Terms of Business

Accepting our Terms of Business

By asking us to quote for, arrange or handle your insurances, you are providing your informed agreement to these Terms of Business. We draw your particular attention to our Privacy Notice and the section headed ‘Use of personal data’, specifically the paragraph explaining how ‘sensitive personal data’ will be used. For your own benefit and protection, you should read these terms carefully. If you are unsure about any aspect of our Terms of Business or have any questions regarding our relationship with you, please contact us in writing to Nautical Insurance Services Limited, 57 Elm Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 1SP or emailing enquiries@nautical-insurance.co.uk or telephoning 01702 470 811.

The Financial Conduct Authority

Nautical Insurance Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under firm reference number 307458. You may check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA’s website, register.fca.org.uk/s/ or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.

Our Service

We arrange and administer marine insurance under binding authority and on behalf of Travelers Insurance Company Limited. The Nautical Yacht & Motorboat and Canal & Riverboat policies underwritten by Travelers Insurance Company Limited are specifically designed and unique to us. We arrange insurance on an information only basis and offer no advice or recommendation. We will provide you with relevant information to make an informed decision about whether to accept the insurance we are offering. Our Services include (i) establishing your insurance needs; (ii) providing you with clear information about the benefits and limitations of each product (iii) arranging your insurance cover with Insurers to meet with your requirements or where your requirements cannot be fully met, providing you with a clear explanation; (iv) issuing cover notes and insurance schedules; (v) helping you with any changes that you need to make to your insurance during the policy period; (vi) reminding you when you need to renew your policy in time to allow you to consider alternative providers and or arrange any continuing cover.

Complaints

Should you wish to make a complaint please contact The Complaints Officer on 01702 470 811, by email: complaints@nautical-insurance.co.uk or write to us at 57 Elm Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 1SP. If we are unable to resolve the issue by close of business on our third working day following the day, we received your complaint we will automatically refer your comments to the Insurer. You will receive a written response within two weeks of their receipt of the complaint. You may refer your complaint to the Compliance Team at Travelers at any time by email: CustomerRelations@travelers.com or in writing to The Compliance Team, Travelers, One Creechurch Place, Creechurch Lane, London EC3A 5AF. If the Insurer is unable to resolve your complaint you may be able, if eligible, to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) for an independent decision in addition to any other action you may subsequently wish to take. You may wish to visit the FOS website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/how-to-complain for more information on who is eligible to use the free, impartial service available. Your complaint must be referred to the FOS within six months of receiving the Insurers final response.

Handling Money

We do not hold client money but rely entirely on Risk Transfer which means we act as agents of the Insurer in collecting premiums and handling refunds due to customers as well as the transfer of claim monies.

Premium Payment Arrangements

We are not licensed for consumer credit and do not offer instalment facilities. Payment of the premium must be in full. We accept payment by cheque, credit/debit card or direct credit to our bank account prior to any insurance being placed or renewed. The payee must collect bank charges and transfer fees. Our Barclays bank account details are:

Account No. 30659460 | Sort Code: 20 29 86 | Account: Nautical Insurance Services Limited

Payment for our Services

We receive a percentage commission from the Insurer which is calculated on the net premium of the insurance we are arranging. If we reach specific profit targets the Insurer may also pay us an additional bonus. In addition, we add a fee to the premium charged by Insurers to cover our administration of your insurance. Before your insurance arrangements are concluded we will provide you with a formal new business quotation or renewal invitation stating the total premium to be paid and identifying any discount, fee, or tax separately from the premium.

New Business

£25

Renewals

£25

Cancellation

£25

Mid-term Adjustment

£15

Duplicate Documents

£10

Emailed Duplicate Documents

Free of Charge

Cancellation of Insurances

You are entitled to a 14 day ‘cooling off’ period which means if you change your mind about an insurance or subsequent renewal you have the right to ask us to cancel and receive a full refund provided you do so within the first 14 days from the date that cover began, or within 14 days of the renewal date. We will cancel the cover from the start date as if it had never been in place and refund you any premium paid in full.
Cancellation within 14 day cooling off period: Full Refund

