1. About Us
The following Terms of Business Agreement set out the basis on which Freeway UK Insurance Services Limited also known as [Freeway, Zipzaz, FWTAXI, ‘We’, ‘Us’, ‘Our’] will provide business services to you as a consumer or commercial client of the firm.
Please contact us immediately if there is anything in these terms of business which you do not understand or with which you disagree. We are happy to answer any questions and willing to explain these terms and the reasons for them.
YOU ARE DEEMED TO HAVE ACCEPTED THESE TERMS OF BUSINESS UNLESS YOU ADVISE US OTHERWISE WITHIN 7 DAYS OF RECEIPT.
Freeway UK Insurance Services Ltd are based at Unit 4, Abbots Park, Monks Way, Preston Brook, Cheshire, WA7 3GH you can contact us by Telephone 01928 520 520 and email myservice@freewayinsurance.co.uk.
We are authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Our Registration Number is 306626. We are also authorized by the FCA for Credit Broking in relation to insurance instalment facilities where we offer a single lender. You can check these details on the FCA’s Register by visiting the FCA’s website http://www.fca.org.uk/ or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.
We are permitted to arrange, introduce, advise on, deal as an agent of insurers and assist in the administration and performance of general insurance contracts.
We act as an insurance intermediary, not an insurer. We will usually act on your behalf when arranging your insurances, when helping you make any changes to your policy, when you renew your insurance and in the event of a claim. If there are any circumstances where we act as agent of the insurer, we will let you know the capacity in which we act before we finalise your insurance arrangements.
Freeway is not under a contractual obligation to conduct insurance distribution exclusively with this insurer. Where we offer products from a single insurer we do not give a personal recommendation on the basis of fair and personal analysis. The products are:
- Household insurance – RSA
- Goods in Transit – Chubb
- Public Liability – Convex
- Motor Legal Cover RSA
- Fault Replacement Vehicle Cover – RAC
For Taxi and Courier insurances we conduct a fair analysis of the market to offer cover from a selected panel.
2. Our call charges
UK local or national call charge dependent upon telephone provider, usually part of an inclusive minute’s plan. Calls may be recorded for training and quality purposes.
3. Your duty of disclosure
Non-consumer customers: Where we arrange insurance wholly or mainly for purposes related to your trade, business or profession, you have a duty under The Insurance Act 2015 to make a fair presentation of the risk. This means that you (and/or your senior management and/or anyone acting on your authority) must disclose every material circumstance which you know or ought to know. Alternatively, you must disclose sufficient information which would allow the insurer the ability to make further enquiries for the purpose of revealing those material circumstances. You are expected to carry out a reasonable search in order to make a fair presentation of the risk and will be deemed to know what should reasonably have been revealed by the search for the risk you intend to insure.
Your duty of fair presentation applies at the start of the policy, at renewal and when any variation of the policy is arranged. If you fail to make a fair presentation, the insurer may refuse to pay your claim or reduce the settlement amount, apply different terms, charge an additional premium, or avoid your policy, depending on the circumstances.
Where your policy is underwritten by Sabre Insurance Company Limited in the event of non-disclosure and the risk being deemed unacceptable, your policy will be cancelled immediately.
Consumers: You must take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer. This means that all the answers you give and statements you make as part of your insurance application, including at renewal and when an amendment to your policy is required, should be honest and accurate. If you deliberately or carelessly misinform the insurers, this could mean that part of or all of a claim may not be paid.
4. Policy Acceptance
In agreeing to these Terms of Business you are confirming that you do not have any debt outstanding from a previous policy with Freeway, or that we have not cancelled, or declined cover due to non-disclosure.
In the event that you accept this policy and it is found that there is an outstanding debt or that we have previously cancelled or declined cover due to non-disclosure, then this policy we be cancelled and all charges will apply.
