data processing.

The Data Protection Act 2018 provides you with Access Rights that allow you to gain an understanding on the data being processed, who we share it with, for what purpose, why we need to retain it and retention periods, to object to the processing and to place restrictions on the processing, to request copies of your data and to request the deletion of your data.

If you require further information on how we process your data or you wish to exercise your rights, please contact our data privacy representative by emailing data@planinsurance.co.uk. How we process your personal data is detailed further within our Privacy Notice.

Credit checks

To make sure you get our best deal and to ascertain the most appropriate payment options for you and to protect you from fraud, some insurers use public and personal data from a variety of sources, including a credit reference agency and other organisations. The search will appear on your credit report whether or not your application proceeds.

Conflict of interests

Occasions can arise where we, or one of our associated companies, clients or product providers, may have a potential conflict of interest with business being transacted for you. If this happens, and we become aware that a potential conflict exists, we will write to you and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions and we will detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.

Claims handling arrangements

You should take note of the required procedures in the event of a claim, which will be explained in the policy documentation. Generally, insurers require immediate notification of a claim or circumstances which might lead to a claim. We will employ due care and skill if we act on your behalf in respect of a claim.

Motor Insurance Database (MID)

In accordance with the 4th European Union Directive (and any subsequent legislation), we will endeavour to assist you in complying with the legislation surrounding notification of vehicles to the MID. We may charge for this assistance. It should be noted that the responsibility of notification of required vehicles remains with you and we cannot accept responsibility for vehicles either incorrectly registered or not registered on the database whether notified to us or not.