Introduction
This document sets out the scope of what we shall do for you, and what we need you to do to ensure that your insurance requirements are met. If you have any questions about the terms set out herein, please contact your adviser for clarification prior to the inception of your quotation.
Our Company
Fuelled is a trading style of European Technology Risks Ltd (company registration number 10883086), registered at 19 Malvern Science Park, Geraldine Road, Malvern, WR14 3SZ. Our company is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to transact general insurance under the reference number 810317.
You are able to check our status and permissions at any time by visiting http://www.fca.org.uk or by calling 0800 111 6768.
Basis of Contract
By purchasing an insurance policy with our organisation, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions set out herein. This Terms of Business Agreement (TOBA) applies to the insurance contract and the services that we are providing you with as an insurance broker.
Unless we specify otherwise, this contract for services will be governed by the laws of England and Wales.
Our Services
We are an independent insurance intermediary and we act as your agent in providing you advice and assistance in placing your insurance policies.
We offer products from a wide range of insurance companies. In certain circumstances we may only approach a specified number of insurers that are able to provide suitable insurance products for your business. We will provide you with a list of the companies that form any panel we have approached on your behalf, upon request.
In providing our Services we will assess your demands and needs and use our reasonable experience and judgement in recommending an insurance product that meets your requirements. If you choose to proceed with our recommendations, we will place the insurance you have chosen with your chosen insurers and issue the policy documentation to you promptly.
Your Duty of Fair Presentation
The terms of any insurance that we arrange on your behalf is based on the information provided by you to us or to your insurer. Under the Insurance Act 2015 you are required to make a fair presentation to your insurer of the risks you want to insure. A fair presentation of information includes both its content and the form in which it is presented.
This means that you must disclose to your insurer:
every material circumstance which you know or ought to know, or disclose sufficient information to put a prudent insurer on notice that it needs to make further enquiries to reveal those material circumstances; and;
ensure that every material representation as to a matter of fact is substantially correct and every material representation as to expectation or belief is made in good faith; and that you must make such disclosure in a manner that would be reasonably clear and accessible to the prudent insurer.
This obligation applies at the outset (before the setting up or renewal of your insurance policy is concluded) and throughout the period of your insurance cover. You warrant to us that the information you disclose to your insurer is a fair presentation and we shall not be in breach of any of our obligations to you in the event that you are found not to have complied with your duty of fair presentation. If you fail to make a fair presentation of the risk you want to insure this could have a number of consequences including invalidating your policy and your claim not being paid.
Claims
All policies contain conditions regarding the notification of claims with which you must comply. It is also your responsibility to notify us immediately of all incidents that may result in a claim against your insurance policy. You must do so whether you believe that you are liable or not.
Any correspondence or claim received by you must be passed to us immediately, without acknowledgement to the sender other than where there is a claim notice under the new MOJ Portal where acknowledgement is required to be given to the communicating solicitor within 24 hours.
Warranties and Subjectives
It is very important that you familiarise yourself with all the terms of any insurance contract that you purchase. In particular, you must treat any warranties seriously and comply strictly with them. Failure to do so will entitle the insurer to terminate your insurance contract. If you have any doubts or reservations, you should tell us.
Subjectivity in your insurance contract may lead to the contract being invalidated or coverage prejudiced if the subjectivity remains outstanding. It is very important that you promptly satisfy the subjectivity so that it can be removed.
Our Charges & Premium Payments
As an insurance intermediary, we receive a commission from the insurer with whom we place your business and, in addition, we may opt add a further charge to cover the administration of your insurance which will be disclosed to you at the time we give you a quotation for the insurance you have requested. Occasionally we may arrange a policy on which we earn no commission and in this case you will be required to pay an arrangement fee which we will advise you of before you take the policy out.
Where we raise an invoice for specific charges, our terms are that payment is required within 14 days of the date of the invoice. If you fail to make a payment to us when due then we will have no choice but to cancel the arrangement or ask the insurer to deem the policy to be “Not Taken Up” – If you need more time to make the payment, please contact your account handler who can extend the payment terms. This will be treated on a case by case basis.
You may be able to spread your payments through an insurer’s instalment scheme or a credit scheme which we can arrange with an established insurance premium finance provider. We will give you full information about your payment options and any appropriate finance agreement when we discuss your insurance in detail with you. If you choose to take up such a scheme this will be an entirely separate contract from your insurance contract.
You must read the terms of any agreement carefully and in particular note any credit cancellation period that may apply. If you fail to meet the contractual obligations regarding payment the finance provider could approach your insurer to seek a termination of your insurance contract to recover their outstanding finance arrears. You will be liable to pay their costs and charges. If you do not keep up your payments our cover is cancelled under your policy. This is because the agreement in respect of payments is between you the policyholder and the finance company and does not involve us or the insurer.
All amounts due to us shall be paid in full without any set off, counterclaim, deduction or withholding (other than any deduction or withholding of tax as required by law). We may, however, set off any liability that you may owe to us against any liability that we may owe to you (such as claims moneys or premium refunds), whether either liability is present or future, liquidated or unliquidated, and whether or not either liability arises under this agreement or any other agreement between us.
