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Insurance databases

Malc2098

Malc2098

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Location
Tiverton
Name
Malcolm
You've all heard that the Police and others can tell if a car's insured online and quickly, just like they can tell if it's taxed out not, so we don't have the have the old VEL in the window anymore, but has it occurred to anyone what happens if somebody gets the information wrong while entering it into these databases. And do these organisations have error capture process to ensure that erroneous data isn't stored?

In fact, I found an online site today that I was able to see that my car is insured.

Well Mrs M2098 and I were about to rationalise our cars, 2 into 1, by part exchanging them both for one newer model. I think you all knew I fancied the Skoda. The main dealer who was to sell us the 16 plate Yeti was all ready to do the deal with us, we had accepted their offer for the value of our two cars, when he dropped the bombshell.

Mrs M2098's car was a write off. It's there on the HPI check - written off in 2013. So it must be true. We are not prepared to accept it in PX.

She bought the car new from a main dealer in 2009 and it had 2 dings in two doors while parked, once in supermarket car park and once at work and on both occasions the owners, bless then, owned up and their Insurers paid for the little dents to be repaired and repainted.

But never written off!!

So how would you resolve this?
 
The trade in offered by my local skoda dealer was well under the cars value. I couldn't be bothered to sell privately and didn't believe the high price offered by we buy any car (apparently they knock you down when they see the car). So I drove it to a local small used car lot and asked what they would give me for it - £300 more than the dealer and 200 less than the we buy offer. Money in my account instantly.

So maybe try somewhere else before trying to fix the info..

edit..

just to add this is where i got my car from -

https://www.new-car-discount.com/car/sk ... te/all/all

That's a link to the yeti page if you want to compare buying new at a discount. Mine is a Superb.
 
Contact your insurance, they will be able to see the same info and tell you who and when it was written off by. They will probably have a process to assist in resolving it too.

In fact I have a friend in the auto insurance business, I will ask him for you.

Cheers
Mark
 
Thanks, Robert, the deal's been done and the situation resolved. They offered us a fair price for both vehicles and I considered fair the price they were asking for a 7m old 7k miles car.

Mark, thanks. There's the rub. No-one will tell you which insurance company put it on there due to data protection!! Never mind the fact that the innocent registered keeper's data needs protecting!

She spent 3 days on the phone speaking to HBI, the insurance companies that she had used during her ownership of the car, the insurance companies of the drivers who dented the doors in the car park and everyone denied any knowledge of putting the write off marker on there.

Well, as it turned out, they would deny it, because none of them did. And because none of them did, they can't remove the marker, only the insurer who placed the marker can do that.

So there we are, with a blighted car, that no-one wants to offer market value for because HPI says it's a write off!

While she was investigating from that end, I started with HPI. They contacted the insurer who told them the details were correct, so HPI proceeded no further!

I got back on to HPI. This time a formal complaint. This time they raise an investigation into the marker.

While they're doing that, one of the many people she has rang actually gives her the phone number of the insurer placing the marker and the details of the write off - stolen and recovered with damage - in Ireland!!!

She gets on to that insurer and eventually finds a great customer service chap who looks into the details and acknowledges an error - one letter different at the end of the registration number!!

Co-incidentally, HPI ask that insurer to raise the engineer's report into the write off and ask for the description of the vehicle. This establishes same make, same model, different colour and different registration number - one letter different at the end of the number!!

This time, HPI advises, only advises, the insurer to remove the marker and rectify the record.

At the same time that I get an email from HPI apologising for the trouble caused and explaining that they are not the 'data controller' and give me details of where to complain, my wife receives an email from that insurer more or less accusing her of trying to get a legitimate marker removed from the database so she can sell her car to an unsuspecting purchaser of a seriously damaged vehicle!!!! There's a complaint going to their MD, I can assure you!

So the marker's been removed and since 2013 when it went on, not only have my wife's car's details be on the database, but some other car that has been written off is in circulation with no notification of its damage history to its new owner.

There! I'm a bit calmer now.
 
The companies that control these type of databases seem to be a law unto themselves. It took about a week recently for my new car to appear as insured on the database. At any time before that the Police could have pulled me over and given me grief for "no insurance". It bothered me enough that I kept a printed version of my certificate in the car just in case. The Police have deprived owners of the use of their cars and even crushed one car just because the database was wrong! Well worth checking your own car once in a while, particularly around renewal time.

Apparently the same company also run the credit database. Some years ago I was chatting with a guy in the phone shop about how bad one of the networks were and he said tell me about it. He explained that when he cancelled His contract with one of the companies they owed him about £10 but he didn't bother claiming it back as he was just glad to be shot of them. He thought no more of it until he tried to get a mortgage and it was refused as he was a bad credit risk! It seems the phone company had him down as owing them money so they posted him as a bad creditor on the database. It took him some explaining to get his rating back.
 
The latest instalment is that I have written to MIB by way of formal complaint of the position my wife found her in and their response is that they can only see what is live on their system now and if it has now been removed, there's no error to see!!!
 
Tusses":1hb7oqel said:
all systems have a history stored somewhere !
Click to expand...

Thanks, yes, I did know that and I think they either think I don't, or they are ignorant of it.
 
This thread reminds me of something
brazil7_zpspyh4js6y.jpg
 
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