Terms of Service

Introduction

Welcome to PolicyAdvisor Brokerage (PAB) Inc. (“PolicyAdvisor”, “we”, “us” and/or “our” as used in this Terms of Service). We, along with our parent company and/or affiliates own and operate the website www.policyadvisor.com (the “Site”), which provides insurance brokerage, insurance quote comparison, insurance advisory tools and other related services (the “Services”). The definition of Site also includes any and all related webpages and access to any optimized version of our Site via a wireless device, our online services, mobile services, and software. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Site, including without limitation to apply for, and purchase any insurance policy through us and our subsidiaries, affiliates and representatives. These Terms are legally binding between you, the person accessing or using this Site, your duly authorized representatives, and any entity you may represent in connection with your use of the Services and PolicyAdvisor Brokerage (PAB) Inc.

Please read these Terms carefully before you use our Site, as these will apply to (i) your use of our Site; (ii) our Services; and (iii) your relationship with certain third parties. We will change the Terms as our Services evolve over time. You should continue to check this Site for any changes to the Terms. By accessing or using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms or the Privacy Policy, please do not access or otherwise use our Services or any information contained herein.

General Terms applying to our Site

About us

Information about us and what we do

PolicyAdvisor Brokerage (PAB) Inc. is a licensed life insurance brokerage in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba. We are governed by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (“FSRA”), Insurance Council of British Columbia, the Alberta Insurance Council (AIC) and Insurance Council of Manitoba (ICM) in respective provinces. We offer personalized insurance advice to our Site visitors by offering them digital tools that can help assess their insurance needs and suggest appropriate insurance products. Our advice is based on information provided by Site visitors, third-party tools, data feeds, open source and other partner data. We are not an insurance company, instead as a licensed insurance brokerage, we and our representatives, provide you with recommendations about and facilitate the purchase of life and related insurance products from a broad set of insurance companies, licensed to sell insurance in your province.

What Services do we provide?

The Services we provide include:

  • Obtaining quotes – We provide you with insurance quotes for products issued by third-party insurance companies. We allow you to save and retrieve such quotes for easy future access.
  • Comparing policies – We offer easy-to-use tools and summarized information to help you compare different policies and quotes from third-party insurance companies.
  • Reviewing insurance needs – We include informational and computational tools that offer recommendations to help you assess your insurance needs.
  • Proprietary content (“Content”) – We offer easy-to-understand information material to disseminate knowledge and information about insurance products.
  • Buying insurance products – As insurance brokers, we and our representatives facilitate purchase of life and related insurance products for your insurance needs.

Is our advice independent?

Our advisory services are independent to support our customers’ decision-making. We seek to undertake an unbiased, objective analysis of various insurance products and/or insurance companies available in your province to provide you with recommendations that meet your personalized insurance needs. Our recommendation may be limited to those insurance companies and/or products that have made available the relevant information to us or to our third-party data provider(s) and/or those companies that have contracted and/or permitted us to display and sell their products. We will regularly review our arrangements to ensure that the insurance companies and their policies we offer are representative of the market.

How do we make money?

Our Site and all its tools are available free of charge to site visitors. If you use our Site to purchase an insurance policy through us, the insurance company will pay us a commission based on the premium that you are charged. We may also receive other performance-based compensation from insurance companies for our services. The premium you pay already includes the commission due to us; no additional payment is required on your part. Any other fees or charges that you may be required to pay (for e.g., policy administration fee) are determined by the insurance company, and not us. When we receive fees or commission for brokering your insurance business, we will act in accordance with all applicable laws.

In what provinces can you use our website?

We can arrange purchase of insurance products only for Site visitors who reside in the provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba, Canada. We don’t arrange purchase of insurance products for visitors residing outside Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba or anywhere we aren’t licensed. However, residents from other provinces may be able to visit and explore certain other sections of our Site and utilize our other Services. We do not guarantee the accuracy, availability or distribution of our Content and Services to people who reside outside Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba within Canada or any location outside Canada. We may limit the availability of our Site or Services or content on our Site to any person or geographic area at any time.

How do we obtain quotes?

We use a third-party provider to obtain the insurance quotes that we present to you on the site. This provider is a fully independent company. We do not control the prices relating to insurance quotes displayed on our Site. These are set by the insurer and provided to us by the third party provider. On our Site, we may limit the number and type of products or length of offers that are displayed to you.

What is the validity of quotes we offer on our site?

