Over 300 customers were affected, says watchdog
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has revealed that Direct Line Group (DLG) breached rules over no claims bonuses.
According to the watchdog, the insurer failed to provide at least 320 customers with no claims bonus protection information between June 2023 and 18 January 2024.
“This was caused by Direct Line’s systems adding no claims bonus protection by error to customers’ policies, without their permission and only notifying them after the no claims bonus protection had been applied to their policies,” the regulator added.
The CMA added that it had been notified of the breach on 18 July 2024.
Outcome
Following a market investigation into motor insurance in 2014, the CMA implemented measures to make it easier for customers to understand what the no claims bonus protection is.
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The incident involving DLG breached part two of The Private Motor Insurance Market Investigation Order 2015.
However, the CMA said DLG had taken steps to prevent a recurrence and to put things right for affected customers.
This includes refunding customers who had not wanted the protection and carrying out tests on systems.
As a result, the CMA “does not consider it appropriate to take formal enforcement action in relation to this breach at present”.
“The CMA will monitor the resolution of this breach and Direct Line’s compliance with the order closely,” the watchdog added.
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