Alistair Warden, Managing Director, Corporate Motor at associate member and self-drive hire specialist Towergate Insurance explains how Towergate are partnering with Synectics Solutions to give access to National SIRA checks and help the self-drive hire industry fight fraud.
UK self-drive hire (SDH) businesses can better protect themselves against fraudsters and add a new weapon to their armoury thanks to a screening solution being offered to help rental desk teams assess risk.
We’re giving customers who are BVRLA members access to National SIRA to help assess the risk posed by potential hirers.
Operated by data insight expert Synectics Solutions, National SIRA comprises over 300m records contributed by more than 160 organisations across the private sector – including financial institutions, insurers, brokers, and telecoms providers. It is the UK’s largest syndicated database of cross-sector customer risk intelligence.
Easily accessible from the rental desk, companies using SIRA will be able to run fraud checks in seconds. Fully automated, the system will indicate the risk level for the hirer based on the information provided and the volume and significance of matches found.
Our customers who have access to the SIRA solution which will also integrate data from the DDRI (deceased register), providing an additional check ensuring the identity being used is not that of a deceased individual.
With ID and wider economic fraud increasingly linked with vehicle related criminal activity – from theft and drug dealing to terrorist activity and organised crime - the solution gives those using it a key advantage in potentially avoiding asset losses and increased costs associated with actual or rejected claims.
Hirers are asked to provide driving license and credit card details - usually alongside one or more supplementary pieces of ID information, for instance a utility bill - but few background checks are available in terms of the risk that person presents.
With SIRA, rental companies can see in an instant whether a person’s name is linked to one or more fraud indicators. And while any matches do not comprehensively prove whether-or-not the individual in question intends to hire a vehicle in good faith, they do provide a deeper level of customer understanding on which rental desk teams can base their decisions.
Using SIRA is a two-way street, as rental desk operators can feed in their own data on a potential hirer. If a hirer is flagged as suspicious or a rental desk has spotted potential fraudulent activity or reasons to decline the transaction, this can be inputted into the database.
In terms of avoiding ‘bad apple’ claims that can potentially send premiums for a fleet soaring, this kind of risk intelligence can make a big difference. Our experience in placing rental fleets with insurers is that a firm demonstrating excellent risk management best practices is far more attractive to an Underwriter, when they are considering the covers and pricing offered. The access to SIRA is another step in us helping a hirer protect their claims experience and as such, deliver them a better deal on what is a large cost and worry for them.
For the SDH market, the impact of fraud is not limited to monetary loss. It can directly translate to increased danger on our roads. As both parties are advocates of using data for good, we are proud to be working in partnership with Synetics to help customers quickly, ethically, and professionally make informed decisions about the individuals they hire to – decisions that will help protect their businesses, our industry, and all UK road users.
Contact Alistair at [email protected]
Towergate Insurance (towergateinsurance.co.uk)
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