Good to know: We are a Claims Management Company (CMC). You do not need to use a CMC to make your complaint to your lender, bank or insurer. If your complaint is not successful you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service yourself for free if the firm is still trading. For eligible failed firms, you can refer a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for free.
Signing this document makes a legally binding contract between you and Allegiant Finance Services Limited.
If you change your mind about using our service, you have a 14-day cooling-off period during which you can cancel the contract without charge (see below).
When you enter into the contract, you are confirming that you have read our pre-contract information and the chance to read our Privacy Policy at allegiant.co.uk/compliance/privacy-policy. You are also confirming that you are aware that:
In this contract:-
2.1 We will take reasonable skill and care when providing our service.
2.2 When you have given us the information and documents and where we think your insurer has undervalued your car or treated you unfairly in a different way, we will draft the complaint and send it to them (your claim). The claim will allege an unfair valuation of your vehicle at the time of write-off (due to accident or theft).
2.3 If the insurer does not reply or disagrees with your claim, we will consider the information again. Where reasonable, we will send your claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service (or a similar service if appropriate – but we will discuss this with you first).
2.4 We will keep in touch during your claim. We will do this by one or more of the following: email, letter, text message or phone or through our website portal.
2.5 We will let you know when your claim has key developments. This can include:-
2.6 We will take instructions from you when necessary and always about any settlement offer (an offer of compensation from the insurer or a recommendation or decision made by the Financial Ombudsman Service or another organisation authorised to award compensation).
2.7 We will assume that information and calculations provided by the insurer are accurate, are not misleading, and are not provided in bad faith unless:
2.8 We will not provide financial or debt advice as we are authorised and regulated only to provide claims-management services.
3.1 You confirm that you either:
3.2 You agree to send us all relevant correspondence and documents as soon as reasonably possible.
3.3 You agree that we are the only firm or person providing representation to you, and while the contract between you and us is in force, you will not:
3.4 You agree not to contact the insurer, the Financial Ombudsman Service or any other relevant third party to withdraw our authority to provide our service without first cancelling your contract with us.
3.5 You confirm that you are not declared bankrupt (in Scotland, been sequestered) or have an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) or debt relief order (DRO) as a result of unaffordable debt. You must tell us immediately if you may enter into an arrangement relating to bankruptcy, insolvency or unaffordable debt.
3.6 You agree to give us the information we need about your personal details and financial situation as soon as reasonably possible and immediately tell us about any change of information (for example, a change of address) whilst in a contract with us.
3.7 You must fill in and sign all paperwork you must provide to give us authority to make your claim.
3.8 You agree to give us the documentary evidence and details we reasonably need to investigate your complaint and make your claim, including information about your insurer’s payout, the make, model and condition of your car at the time of write-off, and correspondence from your insurer.
3.9 You must tell us immediately if the insurer contacts you directly to discuss your complaint or pays you.
3.10 If the insurer pays you directly, you must still pay our success fee (see section 4).
4.1 Our fees become due only if your insurer makes a compensation payout.
4.2 The success fee depends on which band your compensation payout falls into and will the amount calculated using the percentage rate of charge for that band, up to the maximum band charge.
| Band | Compensation payout | Percentage rate of charge (including VAT) | Maximum band charge (including VAT) |
| 1 | £1 to £1,499 | 36% | £504 |
| 2 | £1,500 to £9,999 | 33.60% | £3,000 |
| 3 | £10,000 to £24,999 | 30% | £6,000 |
| 4 | £25,000 to £49,999 | 24% | £9,000 |
| 5 | £50,000 or more | 18% | £12,000 |
Below are examples of how this would work in practice.
| Lower example | Higher example | |||
| Band | Compensation payout | Our success fee | Compensation payout | Our success fee |
| 1 | £100 | £36 | £1,499 | £504 |
| 2 | £1,600 | £537.60 | £9,999 | £3,000 |
| 3 | £12,000 | £3,600 | £24,999 | £6,000 |
| 4 | £30,350 | £7,284 | £49,999 | £9,000 |
| 5 | £55,000 | £9,900 | £100,000 | £12,000 |
If you want to see how much we would charge for a specific amount, please visit our online fee calculator at https://allegiant.co.uk/insurance-claim-fees/.
Please note that the examples above are for illustration purposes only. They are not an estimate of the likely outcome or the success fee you will need to pay. Each claim depends on its own merits.
4.4 You agree to pay us the success fee as soon as reasonably possible after the compensation payout is made by the insurer, even if any other actions set out in the settlement still need to be completed. We will continue to pursue those actions on your behalf, and our commitments to you will not be affected by your payment.