Payment of Premiums
Under the terms of our agreement with the insurance companies with whom we place business, we normally receive the premiums that you pay to us as an agent of the insurer. This means that the money you pay to us will be treated as having been received by the insurance company. We do not pay any interest on premiums held by us in the course of arranging and administering your insurance.
In arranging your insurance, we may employ the services of other intermediaries who are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and your premium may be passed to the appointed intermediaries for payment to insurers.
Non-payment of Premium
Should you or your agents fail to pay the premium or any instalment of it in full with cleared funds in the invoiced currency by the due date, the insurance contract may be cancelled by us or by insurers in accordance with any cancellation clause in the policy.
Where insurers have specified a premium payment warranty, they must receive the premium due by that date. If you do not think you will be able to comply with the premium warranty please contact us immediately.
Where applicable and where the relevant details have been passed to us, any other party with an interest in the insurance contract will be advised of any non-payment of premium and given the opportunity to pay the outstanding amounts.
Financial Crime
Your insurance policy will contain details of the procedure available to you if you wish to cancel the policy part way through. This may include a return of part of the premium you have paid.
If you do not pay your insurance premium or any instalments of your insurance premium by the date due for payment, your insurance may be cancelled or not taken up. If your policy is cancelled or not taken up our fees and commission are not refundable.
Data Protection & GDPR
Both we and you comply with all applicable requirements of relevant data protection legislation including the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679. In providing our services we shall process the personal data (including sensitive personal data) that we collect from you in accordance with our privacy policy a copy of which may be viewed at http://www.fuelledgroup.com. In particular, we will use information we hold about you for the purposes of recommending a suitable insurance product for you having assessed your demands and needs.
Complaints Procedure
In the unlikely event that you need to make a complaint, please do so by email to; Steven Darrah (CEO), European Technology Risks Ltd, steve@fuelledgroup.com
We aim to respond in full to your complaint within 7 working days, with a final response and resolution to your complaint within 8 weeks. In the event that your complaint relates to a third party associated with our organisation, we will act as a complaints handler and will keep you informed during the process.
Following our resolution of a complaint, if you are still dissatisfied you can raise a further complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service for an independent assessment and opinion. The FOS consumer helpline is 0800 023 4567, their address is Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9SR.
Limitation of Liability
We have obtained insurance cover in respect of our own legal liability as an intermediary. This liability is capped at £1,250,000 per claim. The limits and exclusions in this clause reflect the insurance cover that we have been able to arrange on a commercial basis for our business. If this does not meet your requirements, please ensure that you have in place your own insurance for any shortfall or excess loss. Furthermore, following the COVID outbreak in March 2020, we will not be held liable for any claims relating to COVID-19 or equivalent mutation of the disease.
Nothing in this Terms of Business Agreement limits any liability which cannot legally be limited, including liability for:
(a) death or personal injury caused by negligence;
(b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; and
(c) breach of the terms implied by Section 2 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (Title and Quiet Possession).
Subject to the paragraph above we will under no circumstances whatsoever be liable to you, whether in contract, tort (including negligence, breach of statutory duty or otherwise) arising under or in connection with the provision of our services pursuant to this document for:
(a) any loss of profits, sales, business or revenue;
(b) loss of business opportunities;
(c) loss of anticipated savings;
(d) loss of goodwill; or
(e) any indirect or consequential loss.
Subject to the above our total liability to you in respect of all other losses arising under or in connection with our provision of services pursuant to this Terms of Business Agreement, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, shall in no circumstances exceed the higher of:
(a) the amount of our charges; and
(b) the amount actually received by us as a result of a claim made by us pursuant to our insurance in respect of such breach.
We are also 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 are available from the FSCS helpline on 0800 678 1100 or 020 7741 4100 and http://www.fscs.org.uk. The FSCS is the UK’s statutory fund of last resort for customers of authorised financial services firms like us.
Whilst we endeavour to place business with insurers who demonstrate an adequate level of financial solvency, and although their regulator requires them to maintain a minimum level of capital, we cannot guarantee the solvency of any insurer.
Termination of our Services
Whilst our wish is to retain the business and goodwill of our clients, you or we may terminate the services by giving one month notice in writing. In the event our services are terminated by you, we will be entitled to receive any and all fees or brokerage payable (whether or not the same have been received by us) in relation to contracts placed by us.
Force Majeure
Neither party shall be in breach of this agreement nor liable for delay in performing or failing to perform any of its obligations under this agreement if such delay or failure results from events, circumstances or causes beyond its reasonable control.
Confidentiality
As a regulated insurance intermediary, we comply with the latest Data Protection Act and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rulings. As an intermediary, it is necessary for us to disclose your information to companies outside of our organisation, such as insurance companies and other insurance intermediaries. We ensure that each of our partners are also compliant with GDPR and Data Protection statements. We will only disclose relevant information about your business and keep a record of where your data is and whom it is used by. You can request a copy of this information at any stage.
Governing Law & Jurisdiction
This agreement and any dispute or claim (including non contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Each party irrevocably agrees that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim (including non contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with this agreement or its subject matter or formation.