Beware when doing "dummy" quotes

OnanTheBarbarian

starrystarry wrote: »

One thing that I've wondered about for a while...

If people do multiple dummy quotes using a different address, say the same postcode but a different house number, if/when the person who really lives at that address tries to get a quote are they going to get stung because the insurer thinks there's something iffy going on?

Possibly

I have seen client's genuine claims railroaded into fraud enquiries due to the previous occupants at that postcode being associated with a fraudulent claim.

These databases suck in all kinds of info and even minor issues can red flag a claim at inception to have the insurers take a closer look.

Even if you mess about doing dummy quotes using your neighbour's address, the website you are using will have your IP address, so when you then decide to proceed with a quote even with honest details, if you use the same computer, it will still associate you with the dummy quotes relevant to next door's address.

starrystarry

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

Possibly

I have seen client's genuine claims railroaded into fraud enquiries due to the previous occupants at that postcode being associated with a fraudulent claim.

These databases suck in all kinds of info and even minor issues can red flag a claim at inception to have the insurers take a closer look.

Even if you mess about doing dummy quotes using your neighbour's address, the website you are using will have your IP address, so when you then decide to proceed with a quote even with honest details, if you use the same computer, it will still associate you with the dummy quotes relevant to next door's address.

I'd be very disgruntled if an insurer started doubting my integrity because some random person had been using my address for dummy quotes. If folk want to do dummy quotes using their own details, fair enough, nobody else will suffer. But using someone else's address is not fair.

OnanTheBarbarian

Just blame Quentin, he's been telling everyone to do dummy quotes :rotfl:

That was a joke by the way Q

nobbysn*ts

starrystarry wrote: »

I'd be very disgruntled if an insurer started doubting my integrity because some random person had been using my address for dummy quotes. If folk want to do dummy quotes using their own details, fair enough, nobody else will suffer. But using someone else's address is not fair.

It seems to be a chicken and egg situation, driven by insurers who only see fraud when any question is asked.

OnanTheBarbarian

Insurers have an obsession with fraud and the problem is that nobody vets their data on which they pedal the nonsense of how 7% of claims are allegedly fraudulent. Recently Aviva seemed to concede that it is probably nearer to 1 in 50 claims (2%) yet there will still be an idiot from the ABI welcomed onto a guest slot on a BBC show to pedal the drivel and how £90 or our motor premiums goes to paying fraudulent claims.

They have governments in their pockets and are doing a rip roaring trade in getting laws and statutes changed to please their own financial agenda.

Yes there will be plenty of people who feel that insurers get a raw deal and why are lawyers needed on injury claims and "I would just deal with the insurer of the fault party directly", but the reality is insurers have one loyalty and that is to their shareholders.

Soon there will be a law which states that if any element of a claim has been exaggerated, you get nothing at all. No longer will it be a case of "fundamentally dishonest". "The level of "exaggeration" need not be large either and I will bet my left nut that the insurers will just use this tactic to dodge payments all over the place.

Example, "you said you were off work for 3 weeks, yet it shows you were only off work for 18 days"

I'm not so blind as to say there is not fraud committed, sometimes this is done on an industrial scale by organised gangs and other times it is individuals just over-egging the pudding by claiming for damaged items of property such as phones or lap tops etc, but the insurers frankly have an obsession with it and succeed in influencing public opinion.

Quentin

starrystarry wrote: »

......If folk want to do dummy quotes using their own details, fair enough.......

The whole idea of "dummy" is not to use your own details!

starrystarry

Quentin wrote: »

The whole idea of "dummy" is not to use your own details!

Quite often people will just change one aspect of the quote, so it might be their own name and address with a different DOB, or a fictitious name with various occupations. This doesn't cause problems for anyone other than (potentially) themselves. Using someone else's address might cause problems for the person who lives at that address.

Quentin

starrystarry wrote: »

Using someone else's address might cause problems for the person who lives at that address.

It might.


Who knows, but not a lot anyone can do to stop it!

busiscoming2

So is the best way forward to go to the library or suchlike, use their computers using dummy information and then when you decide who to go with buy from your home pc? Obviously there is still the risk to the 'dummy address owner' but someone may have used yours at some point too.

It all seems a bit silly to me.

[Deleted User]

Might be interesting to do an FOI request on your details from the database, see what they actually have.