What Is a CLUE Report—And Does it Affect Your Car Insurance?
Insurance companies use your CLUE report, a limited record of past insurance claims, to help set your premiums.
Written by R.E. Fulton
Edited by Kathryn Kurlychek
A CLUE report shows a complete record of any insurance claims made on a vehicle or property for the last seven years, making it a helpful tool for both homebuyers and insurance companies. It summarizes the risk involved with a particular property or driver.
- Your insurance claims history plays an outsized role in determining your rates. A CLUE report acts as a short-term record of your filed claims.
- Under the Federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act, every consumer has a right to access their CLUE report.
- If you’re trying to lower your home insurance or car insurance rates, it’s worth checking out your CLUE report to understand what’s keeping your costs high.
- Your insurance claims history plays an outsized role in determining your rates. A CLUE report acts as a short-term record of your filed claims.
- Under the Federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act, every consumer has a right to access their CLUE report.
- If you’re trying to lower yourhome insuranceorcar insurancerates, it’s worth checking out your CLUE report to understand what’s keeping your costs high.
The purpose of a CLUE report for insurance
The Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (C.L.U.E.), generated by consumer reporting agency LexisNexis Risk Solutions, maintains reports on personal automotive and personal property claims history.
Each report is tied to a specific vehicle or property and contains claims information from the last seven years.
What’s included on a CLUE report
A CLUE report contains the following information:
- Your name
- Your date of birth
- Your insurance policy number
For homeowners, the report will also list the property address, and for car owners it includes vehicle information such as the VIN.
Your CLUE report also includes the following information for every car or home insurance claim you’ve made in the past seven years (whether or not it was successful):
- Claim number
- Insurance company
- Date of loss
- Type of loss (e.g. theft, accident, or water damage)
- Amount the insurance company paid
- Description of the covered property or vehicle
Your CLUE report won’t include any other information, such as your
credit score
or Social Security number. If you asked an insurance agent questions about filing a claim or about your deductible, but
don’t end up making a claim
, it usually won’t be included in your CLUE report. But if the agent opened a file on that potential claim, that might be included, even if there was no actual claim. CLUE reports are used by insurance companies and loan lenders
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, LexisNexis can create CLUE reports when a consumer
asks for insurance quotes
or when an insurance company requests one directly. Only owners, insurance providers, and lenders can access CLUE reports. With that in mind, CLUE reports have a few basic uses:
- Car and homeowners insurance companies use loss history reports from CLUE to set insurance premiums for new policyholders.
- Potential buyers may request a copy of the CLUE report for a home along with a home inspection to get an idea of the health of the property.
- Drivers can use CLUE reports to correct claims information and obtain cheaper insurance coverage.
Check your CLUE report every year to keep rates low
The Federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act says that you have the right to a free copy of your CLUE report every year, but what’s the point of requesting one?
Out of all the factors that
impact the cost of auto insurance
—from your credit report and your vehicle’s value to your gender
and ZIP code—your insurance claims history has an outsized impact on your rates. When insurance companies report a claim to the CLUE database, that claim will remain on your record for years, raising the rates you’ll get from new insurance companies.
An error on your CLUE report could leave you overpaying for a car insurance policy. LexisNexis allows consumers to dispute information on their personal report—and since you’re permitted one free copy each year, it’s fairly easy to obtain a copy and make any necessary corrections.
How to get your CLUE report
To get a copy of your CLUE report, you can:
- Submit a request online through theconsumer portal
- Contact LexisNexis at 866-312-8076 to request a copy by phone
You can get one free copy each year. If you feel the need to check more than once per year, you can always request additional copies—but you’ll need to pay a $19.95 fee for each subsequent copy.
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