Swiftcover to auto check claims history at start of policy.

[Stu - B]

Quote from Swiftcover "The Axa-owned motor insurer is claiming that it is to become the first company in the UK to automatically check the claims histories of motor insurance applicants".

Surprised it has not been done before.

[sjg]

Likewise. Although I wonder if I (and others) will get caught out when insurers ask the value of a claim - how would I know? The car gets picked up, you're given a courtesy car, a few weeks later you're given it back. The bill goes to the insurer, I've never seen it.

I've always either guessed or just put the amount of my excess.

[Papa Hotel]

I've often wondered why they didn't do this anyway... I suppose it gave then room to wriggle out of bad policies?

[Deva Link]

I suppose because most people don't claim, so they only checked when the needed to, rather than checking everyone. I imagine also, that the IT required to do this between every insurance company is not infallible.

[7 Sevens]

They wouldn't need to wriggle out of bad policies if they never took them on in the first place would they?

I think you will find that most of the policy/quote systems aren't linked to their or national claims systems/databases so at the point of sale its done on trust. It's going to discourage those with something to hide which can only be a good thing for the honest customers?

I agree about the past claim value. I wouldn't expect many people to know this.

[Papa Hotel]

7 Sevens said:

They wouldn't need to wriggle out of bad policies if they never took them on in the first place would they?

Quite right... That's why I expressed my wonder at them never checking before.

Currently - take anyone on, they pay money. If they crash, the insurance company looks for a get-out.

My point was they wouldn't have that get-out if they checked everyone's history.

[Laurel Green]

A good thing IMO. It is easy to forget a claim has been made (windscreen for instance) when filling out an insurance application, then have trouble dealing with a claim because of such. Takes away user-error so to speak.

[Jebi]

Papa Hotel said:

I've often wondered why they didn't do this anyway... I suppose it gave them room to wriggle out of paying out in the event of a claim

EFA

[croyde]

When checking out other companies when my car's insurance was due for renewal the cheapest quoting company flagged up a non fault claim that I had not revealed, due to me thinking it was not claim as I had done all the work and had not involved my insurance company, so it seems that they do know.

[ZOLLAR]

Do they mean at quote stage or when the policy is accepted and paid for?, if its the latter company i work for has been doing that for years via the CUE database and im sure other companies do too.
As it would usually affect the price it gives the policyholder a choice whether to take at the new premium or continue searching else where.
Op do you have a link to where swift have announced this?.

[frosted]

Funny how direct line told me that I had a prang in 2007 that I forgot to declare . Being non fault I thought I'll just not declare it , but they knew

[KB_S1]

Laurel Green said:

A good thing IMO. It is easy to forget a claim has been made (windscreen for instance) when filling out an insurance application, then have trouble dealing with a claim because of such. Takes away user-error so to speak.

Windscreen shouldn't affect your NCB.
I had two windscreen replacements over 3 years and neither was counted as a claim.

[blueST]

I've just moved to Admiral and they knew both our claim histories from two different insurance companies. It should make the quote process quicker but they waited for me to declare everything before they told me they already knew

[Laurel Green]

KB_S1 said:

Laurel Green said:

A good thing IMO. It is easy to forget a claim has been made (windscreen for instance) when filling out an insurance application, then have trouble dealing with a claim because of such. Takes away user-error so to speak.

Windscreen shouldn't affect your NCB.
I had two windscreen replacements over 3 years and neither was counted as a claim.

Agree but, believe one still has to declare them.

[ZOLLAR]

blueST said:

I've just moved to Admiral and they knew both our claim histories from two different insurance companies. It should make the quote process quicker but they waited for me to declare everything before they told me they already knew

The check they do via CUE is only done once the application for a policy is submitted, by this point you would have already declared any claims.

[Stu - B]

ZOLLAR said:

Do they mean at quote stage or when the policy is accepted and paid for?, if its the latter company i work for has been doing that for years via the CUE database and im sure other companies do too.
As it would usually affect the price it gives the policyholder a choice whether to take at the new premium or continue searching else where.
Op do you have a link to where swift have announced this?.

Sorry no. Info blatantly nicked from the Insurance Age broker forum.