Duty of fair presentation replaces duty of disclosure

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From August 2016 the insurance industry will see major changes to the obligation on parties to provide their insurers with relevant information.

Since 2013 the rules for ‘’consumers’’ ( an individual who enters into a contract wholly for the purposes unrelated to the individual’s trade, business or profession) have moved away from the traditional ‘’Duty to disclose’’ to the ‘’Duty of fair presentation.’’ On the 12th August 2016 ‘’Non-Consumers’’ (business related insurance) will follow suit.

innsurance legislation changes

The new legislation is designed to be less onerous on the customer and to place more pressure on the insurer to take more of a lead in the information gathering process. It is hoped that the new guidelines will stop insurers taking a wholly passive approach and then looking to deny cover on the grounds of non-disclosure.

 

Overview of the new legislation:

  •  Move from duty to disclose to duty of fair presentation
  • Commercial Policyholders should disclose every material circumstance that they know or ought to know, if they don’t do this they should give their insurers information that is sufficient to put the insurer on notice that further enquiries may be necessary.
  • It is unreasonable for an insurer to assume that the individual purchasing the insurance has every single material fact to hand and compels an insurer to dig deeper should they need further information.
  • The presentation of the facts to the insurer should give a clear indication of the risk to the Underwriters-this is to prevent submissions that are too brief or to prevent data dumping (where Policyholders bombard the insurer with vast amounts of data that is not relevant).

 

If there is a breach of disclosure:

 

Non-deliberate breach or non-reckless breach:

  •  Claim refused on basis information was available – All premium must be refunded from inception and the policy will be voided.
  • Increase in premium – The insurer could reduce the claim payout by the amount that was under paid at inception for example. If only half the correct premium was paid at inception the insurer may only pay half the claim.
  • Terms changed – An insurer may choose to alter the cover or excesses of a policy and settle the claim under those new terms.

 

Deliberate breach

  • The Insurer can void the policy and keep all of the premium paid but the Insurer must prove that the policy was deliberately misrepresented.

Overall, the new legislation shares the responsibility of the disclosure between Insurer and Insured and falls in line with the Financial conduct authorities’ big push on treating customers fairly. August 2016 will mean that brokers will play are more important role than ever condensing the information from the insured, presenting it in a way that is easy for an Insurer to provide suitable cover with a premium that is reflective of the risk.

Daniel Fosker

Director Quotax

Quotax launch new short term Taxi scheme

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Since Boris introduced the 15 year rule we have been inundated with requests to cover clients for both social domestic and pleasure use and temporary Taxi policies.

Often the time when the vehicles plate is coming off, doesn’t tie in with their Insurance renewal.

Our clients often want to save money by taking out a temporary Insurance policy rather than a full year. Once the vehicles are no longer able to ply for hire our clients often then request Social domestic and Pleasure policies. For some time Quotax have been able to offer SD&P policies but we weren’t able to cover the Taxi on a short term basis for Hire and reward……Until now.

Quotax have secured an exclusive arrangement to cover Taxis for Hire and reward on temporary policies.

Please feel free to call our team to discuss your needs on 0208 691 9691 or view our short term taxi insurance page.

Bus and Coach insurance news

Quotax targets the Coach and Bus market

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Since Quotax launched their Minibus Insurance offering they have seen their portfolio increase through delivering knowledgeable advice, competitive prices, and market leading cover.

Quotax have built a strong panel of all the leading Minibus Insurers and this has enabled us to cover almost all types of use, many of the leading Insurers in the Minibus market are also strong in the Coach and Bus market.

‘’Minibus Insurance has become an integral part of Quotax, we have built good relationships with Insurers that compete in both the Minibus and Coach markets. We already cover a number of coaches on fleet schemes for our existing clients so it makes sense to actively target this line of business. We have access to competitive rates and can cover businesses and can accommodate both large and small fleets and of course single vehicles . We will be investing heavily online to drive more enquiries through to our sales team. We are also able to offer Employers liability and all types of business cover you may require.’’

If you have a Coach or bus that needs Insurance from 1 vehicle to a fleet please give our team a call on: 0208 469 9679

e hailing mobile app screenshot

Government report shows London’s private hire vehicle boom of 40% since 2013

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With e hailing apps becoming more and more popular the UK has seen a significant increase in private hire vehicles.

The department of transport has released figures showing a rise of 11.8% across the UK since 2013 with a massive rise of 40.66% in London.

In 2013 there were 49,854 private hire vehicles in London the latest figures released by TFL on 14th sept 2015 show 70,126.

The current number of Private hire licences for individuals stands at 87,734 up against 21,612 Green Badge (All London Public Hire Taxi Licences) and 3,437 Yellow badge (Suburban Licence Public Hire Licences).

Currently TFL are issuing around 700 extra private hire licences a week, Boris has been lobbying the government to limit the capitals Private hire licences but up until now nothing has been passed in law.

The licenced Black Taxi numbers have remained stagnant and has actually dropped by 58 since 2011. This year has also seen the lowest number of applications for individuals studying the Knowledge in many years.

