New Home Office figures have revealed car thefts are higher than the reported figures but it’s also getting harder for owners to get settlements from their insurers as a new layer of bureaucracy has been added.
Analysis by Claims Management & Adjusting indicates car theft victims are frequently waiting more than seven days longer for insurance payouts due to the new National Police Chiefs’ Council and Association of British Insurers (ABI) data sharing agreement.
The Kent-based vehicle claims specialist saw a sharp rise in theft case resolution times during the fourth quarter of 2022, following the introduction of the latest NPCC/ABI National Guidance on Data Sharing in August.
Philip Swift, a former detective and now managing director of CMA, said, “The new Guidance is a retrograde step. It complicates the access essential for loss adjusting and introduces an additional layer of bureaucracy, to the detriment of motor policyholders. Frustratingly, after 20 years of seamless working, a crime report can no longer be sent to a loss adjuster acting on behalf of an insurer, only directly to the insurer.
“To make matters worse, most constabularies still send this information by snail mail. Claims handlers at insurance companies then have to forward it on, either electronically or, again, by post. No wonder we’re seeing delays! Thankfully some constabularies appear to understand this is not the best guidance and continue to deal with us directly. There are other workarounds too, but these require more time-consuming consent paperwork. It is all so unnecessary and problematic, especially for suspected fraud when time is of the essence.”
He added.”A vehicle theft is a traumatic event, so efficient resolution is key. But the latest Guidance actively exacerbates the inconvenience. I urge the ABI and NPCC to uphold the spirit of section 2.2.2 – a commitment ‘To offer support to victims of crime within our communities by expediting the finalisation of their insurance claim’ – by urgently revising the wording, possibly even reverting to the previous 2014 text. More broadly, I urge all interested parties – the police and all insurance professionals (both ABI members and non-members) – to adopt a more joined-up approach to vehicle crime.”
Concluding, he said, “It was our Freedom of Information Act request which led to the Home Office admitting 101,198 vehicles were stolen in England and Wales in 2021, double the reported 48,000. We estimate this crime alone is now costing UK insurers over £1.5 billion a year.
“The police are stretched, stolen car recovery rates are through the floor, and it increasingly falls to specialists like ourselves to investigate matters. To verify claims, we do not simply accept that a vehicle is recorded as lost or stolen (LoS) on the Police National Computer.
“We thoroughly check the vehicle registration mark against multiple data sources, including Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency records, for which we hold the highest possible classification for data management and security.”