Terms and conditions

Introduction

Welcome to our terms and conditions. These terms and conditions form the basis of the contract between you (the customer) and us (Policy Expert), so it is important that you read them carefully each time you purchase an insurance policy with us.

These terms and conditions set out:

  • who we are and how you can contact us;
  • what services we provide, including any fees and charges; and
  • how we use theinformation you give us.

You should use the information we provide here to decide if our services are right for you.

You should also read our privacy policy at www.policyexpert.co.uk/privacy-policy which outlines how we use any personal information you give us. By communicating with us or using our services (whether on our website, by phone, email or social media, or in writing) you agree to keep to these terms and conditions and accept our privacy policy.

Please note: in these terms and conditions, 'our', 'we' and 'us' refer to Policy Expert. Policy Expert is a trading name of QMetric Group Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). FCA registered number: 529506, www.fca.org.uk for more information. The FCA is the independent body that regulates financial services. QMetric's registration with the FCA allows us to provide insurance services, intermediation and credit broking.

The registered address of QMetric Group Limited is: 110 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AY and its company registration number is: 07151701, registered in England and Wales.

We have the right to amend these terms and conditions without giving you notice. If you have any questions about the terms and conditions, please contact us.

For home insurance

home@policyexpert.co.uk

or call us on

For motor insurance

motor@policyexpert.co.uk

or call us on

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Our service to you

By asking a series of questions we aim to identify your insurance demands and needs and provide you with quotes from our panel of insurers. We also provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision when buying any of the products and services that we offer.

We do not offer advice or make recommendations about which of our products and services will be the most suitable for your needs. You need to make your own choice about what to buy. If you are unsure, we suggest that you ask for advice from an independent insurance adviser, who should be able to help you make the right decision.

We work with a number of carefully chosen third parties to offer you the products and services that you can buy on our website or over the phone. The full list of these is available at www.policyexpert.co.uk/trusted-partners/

We work as an intermediary to represent the insurers on our panel to offer and sell insurance products, and we have the authority to sell insurance policies on their behalf. We act on behalf of a panel of insurers to provide quotes, issue policies, collect premiums and manage claims.

We have the right to add more insurers or change existing insurers, as we see fit, to make sure we maintain the high standards we aim for in offering and providing you with insurance cover.

There is more information on the insurers who are underwriting (providing) your policy in the policy wording or product summary documents. Policy documents are available on our website.

If you would like us to send you paper copies of your insurance documents by standard class post, these are available free of charge. If you require a special mailing of insurance documents (for example guaranteed next day delivery), you will need to pay any additional postage costs we incur. All documents are available free of charge on our website.

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Contacting you

We have the right to contact customers who have sent us an enquiry on the www.policyexpert.co.uk website or visited our website by clicking on a link from a comparison website.

If you want to opt out of your personal information being processed for marketing communication purposes please email us at:

For home insurance

home-optout@policyexpert.co.uk

or call us on

For motor insurance

motor-optout@policyexpert.co.uk

or call us on

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Two-year fixed-premium offer (home insurance)

These terms and conditions set out the rights and responsibilities that apply to the two-year fixed-premium offer (the offer) and form part of your home insurance policy conditions. Important phrases that have a separate definition are described below and will be highlighted in bold.

Please note that as of 14th April 2021, the two-year fixed-premium will no longer be offered at point of new business or renewal. If you have already purchased a policy which includes the two-year fixed-premium, you will continue to benefit from this offer until it expires. This is based upon the terms and conditions of the offer, which are displayed below.

Some definitions

Insurance premium:

The amount you are charged each year for your home insurance before Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) is applied.

This does not include any interest charges that will apply if you choose to pay for your insurance in monthly payments.

It also does not include the cost of any optional extras such as Home Emergency Cover and Legal Expenses Cover.

Participating insurer:

This means any insurer who is taking part in the offer. You can find who this is by looking at our website when you receive a quote. If you buy a policy over the phone, we will tell you who this is. After buying a policy, you can also find the insurer's details in your policy schedule document.

The rules:

The offer, which fixes your annual premium, will apply from the start date of your home insurance policy and will last for two years in a row (the offer period).

