Terms & conditions

Our Terms & conditions

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About these terms & conditions

These terms & conditions set out how we, Hastings Insurance Services Ltd, will deal with you as a customer. Use this information to decide if our services are right for you.

You will enter into two separate contracts when you take out an insurance policy through us. The first contract is with us for arranging and administering your insurance policy on your behalf. We shall charge you a fee(s) for providing our services. Our terms & conditions are set out on this page.

The second contract is with the insurer for providing your insurance and they shall charge you a separate premium inclusive of Insurance Premium Tax as applicable. Their terms & conditions are set out in the Policy Booklet, Statement of Motor Insurance and Policy Key Facts (which are part of your Welcome Pack).

Our arrangement and administration fee and the separate premium will form the total price of the insurance. The specific amounts paid in respect of the cover you hold are found in the Covering Letter in your Welcome Pack.


Information Provided by You

The information that you have supplied in connection with quotations obtained and policies arranged forms the basis on which your insurance cover and premiums are agreed. You must ensure that you are complying with your legal duty of disclosure of all material facts relating to the risk, and you must satisfy yourself as to the accuracy and completeness of the information you provide to insurers.

A material fact is one which is likely to influence an insurer in the acceptance and assessment of the proposal. For example, a young or inexperienced driver, or any offence (including non-motor related offences such as fraud, robbery, theft or handling stolen goods) or prosecutions pending, or infirmities of any driver. It is an offence under the Road Traffic Acts to make any false statement or withhold any material information for the purpose of obtaining a certificate for motor insurance. All material facts must be disclosed - failure to do so could invalidate your insurance policy.

If you are in any doubt as to whether a fact is material then it should be disclosed to Hastings Insurance Services Limited or your insurer.

If there are any changes in your/your permitted drivers' circumstances during the period of insurance cover please provide us with details. If you don't, your insurance may not be valid or you may not be covered fully.

Below are some examples of what you should tell us about.

Motor Policies
  • A change of vehicle (including extra vehicles)
  • All changes you make to the vehicle if these make the vehicle different from the manufacturer's standard specification (whether the changes are mechanical or cosmetic)
  • A change of address
  • If you or any drivers' licence has been revoked or you or any other driver has been disqualified from driving
  • A change of job, including any part-time work by you or other drivers, a change in the type of business, or having no work
  • A change in the purpose which you use the vehicle for
  • A change in the person who uses the vehicle most
  • Details of any driver who you have not told us about before or who is excluded by the certificate of motor insurance or an endorsement, but whose driving you now wish to be covered
  • Details of any convictions of any person allowed to drive or of any future prosecutions for any offence (other than parking)
  • Details of any accident or loss (whether or not you make a claim) involving your vehicle or that occurs while you, or any driver on your policy are driving anyone else's vehicle
  • A change in the person who uses the vehicle most
  • A change in the purpose which you use the vehicle for
  • Any medical or physical condition or disability, for you or any other driver, that is notifiable to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), which has not been notified and accepted by the DVLA.

If you are not sure whether a certain fact is relevant, please call us on 0333 321 9773 | Customer Services team

If you do not tell us about relevant changes, your insurance may not cover you fully, or at all. We recommend you keep a record (including copies of letters) of all information provided to us for your future reference.

You are advised to carefully check your insurance documents once received. If any information is incorrect or missing, we must be notified at once.


Regulatory Status

insurePink is a trading name of Hastings Insurance Services Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Our FCA registered number is 311492. You can check our registration on the FCA's register by visiting their website www.fca.org.uk or by contacting the FCA on 0845 606 1234.

Our permitted business is arranging, dealing as agent and assisting in the administration of non-investment insurance contracts.


Are We Covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)?

We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme in the unlikely event we cannot meet our obligations to you. This depends on the type of insurance, size of the business insured and the circumstances of the claim.

Further information about the compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS at www.fscs.org.uk


Complaints Procedure

We aim to provide all our customers with a high level of service and satisfaction but if you wish to complain about any aspect of our dealings with you please contact us:

In writing - Write to our Customer Service Manager at insurePink,
Conquest House,
Collington Avenue,
Bexhill-on-Sea,
East Sussex, TN39 3LW

By phone - Telephone us on 01638 782 300.

If we are unable to resolve your complaint immediately, we will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 business days. In our acknowledgement we will advise you of the name and job title of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.

Within four weeks of receiving your complaint we will send you either a final response; or a letter explaining why we are not yet in a position to resolve your complaint and advising you of when we will be contacting you again.

By the end of eight weeks after receipt of your original complaint letter we will send you a final response or a letter explaining why we are still not in a position to issue a final response and advising you of when we expect to be able to do so.

