Please see below for Important Information as well as our FAQ.
What do insurance brokers do?
Insurance Brokers have a very important role within the insurance industry. The purpose of an insurance broker is to promote a clients business to potential insurers, also known as underwriters. The insurance broker will then negotiate with the underwriters to find the best price and coverage for a clients needs.
Why would I go through an insurance broker rather than a direct insurer?
The reason for this is simple, Insurance Brokers go to underwriters which are not available to the public, and can get insurance at heavily discounted rates. The Insurance Broker will also be able to save you a lot of time and money spent shopping around and negotiating with different insurers.
If I have had a previous claim, can I still get insurance?
Yes, if you have had a previous claim we can still provide you with insurance, however it is important to let us know as we may need to inform the underwriter, depending on how long ago the claim occurred, and the cost of the claim.
If I have had a bankruptcy in the past, can I still get insurance?
Similarly to the above, if you have had a bankruptcy in the past, we may be able to provide you with insurance. However, we will require you to disclose the details of the bankruptcy, as this will effect the underwriters decision whether or not to offer cover.
If I have had a prior criminal conviction, can I still get insurance?
Generally, if you have had a criminal conviction in the past, we can still get you insurance. However, it is important to disclose this to your broker as soon as possible, as this may or may not affect your chances of being able to take out a policy. We will also need to know the details of when you received the conviction, as insurers will need to know this before a policy is put in place. It is important to note that the severity of the criminal conviction will hold significant weight when it comes to the insurer’s final decision whether or not to offer terms.
How do I get a quote?
Simply scroll down to the bottom of the page, and fill in the relevant information, and one of our highly skilled insurance brokers will be in contact with you to give you a quote.
I Need A Certificate Of Currency with a policy number to show my employer / client, can you help?
Yes, once we have received proof of payment, we can issue a Certificate of Currency, normally within the same day or following business day.
My employer requires that I use an Australian Approved Insurer, can you help?
Yes, we only use Australian Approved Underwriters and Insurers.
What is the difference between a “Claims Made” insurance policy and an “Occurrence” insurance policy?
When covered by a “Claims Made” policy, the policy will only cover claims made against you during the policy period. If the claim is made after the insurance policy has ended, there is no longer coverage.
When covered by an “Occurrence” insurance policy, you are covered for claims made against you that occurred while the policy was in effect. The claims can be made at any point, as long as the events occurred while the policy was in place.
For example, you buy a policy in 2017, treat Client A in 2017 and terminate the policy 2018. In 2019, Client A sues you for an incident that occurred in 2017. You are covered, because you were insured when you treated Client A. With an occurrence policy, it does not matter if you are covered when the suit is brought.
Essential Information:
It is critical to check all of your policy documentation when it is issued to you by your Insurance Broker, and ensure that you understand exactly what you are insured for under your insurance policy, and what endorsements, exclusions, and which Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) is applicable to your Insurance Policy.
Summary of Important Documentation
The Financial Services Guide (FSG)
When you request an Insurance Quote, your Broker will provide you with a Financial Services Guide (FSG). To summarise, this Financial Services Guide serves as a “terms and conditions” of conducting business with the Brokerage, sets out your obligations under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984, and provides information regarding how Brokers are remunerated for their services. When your Broker has prepared Quotes for you from the Insurer, it is crucial to review each Quote in its entirety, including the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. This is because the Terms and Conditions in each and every PDS can differ greatly in terms of scope of coverage. It is for this reason that we strongly discourage making a decision on an insurance product purely on the perspective of “price” alone, and review the merits and shortcomings of each Quote issued to you by your Insurance Broker.
The Tax Invoice Document (Invoice)
If you review the merits and shortcomings of each Quote, and inform your Broker of which Quote you have decided to purchase, you will be issued with a Tax Invoice (Invoice). The Invoice serves as your main insurance document of reference for the policy period of your insurance. The Invoice contains the following information.