The following conditions apply during the offer period:

  • The details you provide for the first period of insurance must not change.
  • You must not make any claims.
  • The participating insurer must still want to provide home insurance for your address throughout the offer period.

As this is a yearly policy, the policy wording and cover levels may change from one year to the next. We will tell you before you renew if there have been any cover changes.

What happens if I need to make a change to my details or cover levels?

You must tell us about any change in your circumstances (based on the answers you gave to our questions).

If you make a change during the offer period, your insurance premium will not be fixed for the rest of the offer period and your insurer's normal underwriting rules will apply. You may still be able to buy other competitive insurance from any insurers on our panel that will provide cover for you.

What happens if I make a claim?

If, during the offer period, we find out that you have made any claims, whether these were successful or not, the offer will come to an end on your next renewal date. Your premium will no longer be fixed.

We will offer you renewal terms using insurer's normal underwriting rules, taking account of any offers that are available at that time.

What happens at renewal?

At the end of the first insurance period during the offer period, if you are still eligible for the offer we will send you a renewal invitation which will include the offer premium.

If you are not eligible for the offer on the renewal date, we will remind you that your policy is due for renewal. We may be able to provide you with quotes from other insurers on our panel.

Can my insurer make any changes?

Yes. Our insurers regularly review their cover levels and the types of risk they insure. This could affect the policy cover the offer applies to.

We will tell you before you renew your policy if there have been any changes.

We can withdraw the offer at any time.

If we withdraw the offer, but we provided a quotation before withdrawing it, the offer will still apply.

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Claim limits (home insurance)

If you need to make a claim after buying any of the following products, and the total rebuild cost or total contents sum insured shown in your questions and answers document is more than the product limit, the limit of liability under the policy will be set at the higher value.

  • Policy Expert Home Select
  • Policy Expert Home Premier
  • Policy Expert Home Essential
  • Policy Expert Home Plus
  • Bronze Home Insurance
  • Silver Home Insurance
  • Gold Home Insurance

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Payment

How to make a payment

You can pay for your policy by credit card or debit card, or by premium finance (subject to acceptance by the lender).

Payments by card

After you have made a card payment, our payment service provider (PSP), the company that processes payments on our behalf, will keep a record of your credit card or debit card details so that we can use these details at a later date, for example:

  • to make a refund;
  • take payment for extra insurance products you buy from us;
  • to take payment following cancellation of your policy of any amount you owe us
  • to take payment for any changes made to your policy mid term
  • check your card is still valid for the next year's payments at renewal; and
  • to take payment for the renewal of your policy.

If we make changes to the way in which we use your card details we will send you details of these change via email.

Our PSP stores your credit-card details in an encrypted format and keeps to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which includes strict requirements for how credit-card details must be handled.

Payments by premium finance

We are registered with the Financial Conduct Authority as a credit broker. If you choose to pay your insurance premium by monthly payments, we will act as your agent in helping you arrange finance with a lender, subject to acceptance of the loan application by the lender. We will not charge you fees or interest for this service, but we will receive a commission from the lender. The lender will charge you interest on the money they lend you. They may also charge you fees, which are set out in their agreement with you and are listed in Our Charges section below. If you chose to pay for your policy in monthly instalments using premium finance this will mean that your overall cost for the policy will be higher than if you chose to pay for your policy in full.

The premium finance company will keep a record of your bank details.

Your first monthly payment may be different from the rest of your monthly payments. This is because the total amount you will pay cannot always be divided into equal monthly amounts.

If you miss any monthly payment your credit rating might be affected, which may mean it is difficult for you to get credit in the future.

If you do not keep up to date with your monthly payments your credit agreement will be cancelled. If this happened, you would need to pay for your insurance in one payment or cancel your policy.

How we handle your money

We act as an agent of the insurers on our panel in collecting, holding, receiving or paying (as appropriate) premiums, premium refunds, claims, reinsurance premiums, recoveries and other related money. You are protected because:

  • premiums are treated as being received by the insurer when we receive them in our bank account; and
  • a premium refund or claims payment is treated as being received by you when you actually receive it.