If you have a complaint against your insurer, please refer to the policy booklet for details of your insurer's complaint procedure.

If we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Their details are:

Address: Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London
E14 9SR

Telephone: 0207 964 1000
Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

These procedures do not affect your right to take legal action if necessary.


Whose Products Do We Offer and Our Insurance Intermediary Service We Provide For You

We deal with a range of insurers allowing a fair analysis of the market place. For optional extra cover such as legal expenses sold as a supplement to your main policy, we can only offer insurance from a single insurer.

Please ask us for a list of insurers we offer insurance from.

We will provide you with sufficient information to enable you to make an informed decision on your purchase.

As We will not make a formal recommendation please consider all information carefully to ensure the product(s) meet your requirements before you decide to proceed. Our service includes: arranging your insurance cover on your behalf with insurers to meet your requirements; and helping you with any ongoing changes you have to make, such as amendments to the cover, use and property insured. We will also arrange the cancellation of your policy and arrange cover with an alternative insurer if your requirement to amend your policy is not acceptable to your original insurers. Additionally we will arrange optional additional covers such as legal protection and breakdown where these meet your needs. We will also arrange the renewal of your insurance.

The insurers we deal with can change their rates on a regular basis. For this reason, we cannot guarantee the price you have been offered, based on the information you have provided, unless the policy is purchased at the time you received your quote.


Your Right to Cancel

This section contains important notes about your rights of cancellation. You must read these notes carefully.

You can cancel your policy at any time by sending written notice to our address:-
insurePink,
Conquest House,
Collington Avenue,
Bexhill-on-Sea,
East Sussex, TN39 3LW

We can cancel your policy by sending you a seven-day notice in writing to your last known address.

If your policy is cancelled, we will refund your premium as follows:

If you or we cancel the policy within the 14-day withdrawal period, whether cover has commenced or not, we will refund the part of the premium you have not used subject to our cancellation fee of £25.00 and any charge made by the insurer. (Refer to your Certificate or schedule for details of the insurer's cancellation charges).

If you or we cancel the policy at any other time, we will refund the part of the premium you have not used subject to our cancellation fee and any charge made by the insurer. (Refer to your Certificate or schedule for details of the insurer's cancellation charges).

You may not receive a refund of your premium if you have made a claim, or if one has been made against you, during the period of insurance. If you are paying by instalments and have made a claim you may have to pay the balance of the full annual premium.

The withdrawal period of 14-days commences from the time the contract is concluded. The contract is concluded when you receive the documents from us. We are entitled to assume that documents have been received in accordance with accepted principles of law. That is: provided the document is sent to the correct address, documents posted first class on business day one are received on business day two.

Motor Policies
We will only cancel a Motor Policy at your request if you meet the legal requirement to return the certificate of motor insurance. If you have lost the certificate of motor insurance, you must send in a completed written declaration confirming that you wish to cancel and no longer have the certificate of motor insurance in your possession. Please note that we are unable to backdate cancellations.

Legal Cover, Windscreen & Breakdown add-on policies (Optional Extras)
The above policies can be cancelled at any time. However, unless they are cancelled within the 14-day withdrawal period, they will be subject to no return in premium.

You are always advised to discuss your options with us prior to deciding upon cancellation of your policy.


How to Make a Claim

In the event of an accident or incident occurring which may give rise to a claim under your policy, you should notify us as soon as possible using the telephone numbers on our contact us page.


Renewals

We will write to you in good time before the renewal date to explain what will happen and to let you know what the policy terms and new payments will be. Any renewal premium quoted will only apply provided no claim happens or is reported after the last renewal.

At renewal, for your convenience and protection we may automatically continue your insurance (including any additional policies such as legal protection, breakdown, personal accident), unless you ask us not to. We will write to you before renewal date to remind you of this and inform you of any changes to your policy.

However, we do not guarantee to renew your policy, and we won't automatically renew your policy if your payment fails to be authorised.


Our fees

We charge fees to cover the costs involved in setting up, servicing and cancelling a policy and it's important you understand them. The fees below are for our services and each fee is non-refundable.

Like other providers, we charge a fee to change a policy. This is so those customers who don't make any changes don't bear the cost for those who do, and helps us to keep policy prices down.