Where we arrange new business and issue a temporary cover note whilst waiting for you to return our proposal form or any other requested information within a specific period and you fail to meet the requirement, we will be unable to conclude the arrangements. In such circumstances cover will be automatically terminated by the date specified on the cover note. We will retain our administration fee and refund the remaining proportion of the premium paid.
Cancellation for failure to submit information at proposal: Full Refund less £25 Cancellation Fee

For cancellation following the sale of the vessel, we will cancel and calculate any return premium from the date you confirm the sale to us or from the date shown on the Bill of Sale. Our responsibilities extend to all joint owners named in the documentation so to enable us to proceed with cancellation we require confirmation of the sale from all parties. You must return all documents and may be asked to submit a copy of the Bill of Sale.
Cancellation following the sale of the vessel: £25

You or we may cancel the policy at any other time subject to us both having to give each other 30 days written notice or by mutual agreement. Our reasons for issuing notice of cancellation to you may include but are not limited to dishonored cheques or card transactions in respect of the premium, failure to provide requested documentation or information, deliberate failure to comply with terms set out within the documentation, deliberate misrepresentation or non-disclosure or attempted fraud.
Cancellation at any other time: £25

How we calculate and refund any Return of Premium

Return premiums will be calculated on a pro-rata basis. The unused proportion of the annual net premium plus any applicable tax will be returned less our cancellation fee.

Return premiums will be refunded to the original payee account. Refunds in respect of card payments will be processed to the same debit/credit card that was used to make the payment.

Renewals

All insurance arranged by us are annual and will expire after a 12-month period. As we do not automatically renew, we will send you an early renewal invitation, so you have time to consider our renewal terms alongside alternative providers. We will invite renewal based on your expiring policy and any changes you or we may wish to make. Our invitation will be presented in the same way as your expiring insurance document for ease of comparison. Any changes by us will be highlighted under the heading ‘Changes Affecting Your Renewal.’ To renew with us you must pay the renewal premium in full. As soon as we receive your payment, we will issue a new insurance Schedule without delay.

Your responsibilities

You must answer our questions in relation to any proposal for insurance cover honestly and to the best of your knowledge. You must give complete and accurate information which we insurers will require. This also applies to your responses in relation to any assumptions you may agree to in the process of applying for insurance cover. This is particularly important before taking out a policy but also at renewal or if you make a mid-term adjustment to your policy. If you are unable to understand any question, please tell us so we can provide additional assistance.

If you fail to disclose information or provide false or misleading information which may influence our decision to accept the risk or the terms offered, this could mean that part of or an entire claim may not be paid or may invalidate the insurance. If you are unsure whether a matter is relevant to the cover being offered, please ask us.

Use of personal data

In your dealings with us you may provide information that includes data that is known as personal data. Where we process personal data, we comply with our responsibilities as set out by the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the European GDPR. The personal data we collect will include data relating to your name, address, date of birth, telephone number and email address and data relating to health or criminal offences. We will process your personal data to allow us to provide you with our services in quoting for, arranging and administering your insurances, handling claims and for statistical analysis. It will also be used to manage future communications between us and to communicate about our products and services. You can opt out from receiving such communications services by letting us know at any time by emailing enquiries@nautical-insurance.co.uk or in writing to Nautical Insurance Services Limited, 57 Elm Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 1SP or telephoning 01702 470 811.

We will only use your data for the purpose for which it was collected. We will only grant access to or share your data within our firm or relevant third parties and our market service providers such as insurers where we are required or entitled to do so by law under lawful data processing.

The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR and European GDPR provides you with access rights that allow you to gain an understanding on the data being processed, who we share it with, for what purpose, why we need to retain it and retention periods, to object to the processing and to place restrictions on the processing, to request copies of your data and in some circumstances to request the deletion of your data.

If you require further information on how we process your data and our lawful bases for doing so, or you wish to exercise your rights, please contact our Data Supervisor by emailing enquiries@nautical-insurance.co.uk or in writing to Nautical Insurance Services Limited, 57 Elm Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 1SP or telephoning 01702 470 811. You can view our Privacy Notice by visiting our website at www.nautical-insurance.co.uk or at your request we will provide a copy by email or by post.