All quotes displayed by us are based upon the information you provided and subject to underwriting by our partner insurance companies. The displayed quotes are not a contract or agreement to extend insurance coverage. All quotes are subject to verification by the insurance companies. Please ensure that all information provided is accurate in order to avoid change in price and/or delay or denial of coverage.

Your price isn’t final and set until you sign and pay for the actual insurance policy. We do not guarantee that the price quoted on the website will be the same as the price eventually offered to you by the insurer. We do not accept any liability resulting from the change in the price, availability or validity of a quote. The final quote may change subject to additional information an insurance company may collect from you.

In the event that there are any discrepancies between the quotes being provided by our Site and the quotes established by insurance companies, the quotes established by the insurance companies shall govern.

If you or any persons listed on your application for insurance have been previously convicted of insurance fraud, all insurance providers listed on the Site reserve the right to refuse to issue an insurance contract based on this fact.

What if we receive insufficient information?

In case we are unable to collect adequate or accurate information from you, we may be unable to provide appropriate or any recommendations or quotes. Product information and descriptions contained within the Site are not intended complete descriptions of all applicable terms, exclusions and conditions, but are provided solely for general informational purposes. If you purchase a policy through us, you should refer to the actual policy for complete details of coverage.

You are obliged to provide full and accurate material circumstances about your risk, now and throughout the lifetime of your policy. A material circumstance is anything that may influence an insurance company’s assessment of your risk and should include certain medical and non-medical information that you have dealt with yourself with or without involving an Insurer. A material circumstance could include knowledge of your historical or anticipated changes to your tobacco usage, substance or drug abuse, driving history, medical condition, criminal convictions or any financial issues such a potential bankruptcies. If you are unsure as to whether a circumstance is material, we recommend that it be disclosed. Failure to disclose may entitle the Insurance companies to refuse to pay part or all of any subsequent claims.

Additional Terms applicable to our Site

Accessing our website

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to our website. There is no guarantee that our website, or any content or service on it, will be available at all times. We will not be liable to you if the site or any part of it becomes unavailable for any reason at any time or for any period.  Changes to parts or all of the website may be made at any time without notice. If anyone else is accessing our website through your internet connection, you are responsible to for ensuring that these other persons are aware of these terms and conditions, and that they comply with them. You must be at least 18 years old to access the services on our website.

Collection and use of personal information

When you use certain services on our website, we may collect some personally identifiable information (“PII”) for you which we may transmit to our partners as well. We have set forth our policies with respect to the collection, use and storage of such information in our Privacy Policy.

Third-party links and websites

The Services may contain links to third party websites, advertisers, services, special offers, or other events or activities that are not owned or controlled by us. We are not affiliated with those websites, do not endorse them, have no control over those websites, and assume no responsibility and/or liability for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party websites. In addition, we will not and cannot censor or edit the content of any third-party site. If you access any third party’s website, service, or content from our Services, you do so at your own risk. By using the Services, you expressly release us (and our owners, employees, agents, affiliates, and/or licensors) from any and all liability arising from your use of any third-party website, information, materials, products, or services.

Content

By using the Services, you understand and acknowledge that the Site provides a platform for users to get information on, and compare third party insurance products. Neither the Site nor PolicyAdvisor Brokerage (PAB) Inc., or any of our affiliated companies are an insurance company offering the insurance products listed on the Site.

While we have made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided on this Site, we do not make representations or warranties about the accuracy of any information contained on the Site, and we shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies, misrepresentations, errors or omissions in the information provided therein, and some information may not always be up to date.

You agree that we are not liable for any advice provided by third parties. You agree that you are responsible for your own financial and financial decisions, and that we are not responsible or liable for any decisions or actions you take or authorize us or third parties to take on your behalf based on information you receive as a user of the Site. Users hereby understand and agree to use the information contained on this Site at their own risk.

In no event shall we be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential or incidental damages, or any damages whatsoever, arising out of, or in connection with, the use of the Services or the Site.

Product availability

Availability of insurance policy products varies by province and our Site content may include information about some products that are not currently available or may never be available in your province. Information about insurance companies and their respective products is intended for residents of provinces in which those insurance companies are licensed. All products and services provided by the participating insurance companies on the Site are subject to the terms, conditions and limitations of each such company and subject to change without notice.

Use of Other Intermediaries

Where we consider it to be appropriate and for your benefit, it may be necessary for us to request another broker or intermediary to act as our agent and assist in the placement of your insurance product. In such cases, we will provide specific instructions to such sub-agents to meet your insurance requirements.

