Terms of Business

About Us

Coleman are an independent intermediary, established in 1928, and we are also members of the Willis Commercial Network.

We advise on all types of non-life general insurance products and we are not tied to any one insurer. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulates us and this can be checked on their website – www.fsa.gov.uk/register - or contact the FSA on 0845 606 1234.

Our FSA Reference No. is 306919.

Coleman do not hold shares in the insurance undertakings with which we place our Clients’ insurances, and no insurers hold shares in E Coleman & Co Ltd.

Placing Your Insurances

We will work with you to identify your insurance demands and needs, including the cover required, the cost and likely terms and conditions. We will then endeavour to satisfy those needs when you instruct us to do so.

We will keep you updated with our progress towards placement of your insurances and any inability to obtain cover sought by you. All reasonable steps will be taken to implement your insurance needs, subject to the availability of insurers, before the intended date of inception, renewal or extension of cover.

You will be provided with full details of the cover we recommend so that you are able to make a decision as to its acceptability to you. As your insurance broker we will be happy to deal with any queries you may have with regard to the recommended cover, its benefits, restrictions, conditions, warranties and exclusions.

We will let you know if the insurance has been selected on the basis of a fair analysis of the market, or from a limited number of insurers or from a single insurer. You can ask us for a list of insurers approached on your behalf.

Your Duty of Disclosure

The advice and recommendations we give you are based on the information you provide to us. We cannot be held responsible for any consequences arising from the accuracy of this information or from any delay or failure by you to supply such information.

All information which is material to your insurance requirements or which may influence insurers in deciding whether to accept your business must be disclosed. There is no duty on insurers to make enquiries of you. Failure to disclose material facts may invalidate your insurance policy and result in all or part of a claim not being paid.

This duty of disclosure applies at inception of the policy and throughout the period of insurance. If you have any doubts about what is material or have any concerns that we may not be aware of material facts you must let us know immediately.

Documentation

We will ensure that the insurers produce all policies, certificates and other documents that you need and we will check them for accuracy. We do not hold documents on behalf of Clients. However, we reserve the right to hold documents pending receipt of outstanding premiums due.

Certain classes of insurance require that you complete a proposal form, statement of fact, questionnaire or similar document. We will provide guidance to help you complete the form but we are not able to complete the document for you.

You are responsible for reviewing the policy and other documents to ensure that they accurately reflect the cover, conditions, limits and other terms that you need. Particular note should be made of the policy conditions and warranties, as failure to comply with them could invalidate the cover. If you find any discrepancies you should
advise us immediately.

You should retain all documentation for any period during which a claim against your insurers could be made.

Renewals

We will issue insurers’ renewal terms in a timely manner. On certain occasions we will renew the insurances in the absence of any instructions from you to the contrary. If your insurers are not offering renewal we will let you know.

Service Levels

If a written summary of cover is provided by the insurer it will be given to you as soon as possible.

The actual policy documentation will follow, giving full details of the insurers’ terms, conditions, warranties and exclusions applying to the cover provided.

Our intention is to reply to your needs quickly and efficiently, and to keep you informed of progress when we are awaiting action from insurers or other involved parties.

Complaints

If you wish to register a complaint, please contact us:
in writing … write to Compliance Manager at 8 Albany Park, Cabot Lane, Poole, Dorset, BH17 7AZ
by phone … 01202 647400
by fax … 01202 647422
by email … enquiries@colemaninsurance.co.uk

If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

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.

Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% for the first £2,000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of insurance, insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without any upper limit.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.

Insurer Security

We will only deal with insurers that meet with our minimum financial requirements, unless we receive our client’s specific instructions to the contrary. However, we cannot and do not guarantee the solvency or continuing solvency of any insurer used and Clients should be aware that an insurer’s financial status could change after cover has commenced.

Cancellation

If you wish to cancel a policy mid-term you must notify us and surrender whatever documents we require and you must let us know of any incidents that could give rise to a claim under the policy.