We arrange the policy with the insurer on your behalf. You do not pay us a fee for doing this. We receive a payment from the insurer, which comes out of the premium you pay. This amount can vary.

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Administration process and our charges

Making a change to your policy

Please call us immediately if there are any changes to the information set out in the following documents:

  • Your schedule documents
  • Your 'Questions and Answers' document (if you have a home insurance policy)
  • Your ‘Statement of Fact' document (if you have a motor insurance policy)

We will use the new details to amend your answers and we will confirm the quotations generated by our panel of insurers.

If you want to amend your motor policy and your current insurer accepts this, your premium will be adjusted to reflect this quote. If you pay monthly, your monthly amounts will be adjusted.

For all other cases, when you accept a quotation a new policy will be begin. If you pay in full, payment will be due immediately.

If you choose to pay monthly and the finance provider accepts, you may need to pay a deposit immediately (by debit card or credit card). The finance provider will provide a loan for the remaining balance, payable by you in a series of monthly payments. Changes in your circumstances may result in us not being able to offer you cover and your current policy may be cancelled.

See below 'Our refund policy'

How to cancel your policy

You can cancel any policy at any time during the policy term, please contact us:

For home insurance

home@policyexpert.co.uk

or call us on

or write to:

Customer Relations,

Policy Expert Home,

1st Floor,

Exchange House,

450 Midsummer Boulevard,

Milton Keynes,

MK9 2EA

For motor insurance

motor@policyexpert.co.uk

or call us on

or write to:

Customer Service,

Policy Expert Motor,

2 Parklands Avenue,

Maxim 3,

Eurocentral,

Motherwell,

ML1 4WQ

There is a cooling-off period for you to check that the policy you have bought meets your needs.

If we provide you with electronic access to your policy documents, this is the first 14 days from the date you purchase the policy.

If we do not provide you with electronic access to your documents, the cooling-off period is 14 days from the date the policy documents are delivered to your correspondence address.

If you cancel your policy in the 'cooling off' period, we may charge you a cancellation fee. Please refer to our fee table below

After the 'cooling off' period, if you cancel a policy, you will have to pay a cancellation fee as set out in the table below

Any optional extra policies you have bought will also be cancelled on the same date as the main policy is cancelled. If cancellation is within the 'cooling off' period, the optional extra policies will be refunded in full. If the cancellation is after the 'cooling off' period, the optional extras will be charged in full.

Our refund policy

If you cancel a policy and have not made a claim, we will refund you an amount of premium for the period from the cancellation date to the policy expiry date.

If you have made a claim under your policy, or a claim has been made against you by a third party before you cancel then:

  • if you have paid in full you will not receive a refund
  • if you are paying by direct-debit the full annual premium is due and you will be required to pay any outstanding balance on the instalment agreement.

If you have paid in full by card, we will pay refunds back to the original debit card or credit card you used to buy the policy. If this is not possible (for example, if your card has expired) we will arrange to send the refund via bank transfer. We do not issue refunds via cheque.

If you pay monthly, we will cancel your direct debit.

If a direct-debit payment is due from you within five days of the date you request to cancel, it may not be possible to stop that payment. If so, we will only be able to inform you of an approximate refund amount and will process the cancellation once the payment has completed.

If you have chosen to pay by direct debit your effective date of policy cancellation will be the last date of paid cover, or the cancellation date you request, whichever date is the earliest.

Our right to cancel your policy

We have the right to cancel any policy at any time if there is a valid reason for doing so (for example, if you haven't given us the correct information). We will give you at least 7 days' notice in writing to the email address you have provided before cancelling any policy. If you have not provided us with an email address then we will send this notification by post to the correspondence address you have provided. If fraud has been proven, we do not have to give you notice and can cancel the policy immediately.

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Our charges

Policy Expert don't charge you any administration fees for paying by debit card or credit card.

