2025-03-26 – News – www.theguardian.com
What looks like an example of cloning is explained by a typo in an insurer’s claims reference number
Last summer I took my old Kia to a branch of the car broker webuyanycar to sell, only to discover that its database showed a car with my registration number had been “written off” and an insurance claim paid out.
This came as a shock. I have not been in an accident nor made any claims. I called up my insurer, which confirmed there was nothing on its records, and it told me to call the policy underwriter.
Initially the underwriter said it had no record of a claim either. However, after it consulted a national database, it could see that in February 2024 one had been paid out on my car.
It gave me the insurer’s name – 1st Central – and the claim number. However, when I called up, the company told me it had never insured a car with that registration and did not have any record of the claim.
