How Can I Check My Car Insurance Claims History?

Last Updated on December 10, 2025

The last thing most people want to think about is their accident history. Unfortunately, your claims and accident history play a huge role in determining your auto insurance rates. Even if you’d rather forget past fender-benders, insurance companies definitely don’t. Understanding what’s in your claims history—and how to check it—can help you avoid surprises and possibly lower your premiums.

Key Takeaways

1. Insurers look at your MVR, CLUE report, and internal claims history to decide your risk level and set your rates.
2. Prior claims and accidents can make you look like a higher-risk driver, which can raise premiums or even get you declined by some insurers.
3. Knowing exactly when old accidents “fall off” (usually after 3–5 years) can help you time your shopping and potentially qualify for better rates or safe-driver discounts.
4. You can check your record by requesting your MVR from the DMV, your CLUE report from LexisNexis, and claims summaries from your insurers or agent—and correct any errors that may be costing you money.

What’s the Difference Between Claims History and an MVR?

The short answer: they’re related, but not the same. Insurers usually look at a combination of three things:

• Your MVR (Motor Vehicle Record)
• Your CLUE report (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange)
• Your internal claims history with each insurer

An MVR is short for Motor Vehicle Record. These driving records are kept by each state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (or equivalent agency).

Your MVR shows information related to your driving history, including:

• Basic info like your license number, name, and address
• Accident reports
• Traffic violations and tickets
• License suspensions
• Serious violations and vehicular crimes

A CLUE Report stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. It’s a claims-information database used by insurers. For auto insurance, a CLUE report generally shows up to seven years of personal-auto claims history—including which vehicles were involved, what type of losses occurred, and how much was paid out.

Your claims history is simply the record of the claims you’ve filed with each insurer. It often includes details such as:

• Date of the loss
• Type of incident (collision, comprehensive, liability, etc.)
• Who was at fault (if determined)
• Amount paid by the insurer
• Whether the claim was accepted, denied, or withdrawn
• When the claim was opened and closed

Insurers use all three—MVR, CLUE, and their own internal history—to build a complete picture of your risk.

Why Do Insurance Companies Look at My Claims History?

Insurance companies are very interested in both your claims history and your driving record. That’s because their entire business model depends on accurately evaluating the risk each driver represents.

Every time a customer files a claim, the insurer pays out money. If they pay more in claims and expenses than they collect in premiums, they lose money. To avoid that, insurers analyze a massive amount of data about:

• How often different types of drivers file claims
• How severe those claims are (small fender-benders vs. major crashes)
• Which factors—like age, location, and prior accidents—predict future losses
• Whether past claims were accepted, denied, or withdrawn

While everyone is likely to be in some type of accident at some point, data clearly shows that people who have already had one claim are more likely to have a second, third, or fourth claim. That means insurers expect to pay more for drivers with prior claims.

Because of this, many companies have underwriting rules that limit how many recent claims they’ll accept. If you have more than one or two claims in the past three to five years, some insurers won’t write your policy at all, or they’ll charge significantly higher premiums to reflect the added risk.

Do I Need to Know My Claims Activity?

Technically, you don’t need to know your claims history or driving record to buy auto insurance. Most of us remember the big accidents and tickets we’ve had. However, there are several good reasons to check your records anyway:

1. Timing When Old Claims “Fall Off”

Most insurers look back three to five years when pricing your policy. If you know the exact dates of your past accidents and claims, you can see when they’ll age out of that window.

Once an accident passes that 3–5 year period, it may no longer affect your rates. At that point, it’s a great time to:

• Shop around to see if another company will offer you lower rates without that old claim on your record
• Ask your current insurer about possible rate reductions
• See if you now qualify for a good driver or safe driver discount

2. Checking for Errors

While MVRs and CLUE reports are generally accurate, mistakes do happen. Examples include:

• An accident coded as an at-fault accident when you were actually not at fault
• A claim still shown as “open” when it was resolved long ago
• A claim that belongs to a different driver with a similar name

Errors like these can unfairly raise your rates or cause companies to decline your application. If you spot a discrepancy, you’ll want to gather proof (police reports, claim letters, etc.) and work with the insurer or LexisNexis to get it corrected.

How Can I Get a Copy of My Claims History?

Reports such as your MVR, CLUE report, and claims history aren’t stored by you—they’re maintained by state agencies, consumer reporting companies, and insurers. Fortunately, you can still access them.

Getting Your MVR (Motor Vehicle Record)

To get a copy of your MVR:

• Visit your state’s DMV (or equivalent agency) website.
• Look for “driving record” or “motor vehicle record” services.
• Follow the instructions to request your record—usually for a small fee.

Some states allow you to order your MVR online; others require you to mail in a form or visit in person.

Getting Your CLUE Report

For your CLUE report, you have a few options:

• Ask your insurance company or agent if they can provide a copy.
• Request your personal report directly from LexisNexis. In many cases, you can get one free report every 12 months.

You can start the process online at the LexisNexis consumer portal here: https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/request

Your CLUE report should show auto and property claims associated with you over the past several years. If you find errors, you can dispute them through LexisNexis and your insurer.

Getting Your Claims History From Insurers

Your current or former insurance companies can usually provide a claims summary or “loss run” report upon request. To get it:

• Contact your agent or insurer’s customer service department.
• Ask for a claims history or loss run for your auto policy.
• Specify the time frame you’re interested in (for example, the last 5–7 years).

If you’ve had policies with multiple insurers, you’ll need to request reports from each company. However, if you’ve always worked with the same independent agent—even while switching carriers—that agent may be able to consolidate your claims information into a single document for you.

Once you have your MVR, CLUE report, and claims history, you’ll have a clear picture of what insurers see when they price your policy. That makes it easier to correct errors, time your shopping, and understand why your rates are what they are.

FAQs

Final Word

Your car insurance rates aren’t based on guesswork—they’re built from the data in your MVR, CLUE report, and claims history. If that information is wrong or if you don’t know when old accidents drop off, you could be paying more than you need to.

By taking a few minutes to pull your driving record, request your CLUE report, and review claims summaries from your insurers, you’ll see exactly what companies see when they price your policy. That knowledge makes it easier to fix errors, time your shopping, and put yourself in the best possible position for lower rates.