We may charge the following fees:

Home insurance

*Quoted before 06/06/23

Buying your policy over the phone

£0

Arrangement fee

£0

Making a change to your policy online after purchase

£0

Making a change to your policy via our call-centre after purchase

£0

If you or we cancel your policy within the 14-day cooling-off period

£0

If you or we cancel your policy after the 14-day cooling-off period

£25

If you do not sign and return the loan agreement within 28 days

£25

For each monthly payment that you miss

£25

*Quoted on or after 06/06/23

Buying your policy over the phone

£12.50

Arrangement fee

£0

Making a change to your policy online after purchase

£15

Making a change to your policy via our call-centre after purchase

£20

If you or we cancel your policy within the 14-day cooling-off period

£15

If you or we cancel your policy after the 14-day cooling-off period

£30

If you do not sign and return the loan agreement within 28 days

£25

For each monthly payment that you miss

£25

*Quoted before 06/06/23

Buying your policy over the phone

£0

Arrangement fee

£0

Making a change to your policy online after purchase

£0

Making a change to your policy via our call-centre after purchase

£0

If you or we cancel your policy within the 14-day cooling-off period

£0

If you or we cancel your policy after the 14-day cooling-off period

£25

If you do not sign and return the loan agreement within 28 days

Not applicable

For each monthly payment that you miss

Not applicable

*Quoted on or after 06/06/23

Buying your policy over the phone

£0

Arrangement fee

£0

Making a change to your policy online after purchase

£15

Making a change to your policy via our call-centre after purchase

£20

If you or we cancel your policy within the 14-day cooling-off period

£0

If you or we cancel your policy after the 14-day cooling-off period

£30

If you do not sign and return the loan agreement within 28 days

Not applicable

For each monthly payment that you miss

£15

*Quoted refers to the date on which your new business or renewal price was created for you. 

Car insurance

Buying your policy over the phone 

£12.50

Arrangement fee

£0

Making a change to your policy online after purchase

£30

Making a change to your policy via our call-centre after purchase

£30

If you or we cancel your policy within the 14-day cooling-off period

£30

If you or we cancel your policy after the 14-day cooling-off period

£60

If you do not sign and return the loan agreement within 28 days

£25

If you call the lender direct to change the date of your monthly payments (if you call us instead, we can arrange this without charge)

£0

For each monthly payment that you miss 

£25

In addition to the above fees, some of our insurers may charge you a fee if you or they:

  • make a change to your policy after you’ve bought it; or
  • cancel your policy.

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How to renew your policy

Before your policy is due to end we will let you know by email, phone, or letter if we are able to continue offering you insurance.

The insurer for your policy does not guarantee to offer a renewal quote. If that is the case, we will try to find you cover with another insurer on our panel. If no other insurer on our panel is able to offer you cover, we will aim to give you at least 14 days' notice before your existing policy ends.

If your policy is not renewed, it will end, and you will no longer be covered.

Automatic renewal

If we can offer you cover at renewal, we will send you a quote for your next year of cover 21 days before your renewal date. Your policy will automatically renew which ensures that you maintain continual cover. If you would prefer to not automatically renew your cover with us, you can opt out.

You can opt out of automatic renewal by logging into your customer portal and changing your settings, or by contacting us via live chat, email or on the telephone. You can opt out of automatic renewal up until the day before your policy is due to be renewed. Please note that if you are opting out in the last 30 days of your policy, you will need to do so via live chat, email or telephone.

Please be aware that if you opt out of automatic renewal, we cannot ensure your continual cover. If you are a driver, having no car insurance may result in a fine, penalty points, a motoring conviction, your car being seized by the police and/or disqualification from driving. Having an uninsured home leaves you at risk of having to pay for replacing, repairing or rebuilding your home or possessions if something unexpected happens, such as theft, fire or flood. Being uninsured may also affect the conditions for any loans you may have secured against your home.

Please note that we usually take renewal payments 4-10 days before your policy renewal date in order to ensure payment(s) are taken on time to make sure that your cover is not interrupted. For this reason, if you cancel with less than ten days before the renewal date, a payment may still be taken but rest assured that it will be refunded if you choose not to renew with us.

Automatic renewal (paid in full policies)

If you have paid for your policy in full we will try and renew your policy using the payment card details that you used to pay for your previous policy.

About one month before automatically renewing a policy, we will pre-authorise your previous payment card with £2. This does not transfer any money to us, but temporarily reduces the money available to spend on your card. After a few days (depending on your bank) this reserved amount is released and is available again on your card.

