“Insurance marker” is an informal expression, not the name of one universal record. It can refer to several quite different things: a claim recorded on an industry database, a note held by an insurer, a policy cancellation, a vehicle recorded as stolen or written off, or information entered on a fraud-prevention database.
This distinction matters. There is no single search that reveals every kind of marker, and there is no general procedure that removes them all. The sensible first step is to identify the exact record, the organisation holding it and the reason it was recorded.
What records might someone mean?
The Claims and Underwriting Exchange, usually called CUE, contains reported motor, home and personal injury incidents. An incident may appear even when it did not lead to a successful claim. CUE is not simply a list of people suspected of fraud.
Vehicle Salvage and Theft Data records claims involving stolen and written-off vehicles. This concerns a vehicle’s history and should not be confused with a fraud marker against its owner.
An insurer may also retain its own records about applications, payments, cancellations and claims. Separately, fraud-prevention organisations such as Cifas may hold information when a member organisation has filed a case. These records have different purposes and rules.
Does a refused policy or expensive quote prove there is a marker?
No. A quotation can rise, or an insurer can decline cover, for many ordinary underwriting reasons. These include the car, postcode, occupation, mileage, claims history, convictions, payment method or a change in the insurer’s appetite for that type of risk.
If an insurer declines to quote, ask whether it can explain the broad reason and whether the decision was based on incorrect information. It may not disclose confidential fraud-detection methods, but a high premium on its own is not evidence that you have been marked. See also how to investigate a possible insurance fraud marker.
How can you find out what information is held?
Begin with the organisation most likely to hold the relevant record. You can make a subject access request to an insurer for your personal data. Be specific about the policy, application, claim or cancellation you are concerned about.
The Motor Insurers’ Bureau provides a process for requesting personal information from CUE and certain other motor insurance databases. Its data and privacy service explains what can be requested and what proof of identity is needed.
If you believe Cifas may hold information about you, use the official Cifas data subject access request. A credit report is not a complete way of checking for Cifas information.
Can an insurance marker be removed?
An inaccurate record can be challenged. Write to the organisation that recorded or controls the information, identify precisely what is wrong and provide any evidence that supports the correction. Ask it to correct or delete inaccurate personal data and to confirm the outcome in writing.
Accurate information does not normally have to be removed merely because it makes insurance more difficult or expensive. Retention periods also differ between systems, so claims that every marker disappears after the same number of years are unreliable. The Information Commissioner’s Office explains the right to have inaccurate personal data corrected.
What if the organisation refuses to change it?
Ask for a final written response explaining why the information is considered accurate. If the dispute concerns an insurer’s handling of a policy or claim, use the insurer’s formal complaints procedure first. An eligible unresolved complaint may then be taken to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
If the problem concerns the accuracy or handling of your personal data, complain first to the organisation holding it. If the matter remains unresolved, you may raise it with the ICO. Cifas has its own complaint route for people who have received their subject access information and want to dispute it.
Applying for insurance while the matter is investigated
Answer every question on an insurance application fully and accurately. Do not guess at information you have not been given, but do not withhold a cancellation, claim, conviction or other fact when the form asks for it. Different insurers ask different questions.
Keep copies of applications, letters, subject access results and complaints. If ordinary comparison searches produce few options, a broker or insurer that deals with non-standard risks may be able to consider the circumstances individually. Our guides to non-standard car insurance, responding to an allegation of insurance fraud and the information insurers may hold provide further detail.
Do not pay a business that guarantees it can remove a marker. No one can honestly promise removal before knowing what the record is, whether it is accurate and which organisation controls it.
They are members of the British Insurance Brokers Association, John Stow House, 18 Bevis Marks, London EC3A 7JB; Membership number: 007759.