Britton Insurance

Crennan House
Tirconaill Street
Donegal Town
Co Donegal
FR94 R628

Tel:  074 9721304
Email:  admin@brittoninsurance.com
Website: www.brittoninsurance.com

Terms of Business

These terms of business set out the general terms under which our firm will provide General Insurance business services to you.  They also contain details of our regulatory and statutory obligations and the respective duties of both the firm and you in relation to such services.  Please ensure to read these terms thoroughly and if you have any queries, please contact us at the above address and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Please note that by proceeding with your transaction through the firm, you agree to the terms as laid out in this Terms of Business document.  If any material changes are made to these terms we will notify you, at the earliest opportunity.

We commit to providing you with an excellent and professional level of service. We believe in acting only in the best interests of our clients to ensure that a relationship as important and fundamental as ours is maintained for life.

This document takes effect from 1^st January 2023, or whenever it is received (whichever is the later) and supersedes any Terms of Business that may have been previously sent to you.

Authorised Status:  Pat Britton & Co Ltd t/a Britton Insurance and 4thelads is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (Ref. C4560) as an insurance intermediary registered under the European Communities (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018.

Copies of our regulatory authorisations are available on request and are displayed in the public areas of our office alternatively the Central Bank of Ireland holds registers of regulated firms.  You may contact the Central Bank of Ireland on 1890 777 777 or alternatively visit their website www.centralbank.ie to verify our credentials.

Codes of Conduct: Pat Britton & Co Ltd is subject to and complies with the Central Banks’s Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code, and the Fitness and Probity Standards which offers protection to consumers.  These Codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website www.centralbank..ie

How We Communicate With You:  We offer you the choice of receiving communication (including documentation) either on paper or by another durable medium such as email or SMS.  Where you have chosen to provide us with your email address and/or mobile number for communication (including documentation) you agree that we can communicate and contact you using electronic means.  Should you not wish us to communicate or contact you via electronic means please advise us and we will send correspondence to you using standard post.

Our Services:  We are authorised to advise and arrange transactions on your behalf in relation to general insurance products.  A full list of Insurers (which includes Insurance Undertakings, Insurance Intermediaries, Product Producers and Managing General Agents) with whom we hold an appointment is available on request.

 Fair and Personal Analysis:  The concept of fair and personal analysis describes the extent of the choice of products and providers offered by an intermediary within a particular category of general insurance.  The number of contracts and providers considered must be sufficiently large to enable an intermediary to recommend a product that would be adequate to meet a client’s needs.  The number of providers that constitutes ‘sufficiently large’ will vary depending on the number of providers operating in the market for a particular product or service and their relative importance in and share of that market.  The extent of fair analysis must be such that could be reasonably expected of a professional conducting business, taking into account the accessibility of information and product placement to intermediaries and the cost of the search.

In order to ensure that the number of contracts and providers is sufficiently large to constitute a fair and personal analysis of the market we will consider the following criteria:

• The needs of the customer
• The size of the customer order
• The number of providers in the market that deal with brokers
• The market share of each of those providers
• The number of relevant products available from each provider
• The availability of information about the products
• The quality of the product and service provided by the providers
• Cost, and
• Any other relevant consideration

We can provide advice on and arrange products from the following range:  household, motor, commercial motor, commercial business, public and employer liability, farm insurance, property insurance, personal accident, motor trade, travel insurance.

We provide general insurance on a fair and personal analysis basis (providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available in the market to enable the firm to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet your needs).

The firm will provide assistance to you for any queries you may have on policies taken out with us including claims handling, risk management advice and in seeking renewal terms on your cover.

Conflict of Interest:  It is the policy of Pat Britton & Co Ltd to avoid conflicts of interest in providing services to you.  However, where an unavoidable conflict of interest arises we will advise you of this in writing before providing you with any service.  A full copy of our conflicts of interest policy is available on request.

Premium Handling:  Pat Britton & Co Ltd will accept payments in cash, by cheque, credit/debit cards or electronic bank transfer in respect of all classes of insurance in the circumstances permitted under our regulatory authorisations. The firm is not authorised to accept cash or negotiable instruments in any other circumstances. Premiums are due on or before renewal/inception date or before any policy changes which result in an additional charge. It is your responsibility to ensure that your payment has reached us and that your policy has been incepted/renewed/amended. If we do not receive your renewal payment on or before your renewal date, your policy will lapse and no cover will be in place.

