Your CLUE report and claims history

What a CLUE report holds

When you file an auto claim, your insurer records it, and most insurers share that record with claims databases. LexisNexis describes its C.L.U.E. Auto exchange as holding up to seven years of personal automobile claims information, with details about the driver, the vehicles, the policy and the claims reported. A new insurer checking your history at a quote, or your own insurer at renewal, sees that record.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau calls these companies specialty consumer reporting agencies: they collect and report information about the insurance claims you have made, and insurers use the reports when deciding which policies to offer and what premiums to charge. Because they are consumer reports, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives you rights over them.

Getting your free copy

The federal summary of FCRA rights says every consumer is entitled to one free disclosure every 12 months, on request, from each nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency. LexisNexis points to the same right under the FACT Act and takes requests three ways:

• Online, through the request form on its consumer portal. You then get a letter by U.S. Mail explaining how to see the report online.
• By phone at 1-866-312-8076.
• By mail, with the printable request form sent to LexisNexis Risk Solutions Consumer Center, P.O. Box 105295, Atlanta, GA 30348-5295.

You also have a right to a free report from the agency named in an adverse action notice. If an insurer refuses you or charges you more because of a report, it must tell you and give you the agency's name, address and phone number. That right is listed separately from the yearly free copy. Ask for your file a few weeks before your renewal date or before you shop for a new policy, so there is time to fix an error before anyone prices it.

Reading the report

Go line by line and compare each claim with your own records: the claim letter, the payment, the declarations page and any repair invoice. The errors that matter most are the ones an insurer would price.

• A claim that isn't yours, such as one from another person with a similar name or a car you never owned.
• A wrong amount paid, or a payment listed on a claim that was closed without one.
• The wrong type of loss, such as a collision recorded where you made a glass or theft claim.
• A duplicate, where one crash appears as two claims.
• A fault label you dispute. If your insurer agreed you weren't at fault, ask it to confirm how it reported the claim.

A not-at-fault crash may still show up as a claim. That alone isn't an error. What your state lets insurers do with it is a separate question; see premium increases after an accident.

Disputing a mistake

Under the FCRA you have the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information, and the agency must investigate unless the dispute is frivolous. Information that turns out to be inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable must be removed or corrected, usually within 30 days. An agency may keep reporting information it has verified as accurate. LexisNexis publishes a letter describing its dispute procedure and can mail you a letter showing the status of your disputes.

1. Write down what is wrong and why, item by item. The Federal Trade Commission's dispute guidance says to explain the error in writing and include copies, not originals, of your documents.
2. Attach proof: the claim letter, a denial or closing letter, a payment record or a police report that shows the correct facts.
3. Send it to LexisNexis and keep a dated copy of everything you send.
4. Also write to the insurer that reported the claim. It supplied the information and can correct it at the source.
5. Read the result. The FTC explains that results come in writing and that a change brings you a free copy of the updated report.

If the dispute doesn't fix it, you can ask that a short statement of the dispute be added to your file, as the FTC describes for credit reports. If an insurer won't correct what it reports, your state insurance department can take a complaint; see filing a complaint.

How long a claim stays

C.L.U.E. Auto holds up to seven years of claims, so an old claim eventually drops out of the report. The FCRA also says that in most cases an agency may not report negative information that is more than seven years old. How far back an insurer looks when it rates a policy is a separate choice, set in its rating plan, so ask your insurer how many years of claims it uses.

Before your next claim, think about whether it is worth filing: a small loss may cost you more in future premiums than it pays. The claim or pay calculator helps you compare.

Questions people ask