Other parties insurance selling my details...

Citizen-of-Sheldonopolis

Hi, I hope you can offer some advice.

Long story short:

I had a bump - I ran into the back of someone. It was my fault.

The claim still isn't sorted - he's claiming injury so I think this can take a while. But...

Since the bump, I receive 5 or 6 phone calls a day from 'I want to offer you compensation for your accident' companies - one in particular. I have told them I'm not interested. I've told them to leave me alone. I've told them to remove my details from their database.

My insurance company thinks that his insurance company have 'sold my details'. Can they do this? It's ridiculous - some of the calls are bordering aggressive and harassing. Somehow they have my details, my parents details ( as they were on the insurance, too, I guess), my address and more.

Advice, please?

Johno100

It might be the other persons insurance company (but why have or need your telephone number is another question).

Or it could by any of the many people who have had an involvement in your accident, including (not all may apply in your case).

- The recovery truck/company who recovered your vehicle;
- The garage/garage employee where your vehicle was taken;
- The motor engineer instructed by your insurers to examine the vehicle;
- Any independent specialist in the repair process of your vehicle from welder to paint sprayer;
- Your insurer or one of it's employees, acting shall we say 'freelance'
- Any provider of legal protection;
- If you had been entitled to a hire car, them as well.

I doubt you will ever find out, so just deal with the calls the best you can.

Mercdriver

I'm having similar issues thanks to a valet driver at Heathrow catching the bumper on my wife's car 2 years ago. I was the point of call throughout the period. I get 2/3 calls a day all naming this particular incident. I have been in contact with everyone involved with the claim. APCOA who run Heathrow's car parks, their insurers, also Kindertons who were the people who handled the claim and supplied the car themselves, and the BMW garage where the car was repaired. None of them would dream of passing my details on.

They will call apparently from Drumnadrochit and then call back afterwards from Portree. Despite being in two opposite ends of the Highlands, it is the same person on the end of the phone.

One guy threatened to sue me saying that I'd accused him of soliciting legal claims (ummm isn't that what they actually do?) he then said that I had called him - my phone clearly showed that he was the caller, which I made him aware of. He then said that he was going to report me to the police as I was being discriminatory to the disabled. I asked him how, and he said that he couldn't have called me as he had no arms.

Some of them accept "not interested" but most will not listen and will call back from different numbers from different dialing areas. They are clearly using proxy calling numbers. They are basically where all the dodgy sales people have gone. Many are downright rude. They start off by saying they have great news for me and finish by swearing.

InsideInsurance

I've not been in an accident for 6 years and still get that sort of numbers of calls/ texts.

Its fairly unlikely its the TPI that has sold your details, after all your held at fault for the accident so no prospects unless you had passengers and then its the passengers they'd want contact details of not you.

Its more likely either to be random or one of the other people in the supply chain.

These companies use the same techniques as (fake) mediums though as the majority have no info about you at all other than a phone number but their questioning technique means you a) think they do and b) get you to give them all the details. ie they call up and say they're calling "about your accident" and you answer "you mean the car cash last month?"

Citizen-of-Sheldonopolis

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I've not been in an accident for 6 years and still get that sort of numbers of calls/ texts.

Its fairly unlikely its the TPI that has sold your details, after all your held at fault for the accident so no prospects unless you had passengers and then its the passengers they'd want contact details of not you.

Its more likely either to be random or one of the other people in the supply chain.

These companies use the same techniques as (fake) mediums though as the majority have no info about you at all other than a phone number but their questioning technique means you a) think they do and b) get you to give them all the details. ie they call up and say they're calling "about your accident" and you answer "you mean the car cash last month?"

No, this one company in particular had ALL the details, with no prompting from me at all. It can only have come from the TPI. Is there an official body I can lodge a formal complaint with?

InsideInsurance

Citizen-of-Sheldonopolis wrote: »

No, this one company in particular had ALL the details, with no prompting from me at all. It can only have come from the TPI. Is there an official body I can lodge a formal complaint with?

You'd need to complain to them first and then escalate to the ICO (https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/raising-concerns/) if you are unhappy with their response as they control enforcement of the Data Protection Act and you'd be barred from using the FOS as you arent a customer of the insurer.

Annemarie123

I had a minor no fault accident 18 months ago, no one was injured although about £400 worth of damage was caused to the car. Since then I have been harassed by a number of companies, all of whom had details of the accident and all have the same story. Apparently by law insurance companies have to set aside a sum of money for injury claims for 3 years after which it goes back to them. All I have to do is to claim that I suffered some 'discomfort' as I might as well have the money. I refuse to lie about this. I have been told that I will continue to be contacted by these companies for the three years so it would be better if I claimed the money to close the 'case' and stop the harassment. There is clearly something very wrong with the law if this is legal and I wonder what course of action I can take.

AdrianC

Stop engaging with them. Stop telling them to go away. Stop telling them you're not interested.

Just don't answer the calls and, if you do, just hang up as soon as you realise what they are.

Aretnap

"I do not deal with cold callers. Please do not call this number again." Then hang up. Do not say anything more. Do not listen to what they say next. Just hang up. Works for me.

Also make sure you're registered with the Telephone Preference Service to reduce the number of cold calls you get. It won't eliminate them entirely - the outright scam artists are based abroad, beyond the reach of British law - but semi-respectable cold callers (if such a creature exists) will go away.