What does Oddie Dalton offer its clients?
In no particular order:
personal service, very competitive prices, simplicity, clarity, conciseness, ease of doing business, lots of thought, commonsense, superior suppliers, direct dial, attention to detail.
Why use an insurance broker?
You are buying a contract, which you expect to respond in the event of a loss.
What does an insurance broker do?
understand your business.
agree what you want to insure.
obtain the best price from the market.
check cover requested, matches cover obtained.
explain policy conditions and exclusions.
place cover with the selected insurer.
obtain confirmation of cover, immediately.
check cover obtained, matches cover requested.
The policy is complex, why?
When you buy an insurance policy or when you say ‘I am insured’, what you are really saying is ‘I have entered into a contract with an insurer’. The contract pays me money:
provided certain things happen (fire theft).
provided I have complied with certain rules (policy conditions).
provided I have complied with other rules (claims conditions).
To put this into a document is no easy task, to understand, even more difficult. Since you are buying a contract, it is very important you understand the contract conditions.
What happens if you do not abide by conditions (the rules) you neither know or understand?
If you do not abide by the rules, you are uninsured. Breach of contract voids cover. You are out…’game, set and match’. Since insurance contracts are contracts of ‘utmost good faith’, the Unfair Contract Terms Act does not apply.
How do Oddie Dalton help?
We explain contract conditions in clear, concise language, so you understand what you are buying. We explain the rules to you, prior to inception of cover. We leave you in control, not the insurer. What is the point of buying a contract, if you don’t know what you must do to make it work? It is like a card game, there are rules. We know them, we explain them to you. We use commonsense. We make the complex, simple. We explain the rules, easily, in English. Who else will do this for you? We advise and help you through the legal maze, to clarity. We have developed an easy-to-use policy summary which sets out in clear, unequivocal terms, what you must do to fulfill your contractual obligations.
Which is the best policy for you?
In the first instance, we always try and place your cover in a contract with the least rules and conditions. Why make life complex? If we place your cover in a contract which is onerous, we will tell you what you have to do to comply with policy conditions. This keeps you in control, with complete peace of mind.
What happens next?
Once we have agreed on the cover you need, we take the contract and obtain prices from the insurers with whom we work. We work with all major insurers plus other specialist markets who quote prices which are exclusive to Oddie Dalton. We buy the contract, on your behalf, at the best possible price. The problem is, the better we work at reducing the price, the less we earn. To overcome this conflict of interest, we charge a fee, to pay for the costs of negotiating. This ensures we obtain the best possible price for you.
What happens when we get the documents?
We check the documents to make sure insurers have provided what was requested.
What happens at renewal?
We continue this process at each renewal, to ensure we always obtain the best terms. Markets change, products change. We are always searching for new products and new ideas. That said, insurers specialise in certain contracts to offer superior cover and prices, so once your risk is placed in the ‘correct’ market, it is not necessary to switch insurers. However, care must be taken to ensure that ‘scheme rates’ do not become uncompetitive, so we always send Piggy 'to market’.