Insurance database services - what data are they supposed to hold?

ChumpusRex

I thought this company was supposed to be the clearing house of motor insurers, through which they pass information about claims, customers, etc. for fraud detection, etc.

Anyway, over the last 5 years, I've had a non-fault accident and had a policy voided ab initio due to a mix-up by the insurer.

So, being curious, I sent a subject access request to this company to see what they had. The answer was a simple "We hold no records relating to you."

So, does anyone know what these guys actually do?

rs65

I think the simple answer is that not every insurer subscribes to them.

Nathanparkes

There are a range of databases insurers use, and they're mainly for anonymous data relating to where you live, the type of asset to be insured, and various other factors to calculate risk.

For example, if a home insurance company experience a lot of theft in an area, they will deem it to be higher risk, and share this information with other companies through a database like this one.

Also, details of insurance fraud are shared between insurers, although that's usually done with a database called CIFAS.

If you've never done anything to raise the suspicions of an insurance company, you'll probably have no personal information stored on these databases, just anonymous statistics.

Due to the DPA, no company can hold information about you unless they have a reasonable use for it, and can only hold the information for as long as it is still relevant and necessary.

rs65

Nathanparkes wrote: »

If you've never done anything to raise the suspicions of an insurance company, you'll probably have no personal information stored on these databases, just anonymous statistics.

Sorry but IDS or CUE does hold individual data. The question is about IDS and not anonymous data.

TSx

IDS holds data on claims - they do not store details of fraud or cancelled policies.

I'd also check what information National Hunter (http://www.nhunter.co.uk/) have on you as they are more likely to have a record of the cancellation.