Incorrect info on CUE database

[recordman]

In April 2023 my insurer emailed me to say that they'd been informed by another insurance Co that my car was involved in an accident in Dec 22.

This was an incorrect allegation, neither my car or I was involved in any incident and I informed my insurer accordingly and I didn't hear anything further.

My policy is due to expire early next month and I've been searching for competitive premiums and selected one through one of the comparison sites. I declared that I have no convictions, claims etc and bought a new policy online. Two days later the new company informed me that they have discovered that I have a fault claim/loss lodged against me on the CUE database and they've repriced the premium to take this into account.

I immediately contacted my current insurer to get them to remove the incorrect information from the CUE database. They've refused, saying that they need to allow 6 months from the date of their last communication with the other insurers and that the 6 months expires on Nov 2. Despite the fact that their declaration on CUE that I have a fault/loss against me is incorrect, they are adamant that they can't remove it until then or until the other insurer drops the allegation. They are phoning and emailing the other insurer but they do not get any response. I too have tried contacting the other insurance Co. without success.

This is causing me to pay more for insurance than I should, any ideas what steps I can take to get this matter resolved without further delay?

[QBee]

Take them to court for the difference?

[eeLee]

escalate at the insurance company and mention GDPR. In the end, your data is being used wrongly (invalid claim) and is inaccurate (which you have pointed out).

There is also an ombudsman that you can go to but I would assume you have to escalate through the company first.

[recordman]

Appreciate your advice.

Have escalated it with my insurer and cited breach of GDPR regs as they did not inform me that they were sharing my (false) information on the CUE DB.

I'll see what happens.

[Trax]

Sounds right, they wait for 6 months to make sure the 3rd party doesn't complete the claim. The other party may come back and make a claim, pursue through court etc taking years..... (hopefully not!) its a bit crap, but that's how it is.

So make sure they remove it after 6 months, then contact your new insurer so they can recalculate the premium without it being there.

[Retroman]

Trax said:

So make sure they remove it after 6 months, then contact your new insurer so they can recalculate the premium without it being there.

There's several problems i personally have with this.

The recalculation 6 months later, might not reflect how much the policy would have been at inception without the false claim allegations.
The insurance company are unlikely to issue a pro rata refund for the 6 months increased premium whilst the false claim allegation was showing.
Some insurance companies may be unable to adjust the policy mid term so to get the cheaper premium they would need to issue a new policy meaning loss of 6 months accumulated NCB

[recordman]

Retroman said:

Trax said:

So make sure they remove it after 6 months, then contact your new insurer so they can recalculate the premium without it being there.

There's several problems i personally have with this.

The recalculation 6 months later, might not reflect how much the policy would have been at inception without the false claim allegations.
The insurance company are unlikely to issue a pro rata refund for the 6 months increased premium whilst the false claim allegation was showing.
Some insurance companies may be unable to adjust the policy mid term so to get the cheaper premium they would need to issue a new policy meaning loss of 6 months accumulated NCB

When the new insurer told me about their revised premium I cancelled the new policy (it hadn't started, so getting a full refund) for exactly the reason you've outlined. When the false claim is removed from the DB they said that they would recalculate the premium, but there would be no guarantee that it would be reduced to the original quote. I think we can take that to mean 'no chance'!

I've still got a couple of weeks before my current policy expires, but that is before Nov 2 which is the end of the 6 months. If the position is unchanged at expiry and the extra premium is excessive I'll SORN the car until after Nov 2. Crazy!

[Stillstand]

Had a very similar scenario last year that caused me a few issue this year when I changed car.

I had some keys stolen from another car for my car, I called my insurance to see if I had key cover - I didn't and left it at that. Unknown to me, they logged it as an non-fault claim with zero value on CUE, but they made a mistake and it was assigned as a multi-car collision at fault.

I ran into the same issue when taking out my latest policy - put down no claims and then got a demand to pay the balance because of non-disclosed CUE topic.

In the end, I called the old insurer and they updated the database without issue and the problem was resolved - but not without a lot of chasing and hassle on my side.

Good luck.

[Trax]

recordman said:

When the new insurer told me about their revised premium I cancelled the new policy (it hadn't started, so getting a full refund) for exactly the reason you've outlined. When the false claim is removed from the DB they said that they would recalculate the premium, but there would be no guarantee that it would be reduced to the original quote. I think we can take that to mean 'no chance'!

I've still got a couple of weeks before my current policy expires, but that is before Nov 2 which is the end of the 6 months. If the position is unchanged at expiry and the extra premium is excessive I'll SORN the car until after Nov 2. Crazy!

I agree it is crazy, but what's recorded on the DB is accurate at the moment. Your insurers have received an allegation (I'm assuming this from your post), so currently you have an open claim on your policy, as this hasn't been resolved, i.e. 3rd party withdraw claim, don't respond to communication, or your insurer win in court as the claim has no merit. The last would be worse case scenario as that could take years.

Until this 'potential' claim goes away, it will affect renewals, unfortunately, but your insurer has to act on the claim made against you.

[recordman]

Trax said:

I agree it is crazy, but what's recorded on the DB is accurate at the moment. Your insurers have received an allegation (I'm assuming this from your post), so currently you have an open claim on your policy, as this hasn't been resolved, i.e. 3rd party withdraw claim, don't respond to communication, or your insurer win in court as the claim has no merit. The last would be worse case scenario as that could take years.

Until this 'potential' claim goes away, it will affect renewals, unfortunately, but your insurer has to act on the claim made against you.

Thanks. What I find annoying is that the record on the DB says that as well as there being a claim it also says that there's a loss, which is not true.

[QBee]

I had a not dissimilar issue with credit referencing agencies when i moved house, due to a post code muckup.
It took a while to resove, but I have to say that Experian were very receptive and helpful.