When Someone Uses Your Name for a Car, a Policy or a Claim

On this page:

• How it shows up
• The first steps
• Dealing with insurers
• When the DMV is involved
• Making yourself a harder target
• Where to start, at a glance

Most people think of identity theft as a credit card problem. Cars and car insurance are part of it too. The California Attorney General's office notes that identity thieves can use existing accounts, open new ones, take out auto or bank loans, and obtain medical services and make insurance claims in a victim's name. Each of those can leave a trail that reaches your insurer or the DMV. Spotting the trail early, and knowing which office handles which piece, is most of the battle.

How it shows up

• A letter from an insurance company about a policy, claim or cancellation you know nothing about.
• A quote that comes back declined or surcharged because of an accident or claim that was not yours.
• Toll or parking notices, or registration paperwork, for a car you have never owned.
• A debt collector calling about a car loan you did not take out.
• A breach notice saying your driver's license number was exposed.

The first steps

The Attorney General's identity theft first-aid guidance sets out the early moves:

1. Place a fraud alert with one of the three nationwide credit bureaus if accounts you don't recognize are appearing.
2. Consider a security freeze. The Attorney General points out that credit monitoring does not stop new accounts being opened in your name, but a freeze can.
3. Call any bank or lender involved, dispute the charges or account, and say you believe it is identity theft.
4. If your driver's license number was exposed, contact the DMV to report it and ask for a fraud alert on your license.
5. Keep a log of every call, letter and reference number from the start.

Dealing with insurers

If an insurer contacts you about a policy or claim you did not make, call the company directly, using a number from its own website, and ask for its fraud or special investigations unit. Ask what is on file in your name and request copies in writing.

If you have been declined, cancelled or charged more because of information you do not recognize, California's Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act gives you a specific tool. Under Insurance Code section 791.10, after an adverse underwriting decision the insurer or agent must give you the specific reasons in writing or tell you that you can ask for them. If you ask in writing within 90 business days, it must respond within 21 business days with the reasons, the specific items of information behind them and the names and addresses of the sources that supplied that information, together with a summary of your rights to see and correct what is in your file. That is how you find out exactly which record is wrong and who holds it.

Suspected insurance fraud can also be reported to the California Department of Insurance, whose fraud brochure notes that reports can be made anonymously.

When the DMV is involved

A car registered in your name that you never owned, or notices tied to a plate you do not recognize, are DMV matters as well as police matters. Contact the DMV, explain that you believe your identity was used, and keep copies of everything you send. If a vehicle you did sell is still generating notices, the Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability you filed within 5 days of the sale is your best evidence that it stopped being yours.

Making yourself a harder target

• Do not text photos of your driver's license or insurance card to people you have not verified, including "brokers" on social media.
• Shred old policies, ID cards and DMV paperwork rather than recycling them whole.
• Read every insurer letter, even ones that look like marketing; a cancellation notice for a policy you never bought is an early warning.
• Check your accounts and, now and then, your credit reports.

Where to start, at a glance

Once the record is cleaned up, it is worth re-quoting so you are no longer paying for someone else's history. You can start a quote with a licensed broker when you are ready.