The Taxi trade are currently awaiting the decision on whether the way UBER calculates it’s fares amounts to a meter, something that TFL say can only be used by a Licensed Black Taxi.

e hailing mobile app screenshot

 

Insurance premium Tax to increase by 3.5% from November 1st

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On the 8th July 2015 The Chancellor announced in his budget that the standard rate of insurance premium tax would increase from 6% to 9.5% effective from 1st November 2015

For Travel Insurance, mechanical appliances and certain vehicle insurance the rate would remain at 20%

This will affect the following clients (Please note this is not the complete list of business Quotax places that may be effected):

Taxi Insurance

Minibus Insurance

Short term (Temporary) Minibus Insurance

Coach and Bus Insurance

Commercial Insurance

Fleet Insurance

Private Car Insurance


Basic outline of changes:

 

New Business and Renewal transactions

  • Inception/renewal date before 1 November 2015: 6%
  • Inception/renewal date on or after 1 November 2015: 9.5%

 

Mid Term Adjustments (MTAs) on policies incepted or renewed before 1 November 2015

Refund Premiums (RPs):

  • Effective date of MTAs before 1 November 2015: 6%
  • Effective date of MTAs on or after 1 November 2015: 6%

Additional Premiums (APs):

  • Effective date of MTAs before 1 November 2015: 6%
  • Effective date of MTAs on or after 1 November 2015: 9.5%

 

Busworld 2015 Exhibition

Iveco Bus Magleys awarded “International Coach of the Year 2016”

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The Magleys Tourism coach from Iveco Bus has been named the “International Coach of the Year 2016”

The jury judge the entries on a number of features such as: innovations, efficiencies, performance, design as well as many other factors.

Iveco Coaches were praised with increasing the efficiency of the vehicle thus reducing costs for the Coach Operator. The Coach was said to have a great price-quality ratio that set it apart from other bus entries. The vehicle was able to perform a number of roles from school, charity, as well as being used as a standard Private Hire coach. The Coach and bus industry is a very competitive market and any savings that can be passed onto the end Public Service Operator are hugely welcome.

The trophy is set to be presented at the Iveco Bus stand at the Busworld exhibition which is being held in Belgium between 16th Oct and 21st Oct 2015.

Busworld 2015 Exhibition

Private Car Insurance

Hi-tech Car theft on the rise

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Recent Met Police figures have shown that of the 21,000 stolen cars in the capital last year 47% almost half were stolen using electronic hacking.

The electronic key fobs were set up to allow locksmiths quick access to vehicles in the event of a loss of keys. Thieves have been intercepting the signals using relatively cheap equipment.

Steps you can take to protect your vehicle.

  • Park your vehicle in view of CCTV and in well-lit areas
  • Park in areas where pedestrians are regularly passing
  • Remove your sat-nav and if it has left a mark on the windscreen wipe it clean.
  • Remove all personal belongings
  • Steering Locks are worth the investment, the deter most thieves and take time to remove
  • Park your wheels on an angle this makes it more difficult to tow away
  • Invest in an electronic immobilizer if your vehicle doesn’t already have one

Uber, Vans and TFL bring London traffic to a standstill

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It doesn’t take long walking or driving around London to realise that London is one huge traffic jam.

TFLs bus lanes, the cycle highway, the increase in number of Private Hire vehicles has made London the most congested city in Europe.

12 years ago Ken Livingstone launched a daily charge on certain vehicles entering the city, currently London traffic speeds are at their lowest since 2003 and very nearly below pre-congestion charge levels.

TFL have launched a £4bn road improvement programme for the next 7 years but the current traffic conditions are set to cause them a headache even with this extra funding.

Following the launch of the congestion charge traffic delays were cut by 26% although since then the delays have worsened.

Road space has decreased in the capital by other projects such as the Cycle Superhighways, a dedicated lane for cyclists that was bitterly opposed by the London Taxi trade. Other losses of road space have been attributed to roadworks, large construction projects. This is said to have reduced capacity by about 30% since 1996.

Bus trips in the capital have increased by a massive 70%, Vans and lorries have increased as consumers order more and more goods online. The number of Vans registered in the UK has increased 57% between 1994 and 2013 and now make more than 1/5th of the morning traffic.

Uber the minicab app has led to an increase of Private hire numbers by 26% and TFL are continuing to issue nearly 1000 more licences a week, this is a concern shared by the London Taxi trade who have been actively protesting at TFLs continued licencing of more vehicles. The Mayor of London is looking at limiting the number of Licences for Private Hire vehicles but this is not likely to happen anytime soon.

London Black Taxi numbers have remained steady for the last 10 years at roughly 22,000.

London’s air quality has continually broken Air quality limits and more traffic produces more pollution especially slow moving traffic.

 

Stagecoach record fall in UK bus and Coach passengers

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Stagecoach’s UK division has seen a slight fall in numbers for the first 12 weeks of trading in 2015 financial year. Trading overall was described as in line with expectations and there was an increase in revenue growth of 1%. The 0.7% fall in passengers numbers was attributed to poor summer weather leading to a reduction in use by concessionary pass holders. The London market saw a rise of 1.5%.

Newly launched services in Europe of Megabus are yet to return a profit. The latest trading update were expecting a loss as they invest heavily to increase market share, there has been progress to date with strong demand in Germany and Italy.

Megabus have seen a revenue reduction of 3.4% in North America and this has been blamed on falling fuel costs.  

 

#Savetaxi campaign brings Whitehall to a standstill

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Whitehall was the scene of the latest protest against TFLs Taxi regulation in the capital. On Saturday 5th September Taxi drivers and their families protested near Downing street, with the roads gridlocked and temporarily closed by police at 1pm.

The second protest of its kind was directed at TFLs continuing lack of enforcement on a number of issues such as:

  • Private Hire licencing numbers
  • E-Hail
  • The use of Private Hire drivers phone as a meter by the likes of Uber even though TFL state that only Black Taxis can use a meter
  • No enforcement of illegal touting

The list continues

The families have highlighted the effect that lack of enforcement of TFLs own rules is having not only on the iconic London Taxi trade but also on their families.