If you are considering changing your automobile insurance company, you may be doing so to reduce your premium costs. Do you wonder if you are getting a fair price when you contact an insurance agent for a quote? You may not realize that much of how an agent comes up with your premium price is based on your Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) report. Understanding what this report is and checking to be certain it is accurate could save you money on your insurance policy while not sacrificing the insurance coverage you need if you are involved in an automobile accident.
Please note: Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers PC is licensed to practice personal injury law in the state of Georgia. If you need legal assistance from another area, please contact your state’s legal bar association.
What Is a CLUE Report?
A CLUE report is a database of insurance claims managed by LexisNexis—a credit reporting agency that maintains certain data on drivers. The major automobile insurance companies make a monthly report of their losses to CLUE. The information about you on the report can go back as far as seven years.
An insurance agent can obtain a CLUE report by entering your name, address, and date of birth. The report can generate the following information that the agent will use in creating your insurance quote:
- Insurance carrier. The CLUE report will state who your current automobile insurance company is and whether you are in active or cancelled status. It may list prior insurance policies, but often only does so if you made a claim.
- Date of loss. The CLUE report will list the date of loss for insurance claims, which is crucial information that the adjuster will use to determine your rate. Minor violations can increase your rates for three years, but major ones will mean higher rates for five years. If you have no traffic violations or accidents in the last five years, this could result in a good discount on your insurance costs.
- Amount of payment. Depending on the insurance company, the amount of the insurance payment on a claim could affect your insurance rate. A total loss payment, especially when the claim amount is high, can be a red flag to the adjuster, and some insurance underwriters may be unwilling to take a risk on insuring you in this situation.
- At-fault driver. Insurance companies always want to know who was at fault in causing a motor vehicle accident. If you were the at-fault driver, this could increase your insurance premium costs.
- Claims not paid. The CLUE report also lists any unpaid claims. These could be important to some insurance companies.
- Inquiries. If your insurance company received any serious inquiries about you, these may have been reported and listed on the CLUE report.
How Do You Obtain a Copy of Your CLUE Report?
Given how the information in your CLUE report could affect the amount of your insurance premium, you want to review the report for any inaccuracies. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report and your CLUE report each year. You also have a right to a free copy of the CLUE report when an insurance company takes adverse actions against you, such as offering you a higher insurance rate, based on the report. You can request a copy of your report in one of two ways:
- By making a request on the LexisNexis Personal Reports website page
- By calling LexisNexis Risk Solutions at (800) 627-3487
If your report is inaccurate, you can dispute the inaccurate information. You should take these steps to correct it:
- Contact LexisNexis. Inform LexisNexis of the error in writing and provide any documentation of this that you have. They have a duty to contact the insurance company that reported the inaccurate information to try to correct it.
- Add a statement. If your dispute letter does not resolve the problem with your CLUE report, you can prepare a statement to be added to the report explaining the error.
- Contact your insurance company. You can contact the insurance company—especially if it is yours—and request that they correct the inaccuracies.
If you have other concerns about your CLUE report or a recent car accident where you need to file a claim, our experienced car accident attorneys are here to answer your questions. Call us to schedule a free consultation.
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