5. How to cancel
Please contact us immediately if you wish to cancel any insurance policy we have arranged for you. You may have a statutory right to cancel this policy within 14 days. Please refer to your policy summary or your policy document for further details. If you cancel within this period, you will receive a pro rata refund of premium from the insurer. Insurers are also entitled to make an administrative charge. We may keep an amount that reflects the administrative costs of arranging and cancelling the policy. If you wish to cancel your policy, you will need to call us on 01928 520 520. Subject to the cancellation terms of your policy, a refund of premium may be available. Details of any applicable cancellation terms and charges will be found in your policy documents.
Our commission and/or fees are fully earned from the date insurance cover commences and may not be refundable in the event of cancellation, avoidance or early termination of a policy. Where a discount has been applied to your policy (other than under the Recommend a Friend scheme), in the event of policy cancellation we will also reclaim a pro-rata amount of the discount reflective of the time which is remaining on your policy at the point of cancellation. We may also keep an amount that reflects the administrative costs of arranging and cancelling the policy (see tariff of fees and charges Section 7). No return of premium is available following cancellation of Complete Cover, Legal Protection and Convex Public Liability policies where this has been added as a secondary cover to a taxi policy. RAC Breakdown can be cancelled within 14 days and a full refund given, providing no claims have been made. If outside the 14 days, a pro-rata cancellation of premium will be provided, providing no claims have been made under the policy. Cancellation of the primary policy will automatically terminate all secondary cover relating to the same vehicle or property.
If you wish to exercise your right to cancel your insurance policy, please send your request in writing to the above address or call us on 01928 520 520. Should you fail to pay any premiums, fees or charges when due, after reasonable notice, we will cancel your policy.
6. Protecting your information
All personal information about you will be treated as private and confidential (even when you are no longer a customer), except where the disclosure is made at your request or with your consent in relation to administering your insurance, and except where law requires us. Some or all of the information you supply to us in connection with your insurance proposal may be passed to DVLA, insurance and other companies for underwriting, claims, premium collection or debt recovery purposes. They will have access to shared claim databases and credit reference information. For taxi business, we may also validate your records with local authorities. Your data will be held in accordance with the), Data Protection Act 2018 under which you have a number of rights you can request such as: where we would like to use your data for some marketing purposes, we shall ask your specific consent to do so. access to your data, portability, and erasure, please see our Privacy Policy using the link below for full details of all your rights and further details on our processing. If you have any questions, please write to the compliance manager at compliance@freewayinsurance.co.uk. We will not sell, rent or trade your data under any circumstances. All the personal information you supply to us will be handled strictly in accordance with the applicable Data Protection regulations and regulations.
The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with fraud prevention agencies who will use it to prevent fraud and money-laundering and to verify your identity. If fraud is detected, you could be refused certain services, finance or employment in future. Further details of how your information will be used by us and these fraud prevention agencies, and your data protection rights, can be found by either reviewing our privacy policy on our website (http://freewayinsurance.co.uk/privacy-policy/), or by requesting information in writing or over the phone. To provide you with a quote, determine premium rates and assess the most appropriate payment options for you, Freeway will make checks on the electoral roll and other data through credit reference and fraud prevention agencies.. The credit reference/fraud prevention agency may disclose that information, and the fact that a search was made, to its other customers for the purposes of assessing the risk of giving credit or granting insurance, to prevent fraud and to trace debtors. A record of the check will be held by the credit reference agency and will be visible to other organisations and in the case of a credit will be included in your credit score. If you choose to obtain quotes through a number of third parties, this may result in multiple searches being visible on your record with the credit reference agency.
Tracker and your data: Should your vehicle be fitted with a tracking device, data regarding you or anyone driving the vehicles behavior is collected by us and our suppliers. This information will be used to calculate your premiums and will be processed, securely stored, and protected as required. Please see details in our Privacy Policy
Voice as your password: If you provide consent for biometric recording, you are able to leave ‘your voice as your password’, removing the requirement to answer security questions on every call. This information is held securely in line with Data Protection regulations, further details can be found in our Privacy Policy.
