The Financial Services Authority
The Financial Services Authority is the independent watchdog
that regulates financial services. GMM Commercial Insurance
Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial
Services Authority. Our FSA Register number is 458372 and
you can check our status at www.fsa.gov.uk/register or
by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.
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 when 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 broker, who acts on our customers'
behalf in arranging insurance. Our services include: advising
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 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 for our advice on our Initial Disclosure
Document.
The service we will provide you with
We will advise and make recommendations for you after we
have assessed your demands and needs. Our advice will be
confirmed in a demands and needs and suitability statement,
giving reasons for our recommendations.
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 charge to cover the administration of your
insurance:
Arranging new policies---We usually charge this fee for arranging
policies based on the amount of work involved. These will
be advised at the time of quotation and are non refundable
on cancellation of the policy (except during the “cooling
off” period). Minimum £25.00.
Mid term adjustments £25.00
Mid term cancellations are refundable NET of commission.
We may, in addition, charge a £25.00 administration
fee.
Renewals a minimum of £15.00
Replacement/duplicate certificates or cover notes £25.00
Payment by Credit Cards 3% of premium surcharge
Payment by Debit Cards £0.50 pence surcharge
Personal lines/Retail policies cancelled during the ‘Right
to Cancel’ period will be subject to an administration
charge of £25.00, 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-commission-policy’) and in
these cases we will advise you of the arrangement fee before
you take the policy out. Specific charges, which apply to
individual policies will be shown on the Initial Disclosure
Document applicable to that policy.
The specific charge and purpose of any additional charges
will always be advised to you in advance.
Prior to the conclusion of each insurance contract, or upon
renewal, we will remind you of your right to be advised of
the level of commission which we receive from underwriters.
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.
What to do if you have a complaint
Our aim is to provide a
first class service, however, if you whish to register a
complaint, please contact us in writing to
Mr K S Rice
(Managing Director/Complaints Officer),
GMM Commercial Insurance Services Limited, Carlisle House,
61 Wolborough Street, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 1 JQ,
or by
phone Telephone (01626 333111),
by fax (01626 333111).
We will provide you with a copy of our full complaints procedures
and respond to you as a matter of urgency, and always within
5 working days. We will aim to make a final response to you
within four 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, 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 Hill
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 primary aim of the Scheme
is to provide protection for private individuals and small
businesses. 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 100% of the
first £2,000 and 90% of the remainder 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 guaranteed cheque
or the following credit/debit cards – Visa, Mastercard,
Maestro (with surcharge of 3% of premium for payment by credit
card and £0.50
pence flat fee for payment by debit card). 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 administrating you 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 of circumstances to you insurers which could influence
the cost, or 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.
I have read and fully accepted the terms and conditions for
the placing of current and future insurance contracts with
GMM insurance Services Limited.
Check our status at the FSA Website.