Years ago when data was exchanged between lenders, insurance companies and provenance check operators in a paper or excel format, there was a chance that a human error could lead to a record being omitted or updated incorrectly.

To combat this, Car History Check companies supplied a Car History Check Warranty usually underwritten by another totally separate insurance company. However as the sharing of records moved onto digital platforms where data was exchanged in much more reliable ways, the insurable risk around data errors became so low that it was no longer possible to insure against it. This meant the insurance companies offering this policy were forced to stop selling it as a product.

Despite the absence of successful claims, some OEM's who had built the warranty into their approved used car checks were keen to include some element of a guarantee so providers began offering 'Data Guarantee's' with their checks.

MotorCheck too offers a data guarantee with all of our retail checks for Franchised Dealers and Independent Operators by special request.

What is a data guarantee?

A data guarantee is an additional charge that's levied against each provenance check and is designed to indemnify the business who purchased the history check from losses up to a prescribed amount as a direct result of a data omission in the car history check.

What does the guarantee cover?

The data guarantee covers losses up to the specific amount when such loss is incurred as a direct result of the history check providers failure to disclose information that was known to it at the time of the report.

It does not cover losses that arise as a result of information becoming available that was NOT available to the check provider at the time of the report. For example, if a car had been stolen but the official PNC database was not updated prior to a check having been run. Or a query with the MIAFTR database returns a check with no write off flag despite the vehicle having been through an assessment and subsequently declared a write-off after the check was carried out.

How much does the guarantee cost?

Offered at tiers, a guarantee costs the following on a 'per check' basis. In our experience these errors are very rare and in such small numbers that we do not mandate a data guarantee with any of our checks.

I thought I was getting a data guarantee with all of my checks?

This is a common cause of confusion across the industry. Data guarantee's are only included as part of a check when specified within your data contract and usually only as part of an OEM approved car scheme where specific conditions are met. Normal trade checks for second hand cars would not include a data guarantee.

Do I need a data guarantee?

In our experience the vast majority of claims made against car history check guarantee's do not comply with the individual terms and conditions and are ultimately unsuccessful. Instead we recommend that a customer includes 'Wrongful Conversion Cover' cover with their garage insurance which is designed to cover similar losses in a much more comprehensive fashion.

For more information on this we recommend Aston Lark, One of the most experienced and successful Motor Insurance teams in the business.