Terms of Business

 COMPANY

Brown & Brown Insurance Brokers (Ireland) Limited trading as Brown & Brown is a private limited company, trading from the following addresses in Ireland:

  • Unit 4 Kilmore Business Park, Dublin Road, Cavan H12 TY01
  • 3 Richview Office Park, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14, D14 K6F4
  • Unit D West Cork Business & Technology Park, Clonakilty Co. Cork, P85 EY90
  • 13 Liosban Business Park, Tuam Road, Galway, H91 DW01
  • 128 Bank Place, Mallow, Co. Cork, P51 X540
  • Suite 2a First Floor 131/132 Parade Quay, Waterford, X91YVA4

We are registered in the company registration office under No. 18930. Our registered office and principal trading address is Lough Mahon House, Blackrock, Cork, T12 C43C, Ireland. Brown & Brown is part of Brown & Brown, Inc. one of the largest and most respected insurance intermediaries in the United States of America (NYSE BRO). You can find out more about us at www.bbrown.com/ie

 

AUTHORISATIONS

Brown & Brown (C1386) is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as an insurance intermediary registered under the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018. The Central Bank of Ireland holds registers of regulated firms which can be viewed on their website www.centralbank.ie

 

STATUTORY CODES

Brown & Brown is subject to the Consumer Protection Code, the Minimum Competency Code and the Fitness and Probity Standards. These codes offer protection to consumers and can be found on the Central Bank of Ireland website www.centralbank.ie

 

OUR SERVICES

Brown & Brown is a member of Brokers Ireland. We provide general insurance advice and services on behalf of our customers on a fair and personal analysis market basis. This involves offering services based on a sufficiently large range of contracts available on the market, allowing us to make a professionally informed recommendation on which contract is most suitable for your needs. With the significant number of Insurance Company and Product Producer appointments (Insurers) we hold, we can offer our customers an extensive choice of suitable products that best serve their needs and circumstances. A full list of insurers we deal with is available on request. For some specific cover types, we may only deal with a single insurer or a limited number of insurers and do not advise based on a fair and personal analysis of the market. In these cases, we will advise you of this and specify the insurers that we deal with for that type of cover. When providing advice in this way, we are not under a contractual obligation to conduct insurance distribution exclusively with these insurers. In some cases, we may be granted authority from an Insurer to conduct tasks on their behalf, for which we will be remunerated. Where we place business with an insurer under this authority you will be notified in advance of this placement. We will also offer assistance to you in relation to processing claims, on policies taken out with our firm. This assistance is provided either directly by our staff and/or with the assistance of an appointed loss assessor. Your specific circumstances will dictate which of these bases is the most appropriate for you.  As an insurance intermediary we provide general information about legal matters. This information is not legal advice and should not be treated as such. You must not rely on this information as an alternative to legal advice from your solicitors or other professional legal services provider. To ensure continuity of cover, where you have an existing policy which is due to expire and we have been unable to contact you, we may put continuing cover in force whilst awaiting your instruction. You will be liable for any premiums payable to the relevant insurer for the period of time between renewal and when we receive your instruction. You have the right not to avail of this service and should advise accordingly.

 

YOUR OBLIGATIONS

It is in your best interests that you review, on a regular basis, the products which we have arranged for you. As your circumstances change, your needs will change which may result in you having insufficient insurance cover. We would therefore advise that you contact us to ensure that you are provided with up-to-date advice and products best suited to your needs. In the current climate, building costs are rising quickly, so we recommend reviewing your buildings sum insured regularly to make sure your cover keeps pace. Do not use the market value of your property. If your buildings sum insured is too low, any claim may be reduced by the same percentage you are underinsured. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland offers a rebuild cost calculator to help you estimate the right level of cover. We also recommend getting a professional rebuild valuation from a chartered surveyor to ensure your sums insured is accurate. There are number of duties applying to our “Consumer” customers as defined under the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 (the Act). There are also duties for insurers under the Act. Your insurance policy’s terms and conditions will set out both you and your insurer’s responsibilities under the Act. For new business, renewals, and mid-term adjustments, you are under a duty to answer all questions posed by us or your insurer honestly and with reasonable care. The answers in any proposal, statement of fact, declaration and any other document provided by you to us must be true and complete. Specific questions will be asked. Where you do not provide additional information (after being requested to do so) it can be presumed that the information previously provided remains unchanged. Failure to answer all questions honestly and with reasonable care can result in an Insurer being able to rely on proportionate remedies for misrepresentation, which include but are not limited to the insurer voiding the contract of insurance. If a policy is cancelled by an insurer for any reason including payment default you may encounter difficulty in purchasing insurance in the future. Completed proposal forms or Statements of Facts will be provided to you. These are important documents as they form the basis of insurance contract between the insurer and you the consumer. You should review and confirm that the answers contained within are true and accurate. An insurer may repudiate liability or limit the amount on foot of the contract of insurance, only if it established that non-disclosure of material information was an effective cause of the insurer entering into the relevant contract of insurance on the terms on which it did.

