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UPDATED : Car insurance claim which is not mine!

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Felicityxx
Felicityxx Posts: 6 Forumite
edited 27 January 2016 at 11:09PM in Motoring
Hi everyone,

I'm a fairly new driver and have had my licence for 3-4 years. In my time driving, I have had no accidents and consequently have my full no claims bonus. I have a twin sister who also drives and she has had an accident in her car which was her fault and she claimed on her insurance for the accident. My sister and I have never shared a car or been on each other's insurance.

On the 11th January my car insurance was up for renewal so I went onto a price comparison website and chose RAC based on their quote and their reputable brand name. I paid annually and thought nothing else of it. Three days later I received a letter in the post from RAC stating that I RAC had been made aware of a claim about an accident which I had failed to tell them about. I was very confused when I read this and it turns out that the car accident claim was my twin sisters, not mine! RAC stated that they gained the information from Tesco car insurance (who myself and my sister have been insured with). I phoned Tesco and asked them to check their records about my insurance and they said that they had no information held about any claims and they forwarded me the confirmation of my no claims bonus.

I phoned RAC and explained the situation with Tesco, RAC maintained that the information they have is from Tesco and is correct. I said that obviously a mistake has been made and it was my twin sister who had the accident in HER car which has nothing to do with me, they must have interpreted the data incorrectly. They then said, maybe I was driving the car as we are twins. Which is simply unbelievable and discrimination! The adviser would not accept that they made a mistake and was unwilling to help any further. I then told them to cancel my insurance and to refund my money back in full. I still haven't received my money back.

Today I received a letter from RAC stating my cancellation of the policy and in the back of the letter, it declares that I have had an accident.

I would recommend that nobody goes with RAC with car insurance due to their incompetency and unwillingness to assist their customers.

UPDATE ...

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately the saga continues! I have complained to RAC who are investigating my complaint and phoned me yesterday. They said that they have checked the CUE database and are adament that Tesco have I putted the my twin sisters claim under my name. They told me to contact Tesco and ask them to amend the database entry. I emailed Tesco today and they have sent me two screenshots from the CUE database. One showing that I have had no claims and another showing that my twin sister has one claim. Therefore, I'm right in thinking that RAC are totally incompetent and have made an error.

This whole situation has caused me such stress and upset and I am at the end of my tether with it! After this has been sorted, I am thinking about putting in a claim for compensation. Am I right in saying that due to RAC sending me documents with an inaccurate claim on and adding a premium to my policy, this is a form of libel? And of course the slanderous remarks assuming that as my sister and I are twins, we would share the same car?

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
«13

Comments

  • Marktheshark
    Marktheshark Posts: 5,841 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Your cancellation or they have cancelled, if they have cancelled it you will be lucky to get any insurance.
    Start the official complaints procedure in writing ONLY by certified post.
    Send the complaint to RAC insurance and ask if they are not going to deal with it to issue a deadlock notice so it can be taken to the ombudsman which is the method you prefer as the service they provided fell well short.
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  • rudekid48
    rudekid48 Posts: 2,382 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    It's not the RAC that you're dealing with - it's BISL (Budget Insurance).
    All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.
  • Your cancellation or they have cancelled, if they have cancelled it you will be lucky to get any insurance.
    Start the official complaints procedure in writing ONLY by certified post.
    Send the complaint to RAC insurance and ask if they are not going to deal with it to issue a deadlock notice so it can be taken to the ombudsman which is the method you prefer as the service they provided fell well short.

    I cancelled the insurance with RAC as they would not admit to their mistake and wanted to increase my insurance premium due to the claim. Thanks for the advice,much appreciated.
  • Mercdriver
    Mercdriver Posts: 3,898 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Felicityxx wrote: »
    I cancelled the insurance with RAC as they would not admit to their mistake and wanted to increase my insurance premium due to the claim. Thanks for the advice,much appreciated.


    Be very careful. Do you have a record of when you called and who you spoke with? I would be asking (in writing, enclosing £10) under data protection for the transcripts of all the calls you have made in regard to this and the file of information they hold on you.

