Terms and conditions
About us
comparethemarket.com is a website and host advertiser which, amongst other things, compares the price of financial products and other services. comparethemarket.com also provides web-space for third parties to compare prices for other related financial products and services.
comparethemarket.com is a trading name of BISL Limited, an insurance intermediary authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for insurance mediation activity (Firm Reference Number 308896).
We provide a service which enables you to compare a number of prices for products and services, as well as product information from the providers on our panel. This will enable you make an informed decision before proceeding to your chosen provider for further information. comparethemarket.com also provides web-space for third parties to compare prices for other related financial products and services.
We do not provide financial or other advice in relation to the products or services compared, nor do we provide a recommendation or endorsement.
When it comes to our providers, we don’t choose favourites. We offer impartial and independent comparison and our results are always ranked by price. Amongst providers that may appear are brands that, like us, belong to the BGL Group such as Budget, Dial Direct and Beagle Street.
Some third party brands also rely on administration and distribution services provided by the BGL Group. These may be displayed but our approach doesn't change, we will always show the lowest price for you first.
Summary
We set out below the important points for you to note when using our website. These summary points are not part of our Terms and Conditions and are for reference only. Before using our website, we recommend that you read all of our Terms and Conditions to ensure that you are happy with them. We suggest that you print a copy of these Terms and Conditions and keep them in a safe place for future reference.
You must only use the 'comparethemarket.com' website for your personal use or, if a business user, for legitimate business price comparison purposes.
You must provide accurate and complete information when using this website so that we can provide appropriate price comparison quotes.
If you input incomplete or incorrect information whilst using this website and enter into a policy of insurance with a provider on the basis of that information, your insurance policy may be void, not fully meet your insurance needs and/or not pay out on any claims.
'comparethemarket.com' must only be used by UK residents. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions will constitute an offer or promotion for services or products outside of the United Kingdom.
All information data and copyright material contained on this website must not be reproduced or used without our consent.
We provide a price comparison service and where you propose to enter into a separate agreement or policy with a product provider or service provider, you should check their terms and conditions to ensure that you are comfortable with them.
These Terms and Conditions set out what you should do if you have a complaint against us or a product provider or service provider.
1. General
1.1 These Terms and Conditions apply to your use of this website.
1.2 By using this website you agree to these Terms and Conditions. If you do not wish to be bound by these Terms and Conditions you should not use this website.
1.3 We may change these Terms and Conditions from time to time. We will give you notice of any changes by posting those changes on our website. We will not vary any terms and conditions which you previously agreed whilst using this website. However, any amended Terms and Conditions will apply to your use of this website from the date they are posted and if you do not agree with the amended Terms and Conditions, you are entitled to stop using this website at that time.
2. Definitions
2.1 "you" and "your" means the person who proposes to use or is using this website.
2.2 "we" "us" and "our" means comparethemarket.com a trading name of BISL Limited of Pegasus House, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough, PE2 6YS and agents, and any other person or business to whom we may legally transfer our rights under these Terms and Conditions. You are entitled to stop using this website if we transfer our rights under these Terms and Conditions to a third party. BISL Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is on the Financial Services Register under the registration number 308896.
2.3 "website" means a site on the world wide web located at www.comparethemarket.com.
2.4 "product or service provider" means the manufacturer, supplier, distributor or provider of any service or product advertised on this website or made available via this website.
2.5 "quote" means a price provided by a product or service provider for comparison with other quotes on the basis of the information you have provided. In providing you with a quote we are not able to guarantee the availability of the product, the service or the price set out as you will need to deal with the product or service provider direct to make a purchase.
3. Use of this website
3.1 By using this website you agree that:
3.1.1 You will not do anything that affects the integrity or security of this website or causes or may cause harm, damage or unreasonable inconvenience to other users of this website or us; and
3.1.2 You will not gather, extract, download, reproduce and/or display or advertise on any other website, other online or off-line service or otherwise, any material on or from this website, including but not limited to information relating to insurance prices, whether that information has been gained by the use of spiders, data mining, trawling or other 'screen scraping' software or system used to extract data.
3.2 If you breach any of the clauses set out at 3.1 above, we may take such action as we deem appropriate, including denying you access to this website, bringing legal proceedings against you and disclosing such information to appropriate legal and/or regulatory bodies.
4. UK residents only
4.1 This website is directed only at UK residents and nothing within it or these Terms and Conditions constitutes an offer or promotion of services or products to persons outside the United Kingdom. We do not make any warranty or representation that the services we offer are available or appropriate for use by those outside the UK. Should you choose to use the services we provide outside the UK, you do so at your own risk and it is your responsibility to ensure that you are compliant with any applicable local laws.
