Just to make people aware.
Just had a very strange conversation with my car insurance, they’ve emailed me asking why I’ve been on Google searching for car springs and purchased some from mx5 parts without telling them, so now they’ve cancelled my insurance leaving me high and dry, doesn’t help that I’m in Greece for 2 weeks and the car is in a garage getting the springs done…
How on earth though, did they know I’ve been searching for springs and purchased a set…scary times.
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This sounds like a scam to me. Have you contacted your insurance company independently and direct to ask how and why?
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This would probably be possible to deduce from data stored in your Google account if, for example, you use Chrome and are signed in. I.e., a combination of your search history and browsing history URLs, one of which would be the checkout page at MX5 Parts. I suggest you do a security check up on your Google account, such as looking at what devices are signed in and where from, enabling 2-step verification if you haven’t, and changing your password.
Another possibility is a malicious browser extension.
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Why would they cancel your insurance if you bought springs? What if you don’t put them on your car?
So if I decided to by a lowering spring for mine right now, not to put it ‘on’ the car, just to put it on my dinner room wall because I like it so much, it would be voided insurance? What if I put the spring out the kitchen instead, by the breakfast bowls?
lol
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This exactly above…
Who’s the insurance company and you can always go online and check if you’re still on the database as insured. Or ring them just as a check on your policy for something else, hold back on declaring the springs for now.
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That’s not what your IP address suggests though?
At the moment your post doesn’t add up, please provide more information to support your statement.
TBF, if I were in Greece for two weeks then my IP address probably wouldn’t suggest that either.
Indeed, VPN etc… however when you take the constituent parts of a post that raises an unusual assertation of surveillance by an insurance company of a persons purchasing habits… then you need to examine the facts as presented carefully.
I’m very curious of IF the assertion is correct then HOW it has happened because it is somewhat alarming if true, however the facts need to be clear.
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So, i received an email on Saturday asking me to send my insurance company a number of photos of the car (fair enough, nothing wrong with that) now because I’m in Greece (Rhodes) and my car is currently at a garage back in the uk, i am unable to send them anything.
So i rang them up to ask for 2 weeks instead of the 5 days they gave me for the photos. It was then they told me that ive been searching for springs and lowering shocks and wanted to know why?
They then asked have i done any mods to the car, i said no, apart from a boot spolier.
I was shocked at the fact the new about my searches (i was actually comparing BBR springs to MX5 parts ones)
Are you positive it was genuine?
Did you use a phone number from the email, or one obtained from the insurer’s website or your policy documentation?
Yep, email and phone call was completely genuine, honestly it wasn’t a scam.
Care to name them?
Name and shame.
Hastings
Surely this would be against some privacy laws??
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use Duck Duck go in future
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Privacy Notice | Hastings Direct
Extract:
Note the part I highlighted in bold. If they’ve really managed to obtain this information my guess (and it’s only a guess) would be via cookies or if you use their mobile app, and it has permissions to access some personal information. Did you ask how they came by this information?
If they won’t tell you, you could try making a subject access request. I’ve never done this myself and I’m not giving advice, just sharing some publicly available information. These links might be useful to others with similar problems or concerns as well. The first is general information about your data protection and information rights. Both links are to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/
https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/make-a-subject-access-request/
Just to add, the Privacy Notice on Hastings’s website contains information about your rights (#9) and contact details for you to exercise them (#11) so there is a specific data protection email address where you can request a copy of the personal information that the Company holds about you.
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This sounds like a gross invasion of privacy, but guess what, everyone agrees to it every time you accept terms or cookies just to access a website. I’ve always set my browser to clear cookies immediately, never save passwords, stay away from Google products etc.seems to do the business…
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This is a really good suggestion, for everyone.
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This is the first I have heard of knowing search history but it is not the first I have heard of Hastings asking for photos!
I had a friend get the exact same request; asking for photos of the car:
A quick search shows that quite a few Hastings customers have had the same
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