How to Check Your Auto Insurance Score

Understanding your auto insurance score is important for managing your insurance premiums. This score directly impacts the rates you pay for coverage. By knowing what factors influence it and how to access relevant information, you can take steps to ensure its accuracy and potentially reduce your insurance costs.

What an Auto Insurance Score Is

An auto insurance score is a numerical rating that insurance companies use to assess the risk of a policyholder. It helps insurers predict the likelihood of future claims and determine appropriate premium rates. While distinct from a traditional credit score, it often relies on similar financial data.

Insurers develop their own proprietary scoring models, meaning your insurance score can vary across different companies. A strong credit history often correlates with a better insurance score.

Factors Influencing Your Score

Several types of information influence your auto insurance score. Credit-based data is a significant component, including your payment history, outstanding debt, and the length of your credit history. Timely payments and a low credit utilization ratio contribute to a more favorable score.

Your claims history also plays a role, as past auto insurance claims, regardless of fault, are considered. Insurers view a higher frequency of claims as an indicator of increased risk for future filings. The recency and details of any claims can significantly impact your premiums, with older claims having less effect after three to five years.

Your driving record, including traffic violations and accidents, heavily influences your score. Serious infractions like driving under the influence (DUI) or multiple speeding tickets can lead to substantial premium increases. Insurance companies use your Motor Vehicle Report (MVR) to track these details, assessing your risk based on past behavior.

Steps to Access Your Score

Consumers cannot directly “check” an auto insurance score, as insurers generate these internally. Instead, you can access the consumer reports from which these scores are derived.

To review your credit-based information, you are entitled to a free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can access these reports through AnnualCreditReport.com. This centralized website provides a convenient way to request all three reports, allowing you to review your payment history, outstanding debts, and other credit-related factors.

For your claims history, you should obtain a Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) report. This report, generated by LexisNexis, details up to seven years of personal auto and property claims. You can request a free copy of your CLUE report once every 12 months by contacting LexisNexis directly through their website or a dedicated phone number. When requesting, you will need to provide personal identifying information to verify your identity.

Reviewing and Disputing Inaccuracies

Once you have obtained your credit reports and CLUE report, carefully review each document for accuracy. Look for common types of errors, such as incorrect personal information, accounts that do not belong to you, or outdated claims. Incorrect payment histories or accounts reported as open when they are closed are also frequent mistakes to identify.

If you find an inaccuracy on your credit report, dispute it with the credit reporting company (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion) and the company that provided the incorrect information. You can initiate disputes online, by mail, or by phone, and it is advisable to provide supporting documents and keep records of all communications. The credit bureaus are required to investigate your dispute within a reasonable timeframe, around 30 days.

Similarly, if you identify an error on your CLUE report, such as an invalid claim or an incorrect claim amount, dispute it directly with LexisNexis. LexisNexis will then contact the reporting insurance company to verify the information and will notify you of the results within 30 days. Correcting these inaccuracies can positively impact your insurance scores and your premiums.