Firstly, the Invoice will display the logo of the AFSL Licensee (commonly referred to as the AFSL Holder, or the Head Office), and the logo of the Authorised Representative of the Licensee (commonly referred to as the Broker). The first line on the Invoice instructs the Client to – “Please refer to the Product Disclosure Statement or Policy Wording for all Terms and Conditions of cover”. As stated earlier, it is crucial to review your Product Disclosure Statement to ensure that you are aware of all merits and shortcomings for your chosen Insurance Product, to ensure that you can make informed decisions about how to best insure your business.
The Invoice will then display the full name of the Insured, whether that be a name of an Insured Person, Insured Business or other Entity. Followed by the date the Invoice was issued, the Invoice Reference Number, and the Reference used by the Brokerage for the Insured (commonly referred to as a Client Code). This Client Code will start with “FI” – Fortune Insurance – Followed by the first 4 letters of the Insured’s full name “ABCD” – And the number of times that Reference has been used, with three numbers “001”, “002”, “003” etc. An example Client Code would therefore be “FIABCD001”. Just below the Client Code is the name of your Account Manager (Your Broker), who is your main person of contact for your Insurance Policy.
The Invoice will the display the “Class of Policy“. This refers to the type of Insurance Product that you have purchased – e.g. Home and Contents Insurance, Liability Insurance etc. Followed by the name, address, and ABN for the Insurer, followed by the Full name or Business Name of the Insured. Next to the details of the Insurer and the Insured, the Invoice will then state whether the document is a New Policy or a Renewal. Followed by the Policy Number, and the Period of Cover applicable to the Insurance Policy. Below the Period of Cover, the Invoice will display “Your Duty of Disclosure” and describe the possible consequences for “Non-Disclosure“. The description reads as follows – “If you fail to comply with your Duty of Disclosure, the Insurer may be entitled to reduce the liability under the Contract in respect of a Claim or may cancel the Contract. If your Non-Disclosure is fraudulent, the Insurer may also have the option of avoiding the Contract from the beginning Clients who are not fully satisfied with our services should contact our Customer Relations / Complaints Officer.
Our Head Office (the details surrounding our Head Office can be found in our Financial Services Guide) are members of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, a free service, & follow the principles of the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice. Further information is available from our office. You can contact AFCA directly on 1800 931 678.” The Invoice then describes a breakdown of remuneration, and notifies the Insured that depending on the way that the Insured decides to make payment, that subsequent fees may apply. These include but are not necessarily limited to – Credit Card Processing Fees, and if the Premium is funded monthly using the Premium Funding option, additional interest may be payable in the event that the policy is cancelled before all of the payments have been successfully debited from the Insured.
This Premium Breakdown lists as follows:
The Base Premium for the Insurance Policy – This is the cost (Premium) payable for the Insurance Product that has been purchased.
The Underwriter Levy – This is the Fee that the Underwriter (Whom acts as an Agent on behalf of the Insurer) has charged for their services.
The Fire and Emergency Services Levy (FESL) – This is the Levy that the Government charges Insurance Companies each year to help fund the metropolitan and rural fire brigades, and the State Emergency Services.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) – This is the Federal Government tax that is applicable to the purchase of Goods and Services within Australia. Certain Insurance Policies may be exempt from GST, if the Insurance Product was purchased directly through an overseas Insurer or Insurance Syndicate, such as Lloyd’s of London.
Stamp Duty (SD) – This is the State Government Tax that is applicable to the purchase of Goods and Services within Australia. Certain Insurance Policies may be exempt from Stamp Duty, in which your Broker will provide you with a Stamp Duty Exemption form, for your completion, signature, and date.
Broker Fee – This is the amount that has been charged by the Brokerage for their services to the Insured.
Commission earned on this invoice (Broker Commission) – This is the amount that has been paid to the Broker by the Insurer in remuneration for the Broker‘s services in organising the Insurance Product between the Insured and the Insurer. It is important to note that the Broker Commission is taken out of the Base Premium, and is not an additional cost to the Insured.
