Incorrect data held on insurance database

EquiBabe_64

Hi

In August 2023 my husband had an accident on the A20 in France.  A deer crossed the carriageway at 6.00am and he swerved to miss it, causing him to lose control of his van and write it off in the verge at the edge of the hard shoulder.  There was no other vehicle involved. My husband arranged and paid for transport off the Autoroute and the vehicle was delivered to a storage facility.

His insurance company was informed and they advised that the claim would be dealt with. The van was full of his tools and a motorbike, as he had been working on our house in France.  As a point of note, he called his insurance company each time that he planned to travel to France and was told, each time that it was no longer necessary to inform them of the trip as there was a new agreement in place since the Brexit deal.

Almost 3 weeks later, with the vehicle still in storage in France and the insurance company saying the they would pay for re-patriation of the contents, we had to purchase a replacement van and drive over to collect his tools etc as he was unable to work without them.  The insurance company was informed that we were going to collect his items.  The day we arrived back in UK, having left the written off van in France, the insurance company called to say that they would not uphold the claim as they weren't informed that the vehicle was leaving the country.

After much negotiation, they finally agreed to settle the cost of the storage, as it was down to them that it had been in storage for that length of time.  Had they said during the very first call that they would not pay out, my husband would have had the van scrapped then and there and not incurred storage costs.

Fast forward 2 years and trying to shop around for a better deal for his insurance, it appears that the insurers from 2023 have put on the database that a claim was fully settled in August 2023.  This is blatantly not true.  They have only paid for storage of the vehicle and then only because they were responsible for it being in storage in the first place.

The above means that my husband is now penalised as his premium is nearly £1k due to this erroneous addition to the database.  They have point-blank refused to change it from full payment of claim.

Any ideas, good MSE folk?

dunstonh

Fast forward 2 years and trying to shop around for a better deal for his insurance, it appears that the insurers from 2023 have put on the database that a claim was fully settled in August 2023.  This is blatantly not true.  They have only paid for storage of the vehicle and then only because they were responsible for it being in storage in the first place.

How is it erroneous?
The incident happened, and dealings have settled (i.e. closed). So, you would expect any quote your husband has to include the declaration of the incident.

MyRealNameToo

EquiBabe_64 said:

In August 2023 my husband had an accident on the A20 in France.  A deer crossed the carriageway at 6.00am and he swerved to miss it, causing him to lose control of his van and write it off in the verge at the edge of the hard shoulder.  There was no other vehicle involved. My husband arranged and paid for transport off the Autoroute and the vehicle was delivered to a storage facility.

His insurance company was informed and they advised that the claim would be dealt with. The van was full of his tools and a motorbike, as he had been working on our house in France.  As a point of note, he called his insurance company each time that he planned to travel to France and was told, each time that it was no longer necessary to inform them of the trip as there was a new agreement in place since the Brexit deal.

Almost 3 weeks later, with the vehicle still in storage in France and the insurance company saying the they would pay for re-patriation of the contents, we had to purchase a replacement van and drive over to collect his tools etc as he was unable to work without them.  The insurance company was informed that we were going to collect his items.  The day we arrived back in UK, having left the written off van in France, the insurance company called to say that they would not uphold the claim as they weren't informed that the vehicle was leaving the country.

After much negotiation, they finally agreed to settle the cost of the storage, as it was down to them that it had been in storage for that length of time.  Had they said during the very first call that they would not pay out, my husband would have had the van scrapped then and there and not incurred storage costs.

Fast forward 2 years and trying to shop around for a better deal for his insurance, it appears that the insurers from 2023 have put on the database that a claim was fully settled in August 2023.  This is blatantly not true.  They have only paid for storage of the vehicle and then only because they were responsible for it being in storage in the first place.

The above means that my husband is now penalised as his premium is nearly £1k due to this erroneous addition to the database.  They have point-blank refused to change it from full payment of claim.

Any ideas, good MSE folk?

Before and after Brexit insurance issued in the UK had to meet the minimum standards of cover in other EEA countries which broadly speaking is very similar to TPO cover so if you are happy with this then you dont need to inform them. TPO for the avoidance of doubt only covers your liability to third parties, there is no cover for the own vehicle. 

Some insurers go further and offer Comp cover in the EEA automatically, many dont and will charge to upgrade the cover if you want it and in principle there is no requirement for them to offer comp cover overseas but most do. 

Have you actually checked the policy book and what it states about cover in France? 

Assuming it was a TPO only cover then paying for storage is going beyond what they were required to do and notification to CUE is based on that not if every single loss is paid or not. At the end of the day the incident has to be declared anyway, because it was reported to the insurer it will be in CUE and so not declaring it would be very high risk. 

So did you declare it? If so how did you answer the questions? If you "forgot" to declare it then it's more likely to be the cause of a problem than if you had declared it but in a different way to what they are seeing. 

born_again

Which would you rather have a closed claim or a ongoing one?

Did you not log a complaint at the time in 23 over the time taken to deal?

XRS200

Are you sure it said 'fully settled'.  I haven't seen CUE for a while but it used to say open or closed/settled.  If it is closed/settled with an amount shown, it sounds correct.