Premium Finance:  If you require credit terms, we may be able to arrange premium finance on your behalf with credit finance providers with whom we have a written agreement.  As a credit intermediary registered with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the firm may receive commission from the credit finance provider for arranging this finance on your behalf.  Please note that credit intermediation is not an activity regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.  In the event of credit facilities being provided directly by us, an agreement will be issued by us setting out details of applicable interest rate and charges as well as the general terms of any such agreement.

Failure to pay or default:  Pat Britton & Co Ltd will exercise its legal rights to receive payments due to it from clients for business services provided. In particular, without limitation of the generality of the foregoing, the firm will seek reimbursement for all payments made to insurers on behalf of clients where the firm has acted in good faith in renewing a policy of insurance for the client.

Insurers and other product producers may withdraw benefits or cover in the event of default on payments due under policies of insurance or other products arranged for you. We would refer you to policy documents or product terms for the details of such provisions.

Complaints Procedure:  Whilst we are happy to receive verbal complaints, it would be preferable that any complaints are made in writing. We will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 business days and we will fully investigate it. We shall investigate the complaint as swiftly as possible, and the complainant will receive an update on the complaint at intervals of not greater than 20 business days starting from the date on which the complaint is made.  On completion of our investigation, we will provide you with a written report of the outcome. In the event that you are still dissatisfied with our handling of or response to your complaint, you are entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO).  The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman will examine complaints from all customers, except limited companies with a turnover of €3 million and above.  Your right to take legal action is not affected by following any of the above procedures.  A full copy of our complaints procedure is available on request.

Claims: It is essential that we are notified immediately of any claims or circumstances which could give rise to a claim. When you notify us, you must include all material facts concerning the claim. The policy wording will describe in detail the procedures and conditions in connection with making a claim. It should be noted that there is no cover for defence costs incurred without insurer’s prior consent.

Remuneration and Charges:  The firm is remunerated by way of commission from the providers with whom we transact business. Pursuant to provision 4.58A of the Central Bank of Ireland’s September 2019 Addendum to the Consumer Protection Code, please see a summary of the details of all arrangements for any fee, commission, other reward or remuneration paid or provided to Pat Britton & Co Ltd which we have agreed with product producers on our website www.brittoninsurance.com.

General Insurance: We apply a fee for administration services for Personal Lines policies, which varies depending on the administration service being provided to you. For Business Insurance, a client services fees is applied for our services provided to you. The details of these fees are outlined on the attaching Schedule of Fees notice which is also displayed at our offices and available on our website. Please note these fees are non-refundable in the event of cancellation of your contract.

Regular Reviews:  It is in your best interests that you review, on a regular basis, the products which we have arranged for you. As your circumstances change, your needs will change which may result in you having insufficient insurance cover.  We would therefore advise that you contact us to ensure that you are provided with up to date advice and products best suited to your needs.

Consumers: Duty of Disclosure when completing documentation for new business/renewals and midterm adjustments

Section 14 (1) – (5) of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act which is effective from 1^st September 2021 alters consumers duty of disclosure:

• You are required to answer all questions posed by us or the insurer honestly and with reasonable care – the test will be that of the ‘average consumer’. Average consumer as per Directive No. 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 is reasonably well informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, taking into account social, cultural and linguistic factors.

• Specific questions will be asked. Where you do not provide additional information (after being requested to do so) it can be presumed that the information previously provided remains unchanged.

An insurer may repudiate liability or limit the amount paid on foot of the contract of insurance, only if it establishes that non-disclosure of material information was an effective cause of the insurer entering into the relevant contract of insurance and on the terms on which it did.

Completed proposal forms/statement of fact

Completed proposal forms or Statements of Facts will be provided to you.  These are important documents as they form the basis of insurance contract between the insurer and you the consumer.  You should review and confirm that the answers contained within are true and accurate.