If we find that your card details have changed, we will ask our payment service provider to update the card details they hold.

These are standard procedures in the insurance and financial services industry. We do this to:

  • check that your method of payment is still valid;
  • give us time to contact you if there is a problem; and
  • make sure that your insurance will renew on time, without a break in your cover.

Please note that if we are unable to update the card details, we will not be able to automatically renew your policy

Automatic renewal (Direct Debit policies)

If you pay monthly for your policy by Direct Debit, we will renew your policy using the same bank details you provided for your previous policy.

What we need from you

We rely on the information you give us when deciding whether or not to offer you an insurance quotation. You must take reasonable care to provide full and accurate answers to the questions we ask when you take out, make changes to and renew your policy. If you do not give us full and accurate information, we or your insurer may cancel your policy (or policies), refuse to pay any claim, pay only part of a claim, alter the extent of your cover or treat your policy as though it never existed. Also, your details may be added to the national Insurance Fraud Register.

You must tell us about any change in your circumstances (based on the answers you gave to our questions) which happens before or during the period of insurance.

It is important that you tell us about a change before it happens or as soon as you know about it. When you tell us about a change we will let you know if it will affect your insurance.

We may need you to provide us with documents as proof of information you have provided.

For motor insurance this may include such items as:

  • proof of previous insurance, e.g. no-claim discount
  • copies of your driving licence
  • your vehicle V5 document

For home insurance, this may include proof of ownership of various items. If we do ask you for proof, your policy will be invalidated if you do not provide it to us in the time frame that we specify.

Proof of no-claim discount

What proof do you need?

If you take out a motor insurance policy with us, you must provide evidence of your no-claim discount when we ask for it.

Our insurers:

  • only accept no-claim bonus earned on a private motor policy in your own name. They do not currently offer no-claim discount earned from driving a company car
  • only accept no-claim proof from UK insurers, written in English
  • only accept no-claim proof for policies which ended less than 2 years from the start of your policy with us

What happens if I don't provide proof of no-claim discount

If we do not receive proof which matches the no-claim discount you have told us about within 21 days from the date you buy the policy, we have the right to take either of the following actions based on the individual insurer rules which apply to your policy.

  • Automatically take any extra premium, based on a lower no-claim discount, from the payment card you used to buy the policy.
  • Cancel your policy. If we cancel your policy because we did not receive your proof of no-claim discount, you may have to pay a cancellation fee.

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Staff remuneration

Our employees are not paid a sales commission or bonus payment, but instead receive a basic salary for selling and administering insurance policies.

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If you have a complaint

We are committed to treating our customers fairly and we continually aim to provide you with a first-class service. However, if you feel we have not done this, please tell us so that we can do our best to solve the problem as quickly as possible.

If your complaint is about a claim, please see your policy wording for details of who to contact and their complaints process.

Otherwise, to complain to us, please get in touch with us.

For home insurance

home-complaints@policyexpert.co.uk

or call us on

or write to:

Head of Customer Relations,

Policy Expert Home,

1st Floor,

Exchange House,

450 Midsummer Boulevard,

Milton Keynes,

MK9 2EA

For motor insurance

motor-complaints@policyexpert.co.uk

or call us on

or write to:

Customer Service,

Policy Expert Motor,

2 Parklands Avenue,

Maxim 3,

Eurocentral,

Motherwell,

ML1 4WQ

When you contact us, please provide the following information:

  • Your full name, address, postcode, phone number and an email address if you have one
  • Your policy number
  • The reason for your complaint
  • Any evidence you have to support your complaint

If you are still not satisfied when you receive our response, you can:

1. refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). They will then contact us on your behalf.

Write to:

Financial Ombudsman Service,

Exchange Tower,

London,

E14 9SR

Phone: 0300 123 9123

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

or

2. submit a dispute for online resolution to the European Commission Online Dispute Resolution platform. You can find this platform and more information about it here:

ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr

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Financial Services Compensation Scheme

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our financial obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. For insurance that you must have by law (for example, motor insurance), insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without any upper limit.

You can get more information about compensation scheme arrangements from the FSCS by writing to them at:

7th Floor, Lloyds Chambers, Portsoken Street, London, E1 8BN.

