I can't rememeber if i've made claims before, how do i check?

KareenaMukherjee

I had an accident a few years ago in my parents car, and i can't honestly recall if my parents made an insurance claim against this.

The policy was any driver, and i'm not sure if they claimed in my name or my parents. How can i check this, my parents are abroad now, sold up, and left all this behind.

Is there some register i can check, cos i bet as hell my insurance company will check once i make a claim. Where do they check?

huckster

The claim would be registered against the policyholder, so you can't check this. You would need the policyholders permission to check either with the Insurers or Claims Underwriting Exchange. Although in theory under Data protection, as Quentin suggests, CUE may be able to release any information the purely relates to you.

You should just advise the Insurers of the accident, year and month, advising it was while driving your parents car, but that you are not aware of any claim being made. You could always email or phone your parents to ask them whether they made a claim and if they did, approximately what was the value of the claim. If you found they did claim, obviously you would have to declare this.

Quentin

If you were the driver then you had the accident and you need to declare it if it occurred during the time scale they ask about.

They check on the CUE, which you can contact and pay for a report on the data they hold on you.

rs65

There's a link to the form on this page

http://www.insurancedatabases.co.uk/default.aspx#dataprotection

rs65

KareenaMukherjee wrote: »

Is there some register i can check, cos i bet as hell my insurance company will check once i make a claim. Where do they check?

They check when you take a policy out (and maybe at renewal too).

mikey72

rs65 wrote: »

They check when you take a policy out (and maybe at renewal too).

No, they only check if you make a claim, or get flagged up to them.
If you have they can void your policy from inception, and wipe their hands of you.
If you don't claim, they just get to keep your money for nothing.

It's win win for them.

TSx

mikey72 wrote: »

No, they only check if you make a claim, or get flagged up to them.
If you have they can void your policy from inception, and wipe their hands of you.
If you don't claim, they just get to keep your money for nothing.

It's win win for them.

CUE checks have been carried out on new policies (not renewals) for quite a few months now at the insurer I work for. Much more benefit to us as we can collect the additional premium due on them.

It's certainly better business-wise than waiting for a claim to come in and then voiding (bearing in mind that the insurer is still obliged to deal with third-party claims on a voided policy)

rs65

mikey72 wrote: »

No, they only check if you make a claim, or get flagged up to them.

I don't think that's correct. I used to receive the information on new policies (at a major insurer). That was way back when CUE started but it makes sense for an insurer to seek an explanation of undisclosed claims before another claim arises rather than after.

mikey72

TSx wrote: »

CUE checks have been carried out on new policies (not renewals) for quite a few months now at the insurer I work for. Much more benefit to us as we can collect the additional premium due on them.

It's certainly better business-wise than waiting for a claim to come in and then voiding (bearing in mind that the insurer is still obliged to deal with third-party claims on a voided policy)

I suppose so, you can put in the amendment fee, any amount of premium increase you can get away with, or collect the cancellation fee, and claim a "short term" premium if your customer doesn't know better.

Then again, you'll be paying out the third party either way, so it's a few hundred pounds more on the policy, against the few thousand on the insured own car. Probably still more profit in voiding.

So win/win/win then.

raskazz

mikey72 wrote: »

No, they only check if you make a claim, or get flagged up to them.
If you have they can void your policy from inception, and wipe their hands of you.
If you don't claim, they just get to keep your money for nothing.

It's win win for them.

Again a post that is completely inaccurate.

I know of one insurer/intermediary who has been checking details against CUE at the point of sale for at least 6 years. Most will now either check at point of sale or within 2-4 weeks after inception and quite a few will also check at renewal.

TSx

mikey72 wrote: »

I suppose so, you can put in the amendment fee, any amount of premium increase you can get away with, or collect the cancellation fee, and claim a "short term" premium if your customer doesn't know better.

Then again, you'll be paying out the third party either way, so it's a few hundred pounds more on the policy, against the few thousand on the insured own car. Probably still more profit in voiding.

So win/win/win then.

To be honest, I don't know about the fees for amendments or cancellation fees, the only policies I have direct underwriting (as opposed to claims) dealings with don't have any fees associated with them for amendments or cancellations, but they're not high street policies.

You have to remember that the majority of policies don't have a claim made on them. For third party policies, you are right, there is absolutely no prospect of the insurer losing out.

I have some sympathy for those who genuinely forget to disclose a claim 4 years ago, but I don't think it's too difficult to make sure you are giving the correct information.