Reader question:
I’m told I got a higher rate on insurance because of my insurance rating. What is that and how can I find out more about my rating?
Drew
Great question, Drew.
The insurance rating is sort of like your credit rating, and in fact the two are very likely to have similar numbers. If you have a bad credit rating, you will more than likely have a bad insurance rating, even if you are a good driver. Your insurance rating can, of course, also be affected by traffic violations, claims filed, and policy cancellations from other insurance companies, but your credit rating has the most over-reaching effect.
The insurance rating isn’t as widely known as the credit rating, so most people don’t think to even keep track of it until one day they by chance find out that they have a not-so-great one.
One way to find out about your insurance rating is to get a C.L.U.E. report. C.L.U.E. stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, and it has a history of all your consumer claims information for the past five years. This is the same information that the insurance companies can see, so if you’re wondering why you have a bad insurance quote, get your C.L.U.E. report and see.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama