What is a CLUE Report for Car Insurance?

A CLUE report is a historical record of your car insurance claims, used by insurance companies to assign your rates.
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Ross Martin

Insurance Writer

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  • 5+ years in the Insurance Industry

Ross joined The Zebra as a writer and researcher in 2019. He specializes in writing insurance content to help shoppers make informed decisions.

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Beth Swanson

SEO Content Strategist

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Beth joined The Zebra in 2022 as an Associate Content Strategist. She is a licensed insurance agent whose goal is to make insurance content easy to r…

CLUE reports in auto insurance: everything you need to know

A CLUE report — short for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange — is a record of your prior insurance claims. If you’ve ever switched insurance companies and wondered how your new insurer was aware of your previous accidents or claims, it’s thanks to your CLUE report. 

CLUE reports are generated by the analytics company LexisNexis, which updates the database regularly with claims information reported from insurance companies. Sometimes known as a loss history report, CLUE reports may contain both auto and home insurance claims information.

Let’s have a look at the information in a typical CLUE report and how it can affect your car insurance quotes.

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What's on a CLUE Report?

A CLUE report contains the past seven years of your personal auto insurance claims history. A report includes the loss type and date of loss, as well as the amount paid. It also includes information such as insurance policy numbers, claims numbers, and the names of your insurance companies. 

Insurance companies report the amount of money they pay out, any files created while processing claims, and information on denied claims. The CLUE report deals only with your insurance claims. As such, you won’t find sensitive personal information like your social security number on the report. 

If you haven’t filed an auto or homeowners insurance claim in the last seven years, your CLUE report is likely empty. The best way to find out what’s on your CLUE report is to seek out a copy for yourself.


How to get a CLUE Report

You can get a free copy of your CLUE report through LexisNexis. Thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are allowed one free CLUE report each year. You can request your report in the following ways:

When requesting your free CLUE report, you can ask for a personal property report or an auto report. If you need both reports, you may order them at the same time. Extra copies can be ordered for a fee. 


How do insurance companies get CLUE reports?

Alongside personal information like your address, age and credit score, car insurance companies assess your CLUE report when putting together your insurance policy. The report provides a snapshot of your driving history, helping set your future insurance rates.

Insurance companies rely on data tying a high number of past claims to the likelihood of future claims. If you’ve made a number of insurance claims in the past, it’s likely your insurer will see you as a high-risk customer and assign you more expensive rates. 

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How to dispute claims on a CLUE report

What happens if you suddenly see a rise in your insurance premiums, but you haven’t filed any claims? While there are some natural reasons for insurance rate increases, you could be paying too much due to an error on your CLUE report. As with your credit report, it’s important you apprised of any changes made to your CLUE report to avoid negative ramifications. 

To dispute an erroneous claim, simply contact LexisNexis. The service has 30 days to reach out to your insurance company in an effort to fix the situation. You can also have the company add personal notes to your report. For instance, if you made a claim related to your swimming pool, but have since had the pool removed, this is information future insurance companies should know. 

Be on the lookout for claims that were started, but ultimately weren’t paid out by the insurance company. If, for instance, you started the claims process after your car was damaged, but ultimately decided to pay for the damages out of pocket, this might show up on your CLUE report. By contacting LexisNexis, you could potentially have this blemish removed from your record.  


Why CLUE reports are important

If you want to ensure that your auto insurance rates are as low as they can be, it’s important to know what information is on your CLUE report. This, together with regularly comparing insurance quotes, can help you get the best coverage at the best rates available.

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About The Zebra

The Zebra is not an insurance company. We publish data-backed, expert-reviewed resources to help consumers make more informed insurance decisions.

  • The Zebra’s insurance content is written and reviewed for accuracy by licensed insurance agents.
  • The Zebra’s insurance editorial content is not subject to review or alteration by insurance companies or partners.
  • The Zebra’s editorial team operates independently of the company’s partnerships and commercialization interests, publishing unbiased information for consumer benefit.
  • The auto insurance rates published on The Zebra’s pages are based on a comprehensive analysis of car insurance pricing data, evaluating more than 83 million insurance rates from across the United States.