4.5 If your insurer makes any part payments or pays in instalments (for whatever reason), we can raise a separate invoice for each compensation payment you receive.
4.6 If we believe that you are withholding information relating to a settlement offer (including details of any compensation payment made by your insurer), we can raise an invoice based on the previous 12 months’ aggregated win statistics relating to the insurer your claim is against. We will change or cancel the invoice as appropriate in light of any information you provide later.
5.1 Where the insurer makes a compensation payout, we will hold the funds in a dedicated client account (as authorised by the FCA). We will give you an itemised breakdown of the settlement and give you notice of the invoice prior to taking our success fee from it.
5.2 We will pay you the compensation, less our success fee, by bank transfer to an account you nominate. If you ask for a cheque, we will only send this to an address registered with the insurer or your address on the electoral register. We can ask you for proof of address and documents we need under anti-money laundering regulations to meet our fraud-prevention obligations.
5.3 If you do not nominate an account for us to transfer the compensation to or fail to cash a cheque we send you after we have made reasonable efforts to contact you, we reserve the right to return the funds to the insurer, or crown estate. We will only do this in line with our regulator’s expectations about the handling of unclaimed funds.
6.1 You can cancel the contract for our service, without charge, within a 14-day cooling-off period, which starts the day after we receive your signed terms of engagement.
6.2 After the 14-day cooling-off period ends, you can ask us to end the contract for our service. There is no cancellation fee, but you will have to pay a success fee if you have received a settlement offer, regardless of whether or not the compensation has been calculated or the offer yet been communicated.
In either case, you would not need to pay the success fee until your insurer makes the compensation payout.
6.3 You can give us notice to cancel by:
We may ask why you are cancelling and use this information to improve our service. However, you are under no obligation to tell us why you want to cancel.
6.4 If you cancel, we will ask whether you want to withdraw your claim or continue it yourself. We will then update the insurer and, if necessary, the Financial Ombudsman Service and any other relevant person, business or body. If you are continuing the claim yourself, you are responsible for finding out about relevant deadlines and steps that need to be taken.
6.5 We may cancel the agreement between you and us if:
If we cancel the service under this clause, 6.5, there will be no charge.
7.1 You can make a complaint by:
7.2 If you are dissatisfied with our response, or if we do not settle the complaint with you after eight weeks, you can ask the Claims Management Ombudsman (part of the Financial Ombudsman Service) to assess your complaint independently. You can do this by:
There is further information about the Claims Management Ombudsman available at https://cmc.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/).
7.3 Time limits apply to complaints. You have six months from:
to approach the Claims Management Ombudsman.
You can see our full complaints procedure at allegiant.co.uk/compliance/complaints-regulated/, or you can ask us for a copy.
We will not be responsible for any costs or losses caused due to the following.
The contract between you and us will end when you pay all fees, charges and any other amounts due to us following the final result of your claim. You agree that we may contact you if there is a legitimate reason for additional compensation possibly becoming due to you (for example, as a result of a regulatory change, court order, audit, or the insurer making a mistake or withholding information). When this happens, you will need to enter into a new contract with us for any further claim.
10.1 We can recover solicitors’ fees, tracing fees, court fees and enforcement-agency fees we must pay to enforce our right to the success fee. If you need a replacement cheque, or we need to make an extra attempt to send a bank transfer, and this is not due to our fault, we can deduct any related fee or charge from the replacement cheque or new transfer.
10.2 If there is a legal dispute between you and us in connection with our service, this agreement will be interpreted in line with relevant UK laws and regulations that are in force at the time.
10.3 Nothing in this agreement is intended to benefit anyone other than you or us.
10.4 We may assign or novate (legally transfer) or subcontract any or all of our rights and benefits and/or liabilities arising under this contract by giving you 21 days’ notice in writing (or less notice if required to meet a legal or regulatory requirement).
10.5 If any part of these terms of engagement is found to be invalid or cannot be enforced, the other terms of this agreement will not be affected and will stay in effect in line with the intended spirit of the agreement.
10.6 These terms of engagement will continue to apply after the service ends when necessary to give effect to the agreement, its purpose and intention.
10.7 The laws of England and Wales govern this agreement, and any legal action in connection with it will be dealt with in the courts of England and Wales.
Good to know: We are a Claims Management Company (CMC). You do not need to use a CMC to make your complaint to your lender, bank or insurer. If your complaint is not successful you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service yourself for free if the firm is still trading. For eligible failed firms, you can refer a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for free.