Compensation Scheme:  We are members of the Investor Compensation Scheme operated by the Investor Compensation Company Ltd. See below for details.

Investor Compensation Scheme:  The Investor Compensation Act, 1998 provides for the establishment of a compensation scheme and the payment, in certain circumstances, of compensation to certain clients (known as eligible investors) of authorised investment firms, as defined in that Act.

The Investor Compensation Company Ltd. (ICCL) was established under the 1998 Act to operate such a compensation scheme and our firm is a member of this scheme.

Compensation may be payable where money or investment instruments owed or belonging to clients and held, administered or managed by the firm cannot be returned to those clients for the time being and where there is no reasonably foreseeable opportunity of the firm being able to do so.

A right to compensation will arise only:

• If the client is an eligible investor as defined in the Act; and
• If it transpires that the firm is not in a position to return client money or investment instruments owned or belonging to the clients of the firm; and
• To the extent that the client’s loss is recognised for the purposes of the Act.

Where an entitlement to compensation is established, the compensation payable will be the lesser of:

• 90% of the amount of the client’s loss which is recognised for the purposes of the Investor Compensation Act, 1998; or
• Compensation of up to €20,000.

For further information, contact the Investor Compensation Company Ltd. at (01) 224 4955.

Brokers Ireland Compensation Fund:  We are also members of the Brokers Ireland Compensation Fund. Subject to the rules of the scheme the liabilities of its members firms up to a maximum of €100,000 per client (or €250,000 in aggregate) may be discharged by the fund on its behalf if the member firm is unable to do so, where the above detailed Investor Compensation Scheme has failed to adequately compensate any client of the member. Further details are available on request.

Data Protection:  We are subject to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.

Pat Britton & Co Ltd is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We wish to be transparent on how we process your data and show you that we are accountable with the GDPR in relation to not only processing your data but ensuring you understand your rights as a client.

The data will be processed only in ways compatible with the purposes for which it was given and as outlined in our Data Privacy Notice, this will be given to all our clients at the time of data collection.

We will ensure that this Privacy Notice is easily accessible. Please refer to our website www.brittoninsurance.com, if this medium is not suitable we will ensure you can easily receive a copy by hard copy.

Please contact us at dataprotection@brittoninsurance.com if you have any concerns about your personal data.

Call Recording: All calls, inbound and outbound, may be recorded and monitored for training and/or quality purposes, to verify

information, assist in the complaints procedure and help prevent and detect fraud.

Non-Consumer Commercial Clients (Turnover of €3M or more in the previous financial year)

Duty of Disclosure for new business/renewals and mid-term adjustments

It is your responsibility to disclose all material facts to insurers when arranging an insurance policy, throughout the life of that policy and when you are renewing it.  Material facts are those facts which might influence the acceptance or assessment of your proposal by the insurer.  Material facts can include but not limited to facts such as previous claims, medical conditions, previous convictions or alteration in risk such as changes of address or use of premises etc.  All material facts should be disclosed.  If you are unsure as to whether a fact is material, it should be disclosed.

Failure to disclose any material information to your insurers could result in your policy being cancelled and/or claims not being paid.  You should also note that you may encounter difficulties in trying to purchase insurance elsewhere were this to occur.  In the case of property insurance, the failure to have property insurance in place could lead to a breach of the terms and conditions attaching to any loan secured on that property.

The following sections apply to consumer duties and rights arising out of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 which was implemented to protect consumers. Non-Consumer Commercial clients (as noted above) have no duties and rights under this Act, and therefore the following sections do not apply to them.

New Business & Renewal

You may cancel a contract of insurance, by giving notice in writing to the insurer, within 14 working days after the date you were informed that the contract is concluded.  This does not affect the notice periods already provided under European Union (Insurance and Reinsurance) Regulations 2015 ( S.I. No. 485 of 2015 ) or the European Communities (Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services) Regulations 2004 ( S.I. No. 853 of 2004 ) which is 30 days in respect of life policies, irrespective of whether the sale took place on a non-face to face basis, and 14 days in respect of general policies and only on sales that took place on a non-face to face basis (distance sales).

If you have taken out a general insurance contract, and we have not met face to face during the process, you may cancel the contract by giving notice in writing to us within 14 days after the date you were informed the contract is on cover.