5. Your obligations
5.1 You must only use the 'comparethemarket.com' website for your personal use or, if a business user, for legitimate business price comparison purposes.
5.2 It is your responsibility to ensure that all information you supply to us or enter onto this website is complete and accurate, so please double-check your information before submitting it.
5.3 You will need to answer a number of questions in order to compare or obtain a quote for any product or service. These questions are designed to ensure that we and all relevant product or service providers have all of the information necessary to provide you with accurate, appropriate and timely information relating to the products and/or services in which you are interested.
5.4 In the case of all insurances the level of cover and the amount you pay is determined by the answers you provide to those questions and therefore you should answer all questions truthfully and fully and to the best of your knowledge and belief. In addition, if you are a business user you should make specific enquiries of partners, directors and senior management involved in the business and its subsidiaries and you must tell the insurer of anything that may be relevant or important for the insurer to know so that they can make a decision on whether to offer cover and the terms to be applied. In all cases, if you fail to provide complete and accurate information:
5.4.1 any insurance product purchased may be void (meaning you will not be able to make a claim);
5.4.2 you may have to pay additional premiums under your policy to reflect any increased insurance risk as a result; and/or
5.4.3 You may be liable for damage or loss to a third party if you cause an accident.
This will depend on the terms and conditions you have agreed with your product or service provider.
5.5 If you are purchasing or using a product or service provider's website directly you should also read their terms and conditions. The product or service provider's terms and conditions will cover any transaction or agreement between you and the product or service provider, whereas these Terms and Conditions agreed with us relate only to your use of this website.
6. Our service
6.1 We provide a service which enables you to compare a number of prices for products and services and make a decision based on those comparisons. There is no charge for this service.
6.2 We do not provide financial, investment or other advice in relation to the product or service compared, nor do we provide a recommendation or endorsement of product or service providers.
6.3 The information you give us is used by the product or service provider to formulate their quote. Therefore, it is important that you double-check all information to ensure that it is complete and accurate. We seek to ensure that we accurately pass on the information you have provided to the product or service provider for the purpose of providing a price comparison.
6.4 These Terms and Conditions and our correspondence with you will be communicated in the English language.
7. Validity of quote
7.1 We do not control the price, length of offers, or special conditions relating to price comparison quotes. These are set by product or service providers. If you obtain a quote and would like to see how long it is valid for or any special conditions relating to it, please click through the links contained on our website to the product provider or service provider's website. Product and service providers' prices, rates and offer times are updated and amended on a regular basis so our price comparisons are subject to change.
7.2 In order to purchase any of the products or services described on our website you must contact the product or service provider. When a price is shown on this website you will also find a direct link to the product or service provider's website. For some products or services you may need to or choose to complete your transaction over the telephone. The product and contact details of the product or service provider are listed on their website(s).
8. Delivery of quotes
8.1 You should receive the results of our price comparison technology online. However, we rely on the availability of third party sites and general performance of the worldwide web. At certain times some or all online quotes may not be available to you due to problems with third party websites or the worldwide web. Wherever possible, we will try and notify you of this and email you to let you know when your quotes are ready.
8.2 Whilst we strive to provide as comprehensive and easy to use a service as possible, the requirements for your quote may not be met if such requirements are unusual, "non standard" or "high risk". If this is the case you should contact a provider directly to discuss your requirements.
8.3 Each product and service provider will have a different approach to the provision of their quotes and may not make quotes available for all of their products. Where you have expressed an interest in a product restricted by a product or service provider, we or the provider may contact you to assist further (provided that we or the provider continue to treat your data as confidential and comply with data protection legislation).
9. Responsibility for content
9.1 We are responsible for ensuring that we accurately reflect product or service quotes via our price comparison technology. We are also responsible for statements of fact made to you by us and protecting your data in accordance with data protection legislation.
9.2 We will use our best endeavours to provide you with a quality service and virus free website. However, we are not responsible for computer viruses or other computer related problems you suffer as a result of using this website, which are beyond our reasonable control. We recommend that you use your own appropriate virus checking software.
9.3 We are not responsible for any commentary, opinions, ratings or other postings on this website by third parties.
9.4 Product or service providers and third party websites are responsible for failings or errors on their websites and may have a separate duty of care to you.
9.5 You may be entitled to rights separate to these Terms and Conditions under English consumer law or other legislation.
9.6 We do not prevent or exclude our responsibility to you for death or personal injury resulting from our negligence.
10. Intellectual property
10.1 All information, data and copyright material contained on this website, including any trade marks (whether officially registered or unregistered), trade names, brands, logos and devices belong to us or to people whom we have given ownership or permission to use such information data and/or copyright material. You must not use such information or copyright material unless you have written permission from us or the owner to do so.
