Car insurance fraud marker

slug56
slug56 Posts: 3 Newbie
edited 5 January 2018 at 12:35AM in Insurance & life assurance
Hello,

A couple of weeks ago, I sorted out my car insurance for the forthcoming year and my new policy with a well-known insurer started a week ago. Today I received an email stating my insurance will be cancelled on 11th January because a validation check has identified "a change in my circumstances".

I called up and apparently a fraud marker was present against my name because several quotes were done in my name against different addresses. This is apparently called a "New Policy Quote Scam", where fraudsters will find the cheapest postcode and take out their insurance against this.

The catch here is that I did carry out quotes at different addresses in my name, but with (I think) good reason: I'm hoping to be moving house in a couple of months and I wanted an indicative view of how much my insurance might change in price between different areas. Not only this, but I thought an insurance quote would be a good metric to compare different areas. For example, one area came back as £500, whilst another at £2000. Pretty telling. At no point have I attempted to obtain insurance against any address but my own.

I explained this to the company and even offered to share my spreadsheet where I used this information to compare different areas where i might end up living. I explained that I've always taken out car insurance with genuine details and I've never attempted to defraud the system. Unfortunately, the presence of the marker alone is enough for the company not to entertain insuring me (again - they were my insurer last year too) by cancelling this new policy.

I feel extremely bitter, because I've done nothing fraudulent or illegal. I might have made an honest mistake in triggering the fraud flag, but I'm not sure how I was meant to know. The company aren't paying attention to my rationale and say they will refuse to insure me for the next 12 months. The next cheapest insurer for me is £300 more expensive and now I'm worried sick that any company will just turn around and say the same thing, since the quotes were done through a comparison site and thus hitting all of their quote systems.

I feel like I'm being treated as a fraudster when I'm really not. Do I have any ground to stand against their decision to refuse me insurance and you think the financial ombudsman might have anything to say on the matter if I go through their own complaints procedure to no avail?

Thanks.
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Comments

  • BoGoF
    BoGoF Posts: 6,968
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    Not much use to you now but may help others - never use your real details when playing with comparison sites. Create a dummy profile.
  • An insurer had no obligation to insure you so you cannot ‘force’ them to do anything.

    If they are unwilling to listen to your justification then you’ll have to move along to the next one.

    Have you offered to send the m a copy of your driving licence and log book which will show your current address (which is the one I assume is on the policy)?
  • Quentin
    Quentin Posts: 40,405 Forumite
    When completing online quotes you do agree the information given is the truth.

    Clearly yours wasn't if you stated different addresses where the car would be kept.

    There is no reason why you shouldn't try to get this removed from the record by trying s complaint which you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication if you are unhappy with the reply or they ignore you for 8 weeks.

    As cancelled policies usually have to be disclosed for evermore it's worth trying anything to get it reinstated.

    In the meantime you do need to disclose this to any new insurer you approach now, and as most online off the peg insurers generally won't quote with this in your history you could try a local broker ( not Swinton) to see if they are able to get cover for you
  • Man that's pretty harsh. I get why they'd flag it but seemingly not listening to what is imo a justified explanation is harsh.
  • Sparx
    Sparx Posts: 909
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    Very harsh OP indeed - I think you have perfectly reasonable explanation for what you was looking to achieve.

    I would ask to log a formal complaint and follow this through to the FOS if necessary.
  • Thanks all for the great advice. Here's a bit of an update: I wrote a lengthy email explaining the whole situation and attached some evidence to back up my claims. I emailed it to the senior person from who my automated cancellation email was signed off. I also copied in the CEO... I then also sent it to the person who originally dealt with me and to the underwriters directly.

    This got me a near instantaneous reply saying my case would be looked in to. I got a phone call saying there was still little that could be done, but I persisted and eventually they agreed to continue with my insurance cover. I think what changed their minds was being able to show them how I'd used the quote information in the spreadsheet that I'd created.

    I've had to do a lot of pleading and grovelling but I'm incredibly releived that my insurance will not be cancelled. That would have been too much stress and cost!

    Thanks again for all the help and comments.
  • Sparx
    Sparx Posts: 909
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    Happy days! They were stupid in the first place. You could've gone to the FOS anyway.

    They likely knew they would lose based on their daft assumptions and trigger happy processes.
  • BoGoF wrote: »
    Not much use to you now but may help others - never use your real details when playing with comparison sites. Create a dummy profile.

    I have not found that works. They have ways of validating information and if you try and get a quote for 'Fred Flintstone' then the quotes come back much more expensive than with genuine names and addresses.

    The OPs position raises an interesting question of what happens if someone else uses your name and address for quotes and gets you a fraud marker? Good idea for a vindictive neighbour.
  • Dandytf
    Dandytf Posts: 4,795
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    I’m considering changing providers since I was advised a marker was placed by another provider after I forgot to add a non fault claim last year.
    Another provider has since advised over tel recently that if I add the non fault claim to quote then it won’t be cancelled.
    Replenished CRA Reports.2015 Zoe i nav -67-131 miles top charge. Savings depleted. VM Stream tv M250 Volted to M350 then M500.
  • Comms69
    Comms69 Posts: 14,229
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    I have not found that works. They have ways of validating information and if you try and get a quote for 'Fred Flintstone' then the quotes come back much more expensive than with genuine names and addresses.

    The OPs position raises an interesting question of what happens if someone else uses your name and address for quotes and gets you a fraud marker? Good idea for a vindictive neighbour.



    But the OP wanted an indication, which is what you get with a fake profile.
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