Terms & Conditions

TERMS OF BUSINESS & TERMS OF WEBSITE USE

GENERAL

1.1    Acceptance of terms and conditions: The terms and conditions are the terms on which you, the insured (You), and Initio Limited agree to transact insurance business online. By  insuring through Initio you accept these terms and conditions. If you do not accept these terms and conditions, you must refrain from using the Services.

1.2    Amendment of terms and conditions: These terms and conditions may be amended in whole or in part by Initio from time to time. Amendments will be effective immediately upon posting of the amended terms and conditions on this Website. You are responsible for ensuring you are familiar with the latest terms and conditions. Your continued use of the website and associated dashboard represents your agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions as amended.

1.3    Terminology: In these terms and conditions, the following expressions have the meanings set out:
‘member’ means a registered member and customer of Initio;
‘Services’ means any one or more of the services offered by Initio Limited from time to time, including online insurance, claims updates and management, message boards and blogs, other service that Initio may offer;
‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ are a reference to Initio Limited ;
‘the Insured’ ‘you’ and ‘your’ are a reference to you;

‘Dashboard’  means the online application used to manage your insurances

‘Website’ means any Initio website through which the services are offered;

SPECIFIC

2.1    The services: Initio is an online insurance platform.  Initio from time to time may add new insurance products and services.   It will inform customers of new products.   The policy wordings for each product are expressly provided and available on the the Website.   We website provides general information and guides on insurance products.  We do not recommend a specific insurance policy for you, or provide financial advice.  The general information on our website has been provided to you without considering your personal circumstances, financial situation or needs.  You should always consider the appropriateness of the information provided having regard for your personal circumstance, financial situation or needs.  If you make direct contact with our support team we will provide guidance based on our insurance products, claims, our Website, and our platform.  Do not consider any feedback we provide as being financial advice.

2.2    Disclaimer: You expressly understand and agree that:

  1. no advice or information that is obtained by you from Initio or anyone else shall create any warranty by Initio that is not expressly stated in the terms and conditions or in your policy; and
  2. the responsibility to act in good faith and disclose all material circumstances as required by law and by insurance contact are your sole responsibility as the insured.
  3. while Initio facilitates the payment with Windcave or Stripe, initio is not responsible for the misuse of credit card information.
  4. while Initio has systems in place to reduce the risk of credit card fraud, Initio is not responsible for protecting members from credit card fraud. Windcave’s and Stripe’s fraud protection systems may from time to time block legitimate credit card payments. In these cases payment may need to be made by other means.

2.3    Liability: You agree that, to that which is permitted by law, any and all liability and responsibility of Initio to you or any other person under or in connection with these terms and conditions, or in connection with the services, this Website, or your use of or inability to use, the services or this Website, is applicable only to the extent that Initio is considered grossly negligent.

2.4    Indemnity: You agree to release, indemnify and keep indemnified, us from and against all actions, claims, costs (including legal costs and expenses), losses, proceedings, damages, liabilities, or demands suffered or incurred by us to any person arising out of or in connection with your failure to comply with these terms and conditions.

2.5   Breach: Without limiting any other rights and remedies available to Initio, Initio may limit your activities on the Website, or refuse to provide our Services to you if you breach these terms and conditions and/or where Initio considers it appropriate your insurance policy(s) may be cancelled with appropriate  notice.  refer 2.6.

2.6   Insurer going off risk: An insurer or Initio may, while providing 14 days notice, cancel your policy.  The insurer or Initio may determine that, from the information you have provided or due to a breach detailed in 2.5, the risk is too great and they do not wish to continue with the insurance.  You will be formally issued with a cancellation notice by email.

2.7  Policy Management: Initio Limited is responsible for the management of your policy(s) and claim(s) with the Insurer.

2.8  Contacts: All queries will can be addressed to Initio C/- Initio Limited.  Or informally through the contact details located on this website.

GETTING INSURED / BECOMING A CUSTOMER

3.1    Becoming a Customer: You instantly become an Initio customer when you purchase your first policy.  Your login details will be emailed to you.  You can only become a customer if you have property located in New Zealand and can form a legally binding contract that is enforceable against you. By becoming a customer , you warrant that you can form a legally binding contract and that the property on which you seek insurance is located in New Zealand.

3.2    Accurate Information: You warrant that you have provided complete, accurate and current personal information when becoming a customer or when you are obtaining an insurance policy online. You must maintain and update your personal information held by Initio to ensure it is kept current at all times. Initio may phone or email you to verify these details. You must not register as a customer under multiple identities or personas (whether false or not).   Under a single customer account you can insure and manage multiple properties.

3.3    Termination: Initio reserves the right to decline to register or to terminate login without entering into further discussions with you. Without limiting the foregoing.

3.4    Security of your login information: You are responsible for keeping your login information, including your email address and password, secret and secure. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree:

  1. not to permit any other person to use your user name or membership (except for duly authorised representatives); and
  2. not to disclose, or provide to any other person, your password, email address, date of birth or any other information in connection with your membership that may allow them to gain access to your login (except for duly authorised representatives). NOTE that we can add authorised persons to your insurance policy if you require.