Prohibited activities

You agree not to:

  1. Use the Services for any illegal purpose, or in violation of any local, state, national, or international law;
  2. Violate or encourage others to violate the rights of third parties, including intellectual property rights;
  3. Interfere in any way with security-related features of the Services;
  4. Interfere with the operation or any user’s enjoyment of the Services, including by uploading or otherwise disseminating viruses, adware, spyware, worms, or other malicious code, or attempting to collect personal information about users or third parties without their consent;
  5. Access, monitor or copy any content or information of the Site using any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means or any manual process for any purpose without our express written permission;
  6. Perform any fraudulent activity, including impersonating any person or entity, claiming false affiliations, accessing the accounts of other users without permission, or falsifying your identity or any information about you, including age or date of birth; or other information;
  7. Sell or otherwise transfer the access granted herein.

Copyright and trademarks

All contents of this Site are the copyright of PolicyAdvisor and are protected under the copyright laws of Canada, except third-party trademarks or service marks, which are the property of their respective owners.

We may, in our sole discretion, suspend or discontinue the Site, the Services, or any Site content at any time without notice. We do not give you the permission and you may not mirror, reproduce, modify, distribute, transmit, post, or use the Site content in any other media without our prior written consent.

Voluntary information

If you submit any voluntary information and materials to us, including comments, ideas, questions, designs, and other similar communication, these terms and conditions are applicable to you. If you do not agree with these terms and conditions, you should not submit voluntary information through the site. All voluntary information provided will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. This material may be used by us or our partners, for any purpose whatsoever, including, but not limited to, reproduction, disclosure, transmission, publication, broadcasting, and further posting. Moreover, we or our partners may use the ideas or concepts contained in the material, for any purpose whatsoever, including, but not limited to, developing and marketing products. By submitting any such voluntary information, we get irrevocable, royalty-free right to have the right to use, change, reproduce, change, publish,  translate, distribute, transmit, publicly display, sublicense, create similar works from, and sell such voluntary Information and to use your name and your personally identifiable information along with this voluntary information.

Email

We will not accept transactions or instructions by Internet email messages. However, questions of a general nature or inquiries may be communicated by sending us an email. Any communication transmitted to us by electronic means becomes the property of PolicyAdvisor or its affiliates and may be used for any purpose. We are free to use any idea contained in any communication sent to us for any purpose whatsoever, including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing and marketing products using such information.

How will we communicate with you?

Communication we send to you may be electronic and you agree that we have no obligation to send you paper communication. Electronic communication will be sent to you at the primary email address provided by you. Other than to service legal proceedings, we are not obliged to receive paper correspondence from you. If you wish to contact us, you may email us at contact@policyadvisor.com or through our chat function.

Transactional Communications

We provide notifications for certain activities relating to your use of our Site and Services. Examples of transaction communications we may send include sending you emails and SMS messages when you create an account, set/change your password, select insurance quotes, complete an online insurance application, schedule a call with us, or when we provide you with any updates on your ongoing quotes and applications. In addition, we may send you an access code to your mobile number registered with us to help you complete certain actions like login, change password, or reset a forgotten password. When you sign up for an account with us, we request you to set a password for the account. When you attempt to set your password for your account for the first time or request a password reset, we will send you a one-time access code through an SMS message to confirm your identity. You can also choose to log in to your account at any time by requesting a one-time access code which will be sent to your phone number through an SMS.  The access code will be sent to the phone number you used at the time of signing up.  You can then use the access code to set or reset your password or log in to your account.

We use Text Message / SMS service provider Twilio for sending you SMS/Text Messages, including to authenticate you: when you attempt to set a password to your account, request to reset your password, or choose to login by requesting a one-time access code. For such purposes, we may share your registered phone number with Twilio to enable this service. For more information on the privacy practices of Twilio, please visit the Twilio’s Privacy Statement at https://www.twilio.com/legal/privacy. You can cancel the SMS service at any time. Just text “STOP” to the short code. After you send the SMS message “STOP” to us, we will send you an SMS message to confirm that you have been unsubscribed. After this, you will no longer receive SMS messages from us. If you want to join again, just reply START to this message and we will start sending SMS messages to you again. If at any time you forget what keywords are supported, just text “HELP”. After you send the SMS message “HELP” to us, we will respond with instructions on how to unsubscribe.

While you may unsubscribe from marketing communications as described below, you will continue to receive service/transactional messages from us related to your account.