7. How to Claim
We have a dedicated claims line for Motor policies. To report a new incident, or discuss an ongoing incident, please contact us on 01928 520 520, and select the relevant option.
For all other claims please refer to your policy summary or your policy document if you need to notify a claim. You should contact the insurer direct as soon as possible using the contact details provided.
If a claim occurs and your vehicle is deemed a total loss, or we agree to pay a cash in lieu payment, if you have chosen to pay by Direct Debit, any outstanding balance to be paid to Premium Credit will be deducted from your claim settlement amount. If the balance that remains to be paid to Premium Credit is a higher amount than your claim settlement amount, any shortfall will be payable by you.
If your vehicle is repairable, or a third party is making a claim, you will need to continue paying your monthly payments.
8. Fees and charges
In addition to premiums charged by the insurer, we make some charges to cover our administrative costs:
| Charge/Fee Type | Charge/Fee Amount |
| New Business or Renewal (Taxi & Courier) | Up to 30% of annual premium which is non refundable |
| New Business or Renewal (Fleet) | Up to 30% of premium – non refundable |
| Breakdown | £5.00 |
| Public Liability | £5.00 |
| Goods in Transit | £5.00 |
| Mid-Term Adjustment (Taxi) | Up to 30% of annual premium or minimum £50 which is non refundable |
| Mid-Term Adjustment (Fleet) | Up to 30% of annual premium or minimum £100.00 which is non refundable |
| Misrepresentation of Risk | £75.00 |
| Duplicate Documents | £10.00 |
| Issuance of Green Card | £10.00 |
| Cancellation + the following percentage of the return premium dependent on your insurer: | Up to 30% of annual premium or minimum £50 which is non refundable |
| Commission Payment | Confirmation upon request |
Where a fee or charge is payable you will be advised before you commit to it.
If you pay your premium by instalments we shall inform you of any additional fees, charges or interest as part of your credit arrangements.
9. Our Remuneration
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. 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. When we sell you a policy the insurer pays us a percentage commission from the initial premium (see section 8 Fees and Charges). The amount we receive is also subject to claims performance, as we act as the agent of the insurer for claims. In addition to any commission earned on policies purchased through us, we also earn a commission on any policies that are paid for via Direct Debit from Premium Credit Limited.
For arranging premium instalment facilities, we earn a (a variable amount of) commission from our premium finance provider which is usually a percentage of the individual loan. This means that the amount you pay for credit and the overall cost of arranging your insurance will vary according to the interest charged by the lender and the amount of commission we earn.
A full breakdown of the cost of your insurance and the cost of credit will be provided as part of your new business or renewal quotation before you make a decision whether to proceed.
Using premium finance makes the overall cost of the insurance more expensive, however our Household product is at a 0% interest rate.
10. Debt Recovery
If you are paying for your policy via Direct Debit, and are unable to keep up with your payments, any balance that is owed regarding this following the cancellation of your policy will become payable to us. You are agreeing by entering into this contract to adhere to the payments terms set by Freeway; If you fail to keep up with your premium payments, any outstanding amount may be referred to our debt recovery agency. This will incur additional costs, plus VAT at the prevailing rate, to collect the debt and will be added to the debt. By accepting this policy, you agree that you will be legally liable to pay this surcharge to the debt recovery agency and that payment of the same can be enforced against you in court.
11. Premium Credit
We have an exclusive partner for any policies where you have chosen to pay via Direct Debit, Premium Credit Limited. Applications for credit will be passed to Premium Credit Ltd (PCL) who are required to meet responsibilities arising from the EU Consumer Credit Directive (CCD). In assessing your application, they will search the public information that a credit reference agency holds about you. The credit reference agency will add details of the search and your application to their record about you whether or not your application proceeds. This and other information about you may be used to make credit decisions about you and undertake checks for the prevention and detection of money laundering. If PCL are not able to provide credit facilities we will be unable to continue cover unless alternative payment arrangements are made.
