Insurance claims register

A survey from the 1990s suggested New Zealand insurers faced over $65 million per year in insurance fraud, but the Insurance Council says anecdotal evidence suggests the real figure is higher.

One weapon against fraud is a rapidly growing register of insurance claims run by a subsidiary of the council. Insurance companies can use it to find out about past claims you've made.

When you make a claim under a house, contents, car or travel policy with a large insurer, the company passes the details to the Insurance Claims Register.

How the information is used

Information is used in two ways. When you apply for insurance, the company can check that what you've said about previous claims is correct. When you lodge a claim, the company can compare it against your previous claims on the database.

Insurance companies are aiming to cut down on fraud and weed out people who are dishonest about past claims when applying for new insurance.

Checks can be done by computers, which match names, or manually. The manual approach lets the company search by driver's licence number, date of birth, phone number or policy number. Fraudsters using a different name or address could come unstuck.

Preventing fraud

The register is working. An impatient chap who reported his car stolen with one company, lodged an accident claim involving the same car two weeks later under another policy. He was caught out. Another person made a travel insurance claim for goods lost overseas. After a second trip, he made an identical claim with another company. The ripoff was spotted.

The register holds the majority of house, contents and car insurance claims from the last four years, together with some travel claims. Its usefulness is likely to increase over time as the information builds.

Companies which are part of the register are: AA, AMP, FMG, Lumley, NZI, State, SIS, Tower and Vero. Many insurance policies administered by banks are underwritten by one of these companies.

Viewing your file

Contact your insurer or the Insurance Council in Wellington for a request form. You can email them at icnz@icnz.org.nz.

There is currently no charge. You won't have a file if you haven't made a claim in recent years.