TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT
Hippo Insurance specializes in offering tailored policies and industry-specific underwriting to ensure individuals and businesses have the necessary protection when the unexpected occurs. We have the expertise and experience to provide the right insurance solutions.
Duty of Disclosure
In order to make an informed assessment of the risk and to
calculate the appropriate premium, your insurer needs information about the risk you are asking it to insure.
Your Duty To Take Reasonable Care Not To Misrepresent –Consumer Products
When purchasing insurance wholly or predominantly for personal, domestic or household purposes, you have a duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer. This means that it is essential that you answer questions honestly and to the best of your knowledge, including when you confirm or
update information when you enter into, vary, extend, reinstate or renew a Policy.
The responsibility to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation applies to everyone who will be insured under the policy. If you answer questions on behalf of others, the insurer will treat your answers or representations as theirs.
If You do not meet the above Duty
If You do not meet the above Duty the insurer may refuse or not fully pay your claim and/or cancel your policy. If the misrepresentation was deliberate or reckless, the insurer may refuse to pay a claim and treat your policy as if it never existed.
Your Duty of Disclosure – Products Other than Consumer Products
Before you enter into a contract of insurance, you have a duty under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 to disclose to your insurer every matter that you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, is relevant to the insurer’s decision whether to accept the risk and, if so, on what terms. The duty applies when you enter into, vary, extend, reinstate or renew a contract of insurance.
You do not have to disclose anything that:
-Reduces the risk to be undertaken by the insurer
-Is common knowledge
-Your insurer knows, or in the ordinary course of business, ought to know or If you do not comply with your duty of disclosure
If you do not comply with your duty of disclosure your insurer may be entitled to reduce it’s liability in respect of a claim or may cancel your contract of insurance. If the non-disclosure was fraudulent, the insurer may be able to avoid (or cancel) the contract of insurance from its beginning. This would have the effect that you were never insured.
If you have any questions about whether information needs to be disclosed, please contact us directly.
Quotations
As brokers, we have access to a large number of Insurers and Underwriting Agency that we will use when quoting your insurance needs.
Before making a recommendation on the cover required, we will go to the broader insurance market to obtain a minimum of 2 quotes and up to 12 quotes. This will enable us to ultimately source a solution that meets your specific needs.
It is important to note that in the instance of specialist liability policies, we have access to a limited number of insurers and underwriters. As such, in this instance we will not be seeking quotes from the broader general insurance market.
Renewals
Prior to your policy renewal we will contact you at least 30 days prior to re-assess your needs. If we are unable to get in contact with you, we will renew your policy on existing coverage with your holding insurer.
If you do not respond to our request for updated information and we need to auto renew your policy, should you make changes after this, we reserve the right to charge a $50+ GST administration fee for the additional work.
Cancellation
If you wish to cancel your insurance policy before the expiry date, we require written instructions from a person(s) who is authorised to represent each of the insured parties.
The amount refunded is subject to the policy type, claims paid during the policy period and or the unused portion of premium.
We will not refund our fees previously paid by you or commission received and may charge a cancellation fee to cover the associated administrative costs and lost commission. Any fee will be disclosed separately from the refunded premium on the invoices we provide.
Payment Terms
Insurers may deny a claim under this Policy if, at the time the claim occured, any instalment of premium has remained unpaid for fourteen 14) days
or more.
When making payment for a policy organised by us you may make payment using one of the folowing methods. Before choosing a payment method
it is important to note the following.
Invoices
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We will invoice you for the premium, statutory charges (e.g., stamp duty, fire services levy, etc) and any fees we charge for arranging your insurances.
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You must pay us within 14 days of the date of the invoice or, in the case of a renewal, before the expiry date of the contract of insurance.
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If you do not pay the premium on time, the insurer may cancel the contract of insurance and you may not be insured. The insurer may also charge a short-term penalty premium for the time on risk.
Premium funding
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Premium funding products enable you to pay your premiums by instalments. Premium funders do charge interest and they take power of attorney over your insurance policy.
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We can arrange premium funding on your behalf if you require it.
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We may receive a commission based on a percentage of the premium from the premium funder for doing so.
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We will tell you the basis and amount of any such payment before or at the time the premium funding is arranged.
Credit card fees
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We will tell you the basis and amount of any such payment before or at the time the premium funding is arranged.
Claims
Please contact us immediately if you need to lodge a claim.
We may handle or settle claims on behalf of insurers under a claims handling and settling service agreement. When we handle claims under one of these agreements we will be acting as the agent of the insurer, not on your behalf. We will tell you when this is the case.
If any claims are outstanding when you terminate our appointment as your insurance broker, we will provide details of the claim(s) to your
new insurance broker so that they may continue to negotiate settlement on your behalf.
Ongoing service
At Hippo Insurance we have a team of qualified professional brokers who are dedicated to providing you with a great client experience.
You may at any time request alterations, endorsements, amendments or corrections.
You can contact us via the follow and we will endeavour to respond to your within 24 hours.
Hippo Insurance Head Office
Phone: 1800 668 153
Email: admin@hippowealth.com.au
If you need special assistance
We are committed to supporting people with diverse needs and take into account their specific circumstances. This includes people currently experiencing any vulnerability, for example relating to age, disability or mental or physical health conditions. Please advise us if you there is anything we can do to provide
Remuneration
As you can imagine it takes a lot of work placing and recommending insurance programs for our clients. Where applicable, our broker fee will be detailed on your invoice and provided to you at the time you receive advice or as soon as practical after that time.
We may also earn a commission that may range from 0% to 35% (excluding government charges, levies, fees, and taxes) by placing business with insurance providers.
We may also earn a commission from Premium Funding placements of 0% to 2% commission.
Due to the amount of work undertaken we retain our commission in an event of cancelation or amendment.
Our Duty to You
What services can Hippo Insurance supply?
We offer a range of services. These include:
-Arranging and renewing insurance contracts
-Arranging Premium Funding (if required)
-Assisting with insurance claims.
We will do this for you as your broker unless we tell you otherwise. When you ask us to recommend an insurance policy for you, we will usually only consider the policies offered by the insurers or insurance providers that we deal with regularly. In giving you advice about the costs and terms of recommended policies we have not compared those policies to other policies available, other than from those insurers we deal with regularly.
Not Independent
We have arrangements with our related entities, insurers (product issuers) and other product providers. Under these arrangements we may receive commission, volume-based payments, gifts or benefits or other remuneration from them when we arrange insurance or premium funding with them or issue insurance policies on their behalf.
We may act under a binder or agency from the insurer. When we act under a binder or agency we will be acting as the agent of the insurer. This means that we represent and act for the insurer, not for you. We will tell you when we act under a binder or agency when issuing insurance and or handling and settling claims on their behalf.
Period of Engagement
Unless we agree otherwise, our appointment is ongoing. Both parties can cancel by providing 7 days written notice of cancellation of broker appointment or servicing of client.
We also provide you with a Financial Services Guide (FSG). This document contains important information about our relationship with you such as
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Our status as a licensed financial services provider;
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disclosure obligations on your part and ours;
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potential conflicts of interest that we have in our dealings with insurers and other service providers;
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professional indemnity insurance arrangements;
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internal and external complaints resolution procedures
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details of our privacy policy
We will notify you of any changes to terms of trade or services provided.
We thank you for your continued support and should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.