About These Terms and Conditions
These terms and conditions set out how we, Hastings Insurance Services Ltd, will deal with you as a customer. Use this information to decide if our services are right for you.
You will enter into two separate contracts when you take out an insurance policy through us. The first contract is with us for arranging and administering your insurance policy on your behalf. We shall charge you a fee(s) for providing our services. Our terms and conditions are set out on this page.
The second contract is with the insurer for providing your insurance and they shall charge you a separate premium inclusive of Insurance Premium Tax as applicable. Their terms and conditions are set out in the Policy Booklet, Statement of Motor Insurance and Policy Key Facts (which are part of your Welcome Pack).
Our arrangement and administration fee and the separate premium will form the total price of the insurance. The specific amounts paid in respect of the cover you hold are found in the Covering Letter in your Welcome Pack.
Information Provided by You
The information that you have supplied in connection with quotations obtained and policies arranged forms the basis on which your insurance cover and premiums are agreed. You must ensure that you are complying with your legal duty of disclosure of all material facts relating to the risk, and you must satisfy yourself as to the accuracy and completeness of the information you provide to insurers.
A material fact is one which is likely to influence an insurer in the acceptance and assessment of the proposal. For example, a young or inexperienced driver, or any offence (including non-motor related offences such as fraud, robbery, theft or handling stolen goods) or prosecutions pending, or infirmities of any driver. It is an offence under the Road Traffic Acts to make any false statement or withhold any material information for the purpose of obtaining a certificate for motor insurance. All material facts must be disclosed - failure to do so could invalidate your insurance policy.
If you are in any doubt as to whether a fact is material then it should be disclosed to Hastings Insurance Services Limited or your insurer.
If there are any changes in your/your permitted drivers' circumstances during the period of insurance cover please provide us with details. If you don't, your insurance may not be valid or you may not be covered fully.
Below are some examples of what you should tell us about.
Motor Policies
- A change of vehicle (including extra vehicles)
- All changes you make to the vehicle if these make the vehicle different from the manufacturer's standard specification (whether the changes are mechanical or cosmetic)
- A change of address
- If you or any drivers' licence has been revoked or you or any other driver has been disqualified from driving
- A change of job, including any part-time work by you or other drivers, a change in the type of business, or having no work
- A change in the purpose which you use the vehicle for
- A change in the person who uses the vehicle most
- Details of any driver who you have not told us about before or who is excluded by the certificate of motor insurance or an endorsement, but whose driving you now wish to be covered
- Details of any convictions of any person allowed to drive or of any future prosecutions for any offence (other than parking)
- Details of any accident or loss (whether or not you make a claim) involving your vehicle or that occurs while you, or any driver on your policy are driving anyone else's vehicle
- Any medical or physical condition or disability, for you or any other driver, that is notifiable to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), which has not been notified and accepted by the DVLA
Household Policies
- If you buy new property e.g. new furniture, TVs, jewellery etc. as the sum insured may need to be increased
- If you change your address
- If you plan to leave or have kept your home unfurnished or unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days
- If you stop living in your home
- If the people to be insured change
- If you or any of the people residing at the property have criminal convictions or pending criminal convictions
If you are not sure whether a certain fact is relevant, please call us on 0844 879 3016.
If you do not tell us about relevant changes, your insurance may not cover you fully, or at all. We recommend you keep a record (including copies of letters) of all information provided to us for your future reference.
You are advised to carefully check your insurance documents once received. If any information is incorrect or missing, we must be notified at once.
Regulatory Status
Renew Insurance is a trading name of Hastings Insurance Services Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
Our FSA registered number is 311492. You can check our registration on the FSA's register by visiting their website www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.
Our permitted business is arranging, dealing as agent and assisting in the administration of non-investment insurance contracts.
Are We Covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)?
We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme in the unlikely event we cannot meet our obligations to you. This depends on the type of insurance, size of the business insured and the circumstances of the claim.
Further information about the compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS at www.fscs.org.uk.
Complaints Procedure
We aim to provide all our customers with a high level of service and satisfaction but if you wish to complain about any aspect of our dealings with you please contact us:
In writing - Write to our Customer Service Manager at Renew Insurance, Rosalind Franklin House, Oaks Business Park, Fordham Road, Newmarket, CB8 7XN.
By phone - Telephone us on 01638 782 300.
If we are unable to resolve your complaint immediately, we will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 business days. In our acknowledgement we will advise you of the name and job title of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.
Within four weeks of receiving your complaint we will send you either a final response; or a letter explaining why we are not yet in a position to resolve your complaint and advising you of when we will be contacting you again.
