Please read these terms and conditions carefully. They may affect your policy cover.
Click here to download a pdf version(150Kb) of these Terms of Business.
Declaration of Status
Financial Services Authority
Is an independent watchdog that regulates the financial services. It requires us to give you this document. Use this information to decide if our services are right for you.
Advance Insurance Services
Is an independent intermediary acting as your agent and accepts responsibility for the advice given and for arranging your insurance.
Whose products do we offer?
We offer a wide range of Personal & Commercial insurance products and have access to leading insurers in the market place. Ask us for a list of insurers we offer insurance from, if required.
Which service will we provide you with?
We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have accessed your needs for Personal or Commercial insurance.
Who regulates us?
Advance Insurance Services of 11 Village Way East, Rayners Lane, Harrow, Middlesex, HA2 7LX is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Our FSA Firm reference number is 307039. Our permitted business is to arrange and administer Personal & Commercial insurance. You can check this on the FSA’s register by visiting the FSA website www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.
Ownership
Advance Insurance Services is owned wholly by Brian Patrick Andrew Collis (Principal).
What to do if you have a complaint
If you wish to register a complaint, please telephone or write to the Manager who will attempt to address your concerns within 5 working days. If our investigation takes longer we will provide a full response within 20 working days, or explain our position and provide a timetable for our response. As we are members of the FSA, you may be entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman’s Service.
Are we covered under the Financial Services Compensation scheme?
We are covered by the 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% of the first £2,000, and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit.
Quotations
Quotations given by us do not constitute an offer. Quotations are valid until the final calendar day of the month for which the quotation is required. All proposals and requests for insurance are subject to acceptance by insurers and premiums and terms quoted are subject to confirmation and agreement by the insurers. Amounts quoted include commission, insurance premium tax, and if applicable, instalment fees and transaction charges.
Changes
Any relevant changes in circumstances or in the risk must be notified to ourselves immediately they occur and cover may be invalid until the insurer has accepted changes.
Disclosure
It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to insurers when you take out an insurance policy, throughout the life of the policy, and at renewal. All material facts that may affect the risk must be fully disclosed. The duty of disclosure applies to all persons to whom the insurance applies. Failure to disclose information relating to your insurance, or any inaccuracies in the information given could result in your insurance being invalid or additional terms/premiums added. You are reminded that it is an offence to make false statements or withhold information to obtain insurance cover. We cannot, in all cases, maintain a permanent record of such information disclosed, and it is therefore your own responsibility to re-disclose all material facts and to ensure all information supplied to us is correct.
Accuracy
The onus is upon clients to ensure that information supplied to us is accurate, and we cannot accept responsibility in the event that such information is inaccurate. Clients should, wherever possible, give instructions to us in person, as they will be responsible for the consequences of instructions given on their behalf and clients must check that the information which has been given to us is accurate and read any Proposal Forms or Statement of Facts before signing it. We do not accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions on the Proposal Form or Statement of Facts, whether or not a member of staff has completed or assisted in completing the form.
Mid Term Cancellation by Client
You may cancel your policy at any time by returning the insurance certificate to us along with your written instructions. Please note that insurers apply short period charges for mid term cancellations, which are not directly proportionate to the time on cover. As these form part of the contract of insurance we would ask you to realise that such charges are applied by the insurers and not ourselves. The typical short period scale (for most insurers) is:
| Time on Cover | 1 Month | 2 Months | 3 Months | 4 Months | 5 Months | 6 Months | 7 Months | 8/More Months |
| Refund | 70% | 60% | 50% | 40% | 30% | 20% | 10% | Nil |
Please refer to your policy document for exact details regarding your insurer’s cancellation terms. Please note that all return premiums are subject to no proceeding claims and will be net of our commission.
Mid Term Cancellation by Us
From time to time it may become necessary for us to cancel a policy, e.g. due to non-payment, undisclosed material facts, etc. In the event that we wish to cancel the policy we will write to you (at your last known address) by Recorded Delivery, giving you 7 days notice of the cancellation.
