CLUE Report: What It Is, How to Get Yours Free, and How It Affects Your Rates

Apply for a new auto policy and the insurer already knows your claims history before you finish the application. That history lives in your CLUE report, a national database that LexisNexis Risk Solutions has maintained for decades. A single comprehensive claim sitting in that file can raise your premium by roughly 50%, and it stays visible for seven years.

What Is a CLUE Report?

CLUE stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, a centralized claims database operated by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Think of it as a credit report for your insurance behavior: instead of tracking loans and credit cards, it tracks every claim you have filed on auto and property policies over the past seven years. Insurers pull this file during underwriting to gauge how likely you are to file again.

Verisk runs a competing database called A-PLUS, so your full claims footprint can sit in two systems at once. Both pull from the same industry reporting pipeline, and carriers often check one or both when you request a quote. Understanding how car insurance works starts with knowing that your past claims travel with you from one company to the next.

What Information Does a CLUE Report Contain?

Each entry in your CLUE file documents one claim or inquiry in detail. The report ties that activity to both you as a person and the specific vehicle involved, which matters when you buy a used car and inherit the previous owner's claim history on the VIN.

• Date of loss and the type of loss, such as collision, theft, or comprehensive.
• Dollar amount the insurer paid out on the claim.
• Name of the insurance company, plus the policy and claim numbers.
• Your name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number for identity matching.
• Inquiries you made to an agent or adjuster, even when no claim was ever filed or paid.

That last item trips up a lot of drivers. Calling your agent to ask whether a cracked bumper is worth filing can register as activity, so weigh that before you pick up the phone. Our guide on when to drop collision coverage walks through the math on small claims that may not be worth the long-term premium hit.

How Insurers Use Your CLUE Report

Underwriters read your claims history as a prediction engine. Someone who filed three claims in five years statistically files more often than someone with zero, so carriers price that risk into the premium. Frequency matters as much as severity here: two small $800 claims can hurt your rate more than one $6,000 claim, because pattern signals future behavior.

The financial sting fades before the record does. A claim stays visible for seven years, but most insurers stop surcharging for it after three to five years, according to carrier rating practices. That gap between visibility and pricing impact explains why your rate can drop while an old claim still sits in the file. For a deeper look at how long incidents linger, see our breakdown of how long an accident stays on your driving record.

CLUE vs. Other Consumer Reports

Drivers often confuse the half-dozen files that insurers and lenders pull. Each one answers a different question, and each has its own dispute process. Here is how CLUE stacks up against the records people mix it up with most.

Report	What It Tracks	Operator	Lookback
CLUE	Auto and property insurance claims	LexisNexis	7 years
A-PLUS	Insurance claims (alternative database)	Verisk	7 years
MVR	Tickets, violations, license status	State DMV	3-7 years
Credit-based score	Payment and credit history	Equifax, Experian, TransUnion	7-10 years

Sources: LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Verisk, and WalletHub, reflecting standard underwriting data sources used by U.S. auto insurers as of 2026. Lookback periods vary by state regulation.

How to Get Your CLUE Report for Free

The Fair Credit Reporting Act entitles you to one free auto CLUE report and one free property report every 12 months. Requesting it never dings your insurance score the way a hard credit pull dings your credit, so check it at least once a year before you shop policies.

Need a second copy within the same year? LexisNexis charges $19.95 for additional reports, though representatives sometimes waive the fee for personal copies. Shopping around still beats paying for extra reports; compare quotes against the average cost of car insurance to know whether a claim on your file is truly driving your rate up.

How to Dispute Errors on Your CLUE Report

Errors are common, ranging from claims attributed to the wrong person to inquiries logged as paid losses. Because 99% of insurers feed CLUE, one mistake can follow you to every carrier you approach. The fix is free and the timeline is set by federal law.

1. Read every line and flag claims that were denied, withdrawn, or never yours.
2. Submit your dispute to LexisNexis in writing or through the online portal, attaching documentation like a denial letter or repair invoice.
3. Notify your current insurer in parallel so their underwriting notes match the corrected record.
4. Wait for the investigation; LexisNexis must respond within 30 days under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
5. Add a personal statement to the file if the dispute is denied but you still contest the entry.

Frequently Asked Questions