In a major victory for truth, common sense, decency and motor insurer’s dwindling hopes of ever again making a nice fat profit, the DVLA is to allow said insurers to take a sneaky peak at its database to find out whether would-be policyholders are lying about driving offences and disqualifications.
It’s a fair bet that one in four of them are. By asking motorists for their driving licence details when they apply for cover and cross-referring against the DVLA database, insurers will now be able to identify liars, send them packing and so rationalise their customer base by up to 25%.
Pending further research on whether liars are better or worse drivers than the rest of us, it seems entirely possible that the move could reduce the rate of claim amongst the the remaining policyholders who do not lie (or at least not about points and convictions).
Companies who wish to take a hard line against liars will now be able to check which lying motor insurance applicants may also hold household or other policies with other group underwriting entities and turf them out there as well – or just wait until they claim and reject the claim on the basis that they probably just made it up.
Alternatively, some firms may wish to retain some liars on their books where they are lying about the odd point here or there rather than a more serious offence of disqualification. In this case, special liars’ rates could be charged, thereby offsetting mendacity risk with higher premiums.
If all insurers adopt the policy of cross referencing against the DVLA database, veracitically-challenged drivers should no longer be able to drive with insurance – providing a valuable fillip the the uninsured loss recovery sector.
Good news all round for a change!
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