12. Protecting your money
Our financial arrangements with most insurance companies are on a ‘Risk Transfer’ basis. This means that we act as agent or the insurer in collecting premiums and handling refunds due to clients. Where we hold premium as the agent of the insurer it is regarded as received by the insurer. If we are not acting as an agent of the insurer when we receive your premium, we shall hold it as client money in trust for you within a client bank account with an approved bank. Our client bank account(s) may contain other clients’ money and money we hold as an agent of insurers. In line with strict FCA rules, our client bank account(s) is/are rigorously monitored in order to segregate and safeguard client money. We reserve the right to retain interest earned on our client bank accounts. We may transfer your money to another intermediary in some cases. However, your money will be protected at all times because of the requirements of FCA rules. We also reserve the right to retain interest earned on this account.
13. Insurer Security
The insurers we use are regulated and are required to have adequate capital resources. However, we cannot guarantee the solvency of any insurer we place business with. An insolvent insurer may be unable to pay claims or may be unable to pay them in full and you may have to pay a further premium to arrange for alternative insurance cover.
14. Complaints
It is our intention to provide a high level of service at all times and treat you fairly. However, if you have reason to make a complaint about our service you should contact us either by phone on 01928 520 520, email myservice@freewayinsurance.co.uk, or in writing to the address in section 1 (About Us). You may be entitled to refer the matter subsequently to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). You can contact FOS by telephone on 0800 0234 567 and further information is available at http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk. They will expect you to follow the above procedure before contacting them.
For customers who have a policy through Lloyds of London, should you remain dissatisfied with Freeways resolution, you may if you wish, refer your complaint to Lloyds. Further details about Lloyds complaints handling process can be found on Freeways website www.freewayinsurance.co.uk/complaints.
If you do decide to refer any matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service your legal rights will not be affected.
15. Compensation arrangements
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 90% of the claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of 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 on 0800 678 1100 / 020 7741 4100 or by visiting http://www.fscs.org.uk
16. Termination
Where your policy is underwritten by Sabre Insurance Company Limited in the event of non-disclosure and the risk being deemed unacceptable, your policy will be cancelled immediately and will cease to deal with you..
You or we may terminate authority to act in connection with your insurance arrangements at any time. Notice of termination must be given in writing and will be without prejudice to the completion of any transactions already commenced. Any business currently in progress will be completed unless we receive instructions to the contrary. Any premiums or fees outstanding will become payable immediately. In circumstances where we feel we cannot continue providing services to you, we will give you a minimum of 7 days’ notice.
Conflicts of interest/Customers best interests
As insurance brokers we generally act as your agent in advising you, arranging your insurance and assisting you in the event of a claim; we will always act honestly, fairly and professionally ensuring your best interests are our priority. In certain circumstances we may act for and owe duties of care to insurers and/or other parties. Where we become aware of any actual or potential conflict of interest with our duty to you, we will inform you of the situation and the options available to you before we proceed.
17. Block Transfers
In respect of some classes of insurance we may operate block insurance arrangements in order to provide competitive terms. This is where we place all insurances of a certain type with one insurer who can provide particularly competitive terms for all our customers. On occasion it will be necessary for us to transfer such blocks from one insurer to another where this is beneficial for our clients. This terms of Business Agreement constitutes both your acceptance that we may do this and your prior request for us so to do.
Money laundering/Proceeds of crime
We are obliged to report to the National Crime Agency any suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing activity and we are prohibited from disclosing any such report.
Adequacy of insurance values
It is the responsibility of the insured to ensure that all sums insured and policy limits are adequate. It is strongly recommended that the appropriate Professional (e.g., Surveyor/Accountant) be consulted to ensure that the sums insured and limits under the policy are suitable.
18. Law and Jurisdiction
This agreement shall be governed by the Laws of England, Wales and Scotland and the parties agree herewith that any dispute arising shall be subject to the (non) exclusive jurisdiction of the relevant Court.
By accepting this Terms of Business Agreement document, you are giving your consent for us to operate in this way.
If a claim occurs all outstanding premiums must be paid.