If you are a business with an annual turnover of €3 million or more (changing to €5 million or more effective 24 March 2026), you are obliged to always act with “utmost good faith” towards insurers. You are obliged to disclose to insurers, prior to formation of a contract, all material information which could be relevant to the insurer in accepting the risk or calculating the premium. The obligation of disclosure is not limited to material information of which you are aware and extends to those matters of which you ought to be aware in the ordinary course of your business. The duties of utmost good faith and disclosure apply when you take out your insurance policy, throughout the life of that policy, when you amend or renew your insurance and to the claims process. In completing a proposal or claim form, or other documents relating to an insurance policy, the accuracy of all answers, statements and/or information will be your sole responsibility. If you are unsure whether something is a material fact or not, then it should be declared. Any breach of the duty to act with “utmost good faith” or failure to disclose material information, could result in claims not being paid and/or your policy being cancelled, which could lead to difficulty in purchasing insurance elsewhere and breach of the terms and conditions of any loan secured on your property.

 

CLAIMS

It is essential that we are notified immediately of any claim or circumstances which could give rise to a claim (the claim). When you notify us, you must include all material facts concerning the claim. Your Policy wording will describe in detail the procedures and conditions in connection with making a claim. It should be noted that there is no cover for defence costs incurred without insurers prior approval.

 

RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL & CANCELLATION

You have the right to withdraw from a contract of insurance sold on a face-to-face basis by giving a notice in writing to us or to the insurer, within 14 working days after the date you were informed that the contract is concluded. This does not affect the notice period already provided under the European Communities (Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services) Regulations 2004 which is 14 calendar days in respect of policies sold on a non-face-to-face basis. The giving of such notice will have the effect of releasing you from any further obligation arising from the contract of insurance, and the insurer cannot impose any costs on you other than the cost of the premium for the period of cover. Should you cancel your policy outside the cooling-off periods above, insurers may apply short period rates and/or an administration charge. You can cancel your policy at any time by giving a notice in writing to us. Provided that all reasonable charges incurred by us have been paid and no incident likely to give rise to a claim has occurred during the period of insurance, you will normally be entitled to a pro-rata return of the premium for the unexpired period of insurance. No return premium will be allowed where the policy is on a minimum and deposit basis. Insurers reserve the right to cancel your policy at any time by issuing a prior written notification to your last known address and providing the reason for cancellation. The termination will be without prejudice to the completion of any transactions already initiated and you remain responsible for the payment of any fees and expenses incurred up to the date of termination, or to the date of completion of any transaction in progress, whichever is the later.

 

CREDIT FINANCE

If you require credit terms, we may be able to arrange premium finance on your behalf. As a credit intermediary we may be remunerated by the premium / credit finance provider on arranging this finance on your behalf.

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Our firm aims to avoid any conflicts of interest when providing insurance services. If a conflict cannot be avoided, we will tell you as soon as we become aware of it and will continue to treat you fairly. As part of Brown & Brown Inc., we may work with other companies within the group to source suitable insurance options. Where their products meet your needs, we may recommend them. Any Brown & Brown Inc. companies involved in arranging your cover may receive remuneration. In some cases, we may be a party to a profit-share arrangement with insurers where we provide extra services for the provider. Any business arranged with these providers on your behalf is placed with them as they are at the time of placement the most suitable to meet your requirements taking all relevant information, demands and needs into account. Nothing in this agreement affects our duty to put your interests first or our legal and regulatory obligations when arranging insurance or handling claims.

 

COMPLAINTS

Upon receipt of an oral complaint, we will provide the option to have the complaint addressed through the firms established complaints procedure. We will permit and facilitate submission of complaints in writing by post and by electronic means. We will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 working days, and we will fully investigate it. We shall investigate the complaint as swiftly as possible, and the complainant will receive an update on the complaint at intervals of not greater than 20 working days starting from the date on which the complaint is made.  On completion of our investigation, we will provide you with a written report of the outcome. If you are still dissatisfied with our handling of or response to your complaint, you are entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO). A full copy of our complaint’s procedure is available on our website and on request.

 

DEFAULT

We will exercise our legal rights to receive payments due to us (fees and insurance premiums) from customers for services provided. In particular, without limitation of the generality of the foregoing, the firm will seek reimbursement for all payments made to insurers on behalf of customers where the firm has acted in good faith in renewing a policy of insurance for the customer. Insurers may withdraw benefits or cover in the event of default on payments due under policies of insurance or other products arranged for you. We would refer you to your policy documents or product terms for the details of such provisions. It is your responsibility to ensure that your payment has reached us in time for your policy to be incepted/renewed/amended. Central Bank regulations prohibit Brown & Brown from paying premiums to Insurers which have not been paid to us.

 

PREMIUM HANDLING AND RECEIPTS

When handling instructions for insurance policies, Brown & Brown accepts payments from customer where an insurer has offered a renewal or has agreed to provide cover. A receipt is issued for all monies received. We normally accept payment in cash, by cheque or bank transfer, credit card or debit card in respect of all classes of insurance. All payments made by bank transfer must be to the appropriate bank account as reflected on the invoice or statement of account and in accordance with the instructions thereon. E-mail may be susceptible to data corruption, interception and unauthorised amendment, and we do not accept liability for any such corruption, interception or amendment or for the consequences thereof. On that basis we strongly advise that you telephone us to confirm the bank details that we have sent and that you have received are correct.

