Auto & Home Insurance "CLUE" reports & how to fix
Posting because I learned something today while researching how to correct information on a report. I was aware that the Insured could request a copy of their report, but in all my years I've never had a customer interested in doing it. What I didn't know is that you are allowed to request a copy every year at no charge (just like a credit report). What is CLUE? It stands for "comprehensive loss underwriting exchange" and is a database that allows automobile & homeowner insurance providers to exchange information about claims (date of loss, amounts paid, etc.) for loss or damage to property (including things like water damage claims, roof damage from wind, fire, burglary, auto accidents, towing claims, windshield repairs, etc.). LexisNexis is the dominate database (866-312-8076 or online at https://personalreports.lexisnexis.com) but some carriers may also use Verisk A-Plus (800-627-3487).
Just like being able to dispute information on your credit report, you can dispute the claims information reported here. I will say in all of my years in insurance, the information is generally accurate and I've only seen maybe 5 mistakes in my years of doing this. But when inaccurate, can have a negative impact. I've been lucky in that in my situations where the information was inaccurate, once I provided accurate information to the insurance company in which we were dealing with (typically changing carriers) they accepted the documentation I provided and not the CLUE report. And therefore I had never investigated how to correct the CLUE report. Here is the information from LexisNexis https://personalreports.lexisnexis.com/dispute.jsp and from Verisk https://www.verisk.com/insurance/products/order-an-a-plus-loss-history-report/
Even if you don't think there is an error on your report, the report can be useful to have because frequently we all forget about having that windshield chip repaired that cost us nothing. Or about that towing claim a year ago. Those are useful details to have when you are shopping for insurance so that you get mostly accurate rates in advance of an agent having to run those reports (and most of us agents get charged for that report if we don't write the policy with that carrier - so we like it when you know that information).