Below the Premium Breakdown is the DEFT Payment Option, and to the left is the Pay By The Month Option (PBTM). This begins the next page of the Tax Invoice document (Page 2). Page 2 details the Schedule of Insurance. At the top of the Schedule of Insurance is the “Class of Policy“, the “Policy Number“, the full name of the Insured, the “Invoice Number“, and the Brokerage Client Code. Further description of each of these can be found above. These details will be in the “Header” section of each page of the Invoice document. Next, the Invoice lists the name, ABN, and address of the Underwriter (whom acts as an Agent on behalf of the Insurer). Followed by the name, ABN and address of the Insurer.
Following this is the Insurance Schedule. The Insurance Schedule is best described as a quick summary of coverage that is offered by the Insurance Product. Generally, the Insurance Schedule includes the following: The Policy Number, the applicable Product Disclosure Statement, the full name of the Insured, the Period of Insurance, the insured risk – typically this is the occupation of the Insured, the Limits of Indemnity, the applicable Excess payable by the Insured in the event of a Claim, the Geographical Limit for the Policy, and may also include a summary of any applicable Endorsements, Exclusions, Amendments, or other changes to the Insurance Product. Please Note – Insurance Schedules are generally much more in-depth than what is described as above, but generally most Insurance Schedules will include most, if not all, of the above.
After the Insurance Schedule, the next page of the Invoice document will describe the following information in detail: the Insured’s Duty of Disclosure, the consequences of Non-Disclosure, Contracting Out or Removing Insurers Right of Subrogation, the concept of the Duty of the Utmost Good Faith, Under Insurance, Non-Payment of Premium, Commission and Fees, Change in Risk Circumstances, Claims Made Policies, Joint Insurers, Workers Compensation, additional information regarding the Australian Financial Services Licensee, Premium Finance, Cancellations and Amendments, How Do We Resolve Complaints, and finally the General Advice Warning. It is crucial that, before agreeing to the terms of an Insurance Product, to take into account the General Advice Warning. The General Advice Warning is as follows – “Unless we have specifically taken your personal circumstances and issued you with a Statement of Advice (SOA), the advice provided is General Advice. Our recommendations have not taken into account your objectives, financial situations or needs. Before acting on it, you should consider the appropriateness of our advice, in the light of your own objectives, financial situations or needs. We recommend that you obtain and consider the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for that product before making any decision. You can obtain a copy from our office.”
Unless your Broker has issued you with a Statement of Advice, all advice that has been provided is General Advice Only. It is imperative that you review the merits and shortcomings of each and every quote issued to you by your Broker, to ensure that you understand what you are insured for under each product. As mentioned above, we strongly discourage any Insured to make a decision regarding an Insurance Product based purely on the perspective of “price” alone. With the end of the General Advice Warning section, this brings an end to the Tax Invoice Document, and on the next page will be the applicable Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for that Insurance Product.
The Product Disclosure Statement (PDS)
The Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) serves as the full “terms and scope of coverage” for your chosen Insurance Product. PDS documents can vary greatly in terms and scope of coverage, so it is important to ensure that you review these documents until you are satisfied with the level of coverage provided by the PDS. As it is unfeasible for the Broker to be aware of all of the concerns of the Insured, it is crucial that if you are unsure of any details in your Insurance Policy, or Product Disclosure Statement, you ask your Broker whether or not you are insured for certain risks that you are concerned about. If your Broker has not informed you in writing that you are insured for a particular risk, it is always best to assume that you are uninsured for that risk, until the time when you can contact your Broker for clarification. The PDS document also contains any Optional Extensions that may be offered for the applicable Insurance Product. If these Optional Extensions are not clearly marked as “Included” in the Insurance Schedule, assume that you are uninsured for these until the time when you can contact your Broker for clarification.