 

REMUNERATION AND CHARGES

Brown & Brown may be remunerated by insurers to whom orders are transmitted for new business, and on renewal of existing business. The firm may charge you a fixed fee and / or a commission which is a percentage of the insurance premium and levies for the services provided.

 

Fees for New Business & Renewal

Product Fee
Private Motor, Commercial Vehicle & Household Up to €300
Other Personal products Up to €200
Commercial Insurance Up to €300 or up to 55% of the applicable premium whichever amount is the higher.

 

These are standard fees and Brown & Brown reserves the right to charge a higher fee should the complexity of the product require it. A processing fee of up to €5 may be charged per policy to cover the cost of policy and payment administration. Up to 10% of a return premium amount may also be charged. We may charge a claims handling fee by negotiation.

 

Fees for Mid-Term Alterations

Personal Lines Policies – €35
Commercial Policies under €5,000 – €60
Commercial Policies over €5,000 – €110

 

Fees for Advisory Services

Senior Advisor Personal Lines up to €150.00 per hour
Senior Advisor Commercial up to €450.00 per hour
Support Staff up to €250.00 per hour

On occasion we may need to charge rates different to the above depending on the complexity of the case in question; we shall advise you of these changes in advance and before business is transacted. A summary of the details of all arrangements for any fee, commission or other reward or remuneration paid is available on our website at www.bbrown.com/ie. On settlement of your account, we will forward to you all documents showing ownership of your policy, i.e. Motor Certificate and Disc and Policy Schedules. Where a series of transactions are involved, we will normally hold each document until the series is complete and then forward them to you.

 

DATA PROTECTION

Brown & Brown is subject to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (the GDPR) and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018. Brown & Brown is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We wish to be transparent in how we process your data and show you that we are accountable with the GDPR in relation to not only processing your data but ensuring you understand your rights as a customer. The data will be processed only in ways compatible with the purposes for which it was given and as outlined in our Privacy Notice. We will ensure that this Privacy Notice is easily accessible. To see a copy of our Privacy Notice, please refer to our website www.bbrown.com/ie. If this medium is not suitable, we will ensure you can easily receive a copy by post. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any concerns about your personal data. Please note that all phone calls to and from our offices may be recorded and monitored for quality, training and verification purposes.

 

FINANCIAL CRIME

We are required by anti-money laundering legislation to comply with customer identification procedures and as such reserve the right to request certain documentation from you which we reasonably believe is needed in order to comply.

We may ask you for evidence of your identity at the start of our business relationship. In the absence of such evidence, we may be unable to act for you. This is to help us to meet our obligations under anti-money laundering regulations. We observe sanctions legislation in the territories in which we operate. We will use information about you and others named on your policy to check information against Irish and other sanction lists. We comply will all applicable laws, regulations, codes and sanctions relating to anti-bribery and anti-corruption including but not limited to the Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018 and shall not engage in any activity, practice or conduct which would constitute an offence.

 

INVESTOR COMPENSATION SCHEME

We are members of the Investor Compensation Scheme established under Section 38 of the Investor Compensation Act 1998. The Act provides that compensation shall be paid to eligible investors (as defined in the Act) to the extent of 90% of an investor’s net loss or compensation of up to €20,000, whichever is the lesser and is recognised as being eligible for compensation. Further details are available on request.

 

BROKERS IRELAND CLIENTS COMPENSATION AND MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS SCHEME (BIC)

As a member of the Brokers Ireland, we are also a member of the Brokers Ireland Client Compensation and Membership Benefits Scheme (BIC). Subject to the rules of the scheme the liabilities of its member firms up to a maximum of €100,000 per client (or €250,000 in aggregate) may be discharged by the fund on its behalf if the member firm is unable to do so, where the above detailed Investor Compensation Scheme (established by law) has failed to adequately compensate any client of the member.

 

MARKET SECURITY

We do not assess or guarantee the solvency of any insurer at any time during the contract period. If an insurer becomes insolvent, any related premiums we hold for that insurer are deemed to have been paid to them and will not be returnable to you. In the event of any insurer’s insolvency, you may still be liable to pay the premium. We do not accept any liability for any unpaid amounts in respect of claims or return premiums due to you from a participating insurer who becomes insolvent or delays settlement. You will also additionally have the responsibility for payment of premiums if you require replacement security. In the event of insolvency of the insurer, you may be entitled to compensation from the Insurance Compensation Fund.

 

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

We do not limit our liability in respect of personal injury, death, fraudulent acts or wilful default, however, our aggregate liability for breach of contract, negligence, breach of statutory duty will be limited to €10 million. This limit represents our liability in relation to direct losses only and Brown & Brown expressly excludes indirect and consequential losses.

 

GOVERNING LAW

Our terms of business shall be governed by and construed in all respects according to the laws of the Republic of Ireland, and the Courts of the Republic of Ireland will have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute.

 

DIARMUID NOLAN, MBS, Dip IoD, HDip

CEO, Brown & Brown, Ireland

1ST February 2026