Claims

When administering claims, we act on behalf of your Insurer and provide a complete claims service. In the event of a claim or incident you should notify us promptly. At this point we will remind you again that when negotiating and settling claims we act on behalf of the Insurer, not you. Please refer to your policy document or to us for an explanation of any procedures to follow. You may contact us by email to: claims@nautical-insurance.co.uk, by post or telephone as per the contact details at the top of this document. For other associated marine insurances arranged through us it will be necessary for you to deal directly with the Insurer in respect of claims.

Watercraft Legal Protection (WLP)

We act as agent for the Legal Protection Group Limited (LPG). LPG is an appointed representative of Riviera Insurance Services Limited (Reg Firm ref: 786116). This is an additional optional cover for your uninsured losses underwritten by Alwyn Insurance Company Limited, Gibraltar. An uninsured loss is a loss that is not covered under your boat policy, so you should submit any claim to us first. This optional extra cover is only available to eligible customers. An eligible customer is a private individual, aged 18 or over, who resides in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (excludes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man), and whose vessel is under 79ft/24m, for private & pleasure use only and is registered on Part 1 or Part 111 of the UK Ship Register with the Maritime & Coastguard Agency or is not registered at all. You will also be required to answer 3 questions concerning existing or previous watercraft legal insurance cover and claims history.

We do not make any recommendation in respect of this additional cover and arrange insurance on an information only basis to allow you to make an informed decision whether the cover offered would be appropriate for you. Legal Protection insurance gives you access to a lawyer for practical and financial support to help protect your legal rights. The insurance runs in conjunction with the boat insurance for a period not exceeding 12 months and cannot be added after inception of the boat policy. Multiple boat policies are not covered by a single legal protection policy.

If you choose to add Watercraft Legal Protection you will be required to pay an additional premium. We do not hold client money but rely entirely on Risk Transfer which means we act as agents of Legal Protection Group Limited in collecting premiums and handling refunds due to customers. We receive a percentage commission from LPG, but we do not apply any fees. The policy wording is only available by email. We will confirm by email that cover is in place and attach a payment receipt and copy of the policy wording.

Our Fees or Charges for WLP: None

Watercraft Legal Protection Claims

All claims are administered by Legal Protection Group Limited (LPG). It will be necessary for you to deal directly with LPG or their legal partners in respect of claims. In the first instance you should contact the relevant Helpline Service number in the Policy wording. If the Helpline cannot resolve the issue and you need to make a claim, please phone the dedicated claims reporting line on 0344 840 6345 from within the United Kingdom or 0044 161 696 6261 from abroad. When asked, provide our name, Nautical Insurance Services Limited, as your insurance adviser.

Watercraft Legal Protection Complaints

To make a complaint please email complaints@legalprotectiongroup.co.uk or telephone 0333 700 1040 (lines are open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm) or write to Customer Service Department, Legal Protection Group Limited, 8 Pinkers Court, Briarlands Office Park, Gloucester Road, Rudgeway, Bristol, BS35 3QH. For further information on how to make a complaint you should visit https://www.legalprotectiongroup.co.uk/policyholder-information.

Cancellation of Watercraft Legal Protection

The policy may be cancelled by you at any time. If you cancel the policy within 14 days of purchase, or within 14 days of receiving the policy document, whichever is the later, you will receive a full refund of premium. You can cancel the policy at any other time by giving us 7 days’ notice. Providing no claims have been made during the current period of insurance, you will be entitled to a pro rata refund for the remaining time on cover. Where the vessel is sold, or ownership transferred, Watercraft Legal Protection will automatically be cancelled from the same date as the boat insurance. WLP Insurance is not transferrable.

Cancel within 14 day cooling off period: Full Refund

Cancellation at any other time: Daily Pro Rata Refund of Premium

Other Insurances

We may also arrange other boat insurance or other associated marine insurances. We will provide you with all relevant details of the Insurer and the product at the time of quotation. In these circumstances we receive a percentage commission from the Insurer, but we do not apply any fees.

Our Fees or Charges for other insurance: None

Conflict of Interests

Occasions can arise where we or one of our product providers may have a potential conflict of interest with business being transacted for you. If this happens, and we become aware that a potential conflict exists, we will write to you and detail the steps to be taken to ensure fair treatment.

Law

Where we refer to ‘by law,’ English Law will apply. The Law applied to the contract will be English Law and subject to the jurisdiction of the English courts.