Named driver to reduce insurance costs.

[eye of ra]

My partner has become aware that her name is being used as a named driver to lower someone else’s insurance costs. He does not have her permission and she will never drive the vehicle, so she contacted his insurance company by phone and was told "we can not discuss it because of the data protections act". So she wrote to them requesting her name be removed. She then phoned them again to be told "we have received your letter, your name is still on his insurance and we can not discuss it any further because of the data protections act".

Firstly is it legal to use any persons name as a named driver just to lower your own insurance?

And secondly is there any way she can get her name removed?

[staffsMike]

She could just take the car..

Negotiate with the person to get her name off.. off the car gets it!

Not sure tbh, sounds like a very strange situation. I might give an actual insurance provider like zurich or axa just for a bit of independent advice if you can get someone to talk to.

[Saracen]

It is commonplace for companies to say "we can't do ..... <this or that>" because of the Data Protection Act. Sometimes, they're right. But a lot of the time, it's a convenient excuse for them not acting, and it's very often used by people that wouldn't actually know a DPA provision if it kicked them in the butt.

In this case (and as a non-lawyer) my view is that they are right, they can't discuss matters, including confirming that what you tell them is correct. For instance, if I contact your bank and ask if information they hold about me on your records is correct, they're confirming you have a bank account with them.

However, the holder of this policy is not the only person this insurance company is holding personal information about. From what you say, they are holding "personal information" about your partner too .... even if it's just name and address. And as I understand it, they therefore owe a duty to your partner to ensure that information they hold on her, such that she's a named driver on someone else's policy, is "accurate and up-to-date".

So .... if they're so fond of the DPR, throw that at them. Point out that, as a data subject, your partner has DPA rights as well, including to get incorrect information corrected. Ask the insurance company who they're data controller is, and then write (recorded letter) to the data controller explaining that they hold incorrect information and that it needs to be corrected. Also ask they they confirm that they have done so. If necessary, do it by stipulating who your partner is a named driver with, if anyone, or ask then to confirm that she is not listed as a named driver with the person that is claiming that she is. They should be able to confirm that they do not have her listed as a named driver in relation to a given individual in a way that doesn't even confirm that they insure that individual.

For instance "without confirming that XYZ is a policyholder, we can confirm that we do not have a policy for that individual that includes your partner."

It might also be worth pointing out that if you cannot get this name removed, a complaint will be going to the information commissioner that they have been repeated informed that data held on a data subject (your partner) is incorrect, and are refusing to amend it.

You do have rights under the DPA to get incorrect information corrected, but they're restricted, IIRC, to data which could have a material and damaging effect. It might be hard to claim that this does. But there's a difference between being able to force removal using that right, and being able to complain that they are not meeting their duty to keep information up-to-date, and accurate.

Phone calls might well not do the trick, and talking to the average call centre person might not do the trick, because all they'll know about the DPA, I'd guess, is what they've been told to not do. But if you go direct to the data controller, that's the person charged by the law with ensuring compliance.

[eye of ra]

Thank you for the advice and so fast, I wasn’t expecting that. We’ll give it a try and thanks again.