False information posted on CUE database

recordman

Good morning.

In April this year I received a notification from my car insurer that they had been informed by another insurer that my car was involved in an accident in Dec 2022 and asked me to provide information.

I contacted them immediately stating that neither my car or I had been involved in any such accident. No photographic evidence was provided by the third party or their insurer. As requested by them I provided them with photos of my car showing that it was undamaged, I confirmed that I had no objection to my car being inspected by an engineer and that I would be prepared to attend court if required. I didn't hear anything further and just carried on with my life.

The problem came when the renewal of my policy became due in October. I trawled the comparison sites for the best deal and settled on one and bought it (around 23 days before expiry!). A few days later I received an email from the new insurer telling me that although upon purchase of the new policy I declared I had no claims etc within the past 5 years, there was a record on the CUE database that there was a claim/loss against me in Dec 22. If I thought that this was incorrect they suggested I contact my previous insurer and have it removed from the database. If I agreed that it was correct, that would be fine, they would just charge my card with something like an extra £200!

Obviously, I contacted my previous insurer and they refused to remove the record from CUE (despite there being no claim from me or them not paying out anything). saying that it is 'Industry Standard' for such unsettled claims to be recorded to reflect the worse case scenario. They will only remove it if there is no response from the third party insurer after a min of 6 months. As there was no point in me attempting to buy insurance based on my true claims record from elsewhere I ended up renewing with the previous insurer as it was the cheapest option.

It was well be 'Industry Standard' but that doesn't mean that it's correct behaviour to be penalised for something that was nothing whatsoever to do with me. I would welcome other people's thoughts and thanks for reading! 

Nobbie1967

Will your current insurer reimburse the extra if the incident is removed from the database? Seems only fair.

DullGreyGuy

You have had a claim made against you, it's been settled with nil outlay (or token fees if they outsource claims) and as non-fault. 

Unfortunately as per the innocent parked car that gets side swiped by a careless driver but who fortunately stops and leaves their details you have a record of a claim that has to be declared going forward. Many insurers won't charge for a single non-fault claim but some do. Obviously having made the mistake of not declaring it you appear to have landed with a firm that does take exception to non-fault claims. 

recordman

Thanks for your replies.

I did ask for reimbursement and was told 'no'. If I wanted to pursue the matter further I'd have to go to the Ombudsman.

Of course I didn't make the mistake of not declaring it, because as far as I was concerned it didn't exist. One of my complaints against my insurer was that they didn't inform me that the matter would be recorded on a database and the adverse effect it would have on me obtaining a renewal at a price that I'm entitled to.

Wonka_2

recordman said:

I did ask for reimbursement and was told 'no'. If I wanted to pursue the matter further I'd have to go to the Ombudsman.

In which case if you're absolutely certain of your non-involvement then go to the ombudsman and settle it that way

recordman

Wonka_2 said:

recordman said:

I did ask for reimbursement and was told 'no'. If I wanted to pursue the matter further I'd have to go to the Ombudsman.

In which case if you're absolutely certain of your non-involvement then go to the ombudsman and settle it that way

This is something that I'll do, but I'm keen to find out if this situation is commonplace and whether anyone here had any experience of taking the matter to the Ombudsman and the outcome.

Car_54

OP, first of all, you need to exhaust the insurer's formal complaint process before the Ombudsman will take on the case.

AIUI the insurer has done nothing wrong. There was a claim, it has not yet been settled, and they have correctly recoded it. You said "They will only remove it if there is no response from the third party insurer after a min of 6 months", which seems reasonable. You need to chase them after six months.

sheramber

Car_54 said:

OP, first of all, you need to exhaust the insurer's formal complaint process before the Ombudsman will take on the case.

AIUI the insurer has done nothing wrong. There was a claim, it has not yet been settled, and they have correctly recoded it. You said "They will only remove it if there is no response from the third party insurer after a min of 6 months", which seems reasonable. You need to chase them after six months.

If the claim was made in April surely more than 6 months has passed.

sevenhills

recordman said:

Of course I didn't make the mistake of not declaring it, because as far as I was concerned it didn't exist. One of my complaints against my insurer was that they didn't inform me that the matter would be recorded on a database and the adverse effect it would have on me obtaining a renewal at a price that I'm entitled to.

It could have been a typing error, inputting one digit wrong, but you did have a claim.

I had a similar issue with a red light offense, the police read a number plate, that was blurred. The police must have thought it was worth a guess!

Car_54

sheramber said:

Car_54 said:

OP, first of all, you need to exhaust the insurer's formal complaint process before the Ombudsman will take on the case.

AIUI the insurer has done nothing wrong. There was a claim, it has not yet been settled, and they have correctly recoded it. You said "They will only remove it if there is no response from the third party insurer after a min of 6 months", which seems reasonable. You need to chase them after six months.

If the claim was made in April surely more than 6 months has passed.

I imagine they mean six months from whatever enquiry they’ve made.

DullGreyGuy

recordman said:

Wonka_2 said:

recordman said:

I did ask for reimbursement and was told 'no'. If I wanted to pursue the matter further I'd have to go to the Ombudsman.

In which case if you're absolutely certain of your non-involvement then go to the ombudsman and settle it that way

This is something that I'll do, but I'm keen to find out if this situation is commonplace and whether anyone here had any experience of taking the matter to the Ombudsman and the outcome.

Happens with every insurer I've worked on Motor for... you'd need to search the Financial Ombudsman database to see the outcome of complaints. Remember many unhappy customers but none that went to the ombudsman after but then we didn't increase premiums for a single non-fault claim and so there was no financial loss to claim back. If you choose to go elsewhere and they do load premiums for non-declared non-fault claims then thats not on us. 

 This ranged from cases where our PH was at the scene but denied being the cause of the accident and cases where our PH could prove their car wasn't even in the country at the time of the incident.

Can't think of concise search term to use on the FOS db and so it will be a lot of leg work