By signing up to your account and/or by submitting your contact information, you are consenting to be contacted by us or one of our representatives or affiliates by telephone, text message, email, fax, telephone or any means. We may use your e-mail address, phone number or other PII (a) to contact you for administrative purposes such as customer service, (b) to address intellectual property, right of privacy or defamation issues related to content you have posted on the Services, and/or (c) to send you promotional materials, offers, and/or messages related to our Services and the activities of third parties we work with.

Marketing Communications

When you sign up to an account with us or use our Services or request for subscription to our newsletter, we will share with you articles, news, blogs, reports, surveys, survey findings, and offers regarding financial and consumer products accessible or available for purchase through our Site or other offers for products and services that we believe may be of interest to you. The marketing information shared may be in the form of a periodic newsletter sent over email.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future marketing emails, please contact as at contact@policyadvisor.com , and we will promptly remove you from our marketing correspondence lists. You can also opt-out of receiving marketing communications through unsubscribe links provided in the messages.

Website Security

We maintain commercially reasonable administrative, physical, and technical safeguards designed to prevent any unauthorized use, access, processing, destruction, loss, alteration, or disclosure of the data and information you provide us. In the event that any data or information under our control is compromised as a result of a breach of security, we will investigate the situation and where appropriate, notify those individuals whose information may have been compromised and take other steps, in accordance with any applicable laws and regulations.

Viruses

There is no liability for loss cause by virus, or technologically harmful material that may infect your computer, programs or data due to use of our website or to any website linked to our website. There is no guarantee that our website will be free from viruses. The responsibility to configure your IT systems, computer programs and platform required to access our site is on you. You are requested to use your own virus protection software.

Complaints

We aim to provide the best-in-class service to our customers, but we understand that there may be times where may not be able to meet your expectations. If you are not satisfied with our services, feel free to write to customer service at contact@policyadvisor.com. We will take all the necessary steps immediately and respond as soon as possible.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, release and discharge, to the fullest extent permitted by law, PolicyAdvisor Brokerage (PAB) Inc. and its parent company, affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, consultants, and shareholders, and any other person or entity that directly or indirectly controls, is under common control with, or is directly or indirectly controlled by, PolicyAdvisor, and each of their respective successors, assigns, heirs and legal representatives (“PolicyAdvisor Parties”) as well as any third party providers of Site Content (“Third Parties”, and with PolicyAdvisor Parties, collectively, the “Site-Related Parties”), harmless from any responsibility, liability, claim, demand, action, cause of action, or damage (actual or consequential) of every kind and nature, known or unknown, including but not limited to reasonable attorneys’ fees and claims of negligence, arising out of or related to your breach of these Terms or your use or misuse of the Services, the Site Content or the Site.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Site-Related Parties shall not be liable for (a) any indirect, incidental, exemplary punitive, or consequential damages of any kind whatsoever, (b) loss of profits, revenue, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, (c) damages relating to your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Services, (d) damages relating to any conduct or content of any third party or user using the Services, including without limitation, defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct or content, and/or (e) damages in any manner relating to any Site Content. This limitation applies to all claims, whether based on warranty, contract, tort, or any other legal theory, whether or not we have been informed of the possibility of such damage.

Where a remedy set forth herein is found to have failed its essential purpose, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the total liability of Site-Related Parties for any claim under these Terms, including for any implied warranties, is limited to 50 dollars (Canadian $50).

You are in agreement not to use our site for commercial or business use. We have no liability to you for any business losses.

We do not take on or assume any responsibility for any harm, loss, or corruption to you, your computer, or your data (or any third party data or computer) from your use of the Services.

The Content on the Site is for convenience and information purposes only. Nothing on therein should be construed as rendering tax, legal, investment, or accounting advice. The posting of any prospectus or any other information is not a recommendation or opinion for you to buy or sell any product or participate in any transaction.

Termination

We may terminate or suspend your access to or ability to use any and all Services immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason or no reason, including but not limited to your breach of any of these Terms. Upon termination of your access to use a Service, you right to access or use the Site or that Service and any Site Content will immediately cease. All of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, and limitations of liability. Termination of your access to and use of the Services shall not relieve you of any obligations arising or accruing prior to such termination or limit any liability that you otherwise may have to Site-Related Parties.

Miscellaneous

By accessing and browsing this Site, visitors agree that the laws of Ontario and Canada apply to any issue that might arise with PolicyAdvisor regarding this Site or the Services, and to settle such dispute in the courts of Ontario. You agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the courts located within Ontario for the purposes of litigating all such claims or disputes.

 

Dated: 12 January 2021