Terms of Business

The Financial Conduct Authority

The Financial Conduct Authority is the independent watchdog that regulates financial services. Northcott Beaton Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Register number is 306740 and you can check our status at www.fca.gov.uk/register/home.do or by contacting the FCA on 0300 500 0597.

Our permitted business includes advising, arranging, dealing in and assisting with the placing and administration of all types of General Insurance policies.

 

Confidentiality and Data Protection

We will treat all your personal information as private and confidential to us and anyone else involved in the normal course of arranging and administering your insurance, even when you are no longer a customer. We will not give anyone else any personal information except on your instructions or authority, or where we are required to do so by law, or by virtue of our regulatory requirements. We may use information we hold about you to provide information to you about other products and services, which we feel may be appropriate to you. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you have the right to see personal information about you that we hold in our records. If you have any queries please write to us at our usual office address.

 

Our Service

We are an independent insurance intermediary, who acts on our customers’ behalf in arranging insurance. Our services includeadvising you on your insurance needs; arranging your insurance cover with insurers to meet your requirements; and helping you with any ongoing changes you have to make. As part of our service, we will assist you with any claim you need to make and tell you what your responsibilities are in relation to making claims.

If you mislay your policy at any time, we will issue a replacement policy document, if you request it.

 

Whose products we offer

We usually offer advice from a range of insurers, representing a fair analysis of the market, however, under certain circumstances we may only deal with a limited panel, or single insurer. We will confirm, for each individual policy we provide you with, the basis of our advice.

 

The service we will provide you with

We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your demands and needs. Our advice will be confirmed in a demands & needs and suitability statement, giving reasons for our recommendation. In respect of Legal Expenses/Motor Breakdown policies you will not receive advice or a recommendation from us and you will then need to make your own choice about how to proceed.

 

What you will pay for our services

We usually receive a commission from the insurer with whom we place your business and, in addition, we normally make the following charges to cover the administration of your insurance:

Administration Fee                                                                 £10

Mid term adjustments                                                           £35

Mid term cancellations and other refunds are refunded NET of commission..

Renewals Retail customer                                                     £10                

Commercial customer                                                            £ 15

Replacement/duplicate certificates or cover notes          £ 10

Payment by Credit Cards                                                       3% of full payment     

Personal lines/Retail policies cancelled during the ‘Right to Cancel’ period will be subject to an administration charge of £25, in addition to the premium charged by the insurer for the period of cover provided.

Occasionally we may arrange a policy on which we earn no commission (a ‘net-premium policy’) and in these cases we will advise you of the arrangement fee before you take the policy out. The specific charge and purpose of any additional charges will always be advised to you in advance.

You are entitled, at any time to request information regarding any commission which we may receive as a result of sourcing and placing your insurance business. If you require this information please contact ourselves on the below telephone number, fax number or address.

 

Limitation clause

Save as precluded by law, Northcott Beaton Ltd shall not be liable for any indirect or consequential loss, damage or expenses (including loss of profits, loss of contracts, business or goodwill or any other type of special indirect or consequential loss) howsoever arising. In any event, the maximum liability of Northcott Beaton Ltd shall be limited to the maximum sum of £1,000,000

 

What to do if you have a complaint

Our aim is to provide a first class service, however, if you wish to register a complaint, please contact us by writing to Keiron Northcott, Northcott Beaton Ltd. 70 Fore Street, Heavitree, Exeter. EX1 2RR or by phone 01392 426046 or by fax 01392 426472.

We will provide you with a copy of our full complaints procedure and respond to you promptly. We will keep you informed of the progress of your complaint

and aim to make a final response to you within eight weeks, or keep you informed as to why this is not possible. In the event that your complaint relates to activities or services provided by another party, we will ensure that your complaint is appropriately forwarded in writing, and will track the progress of the complaint and responses of that party.

After our final response has been issued, if you still cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, for an independent assessment and opinion.

The FOS Consumer Helpline is on 0845 080 1800 and their address is:

Financial Ombudsman Service South Quay Plaza 183 Marsh Wall London E14 9SR

 

Your Right to Cancel (Applicable to Personal Lines/Retail customers only)

You have a legal right to cancel your policy for any reason, subject to no claims having occurred, within 14 days of receiving the full terms & conditions. You will always be advised where this Right applies. A charge will apply for the period of cover provided and, in addition, we make an administration charge as detailed above.

If you wish to cancel a policy you must advise us in writing, prior to expiry of the 14-day cancellation period, to our usual office address.

 

Are we covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)?

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS is the UK’s statutory fund of last resort for customers of authorised financial services firms, like ourselves. The FSCS can pay compensation if an authorised firm is unable or likely to be unable to pay claims against it, usually because it has gone out of business or is insolvent.

Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% for the full amount of the  claim, without an upper limit. For compulsory insurances (for example, motor insurance and employers’ liability insurance), insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without an upper limit. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.

Payment Options

We normally accept payment by cash, guaranteed cheque or the following credit/debit cards – Visa, Mastercard, Maestro. You may be able to spread your payments through insurers’ instalment schemes or a credit scheme, which we have arranged with an established insurance premium finance provider. We will give you full information about your payment options and the appropriate finance agreement when we discuss your insurance in detail.

Please Note: Your policy cover will cease if you fail to keep up payments on an instalment agreement or premium finance facility related to it

Language Used

The English language will be used for all communications, the contractual terms and conditions, and any information we are required to supply to you, before and during the duration of the contract.

Information on how we treat Payments You make to Us

Under the terms of our agreements with the Insurance companies with whom we place business, we normally receive premiums you pay to us as Agent of the Insurer. All insurance premiums you pay to us are protected in a Statutory Trust Client Account until we pay insurers. We do not pay any interest on premiums held by us in the course of arranging and administering your insurance.

 

Your Duty to Give Information

It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to insurers when you take out your insurance policy, throughout the life of your policy, and when you renew your insurance.

It is important that you ensure that all statements you make on proposal forms, statements of fact, claim forms and other documents are full and accurate.

Please note that if you fail to disclose any information or change in circumstances to your insurers which could influence the cost, or their decision to accept your insurance, this could invalidate your insurance cover, and could mean that part or all of a claim may not be paid.