Important Notices
We have prepared this document to assist you in understanding important issues relating to your insurance. Please contact our office if you have any questions or require further advice/assistance.
Your policy documentation
The policy wordings and other documentation should be read carefully to ensure that the cover provided is right for you. If you do not comply with the policy terms and conditions the insurer may be able to cancel the policy and/or refuse to pay or reduce a claim. You should carefully monitor and review your insurance contract to ensure it continues to be adequate during the period of insurance. If any information is incorrect or unclear, make sure that you tell us.
Your disclosure obligations
It is important that you provide us with complete and accurate information about the risk to be insured otherwise the advice we give you may not be appropriate for your needs. We rely on you to provide complete and accurate information.
Before you enter into an insurance contract with an insurer, you have a duty under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) to disclose information to the insurer. This Duty of Disclosure applies until the insurer agrees to either insure you or renew your insurance. The Duty of Disclosure also applies before you extend, vary or reinstate your insurance.
If you are applying for or renewing insurance in relation to consumer insurance products such as, your motor vehicle, home building and/or contents, residential strata, travel, personal accident or sickness and/or consumer credit products, you must answer the specific questions asked by the insurer truthfully and accurately. In answering those questions, you must tell the insurer all information that’s known to you and that a reasonable person would be expected to provide in answer to the questions. Not doing so may be considered by the insurer to be a breach of your ‘duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation’ and may cause issues in relation to the validity of your insurance policy and/or issues in the event of you lodging a claim.
At renewal, the insurer may either ask you to advise any changes to information you have previously disclosed, or may give you a copy of the information you previously disclosed and ask you to advise them if there have been any changes. If you do not tell the insurer about a change, you will be taken to have told the insurer there is no change.
If you are applying for or renewing any other insurance, you must tell the insurer all information that is known to you that a reasonable person could be expected to know or that is relevant to the insurer’s decision to insure you and on what terms. You do not need to tell the insurer anything:
- that reduces the risk it insures you for;
- is common knowledge;
- that the insurer knows or should know; or
- which the insurer waived your duty to tell it about
Non-disclosure
If you fail to comply with your Duty of Disclosure, the insurer may cancel your contract of insurance, or reduce the amount it will pay you if you make a claim, or both. If your failure to comply with the Duty of Disclosure is fraudulent, the insurer may refuse to pay a claim and treat the contract of insurance as if it never existed. If you are in doubt about whether or not a particular matter should be disclosed, please contact our office.
People you represent
You must make sure you explain the Duty of Disclosure to any person you represent when we arrange any insurance cover for you. Alternatively, you may ask any person you represent to contact us, and we will explain their Duty of Disclosure to them directly.
Duty of good faith
Both parties to an insurance contract, the insurer and the insured, must act towards each other with the utmost good faith. If you fail to do, the insurer can cancel your insurance. If the insurer fails to do so, you may be able to sue the insurer.
Privacy
We are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information you provide to us to assist and advise on your insurance needs. We provide your information to insurance companies and agents that provide insurance quotes and offer insurance terms to you. Your information may also be provided to the companies that deal with your insurance claim such as assessors and claims administrators. Your information may be given to an overseas insurer (eg. Lloyds of London) if we are seeking insurance terms from an overseas insurer, or to reinsurers who are located overseas. We will inform you of where the insurer is located, if it is possible to do so at the time of advising you. We also provide your information to the suppliers of our policy administration and broking systems that help us to provide our products and services to you. We do not trade, rent, or sell your information.
Cooling off rights
You may have a statutory cooling-off right to return your policy. The Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or policy document issued by the insurer tells you what the cooling-off right is. You must notify us in writing within the period noted in your PDS or policy document. Irrespective of any cooling-off period you may still have cancellation rights under your policy.
Target Market Determination (TMD)
A TMD is developed for any retail insurance product to help you understand the class of customer for which the insurance policy is designed for. You can find the TMD relevant to your insurance policy through the link:
https://www.steadfast.com.au/target-market-determinations
Under-insurance
Reviewing the sums insured and declared values in your policies on a regular basis and at each renewal will help you to ensure that you have maximum protection under your policies.
Consider whether you require cover for replacement on a ‘new for old’ basis and other costs such as removal of debris. The value of the property/assets insured may need to be updated if you change locations, renovate, or expand your premises, or purchase new property/assets.
If you do not check these values and advise us of changes you require, you could be underinsured as the insurer may apply an Average or Co-insurance clause.
Average, Co-Insurance
Some policies contain an Average or Co-insurance clause. This means that if you insure for less than the full value of the property, your claim may be reduced in proportion to the amount of the under-insurance.
Some business interruption policies contain an Average/Co-Insurance clause which has a different application. Check your policy and contact us with any questions.
Contracts and leases you sign
If you sign a contract with an indemnity, “hold harmless” or release, it can invalidate your insurance – unless you obtain the Insurer’s consent in advance.
These clauses are often found in leases and other contracts you sign from time to time relating to your business. Do not sign a contract or lease without contacting us and/or taking legal advice as to whether the contract terms will prejudice your policy.
Leasing, hiring and borrowing property
When you lease, hire, or borrow property, make sure that the contract clearly identifies who is responsible for insuring the property.
Industrial Special Risks policies automatically cover property which you are responsible to insure, subject to the policy excess. Public liability insurance may assist you meet claims relating to property damage to property which you lease or hire. A sub-limit usually applies to the amount you can claim for damage to property in your care, custody, or control.
Claims occurring policies
Most of your policies do not provide indemnity in respect of events that occurred before the insurance commenced. They cover events that occur during the policy period.
Claims made policies
Some policies (e.g. professional indemnity insurance) provide cover on a “claims made” basis. This means that claims first advised to you (or made against you) and reported to your insurer during the policy period are insured under that policy, irrespective of when the incident causing the claim occurred. (unless there is a date beyond which the policy does not cover – this is called a “retroactive date”). If you become aware of circumstances which could give rise to a claim, notify the insurer during the policy period.
Report all incidents that may give rise to a claim against you to the insurers immediately after they come to your attention and before the policy expires.
Additional insureds and noting interests
If a person is to be named on your policy or insured as a co-insured or joint insured, notify us immediately so we can request this in advance from the insurer. Your property and liability policies will not provide automatic cover for the insurable interest of other parties (e.g., mortgagees, lessors).
Check with us whether the insurer will include someone else as an insured or note their interests before you agree to this in a contract or lease. We cannot guarantee that an insurer will agree to include someone as an insured under your policy or to note their interests on your policy.
Insurer solvency
We do not warrant or guarantee the current or ongoing solvency or financial viability of the insurer because we have no control over the insurer's performance, and this can be affected by many complex commercial and economic factors.
Unauthorised foreign insurers
In limited cases, we may recommend that you insure with an unauthorised foreign insurer. An unauthorised foreign insurer is an insurer that is not authorised under the Insurance Act 1973 (Act) to conduct insurance business in Australia and is not subject to the system of financial supervision of general insurers in Australia that is monitored by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. If the insurer becomes insolvent, you will not be protected by the Federal Government’s Financial Claims Scheme provided under Part VC of that Act.
Cancellations
If there is a refund of premium as a result of a cancellation or adjustment to a policy, we reserve the right to retain the remuneration earned prior to the alteration. If we don’t do this we will not be properly paid for the services provided to you.