There may be a return of premium due to you in respect of the unexpired term, but this is at the discretion of the insurer. We reserve the right to offset any such return of premium against outstanding amounts due from you to us.

Our Remuneration

Our remuneration will be either as a fee agreed with you, or commission, which is a percentage of the insurance premium paid by you and allowed to us by the insurer with whom the contract is placed, or where appropriate a combination of both. Where we need to charge a fee we will agree this with you beforehand.

Further, we provide services to insurers that are not directly related to the services provided to you and usual and customary remuneration in the form of a management or administration fee or profit sharing commission in recognition of such services provided to the insurer over the given period may be received by us.

We may also receive an introductory payment from those institutions we introduce you to and who provide you with finance to assist you with the payment of your insurance premiums.

Commission and fees are earned for a policy period and we will be entitled to retain all fees and commission in respect of the full policy period in relation to policies placed by us.

We will only take our commission when premiums have been received from you and paid to insurers. You are entitled, at any time, to request information regarding any commission which we may have received as a result of placing your insurance business.

Methods of Payment

Payments by cheque should be sent to the address on the invoice.
Alternatively payments can be made either by direct transfer or credit card payment.
Premium instalment facilities may be available and details will be given on request.

Premium Payment

An invoice detailing the premium and any relevant taxes for the insurances will be sent to you.

In order to ensure continuation of cover, settlement with cleared funds must be made to us within the specified time period given. If you are unable to pay by the due date you must notify us. Failure to meet the payment date may lead to insurers cancelling cover. Our service to you does not include payment to insurers of your due premiums from our own funds.

In most instances money is received on behalf of an insurer and placed in an account for the benefit of the insurer. In all other instances your money will be placed in a Statutory Trust Client Account.

Return premiums will be sent to you as soon as possible.

As is consistent with current arrangements, any interest earned on Client money will be retained by us rather than paid to you.

If you wish to pay your premium by instalments your details may be passed to our third party instalment provider. They will send you a welcome pack detailing their full terms and conditions. If you have any questions about your instalments you should contact the provider direct on the contact number provided.

On renewal of your policy we will continue to pass your details to the third party provider unless you instruct us otherwise.

If any direct debit or other payment due in respect of the credit agreement you enter into with the provider to pay insurance premiums is not met when presented for payment or if you end the credit agreement with the provider or if you do not enter into a credit agreement with the provider we will be informed of such events by the provider. If you do not make other arrangements to pay the insurance premiums you acknowledge and agree that we may, at any time after being so informed, instruct the relevant insurer to cancel the insurance (or, if this occurs shortly after the start or renewal of the insurance, to notify the insurer that the policy has not been taken up).

We will collect any refund of premiums which may be made by the insurer and if any money is owed to the provider under your credit agreement pay it to the provider or if the provider has debited us with the amount outstanding use it to offset our costs.

You will be responsible for paying any time on risk charge and putting in place any alternative insurance and/or paying arrangements you need.

Cooling Off Period

You may have the right to cancel the policy within fourteen (14) days from the date after we have advised you that the contract has been concluded. This depends on the type of business and we will supply you with information on request.

Confidentiality of Information

Information given to us by our Clients will be treated as confidential and will not be disclosed other than in the normal course of providing our services on behalf of our Clients. Any exception would need your consent or would be a requirement at law.

Information may be shared within the Coleman Group of companies and may be used for research or statistical purposes. From time to time we may also provide our Clients with information about products or services that we believe would be of interest to them.

Claims Service

You are responsible for notifying claims or potential claims as soon as you are aware of them and you must disclose all facts that are material to the claim. Please contact the insurers on the dedicated Claims telephone number contained in the policy to notify them of any claim. If you are at all uncertain or need clarification, please contact us immediately.

When we collect claims payments these will be remitted to you as quickly as possible. However, we will not remit claims monies to you before we have received them from your insurers.

Governing Law

This agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law and dispute arising under it shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

Termination

Either you or we may terminate our services without cause or penalty. If by you, we will be entitled to retain all fees and commissions payable whether or not they have been received by us