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Website content and use

The information, services and products on our website www.policyexpert.co.uk are intended for people who live in the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man only. They are not meant for people living anywhere else.

Our website is designed to be accessed through its main product home pages and other pages, as we decide. If you access the site through individual pages direct, you may not see important information which you will need to fully understand the products and services we are offering.

Before buying any product or service, we will refer you to certain site pages which contain details of the relevant product or service and important legal or regulatory information, such as the terms and conditions of your purchase. It is your responsibility to read these pages.

We have the right to change the contents of our website, including these terms and conditions, at any time and without giving you notice.

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Online safety

If you have registered with us online, please take care to keep your log-in details and password confidential to prevent anyone else from accessing your Policy Expert account. You are responsible for all activities that happen in connection with your Policy Expert account, so it is important that you call us immediately if you suspect that anyone has accessed your account.

Due to the nature of the internet, we cannot guarantee that any emails you send us are secure. So you must not send us confidential information by email, such as your credit-card or debit-card information.

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Intellectual property

All copyright, trademarks and other intellectual property rights in all material or content in any documents we provide or which are part of our website belong to us or other companies who we have licensed to use it. You are allowed to use this material only if we give you permission to do so. You agree that the material and content in any documents we provide and on our website are only for your personal use. We do not allow you to use the material and content for any other purpose. You agree not to (and agree not to help anyone else to) copy, reproduce, transmit, publish, display, distribute, commercially exploit or create other documents using our material and content. Our website and any documents we provide, whether in hard (printed) or soft (electronic) copy, contain trademarks which belong to QMetric Group Limited. You do not have any rights relating to any of the trademarks.

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Excluding liability

We have taken all reasonable steps to make sure the information we provide on our website or elsewhere is accurate and complete. However, we do not guarantee that this is the case. Except as set out in these terms and conditions, all guarantees, conditions and other terms implied by law are, as far as this is allowed by law, excluded from your contract with us.

We accept no liability for any losses or damages (whether direct, indirect, special or otherwise) arising out of mistakes in (or details that are missing from) the information we provide on our website or elsewhere. We also do not guarantee that our website and services will never be interrupted. We will not be liable for any losses or damages which arise as a result of these being unavailable. Also, we are not liable for losses or damages which arise out of changes unauthorised third parties make to our website.

We aim to correct any mistakes as soon as possible. However, there may sometimes be an error in the price or type of product or service shown. If this happens we have the right to cancel any contract we have entered into with you and we will offer you a full refund.

When you access and use our website you do so at your own risk. We do not guarantee that using our website or downloading any material from it will not cause damage to any property (this includes loss of data or computer virus).

Nothing in these terms and conditions will exclude, limit or restrict our duties and liabilities to you under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, or any conduct of business rules which we must keep to. Also, nothing in these terms and conditions will exclude liability for death or personal injury, or for fraud.

Our website contains links to other websites which are hosted and maintained by third parties. We have no control over the content or security of any such site. If you use these links or access the other websites, you do so at your own risk, and we make no guarantees regarding the content of those websites. We are not liable for any loss or damage which arises as a result of using any other website.

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Data protection

We will treat all personal information about you respectfully and will keep it confidential. We are committed to protecting your privacy and keeping to data- protection laws. By agreeing to these terms and conditions, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to our Privacy Policy.

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Jurisdiction and governing law

These terms and conditions are governed by and interpreted in line with the laws of England. Any dispute relating to any of our services, including use of our website, will be dealt with by the English courts.

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Refer a friend

To qualify for the £50 Amazon or Caffè Nero voucher, the referrer (you) must be a live Policy Expert customer. Your referred friend or relative must purchase a home or car insurance policy from Policy Expert. They must purchase their policy directly from Policy Expert, either on policyexpert.co.uk, or over the phone. Vouchers are subject to a 90-day validation period, starting from the policy start date. You will not be eligible for a voucher if the referred party’s policy is cancelled within 90 days of the policy start date. Vouchers will not be payable if the referred party currently holds or has previously held a policy with Policy Expert. The voucher will be sent to you within 21 days of the validation period lapsing. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion.

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