By the end of eight weeks after receipt of your original complaint letter we will send you a final response or a letter explaining why we are still not in a position to issue a final response and advising you of when we expect to be able to do so.
If you have a complaint against your insurer, please refer to the policy booklet for details of your insurer's complaint procedure.
If we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Their details are:
Address: Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London
E14 9SR
Telephone: 0207 964 1000
Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
These procedures do not affect your right to take legal action if necessary.
Whose Products Do We Offer and Our Insurance Intermediary Service We Provide For You
For motor, home, bike and van insurances we deal with a range of insurers allowing a fair analysis of the market place. For optional extra cover such as legal expenses sold as a supplement to your main policy, we can only offer insurance from a single insurer.
Please ask us for a list of insurers we offer insurance from.
We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we and the insurer have undertaken a comprehensive assessment of your needs. Our service includes: arranging your insurance cover on your behalf with insurers to meet your requirements; and helping you with any ongoing changes you have to make, such as amendments to the cover, use and property insured. We will also arrange the cancellation of your policy and arrange cover with an alternative insurer if your requirement to amend your policy is not acceptable to your original insurers. Additionally we will arrange optional additional covers such as legal protection and breakdown where these meet your needs. We will also arrange the renewal of your insurance.
The insurers we deal with can change their rates on a regular basis. For this reason, we cannot guarantee the price you have been offered, based on the information you have provided, unless the policy is purchased at the time you received your quote.
Your Right to Cancel
This section contains important notes about your rights of cancellation. You must read these notes carefully.
You can cancel your policy at any time by sending written notice to our address:-
Renew Insurance, Rosalind Franklin House, Fordham Road, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 7XN
We can cancel your policy by sending you a seven-day notice in writing to your last known address.
If your policy is cancelled, we will refund your premium as follows:
If you or we cancel the policy within the 14-day withdrawal period, whether cover has commenced or not, we will refund the part of the premium you have not used subject to our cancellation fee of £25.00 and any charge made by the insurer. (Refer to your Certificate or schedule for details of the insurer's cancellation charges).
If you or we cancel the policy at any other time, we will refund the part of the premium you have not used subject to our cancellation fee of £55.00 and any charge made by the insurer. (Refer to your Certificate or schedule for details of the insurer's cancellation charges).
You may not receive a refund of your premium if you have made a claim, or if one has been made against you, during the period of insurance. If you are paying by instalments and have made a claim you may have to pay the balance of the full annual premium.
The withdrawal period of 14-days commences from the time the contract is concluded. The contract is concluded when you receive the documents from us. We are entitled to assume that documents have been received in accordance with accepted principles of law. That is: provided the document is sent to the correct address, documents posted first class on business day one are received on business day two.
Motor Policies
We will only cancel a Motor Policy at your request if you meet the legal requirement to return the certificate of motor insurance. If you have lost the certificate of motor insurance, you must send in a completed written declaration confirming that you wish to cancel and no longer have the certificate of motor insurance in your possession. Please note that we are unable to backdate cancellations.
Legal Cover, Home Emergency, Windscreen & Breakdown add-on policies (Optional Extras)
The above policies can be cancelled at any time. However, unless they are cancelled within the 14-day withdrawal period, they will be subject to no return in premium.
You are always advised to discuss your options with us prior to deciding upon cancellation of your policy.
How to Make a Claim
In the event of an accident or incident occurring which may give rise to a claim under your policy, you should notify us as soon as possible using the telephone numbers on our claims page
Renewals
We will write to you in good time before the renewal date to explain what will happen and to let you know what the policy terms and new payments will be. Any renewal premium quoted will only apply provided no claim happens or is reported after the last renewal.
At renewal, for your convenience and protection we may automatically continue your insurance (including any additional policies such as legal protection, breakdown, personal accident), unless you ask us not to. We will write to you before renewal date to remind you of this and inform you of any changes to your policy.
However, we do not guarantee to renew your policy, and we won't automatically renew your policy if your payment fails to be authorised.
Charges For Our Services
We make the following charges for administering your insurance:
A fee of £10 may be applied for arranging your policy.
(£0 if quoted and accepted on our website)
A fee of £5 will be applied for arranging your renewal.
A fee of £35 for administration of changes and amendments to your policy.
A fee of £55 for all cancellations, reduced to £25 if cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period.
A fee of £30 will be applied for any unpaid cheques or direct debits.
A fee of £20 for administering a duplicate document or change of registration number.
A charge of 1.25% will be applied to credit card payments.
