Data breach - Is £175 fair compensation for car insurer sending documents to old address?

[Jellyytots]

Data breach compensation

my Car Insurance have accidentally sent my Car Insurance papers to a previous address which is actually now a bed and breakfast. It includes all the usual information you would expect to see on Car Insurance documents. It is the certificate of insurance, my full name, date of birth, all car details including registration etc, whether I am married, mobile number, email address, whether I am working, retired etc I could go on but as I said, it’s the usual information you would expect to see on Car Insurance documents

I consider this to be a data breach and I’m not very happy at all. They’ve come back to me and apologised and offered me £175 compensation. A quick AI search gives me the impression that this is at the very low end of what should be offered as far as compensation goes because I consider this to be more than a minor breach because there is enough information for someone to steal my identity and potentially set up a loan or something else in my name that could cause me issues down the line.

Does anybody have any idea how much compensation I should be receiving because if I can deal with them and sort out the compensation now, I won’t need to go to the ombudsman or the ICO. All of this will take a lot of work and I’d rather avoid that if possible, but I will go down that route if necessary.

So just wondered if anyone had any experience of this and could tell me how much compensation I should be receiving for a day to breach such as this

Thanks

You haven't been financially inconvenienced so I'd say that's more than generous. Surely all you want is an apology and for them to review their processes so it doesn't happen again.

Generous. I'd expect an apology at best.

If it’s addressed to you by name, then nobody else should be opening your post, so it’s not really a breach. Post is sent to the wrong addresses all the time and that doesn’t usually count as a data breach - the expectation is that the person who receives it just writes ‘return to sender’ on the front and pops it back in the postbox.

I think personally £175 is generous. An apology is appropriate.

Seriously?!

I think it's very good compensation for that

How much will it cost to buy an ID theft protection policy? £175 sounds fairly reasonable.

I think that’s a fair amount. There was a massive data hack at my old accountants and they actually got access to all my very personal data

they offered 6 months, I got them to 12 months, of advanced Experian credit services which was about £15 a month at the time

I'm very surprised they're offering anything.

Post gets sent to the wrong address all the time.

The onus is usually on the person to return it, not open it.

I think it's more than generous.

Has your identity ACTUALLY been stolen as a result of this? What have you lost, financially, from it? If nothing, you'd typically just expect an apology. This happens all the time, literally. You don't get compo for "but what if...".

£175 is a good offer. You could take it to the Ombudsman but they wouldn't award you any more compo if you haven't been adversely impacted by the breach eg needing to replace documents or change banks, and there are no circumstances of vulnerability, like sending your new address to an abusive ex.

You are why everyone else's premiums are so high

A quick look at the financial ombudsman service’s previous decisions shows £150 compensation looks about right.

It was your car insurance not your bank details, payslips, medical or legal details.

All of your neighbours, some friends and family already know your name, your address, the type of car and the registration number. A lot of people also have your date of birth.

A document with your name on it which contains mostly information that is otherwise available isn't suffice to steal yiur identity. There also hasn't been any evidence of stolen identity, or loss or damages.

If a neighbour wanted to create a fake car insurance document for indentify theft purpose they could easily to do without ever receiving your mail.

AI shouldn't be a basis for what you consider fair.

I don't think so, no. I used to work for an insurance broker. Insurance premiums are high because insurance underwriters have shareholders who want a high return in exchange for their high risk investment. Insurance underwriters are not in it for the altruism.

Having all that detail on car insurance isn’t normal in my experience.

I was offered £150 by our home insurance provider who wrote to me at an old address (from 10 years ago) regarding a claim at our current address. They then sent an apology letter for the GDPR breach with the offer of the £150 to our old address, again.

Someone won't be able to set up a loan with those details, banks will qsk for ID and propf of address. Simlly knowing your name and date of birth will let peopke start the process but they are not likely to get very far. The information you have listed is the type of information you would know about friends and family.

Will a higher award make it less likely that your data will be stollen? Will it make you less worried about your data being stolen? I don’t see why their mistake should have a financial value.

A quick AI search gives me the impression

Could you share a screenshot of what the LLM is telling you?

The ombudsman will not be financially generous when no financial loss has actually occurred to you. They tend to be pretty restrained when it comes to financial compensation so you might even end up with less.

I’d take the £175, it’s generous, given you’ve incurred no loss.

No idea about appropriate compensation but is more than enough to pay for CIFAS protective registration (which would be a good idea to take out)

https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr

You haven’t incurred any loss, why should you get anything? The world would be a better place without this kind of behavior