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If you have been looking at Gap Insurance then you may be aware of a number of guides and comparisons that feature the Aequitas brands, including GapInsurance123, Easy Gap, Shortfall.co.uk and Totallossgap.co.uk. Some of the more prominent ones would be the Which report (that feature all four Aequitas brands) and the Moneysaving Expert Guide which feature both GapInsurance123 and Easy Gap. Of course we feel it is a feather in our cap to see our brands appear on such prominent websites.
Another comparison that can be cited is the Defaqto Star Ratings comparison, and it is something that Aequitas products have been present on for the last few years.
We received an email earlier in 2016 confirming that the Aequitas Gap products for GapInsurance123, Easy Gap and Shortfall.co.uk have attained their top '5 Star Rating' for 2016. Defaqto asked us to confirm the data and provide permission for Defaqto to publish the data on their website.
We have confirmed to Defaqto that we provide permission on the basis that:
- our products are not used for commercial purposes by Defaqto or any third party they would provide their systems or data to
- that we can withdraw our permission to use our products at any point
The reason for these conditions is that we feel it protects our rights under copyright law, and we also feel it protects the consumer from a third party company providing information that is incorrect regarding Aequitas products. We have had some issues with Defaqto in the past displaying incorrect information regarding Aequitas products, for which we received an apology from a Director of Defaqto. Clearly we feel it is important that Aequitas retains the ability to have our products represented correctly at all times, and this is why we would apply this condition with any company seeking to use our property.
We also feel that that ensuring that Defaqto do not use the information for their commercial gain also falls in line with our current requirements for any third party wishing to use our property. We will always consider any request for 'commercial gain', but Defaqto have not specifically requested such use.
As we understand Defaqto have not been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, or their predecessor FSA, since 2013 we would want to ensure that any permission we provide could not fall inside 'regulated activity' for the sale or promotion of insurance products, as we understand Defaqto are no longer authorised to conduct such services. We feel that the two conditions we have asked Defaqto to respect would ensure that we are doing everything we can to protect both our company, and more importantly the UK consumer.
We need to make clear that we are not suggesting that Defaqto intend to use our property for 'regulated activity', but of course it is prudent to have our own checks in place also.
On the face of it, it is very nice to have the confirmation that our products have attained a '5 Star' rating, and it would be very easy to simply allow Defaqto to use our property in any manner they see fit. However we do feel that our priority is to ensure our products are represented in the correct manner at all times and this is why we have provided Defaqto with permission with the two caveats listed above. We feel these are justified and fair. Apparently Defaqto do not.
Thus far Defaqto have declined our conditions, and therefore a potential total of twelve Aequitas Gap Insurance products remain absent from their 'whole market review' at this time.