If you do not pay in full for your time on cover or you fail to pay any part of your insurance, we may choose to use a debt collection agency to collect any monies owing. Any costs incurred will be added to the debt.
If we give a discount on our fees and/or the insurer's premium at the inception of your policy, and the policy is subsequently cancelled, we shall be entitled to reduce the amount of any refund to enable us to reclaim the unused portion of the discount.
If you fail to pay any money you owe us on the due date and we instruct any third party to collect this money from you, you agree that you will pay the reasonable costs of the third party for collecting the money for us.
We use a third party to collect and store card details in accordance with industry standards. We will use the card details stored on our behalf to collect payment for mid-term changes, defaulted instalments including the associated fee, balances following cancellation and for renewal of your policy. We will inform you in advance of doing so.
If payment is initially made by debit/credit card any refund will be made to the same card in accordance with the Terms & Conditions of the card issuer. All other refunds will be made by cheque. We are unable to give cash refunds.
If you do not pay for your insurance you should show these details to the person who paid on your behalf.
Payment Arrangements Including Instalments and Deposits
All money received by us in respect of insurance premiums is held on behalf of the relevant insurer so that you have no risk in the event of our insolvency.
The total price of your insurance is shown in your documents including insurance premium tax where applicable. For legal purposes, we are required to inform you of the possibility that other taxes or costs may exist that are not paid through or imposed by us - however, we are not aware of the existence of any other taxes or costs currently payable.
When dealing with any amendments or alterations to your policy, we will not collect or refund any amounts under £1.
Please note that any interest earned by us and any investment returns on any segregated designated investments will be retained by us.
We will always provide advance notice either in writing or over the telephone, before any transaction is processed, when you will have the opportunity to pay by an alternative method.
Instalment funding is provided by Close Premium Finance.
Please note that personal data provided by the Customer will be provided to Close Premium Finance Ltd. (Close), who will then be acting as data processor of such data on our behalf. Such data is only processed by Close in order to process your payment instruction and your personal data will not be provided to third parties other than the Financial Institutions for the chosen payment method. Close will provide you with details of their privacy policy, or you are invited to e-mail them for this at marketing@closepf.com.
Governing Law
Unless agreed otherwise with you, all policies arranged and administered by us are governed by English law and subject to the jurisdiction of the English courts. All information about the contract will be provided in English.
Ownership and Close Links
Hastings Insurance Services Limited is wholly owned by Hastings(UK) Limited (registered in England and Wales number 06769523) which, in turn, is wholly owned by Hastings Holdings) Limited (registered in England and Wales number 07162484) which, in turn, is wholly owned by Hastings Insurance Group Limited (registered in Jersey number 108490) ("HIG").
If we have arranged your insurance with Advantage Insurance Company Limited, which is wholly owned by Advantage Global Holdings Limited ("AGH"), we should advise that there are some common shareholders with more than a 10% stake in both HIG and AGH.
However we act totally independently in the day to day running of our business and in deciding which insurers to place business with. Wherever we recommend a policy underwritten by Advantage Insurance Company Limited we will advise you of this connection before you commit to buy.
Introducer Arrangements
A third party may have introduced you to us and for this the introducer may be paid a fee by us. We may also, with your consent, introduce you to other third parties, for which we may be fee.
If, as a result of an accident that was not your fault, you require legal representation, we will arrange for our recommended solicitors to act for you. The solicitors recommended by us have been chosen as experts in this particular field. A fee of up to eight hundred and fifty pounds may be paid by the solicitors to us for referring your claim to them. We comply with the Solicitors' Introduction and Referral Code as set down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and any solicitors to whom we may refer you are independent professionals from whom you will receive impartial and confidential advice.
Data protection
Any personal data you provide will be held securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The information you have given us will be held and used to manage your insurance policy, which will include both underwriting and claim handling. For this purpose we may disclose it to other interested third parties, for example insurers, other intermediaries, uninsured loss recovery agencies, regulatory authorities for the purposes of monitoring and/or enforcing compliance with any regulatory rules/codes, other third parties involved (directly and indirectly) in your insurance, and agents (including claims handling agencies) who provide services on our behalf.
We may also need to disclose personal data to a third party so that the service you requested can be provided. It may also be necessary to transfer it to countries outside the European Economic Area.
Your calls may be monitored and recorded in order that the service may be improved and to help prevent and detect fraud. Documents received by us are filed electronically. We may check information provided or received and we, our insurers and our credit providers may also undertake credit searches and additional fraud searches. We may also pass information about you to credit reference agencies and premium finance providers in connection with the assessment of your financial stand ing generally and, in particular, where you have requested a premium instalment plan. This may include details of your payment record with us.