    Then I would proceed to make a formal complaint. This could end very messy for you if you take out cover with someone else and BISL decide to say that they cancelled your insurance. If they do so you could find yourself getting caught driving with no insurance, which carries heavy penalties and also will affect your ability to hire a car (Avis and others won't hire to people who are guilty of any insurance endorsements).

    From your version of events, you are in the right, but all this will be dealt with much more smoothly if you have everything in writing and the paper trail covered. The accusation of impersonating your sister is a serious allegation and is slanderous. I'd be inclined to get all the information the transcripts before you make any accusations to ensure the recordings don't get 'lost'.

    Then I would write a formal complaint saying that you will take it to the FSA. It will cost the insurance company money even if they don't find for you.

    If you do find yourself in a pickle having been stopped as a result of an ANPR check (many people have been in similar circumstances where their insurance has been withdrawn without formal notice being received), then this will assist in a Significant Reason Not to Endorse, or to get the CPS to drop it as not in public interest. Driving without insurance is a strict liability offence - you are either insured or not, and your only saving grace is to convince the CPS that it is not in the public interest to prosecute you, or to convince the court that there are significant reasons not to endorse your licence, though you would still be technically guilty of the offence.
  • mb101_2
    mb101_2 Posts: 23 Forumite
    Felicityxx wrote: »
    Today I received a letter from RAC stating my cancellation of the policy and in the back of the letter, it declares that I have had an accident.

    This sounds potentially like a big and expensive problem, which is what others are also saying.

    You may say that you verbally told them to cancel the policy, but this sounds more like they may have recorded this (on MID, I think) as them having cancelled your policy due to you having made an incorrect declaration.

    This could push your future premiums up massively. You need to sort this out as a matter of priority and kick up an almighty fuss if necessary. I don't want to alarm you, but if this has happened, there are stories of people having an absolute nightmare getting it corrected.

    If possible, get the call listened to in which they made random accusations such as claiming you could have been driving the car instead of your twin sister. This call should have been recorded and would play particularly badly with the ombudsman (or one of the media consumer champions, should you have to take it that far).

    Raise a complaint immediately, regardless.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Twins. So same date of birth.
    Same surname, at a guess?
    Are you the same gender?
    Is there a risk of confusion between your initials?

    You can, I'm sure, see how such confusion could arise.
  • rudekid48
    rudekid48 Posts: 2,382 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    Mercdriver wrote: »


    Then I would write a formal complaint saying that you will take it to the FSA. It will cost the insurance company money even if they don't find for you.

    .

    The Food Standards Agency would be of no help in this situation!


    The documentation that you received from BISL should contain their complaints procedure. A letter headed 'Formal Complaint' will start the clock ticking. They then have 8 weeks to supply you with a final response. Once this is received (or 8 weeks have passed) you can then escalate to the FOS (Financial Ombudsman Service) at no cost to you for adjudication. This is not a quick process though and can take many months to resolve. As others have said, make sure that you keep a paper trail of all correspondence so far.
    All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.
  • I'm having similar problems with RAC who I have just changed to, they are saying there is a record of a claim being made by me on the CUE database. The other insurer confirms they have not logged a claim on the database, currently awaiting a response from RAC about it as I am only dealing with them in writing from now on.
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  • Mercdriver
    Mercdriver Posts: 3,898 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    rudekid48 wrote: »
    The Food Standards Agency would be of no help in this situation!


    The documentation that you received from BISL should contain their complaints procedure. A letter headed 'Formal Complaint' will start the clock ticking. They then have 8 weeks to supply you with a final response. Once this is received (or 8 weeks have passed) you can then escalate to the FOS (Financial Ombudsman Service) at no cost to you for adjudication. This is not a quick process though and can take many months to resolve. As others have said, make sure that you keep a paper trail of all correspondence so far.

    Fine, so as someone who used to sell insurance I retreated into the old name, but the advice is still accurate even if the Financial Services Authority has ben replaced by the FOS...
  • Quentin
    Quentin Posts: 40,405 Forumite
    Mercdriver wrote: »
    , but the advice is still accurate even if the Financial Services Authority has ben replaced by the FOS...
    Well.....this bit is inaccurate


    The FSA has been replaced by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority)


    (FOS is the ombudsman - The FSA didn't deal with individual complaints from customers and neither does the replacement FCA)
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