3.5    Emails and newsletters: Initio will send you emails relating to your policies, transactions, claims, and other activities you may perform on the dashboard.   Initio may also email you for announcement and marketing of other Initio products and services to you. Initio may also send regular electronic newsletters to you about current products, updates and initiatives. Newsletters will contain clear and obvious instructions for how you can unsubscribe from the mailing list.

IMPORTANT INSURANCE OBLIGATIONS 

4.1    Your obligations as the insured

  1. You must comply with all warranties, endorsements and conditions of the insurance contract (policy wording and schedule of insurance).  The policy wording is available on this website.
  2. You are to act in good faith at all times.
  3. You must comply with all statutory requirements and common law rules relating to the transacting of insurance business.
  4. To become insured you must make payment online by using a credit or debit card.

e.    You have a general duty of disclosure. You are responsible on an ongoing basis for providing the insurer (initio as representative) with all material facts relating to the insurance contracts you transact online. Material facts are those that would influence an insurer when they were deciding whether to accept the risk, and the terms and conditions that would apply. Failure to provide full and accurate information may mean that your cover is reduced, cancelled, or if the non-disclosure is fraudulent, the insurer may be able to avoid (cancel) the contract from the beginning. If you are in any doubt as to what facts are considered to be material you should disclose them to the insurer.

f.     You must provide accurate, complete and timely information to us. You are responsible for all information you provide in any proposal, claim form or other material document. We are not responsible for checking the accuracy or completeness of any information you provide to us or any insurer. We will not be responsible for any consequence resulting from a failure by you to disclose all material facts to an insurer (including, without limitation, the possibility of your insurance policies being rendered void or limited)

g.    You must advise us (or your insurers) as soon as is reasonably practicable of an event or circumstance that may give rise to a claim or potential claim.  If you do not inform us (or your insurers) of such a claim or potential claim you may prejudice your rights under your insurance contracts.  You will be advised if you need to complete a claim form or produce documentation to support your claim.

h.    After receiving your insurance documents from us, you should check them and advise us promptly of anything that does not meet your requirements or requires clarifications.  Any errors or concerns should be notified to us immediately.

i.     Please note that we have no obligation to fund any premium, taxes or fees (if applicable) on your behalf and we have no responsibility for any loss you may suffer as a result of insurers cancelling the insurance,  taking any prejudicial steps as a result of late payment, or your failure to renew your insurance policy prior to its expiry.

j.      Insuring your property;  you are responsible for the insured value of your property.    The ‘replacement sum insured’ of the policy represents the total replacement value of your dwelling, including improvements. We do not accept any responsibility for the accuracy of this value. You are responsible for determining and accepting this value. We are not valuers and cannot advise on the replacement value of you property.

h.    You are responsible for the continuity of your insurance cover.  Your insurance policy will not renewal automatically and does not continue without your active renewal of the policy.  We will automatically notify you by email at least 30 days prior to the expiry of your policy.  If you have not renewed your policy 7 days prior to its expiry we will notify you by email again.  Your policy will expire at 4.00pm on the date of expiry and we will further notify by email that the property is no longer insured.  It is very important that you actively renew your policy if you wish cover to continue.  It is your responsibility to ensure that you have access to and check the email address of which you have notified us.   Cover extensions of up to 14 days can be granted only upon request.  Please contact our office by email or phone if you require an extension of cover.

REMUNERATION

5.1     Income & Premiums

  1. Initio earns commission from the insurer from transacting your insurance policy.
  2. Initio may also charge a fee (included in your premium) for transacting your insurance policy.
  3. Premiums and fees may be subject to change.
  4. All amounts are inclusive of GST and in New Zealand dollars unless otherwise stated.
  5. The total insurance cost includes the insurance policy charge, commission, any fees, relevant government levies; including Fire Service Levy and Government Earthquake Levy.
  6. Our disclosure statement provides additional information

 

GENERAL PROVISIONS

6.1    System Integrity: Initio will use its reasonable endeavours to ensure the availability of the Website and Services, subject to any downtime required for maintenance. However, Initio takes no responsibility for any system unavailability, or for any loss that is incurred as a result of Website or Services being unavailable; except for one your service unavailability has prevented a member from renewing their policy prior to expiry.   Further, Initio assumes no responsibility for the corruption of any data or information held by Initio.

6.2    Complaints: Please refer to the Initio complaints procedure if you wish to lodge a formal complaint.

6.3    Force Majeure: Without prejudice to clause 2.3, Initio has no liability for any lack of performance, unavailability or failure of the Services or the Website, or for any failure of Initio to comply with these terms and conditions where the same arises from any cause reasonably beyond the control of Initio.

6.4    No Waiver: If we do not exercise or enforce any right available to us under these terms and conditions, it does not constitute a waiver of those rights.

6.5    Partial Invalidity: If any provision of these terms and conditions becomes or is held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, and in any respect, that provision shall be severed from the remaining terms and conditions, which shall continue in full force and effect.

