The Claims and Underwriting Exchange (Cue) stores information about drivers, including any claims made or collisions, even if they were not at fault. Insurers submit the data and say they need to share it to prevent fraud and determine risk.

The database is similar to the reports managed by credit reference agencies such as Experian and Equifax, which are used by banks and building societies when considering whether to give customers loans, mortgages or credit cards. However, unlike credit reference files, which you can see free of charge, you have to make a subject access request to get your Cue file and there may be a cost.

Errors on the database, such as inaccurate reports of accidents, can go undetected for years, meaning that drivers are charged much more than they should be for their insurance policy because they are deemed to be higher risk.

• Should bigger cars have higher road tax?

Cue is administered by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), the industry body. So far this year the MIB has had 53 requests to rectify information and four requests to erase information held on Cue. Last year it had 113 requests to rectify information and 20 requests to erase information.

Max’s story

He reluctantly sold the car last year before he realised about the incorrect information that had pushed his cover up. One of the two incorrect entries on Winberg’s Cue report were for an accident that involved his wife, Jean, 78, who was hit by a car while she was stationary at a red light in 2021. The driver at fault was insured by the AA, which paid out £12,379 for repairs.

Winberg was not involved but helped his wife to lodge a claim with her insurer, Direct Line, because she finds it difficult to use computers. However, the accident is logged under his name on Cue.

Another error was an entry by Winberg’s insurer, Esure, saying it had to cover a £1,620 bill to repair a minor scratch on someone else’s vehicle caused by Winberg in 2022. At the time Winberg agreed to reimburse Esure in full to maintain his 50-year no-claims track record. Esure agreed to the offer and Winberg thought nothing else of it.

He only discovered the existence of the Cue database when he tried to insure his new car — a cheaper Lexus than he had before — with the RAC. He was initially quoted an annual premium of £1,918, which he paid in full.

Days later, the RAC stopped the policy after it found the entries on Winberg’s Cue record. It said that he would have to pay an additional £1,067 to cover the extra risk. He refused to pay “on principle”, cancelled the policy and was refunded.

The RAC said: “When assessing Mr Winberg’s insurance risk, we identified a mismatch between the information he provided and that held on Cue. We immediately contacted him to say it showed a previous claim, which meant his original premium needed amending and asked him to provide evidence if he believed this to be inaccurate.”

Winberg, who used to run a Spanish holiday let business, said he found it difficult to obtain a copy of the report. He said: “I had no idea about this database. Trying to get a copy of it was not straightforward and there doesn’t appear to be a standard process to do so. I have spent days on this and hours on the phone trying to understand what happened.

“No wonder my car insurance premiums rose. How many people know about this database, and what if the entries are wrong, as was the case with me?”

Winberg bought his old Lexus back from the dealer he had sold it to for £27,000 — £7,000 more than he had sold it for just two weeks before. He has an insurance policy with Admiral, which costs £3,800.

Max Winberg’s car insurance quadrupled owing to errors made on a little-known database

Correcting the record

Winberg first asked his wife’s insurer, Direct Line, to correct the entry about her collision, but it said only the insurer that entered it, the AA, could do so.

He complained to the AA, which emailed him on April 19 last year to say: “You have confirmed that the driver at the time of this incident was Mrs Winberg, which we have now amended on our file. We are requesting that this be amended with Cue.”

He was also told he could use the email as “proof” with his new insurer to show he was not involved.

Winberg, however, is taking the AA to court because he feels that the incorrect entry resulted in him unnecessarily selling his beloved Lexus and buying it back for £7,000 more. The AA declined to comment due to the ongoing litigation.

• Can you still save money with an electric car?

He also asked Esure to remove the entry that incorrectly stated that it had to cover the £1,620 cost of repair as it had agreed to accept Winberg covering the cost. Esure did not respond to him after he made the payment. It said it had initially corrected the record, as agreed, but due to “human error” it was resubmitted.

Esure said: “We are sorry that Mr Winberg had cause to complain. The incident had originally been logged correctly on to the Cue database, as Mr Winberg admitted liability for the incident and then covered the costs.

“However, we acknowledge that the database was incorrectly changed earlier this year, which we quickly rectified and offered Mr Winberg £100 compensation.”

Winberg, who lives in Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire, said: “I would urge anyone who is worried about unusually high premium increases to check their Cue record to ensure mistakes have not been made.

“You may have been paying more for cover for years without knowing. If two errors were made on my car driving history, there is likely to be many more errors that other drivers are not aware of. Many drivers are likely to be paying high premiums based on false information.”

Insurers are responsible for uploading information to Cue, and for making any amendments to the database. If an insurer refuses to correct what you think is an error, you can submit a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to use. The ombudsman said the complaints it receives generally relate to insurers not recording something correctly, and usually come to light when someone takes out a new policy.

How can you get a copy?

The Insurance Fraud Bureau, an industry-funded body to tackle fraud, said: “Cue is one of many sources that feed into our investigations. Insurers hold the responsibility for uploading information to Cue, including making any necessary amendments.”

You can ask the MIB for your Cue report, but you will have to submit a subject access request. In most cases your information will be provided to you free of charge, however, if the request becomes “unreasonable or excessive” the MIB said it reserves the right to charge a fee.

If you find any errors and want to correct them, contact the firm that made the entry, even if it was not your insurer.

If a customer notifies an insurer of an incident but pays for the claim cost, this is recorded as a “for-information incident” but the claim is not removed entirely. The incident will still affect your insurance premium but you should be able to keep your no-claims discount.

The MIB said: “Insurers can access incident details and cross-check policies and claims against the 38 million claims held on Cue. The Cue database makes it harder for individuals to commit claims fraud or misrepresent their claims history, which in turn helps to keep costs down for honest policyholders.”