By accepting this policy you consent to our processing personal data including sensitive data about you and other persons who may be insured under the policy. You understand that all personal data you give to us must be accurate and that you have the specific consent of those other persons to disclose their personal data.
Insurers pass information to the Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register (CUE), run by Insurance Database Services Ltd, the Hunter Database, run by MCL Software Ltd., and the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register (MIAFTR), run by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), and other databases. We, and your insurer, may search these registers as this helps us to check information provided and to prevent fraudulent claims. We may also undertake credit searches and additional fraud searches. Under the conditions of your policy you must tell us about any incident (such as an accident or theft) which may or may not give rise to a claim. When you tell us about an incident we will pass information relating to it to the registers.
Motor Insurance Database – Continuous Insurance Enforcement
Information relating to your insurance policy will be added to the Motor Insurance Database ("MID") managed by the Motor Insurers' Bureau ("MIB"). MID and the data stored on it may be used by certain statutory and/or authorised bodies including the Police, the DVLA, the DVANI, the Insurance Fraud Bureau and other bodies permitted by law for purposes not limited to but including:
- Electronic Licensing
- Continuous Insurance Enforcement
- Law enforcement (prevention, detection, apprehension and or prosecution of offenders)
- The provision of government services and or other services aimed at reducing the level and incidence of uninsured driving.
If you are involved in a road traffic accident (either in the UK, EEA or certain other territories), insurers and or the MIB may search the MID to obtain relevant information.
Persons (including his or her appointed representatives) pursuing a claim in respect of a road traffic accident (including citizens of other countries) may also obtain relevant information which is held on the MID.
It is vital that the MID holds your correct registration number. If it is incorrectly shown on the MID you are at risk of having your vehicle seized by the Police. You can check that your correct registration number details are shown on the MID at www.askmid.com
You can find our more about this from your insurer, or at www.mib.org.uk
You should show these notes to anyone insured to drive the vehicle covered under this policy.
Your information may also be used for customer services, marketing (including customer profiling), offering renewals, research and statistical purposes, and crime prevention. We may share your information with our agents or service providers and with third parties with whom we have a business relationship, for the purposes described above. If you give us information about another person, in doing so you confirm that they have given you permission to provide it to us to be able to process their personal data (including any sensitive personal data) and also that you have told them who we are and what we will use their data for, as set out in this notice. If you, or any other person of whom you have provided details, do not wish your data to be used for marketing purposes, you can write to our Data Protection Officer at Renew Insurance, Conquest House, Collington Avenue, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN39 3LW.
In the case of personal data, with limited exceptions, you have the right to access and if necessary rectify information held about you by formal written application to our Data Protection Officer at Renew Insurance, Conquest House, Collington Avenue, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN39 3LW.
We recommend you keep this document safely with your policy and all other documents relating to your insurance. We have shown, within your documentation, the information that you supplied to us, and on which your premium has been calculated. In the event of a claim, or on request, you must be able to substantiate this information, so it is important that you check it, and can agree that it is all correct to the best of your knowledge and belief. If anything is not correct or differs from what you told us, you must contact us immediately, as otherwise your insurance may be rendered invalid, or your insurers entitled to avoid payment of a claim. In particular, you must remember that you have to disclose all material facts to us. Material facts are any facts that are likely to influence an insurer in his acceptance or rejection of your risk. If you are in any doubt as to whether a fact is material or not, you should disclose it to us. If the information is NOT true and complete, your insurance may not protect you in the event of a claim. It is an offence under the Road Traffic Act to make any false statement or to withhold any information for the purpose of obtaining a certificate of motor insurance. If you provide an answer or information which you know is untrue you may be committing a criminal offence. You must also disclose all information which you know we would want to take into account in evaluating your proposal (e.g. previous accidents). Failure to provide such information may be a criminal offence. These offences are punishable with up to 10 years imprisonment and/or a fine.
It is important to note that, if the vehicle is to be driven by anyone who has, to your knowledge, had motor insurance refused or cancelled at any time in the past, the agreement of the insurers MUST be obtained before cover can be granted. It is important that your vehicle is kept and maintained in a roadworthy condition with a valid MOT certificate where required by law.
You can advise us of any amendments by phoning us on 0844 879 3016, by emailing us at cs@renewinsurance.com, by faxing us on 01638 782301, or by writing to us at Renew Insurance, Rosalind Franklin House, Fordham Road, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 7XN.
Last revision: 16/12/2011