6.6    Governing Law: These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of New Zealand.

6.7     Intellectual Property Rights: Initio (and its licensors or suppliers, as the case may be) owns all proprietary and intellectual property rights in the Website (including text, graphics, logos, icons and sound recordings) and the software and other material underlying and forming part of the Services and the Website.  Initio is a registered trademark of Initio Limited.

  1. You may not without our prior written permission, in any form or by any means:
    1. Adapt, reproduce, copy, store, distribute, print, display, perform, publish any part of this Website; or
    2. Commercialise, copy, or on-sell any information, or items obtained from any part of this Website.

6.8    Entire agreement: These terms and conditions supersede all previous conditions, understandings, commitments, agreements and representations whatsoever whether oral or written, and constitutes the entire agreement, between the parties, relating to the subject matter of these terms and conditions.

6.9    Privacy: Initio collects personal and risk related information about you through your use of the Services and the Website, including:

  • your personal contact information; and
  • information about the things you are insuring; and
  • information relating to your use of the Website and the content you access.

In order to establish valid insurance contracts, Initio will pass your personal and risk related information onto third party insurers.  This is necessary for an insurer to underwrite the risk.  You agree that this information will be provided to insurers and another person involved with underwriting the risk or assessing/managing any claims.
You agree that Initio may use this personal information to assist us to provide the Services to you, for internal research purposes, to verify your identity, for promoting and marketing existing and new Initio products and Services to you, and for any other use that you authorise.

If we collect a review from you about your experience with us or the products we sell, we may use your review to show to others, including on our website and as part of digital or physical marketing material.  We will only ever show your first name and region (eg John, from Hamilton).

If you are are referred to us by another party (eg an association, mortgage provider, comparison website) you consent to us sharing some basic information including your name and the property insured with that referrer.  In the case where you have started an insurance policy through an insurance platform such as Quashed you consent to us sharing the insurance cover information (ie your schedule of insurance) with that provider.   If you are a client of, or have been referred to us, by an insurance broker then you content to us sharing your insurance and personal information with that broker including the specifics of the insurance covers you have in place with us, and the details and progress of any claims you lodge with us.

We will not sell or allow third parties to access your personal information without your consent or unless otherwise agreed under these terms and conditions.

Our detailed privacy policy is here

6.10 Discounts and Preferential Pricing:  If you are a member of an organisation, with which initio has a  preferential pricing arrangement, we will show the saving amount on the new business or renewal quote, and on the invoice.  Preferential pricing is applies to the insurer premium component only, and are applied before any government levies, government premiums, or fees are factored in.  The preferential price may not apply if the insurer premium is below our minimum insurer premium charge. The preferential price will only apply if you quoted and started your insurance cover through the dedicated landing page of a partner with which we have the special arrangement.

It is this dedicated page that recognises you as a member or client of that particular organisation, which then validates the application of preferential price.  It is your responsibility to use the correct page.  If you start your cover through another part of the initio website and do not receive the preferential price you can contact us and confirm your membership with that organisation. Once we have been notified, we can update your account so that future applicable renewals or policy modifications will receive the preferential price going forward.  We are under no obligation to backdate the application of any preferential price that did not apply to previous transactions.

For the avoidance of doubt, any preferential pricing or discounting does not apply multiple times or “stack”, but is instead priced based on the membership organisation and page you have chosen to transact through.

If you are an existing client of initio when an organisation you are part of enters into a partnership with initio, which includes a preferential arrangement, it is that organisations responsibility to communicate with you about the partnership and its benefits. It is then your responsibility to advise us that you are a member or client of that organisation so that we can update your account. From the date you advise us, any agreed benefits will be applied to applicable future policy renewals, policy modifications and new policies. We are under no obligation to backdate any preferential pricing or benefits that have not been applied to previous transactions occurring before:
a. the commencement of the new partnership, or
b. the date you advised us that you are a member or client of that partner.

Not all policy types receive are applicable for preferential pricing.

If you receive preferential pricing or discounting that you are not entitled to (for example, your membership with an organisation that entitles you to a discount, has lapsed OR you illegitimately use a partners link) we reserve the right to immediately apply standing pricing. The application of standard pricing will be applicable to future policy renewals, policy modifications and any new policies added through your dashboard. If you become aware that you are obtaining benefits that you are not entitled to you must notify us immediately.

 

WEBSITE TERMS OF USE 

7.1  Permitted use:   You are not permitted to use this website other than for the following purposes:
(i) viewing this website;
(ii) getting quotes for your own insurance;
(iii) obtaining insurance for your own property or vehicle;
(iv) managing, changing, cancelling your insurance
(v) making claims on your insurance
(vi) transferring to other websites through links provided on this website; and
(vii) making use of other facilities that may be provided on the website.

The use of automated systems or software to extract data or quotes from this website for commercial purposes, (‘scraping’) is prohibited unless the third party has directly executed written licence agreement with Initio which permits it access to Initio’s price, and insurance information.