Type of fee Fee
Arranging your policy
Arranging new or renewing cover for each car on your policy £20
Additional fee for arranging new cover through our call centre £12.50
 
Changing your policy
(As well as a fee, the cost of your insurance may change as a result of a change to your policy)
Changing your name or martial status £0
Changing your mileage £0
Changing your telephone number or email address £0
Changing your address or vehicle £20
Other changes you make not listed above £20
Changes we need to make because you've not sent us information we've asked for or what you've provided isn't correct £30
 
Cancelling your new or renewing policy
(If you or we cancel a policy, any fees, such as the arrangement fee, incurred before cancellation are non-refundable, as is the cost of your insurance for the number of days you've been insured.)
Cancelling within 14 days of your car policy's start date No cancellation fee
Cancelling 14 days or more after your car policy start date £45
Where we need to cancel your policy because you've not sent us information we've asked for or what you've provided isn't correct £45
 
Missing payments
Missing a direct debit payment £12

If you do not pay in full for your time on cover or you fail to pay any part of your insurance, we may choose to use a debt collection agency to collect any monies owing. Any costs incurred will be added to the debt.

If we give a discount on our fees and/or the insurer's premium at the inception of your policy, and the policy is subsequently cancelled, we shall be entitled to reduce the amount of any refund to enable us to reclaim the unused portion of the discount.

If you fail to pay any money you owe us on the due date and we instruct any third party to collect this money from you, you agree that you will pay the reasonable costs of the third party for collecting the money for us.

We use a third party to collect and store card details in accordance with industry standards. We will use the card details stored on our behalf to collect payment for mid-term changes, defaulted instalments including the associated fee, balances following cancellation and for renewal of your policy. We will inform you in advance of doing so.

If payment is initially made by debit/credit card any refund will be made to the same card in accordance with the Terms & Conditions of the card issuer. All other refunds will be made by cheque. We are unable to give cash refunds.

If you do not pay for your insurance you should show these details to the person who paid on your behalf.


Payment Arrangements Including Instalments and Deposits

All money received by us in respect of insurance premiums is held on behalf of the relevant insurer so that you have no risk in the event of our insolvency.

The total price of your insurance is shown in your documents including insurance premium tax where applicable. For legal purposes, we are required to inform you of the possibility that other taxes or costs may exist that are not paid through or imposed by us - however, we are not aware of the existence of any other taxes or costs currently payable.

When dealing with any amendments or alterations to your policy, we will not collect or refund any amounts under £1.

Please note that any interest earned by us and any investment returns on any segregated designated investments will be retained by us.

We will always provide advance notice either in writing or over the telephone, before any transaction is processed, when you will have the opportunity to pay by an alternative method.


Governing Law

Unless agreed otherwise with you, all policies arranged and administered by us are governed by English law and subject to the jurisdiction of the English courts. All information about the contract will be provided in English.


Ownership and Close Links

Hastings Insurance Services Limited is wholly owned by Hastings (UK) Limited (registered in England and Wales number 06769523) which, in turn, is wholly owned by Hastings (Holdings) Limited (registered in England and Wales number 07162484) which, in turn, is wholly owned by Hastings Insurance Group Limited (registered in Jersey number 108490) ("HIG").

If we have arranged your insurance with Advantage Insurance Company Limited, which is wholly owned by Advantage Global Holdings Limited ("AGH"), we should advise that AGH is also wholly owned by HIG.

Wherever we arrange a policy underwritten by Advantage Insurance Company Limited we will advise you of this connection before you commit to buy.


Introducer Arrangements

A third party may have introduced you to us and for this the introducer may be paid a fee by us. We may also, with your consent, introduce you to other third parties, for which we may be paid a fee.


Data Protection

Any personal data you provide will be held securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The information you have given us will be held and used to manage your insurance policy, which will include both underwriting and claim handling. For this purpose we may disclose it to other interested third parties, for example insurers, other intermediaries, uninsured loss recovery agencies, regulatory authorities for the purposes of monitoring and/or enforcing compliance with any regulatory rules/codes, other third parties involved (directly and indirectly) in your insurance, and agents (including claims handling agencies) who provide services on our behalf.

We may also need to disclose personal data to a third party so that the service you requested can be provided. It may also be necessary to transfer it to countries outside the European Economic Area.

Your calls may be monitored and recorded in order that the service may be improved and to help prevent and detect fraud. Documents received by us are filed electronically. We may check information provided or received and we, our insurers and our credit providers may also undertake credit searches and additional fraud searches. We may also pass information about you to credit reference agencies and premium finance providers in connection with the assessment of your financial stand ing generally and, in particular, where you have requested a premium instalment plan. This may include details of your payment record with us.

By accepting this policy you consent to our processing personal data including sensitive data about you and other persons who may be insured under the policy. You understand that all personal data you give to us must be accurate and that you have the specific consent of those other persons to disclose their personal data.