If you have taken out a general insurance contract, and we have met face to face during the process, you may cancel the contract by giving notice in writing to the insurer within 14 working days after the date you were informed the contract is on cover.

The giving of notice of cancellation by you will have the effect of releasing you from any further obligation arising from the contract of insurance. The insurer cannot impose any costs on you other than the cost of the premium for the period of cover.

You are under a duty to pay your premium within a reasonable time, or otherwise in accordance with the terms of the contract of insurance.

A court of competent jurisdiction can reduce the pay-out to you if you are in breach of your duties under the Act, in proportion to the breach involved.

Post-Contract Stage and Claims

If, in respect of the insurance contract the insurer is not obliged to pay the full claim settlement amount until any repair, replacement or reinstatement work has been completed and specified documents for the work have been furnished to the insurer, the claim settlement deferment amount cannot exceed

• 5% of the claim settlement amount where the claim settlement amount is less than €40,000, or
• 10% of the claim settlement amount where the claim settlement amount is more than €40,000.

An insurer may refuse a claim made by you under a contract of insurance where there is a change in the risk insured, including as described in an “alteration of risk” clause, and the circumstances have so changed that it has effectively changed the risk to one which the insurer has not agreed to cover.

Any clause in a contract of insurance that refers to a “material change” will be interpreted as being a change that takes the risk outside what was in the reasonable contemplation of the both you and the insurer when the contract was concluded.

You must cooperate with the insurer in an investigation of insured events including responding to reasonable requests for information in an honest and reasonably careful manner and must notify the insurer of the occurrence of an insured event in a reasonable time.

You must notify the insurer of a claim within a reasonable time, or otherwise in accordance with the terms of the contract of insurance.

If you become aware after a claim is made of information that would either support or prejudice the claim, you are under a duty to disclose it.  (The insurer is under the same duty).

If you make a false or misleading claim in any material respect (and know it to be false or misleading or consciously disregards whether it is) the insurer is entitled to refuse to pay and to terminate the contract.

Where an insurer becomes aware that a consumer has made a fraudulent claim, they may notify the consumer advising that they are voiding the contract of insurance, and it will be treated as being terminated from the date of the submission of the fraudulent claim.  The insurer may refuse all liability in respect of any claim made after the date of the fraudulent act, and the insurer is under no obligation to return any of the premiums paid under the contract.

Schedule of Fees

Personal Insurances Administration Fees

Standard Motor Insurance                                                                                     Up to €100 or 5%of the premium, whichever is the higher

Non-Motor Policies (e.g. Household, Caravan, Boat)                                          Up to €100 or 5% whichever is the higher

Mid-Term Adjustment/Cancellation – Motor Policies                                         Up to €100 or 5% whichever is higher

Mid-Term Adjustment/Cancellation – Non-Motor Policies                                 Up to €100 or 5% whichever is higher

Administration Charge                                                                                          €25

This will be charged for temporary adjustment certificates, duplicate certificate, insurance disc or no claims bonus, duplicate household policy documentation or any documentation relating to lapsed or cancelled policies.

Business Insurances Client Services Fee Including Motor

 

A Client Services Fee of up to 20% of the premium inclusive of government levy or €150 whichever is higher

Premium Finance Fees

Where premium instalment arrangements have been agreed with Pat Britton & Co Ltd, the details of the applicable charges will be outlined to you in advance.

As a Credit Intermediary we may assist you with arranging finance with a third party financial institution. Where this occurs, a fee of up to 3.8% of the premium financed applies which is included in the interest rate outlined on your loan agreement.

Supplementary Fees

Should a particular project or circumstance require us to charge any additional fees, they will be specifically advised to you in advance. The calculation of such charges will be based on various factors such as, though not limited to, the complexity of matters under consideration, any commission payable (including none) by Insurers, time spent, qualification levels and numbers of personnel involved.

On settlement of your account, we will forward to you all documents showing ownership of your policy i.e. Motor Certificate & Disc and Policy Schedules. Where a series of transactions are involved, we will normally hold each document until the series is complete and then forward them to you.

Please note all Fees outlined above are non-refundable