10.2 You may download or copy the content and other downloadable items displayed on this website for personal non business use only, (i.e. to assist with a purchasing decision), provided that you are not otherwise breaching these Terms and Conditions.
10.3 Apple, the Apple logo and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App store is a service mark of Apple Inc.
11. Privacy policy
11.1 We will comply with all applicable data protection legislation from time to time in force in respect of the personal data we collect from you.
11.2 Additionally we will observe the terms of our Privacy Policy.
11.3 If you decide to purchase or make further queries about a product or service through this website you will be directed to the product or service provider's website and the information you have provided may be passed to such providers to allow them to deal with your request. Those product or service providers will be subject to their own terms and conditions and each product or service provider may have a different privacy policy from ours.
12. Third party websites
12.1 This website contains links to websites operated by third parties. Some of those websites will carry our branding and are therefore only accessible by our customers. The operation and content of those websites are determined by those third parties and will be governed by separate terms and conditions. We do not accept responsibility or liability for the content of any third party website, as this is outside of our control.
12.2 Links are provided for convenience only and inclusion of any links should not be taken to imply endorsement in any way of the site to which it links. Examples of price comparison services operated by third parties are 'compare mortgages' and 'compare energy prices'.
12.3 You may wish to take the following steps when purchasing a product or service from a third party website:
12.3.1 Read and ensure that you understand the terms and conditions of their website and terms and conditions of any product or service you might be agreeing with them;
12.3.2 Clarify and/or check your understanding of relevant terms and conditions by seeking independent advice, for example if the proposed transaction is of significant financial value to you or your insurance criteria is particularly unique or high risk; and/or
12.3.3 We regularly check that all our partners are regulated, however, if you wish to check the insurance provider you are dealing with is regulated (for example, by the Financial Conduct Authority, or Prudential Regulation Authority, if applicable). You can do this by checking the Financial Services Register on the Financial Conduct Authority's website.
13. Termination
13.1 We may issue a warning, temporarily suspend, permanently suspend or terminate your right to use this website if you:
13.1.1 Substantially breach any of these Terms and conditions;
13.1.2 Infringe or violate or attempt to infringe or violate any rights of any other user(s) of this website and/or third parties in connection with this website; or
13.1.3 If you are using this website to commit or attempt to commit a criminal offence.
14. Jurisdiction and Enforceability
14.1 If any provision of these Terms and Conditions are held by a competent authority to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of these Terms and Conditions will not be affected and will remain valid.
14.2 In the event of a dispute in connection with or arising out of these Terms and Conditions, English law will apply.
14.3 These Terms and Conditions will only apply as between us and you. Unless as otherwise stated in these Terms and Conditions no other person may benefit or rely upon these Terms and Conditions.
15. Complaints procedure
Service standards
We aim to provide a high level service to all our customers but occasionally things can go wrong. When this happens we will do everything we can to put things right and assist you.
What to do if you have a complaint?
If you have a complaint about our service, please contact us.
For the purposes of handling complaints our working day is 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding Bank Holidays.
By email:
Please email us at service@contact-ctm.com and we will attempt to resolve your complaint by close of business the following working day. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, we will try and agree the next steps with you.
In writing:
Please address your letter to:
comparethemarket.com
Customer Relations Manager
Pegasus House
Bakewell Road
Peterborough
PE2 6YS
Should you wish to use an alternative means of communication, we are happy on request to correspond with you by telephone or fax.
Please include your name and address, a contact telephone number, your quote number and details of why you are unhappy. This will help us to respond to you as quickly as possible. If we do not have enough information to investigate your complaint we will try and contact you to ask for further details.
If we are unable to resolve your complaint by the close of business the next working day, we will send a written acknowledgement of your complaint to you within 5 working days of its receipt. In our acknowledgement we will advise you of the name and job title of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.
By the end of eight weeks after receipt of your original complaint letter we will send you a final response or a letter explaining why we are still not in a position to issue a final response and advising you of when we expect to be able to do so.
You may after eight weeks, or if you are unhappy with our response to your complaint, contact the Financial Ombudsman Service who may be contacted at Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR. Telephone 0800 0234567.
Web www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
If your complaint is regarding a product or service that you have purchased via this website then you can complain directly to the relevant product or service provider responsible for supplying the product or service about which you wish to complain. If you wish to raise a formal dispute you can do so through the European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution procedure. This procedure will help you to access the appropriate dispute resolution body.
We cannot answer complaints on behalf of a product or service provider or accept responsibility for any such complaints. We recommend that you visit the website of the product or service provider and follow their complaints procedure if you wish to make a complaint against them.
Last updated: 6th October 2014