Insurers pass information to the Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register (CUE), run by Insurance Database Services Ltd, the Hunter Database, run by MCL Software Ltd., and the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register (MIAFTR), run by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), and other databases. We, and your insurer, may search these registers as this helps us to check information provided and to prevent fraudulent claims. We may also undertake credit searches and additional fraud searches. Under the conditions of your policy you must tell us about any incident (such as an accident or theft) which may or may not give rise to a claim. When you tell us about an incident we will pass information relating to it to the registers.


Credit checks

We and/or your insurer may pass information about you to credit reference agencies, where it is necessary to carry out a credit check search on you before we and/or your insurer provide you with any services (including quotations and prior to offering a renewal). You should be aware that the results of those searches will be recorded by the credit reference agencies and that we and/or your insurer and other organisations may use those records in order to help make credit decisions about you, people financially linked to you and others in your household. Often insurance and other financial services providers will only request a credit check once you have decided on a particular supplier. Every application you submit for a loan or credit card, however, may affect your credit score so you may wish to keep applications to a minimum to protect your credit rating.


Motor Insurance Database

Continuous Insurance Enforcement

Information relating to your insurance policy will be added to the Motor Insurance Database ("MID") managed by the Motor Insurers' Bureau ("MIB"). MID and the data stored on it may be used by certain statutory and/or authorised bodies including the Police, the DVLA, the DVANI, the Insurance Fraud Bureau and other bodies permitted by law for purposes not limited to but including:

  • Electronic Licensing
  • Continuous Insurance Enforcement
  • Law enforcement (prevention, detection, apprehension and or prosecution of offenders)
  • The provision of government services and or other services aimed at reducing the level and incidence of uninsured driving.

If you are involved in a road traffic accident (either in the UK, EEA or certain other territories), insurers and or the MIB may search the MID to obtain relevant information.

Persons (including his or her appointed representatives) pursuing a claim in respect of a road traffic accident (including citizens of other countries) may also obtain relevant information which is held on the MID.

It is vital that the MID holds your correct registration number. If it is incorrectly shown on the MID you are at risk of having your vehicle seized by the Police. You can check that your correct registration number details are shown on the MID at www.askmid.com

You can find out more about this from your insurer, or at www.mib.org.uk

You should show these notes to anyone insured to drive the vehicle covered under this policy.

Your information may also be used for customer services, marketing (including customer profiling), offering renewals, research and statistical purposes, and crime prevention. We may share your information with our agents or service providers and with third parties with whom we have a business relationship, for the purposes described above. If you give us information about another person, in doing so you confirm that they have given you permission to provide it to us to be able to process their personal data (including any sensitive personal data) and also that you have told them who we are and what we will use their data for, as set out in this notice. If you, or any other person of whom you have provided details, do not wish your data to be used for marketing purposes, you can write to our Data Protection Officer at insurePink, Conquest House, Collington Avenue, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN39 3LW.

In the case of personal data, with limited exceptions, you have the right to access and if necessary rectify information held about you by formal written application to our Data Protection Officer at insurePink, Conquest House, Collington Avenue, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN39 3LW.

We recommend you keep this document safely with your policy and all other documents relating to your insurance. We have shown, within your documentation, the information that you supplied to us, and on which your premium has been calculated. In the event of a claim, or on request, you must be able to substantiate this information, so it is important that you check it, and can agree that it is all correct to the best of your knowledge and belief. If anything is not correct or differs from what you told us, you must contact us immediately, as otherwise your insurance may be rendered invalid, or your insurers entitled to avoid payment of a claim. In particular, you must remember that you have to disclose all material facts to us. Material facts are any facts that are likely to influence an insurer in his acceptance or rejection of your risk. If you are in any doubt as to whether a fact is material or not, you should disclose it to us. If the information is NOT true and complete, your insurance may not protect you in the event of a claim. It is an offence under the Road Traffic Act to make any false statement or to withhold any information for the purpose of obtaining a certificate of motor insurance. If you provide an answer or information which you know is untrue you may be committing a criminal offence. You must also disclose all information which you know we would want to take into account in evaluating your proposal (e.g. previous accidents). Failure to provide such information may be a criminal offence. These offences are punishable with up to 10 years imprisonment and/or a fine.

It is important to note that, if the vehicle is to be driven by anyone who has, to your knowledge, had motor insurance refused or cancelled at any time in the past, the agreement of the insurers MUST be obtained before cover can be granted. It is important that your vehicle is kept and maintained in a roadworthy condition with a valid MOT certificate where required by law.

You can advise us of any amendments
By telephone.
0333 321 9773 | Customer Services team

By email.
customersupport@hastingsdirect.com

By post. insurePink,
Conquest House,
Collington Avenue,
Bexhill-on-Sea,
East Sussex, TN39 3LW

If your policy starts with 'XA' and started on or after 25th May 2018 View terms & conditions