Claims
Clients are reminded of the conditions included in the policy and the fact that non–compliance may invalidate cover. All incidents which could possibly give rise to a claim should be notified in writing to your insurers or ourselves without delay, and a report form completed. All correspondence, claims, summonses, etc should be forwarded immediately (unanswered) to the insurer or ourselves. Details of all claims procedures may be found in you policy booklet. We will forward any payments received from insurers in respect of a claim without delay.
Renewals
Renewals are invited on the understanding that there have been no changes in the risk (see above). We aim to provide renewal details to our clients 21 days before the renewal date, although this is not always possible. If a policy has been previously paid by direct debit, we are unable to automatically renew cover and will require your explicit instructions to continue cover.
Payment of Premiums
Unless otherwise agreed, premiums are payable on demand and cover will be effective from the time payment is received. Unless an acceptable reason for non-payment by the due date is given and acknowledged and agreed in writing, it will be assumed that further cover is not required and we reserve the right to cancel or lapse the policy or cover. Any refund of monies will be subject to a retention to compensate us for the loss of commission or for the cost of work done by us arising out of the non or late payment of premiums.
Instalments
We are able to offer our clients various methods of instalments to ease the burden of payment. These range from payment to ourselves up to a maximum of three months, or longer facilities via third party premium finance companies. Please note that charges apply to all forms of instalment, please ask us for further details. All offers of instalment facilities are at our own discretion. Clients who have previously defaulted on instalments will not be offered this facility again. Instalments that are unpaid will result in immediate cancellation of the policy.
Charges
We are an independent intermediary who provides a full range of services. We provide free quotations and advice on changes/additions to your current needs. We also make telephone calls and handle communications on your behalf in respect of any claim made against your policy, at no additional cost. However we do apply fees in respect of new business, mid term adjustments and renewals. The maximum transaction fee is £300 (£500 for Commercial policies), and is chargeable based on the size of the risk and the amount of work undertaken. The amount of fee applied will be advised to you. A list of fees is available upon request.
Complaints Procedure
It is our intention to provide you with a high level of service at all times. However, if at any time you are dissatisfied with the service we provide, we have a formal Complaints Procedure. You should therefore take the following action: Please contact our office either verbally or in writing whereby a senior staff member will take details of your concerns. If your grievance cannot be settled to the mutual acceptance of both parties we will acknowledge in writing advising you of the person who is dealing with concerns, and attempt to address them within 5 working days. If our investigation takes longer we will provide a full response within 20 days. As we are members of the FSA, should you fail to be satisfied with our final response, you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman’s Service.
Cooling Off Period
Under the FSA regulation we are required to give you certain information before you make your decision. If we have not given you this information when you buy your insurance (and you have not told us you do not want it) we will allow you a cooling off period of 14 days from the time you incept a policy. If you wish to buy your insurance without receiving all the information about the products and services that the FSA private customer code requires, we will keep a record of your agreement to this and there will be no cooling off period.
Motor Legal Expenses
We include this cover with all Motor, Motorcycle and Commercial Vehicle policies. Cover is provided exclusively by AIM Legal Expenses. There is no cost for this policy and will be included in the policy we offer to you. If you do not wish to take this policy it will be necessary for you to sign a disclaimer confirming that you have chosen not to accept Legal Expenses Cover.
Law Applicable to the Contract
Clients and Insurers are free to choose the law applicable to insurance contracts, but in the absence of agreement to contrary the law of the country of residence will apply. For non-UK residents or businesses, the law of England and Wales will apply.
Database/Information Exchange
All insurers supply details of motor insurance policies to a database to which the Police and other insurers have access. This also helps detect people who break the law by not taking out insurance, and helps Insurers to pursue claims following accidents.
TELEPHONE:
020 8868 4141
020 8868 5151
FACSIMILE:
020 8868 7050
EMAIL:
info@advanceinsurance
services.co.uk
ADDRESS:
Advance Insurance Services
11 Village Way East
Rayners Lane
Harrow
Middlesex
HA2 7LX