Insurance Practices Are Killing Me!: Need Advice on CLUE Reports, Non-Fault Claims, and Premium Hikes

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Insurance Practices Are Killing Me!: Need Advice on CLUE Reports, Non-Fault Claims, and Premium Hikes

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out to get your advice and insights on a frustrating and costly situation we’ve been dealing with involving our auto insurance. There are several issues here that I believe highlight systemic problems in the insurance industry, and I’d appreciate any feedback or similar experiences you’ve had.

Background

My spouse and I (ages 42 and 47) have clean driving records with no at-fault accidents EVER and no traffic violations in the past 3 years. For over 7 years, we’ve had auto, home, and umbrella insurance with Farmers.

For the last two years, we insured a 2022 Ford Mach-E with Farmers. As of our last renewal, our monthly premium was $300 for one vehicle. However, after trading in the Mach-E for a 2024 Acura ZDX and shopping around for new quotes, State Farm quoted us $560/month for a single vehicle—nearly double what we were paying with Farmers and three times our car payment!

When I pressed for an explanation, I uncovered several issues tied to claims we’ve made in the past, even though none of them were our fault. Here are the details:

  1. October Non-Fault Accident

In October, we were rear-ended while stopped at a red light. Farmers, our insurer at the time, suggested that we file the claim with them instead of the at-fault driver’s insurer, claiming it would resolve faster. We followed their advice, paid our deductible, and were later reimbursed when Farmers settled with the other party’s insurer.

However, Farmers reported this claim to LexisNexis’ CLUE database, and now it’s impacting our insurance quotes. If we had filed directly with the at-fault driver’s insurer, it’s likely this claim wouldn’t appear on our record. We were never informed of the long-term consequences of filing with Farmers, and now we’re paying for that decision.

  1. Comprehensive Claims Penalized

We’ve paid extra for windshield coverage, which includes repairs for chips and cracks. Farmers actively encourages filing claims for chip repairs early to prevent them from spreading and causing further damage.

When we received the $560/month quote from State Farm, the agent specifically mentioned the number of windshield claims on our record as a reason for the higher rates. I was shocked to learn that filing these claims, despite being fully covered and unrelated to fault, had such a negative impact.

Here’s the predatory part:

• Arizona law prohibits insurers from increasing premiums for non-fault accidents (A.R.S. § 20-263).

• However, insurers like State Farm are circumventing this law by focusing on the number of claims, rather than fault. By saying, “Fault isn’t the factor here,” they can effectively penalize policyholders for non-fault claims while appearing to comply with the law.

• All of our claims have been no-fault, yet our rates have skyrocketed. This practice feels predatory because it punishes victims and responsible drivers for using the insurance benefits they’ve paid for.

Additionally, when I questioned Farmers about this today, they claimed that Arizona recently changed its laws to allow insurers to use comprehensive claims (like windshield repairs) to calculate premiums. This has turned what was marketed as a protective benefit into a financial trap—completely negating any value of the coverage.

  1. Diminished Value

When we traded in our Mach-E, we received $21,200, far below the Kelley Blue Book value. The dealership told us the car’s diminished value was due to the October accident being reported, even though the damage was fully repaired. Farmers never informed us about pursuing a diminished value claim, leaving us to absorb this financial loss.

  1. State Farm’s Questionable Practices

When we called State Farm for a quote, they accessed our LexisNexis CLUE report without our knowledge or authorization. I wasn’t informed this would happen during the phone call, and I feel blindsided.

Additionally, a State Farm agent I know personally told me that they lure customers in with low introductory rates and then raise premiums significantly at renewal. This “bait-and-switch” strategy seems designed to trap customers who don’t shop around.

  1. Broader Concerns

These practices feel like a systemic problem:

• Penalizing Non-Fault Victims: By using claims volume instead of fault to assess risk, insurers are unfairly penalizing responsible drivers.

• Eroding Trust: Comprehensive coverage (e.g., for windshields) is marketed as a benefit, but filing a claim ends up costing more in the long run due to rate hikes.

• Implied Consent Issues: I don’t understand how State Farm can justify accessing my CLUE report over the phone without any explicit authorization or disclosure.

What I Need Help With

I’d like to hear your thoughts or advice on the following:

  1. How can I address the unfair use of non-fault and comprehensive claims in my insurance quotes? Are there specific insurers that handle these issues more fairly?

  2. What steps can I take to dispute or correct my CLUE report? I’ve requested it from LexisNexis but haven’t reviewed it yet.

  3. Has anyone successfully filed a diminished value claim after the fact? Is it worth pursuing with the at-fault driver’s insurer?

  4. Are there legal or regulatory options for challenging these practices? I’m considering filing complaints with the Arizona Department of Insurance and the CFPB, but I’m open to other suggestions.

  5. What insurers would you recommend for fair treatment of clean drivers with non-fault claims?

I appreciate any advice, feedback, or shared experiences you can provide. This situation feels like a lose-lose, and I want to find a way to push back against these unfair practices.

Thank you!

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Have you reached out to your state’s consumer affairs office?

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Just happened yesterday. I’ve ordered a copy of Lexi’s report and am performing due diligence before making my next move.

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Btw, try and summarize your post. :wink:
Good luck.

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Every company uses the CLUE report AFAIK along with other publicly available information so I’m surprised you didn’t think State Farm would access that. State Farm is a mess - my house burned down and they gave me a letter stating that the fire was caused by someone else with me not being at fault yet still dropped me afterward. It was pain as the claim stayed on my CLUE report for 5 years or so but thankfully other insurers accepted the letter.

Have you tried getting other quotes? There’s so many other insurance companies so not sure why you are going with them at $560/month.

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I’m not going with State Farm. Farmers, current insurer, is $300 /mo for ZDX.

As for CLUES, I’d never heard of it before yesterday: Never had a need to know. What pisses me off is the hurdles I have to jump through to get my own file by providing private info and waiting two weeks via snail mail while an insurance company can get it instantly without my authorization or knowledge.

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I would caution you to corroborate with an independent source anything an agent tells you.

They aren’t underwriting the policies with their own money; they’re in sales.

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Yea AZ insurers do count windshields as a claim even if you have coverage, thats why i abandoned that coverage. Paid cash for my last replacement and havent bothered fixing chips on my current cars.

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What is really going to steam your buns is when you see all of the data your vehicle has been sending them without you knowing you consented to it. Like hard acceleration, hard braking, high speed driving.

The days of no fault accidents, comp claims, and even no point tickets not increasing insurance are long gone. Found out the hard way after pleading down a point tickets to no points and insurance still went up and they claimed that ticket. They got wise to that game.

Hate to say it, increase your deductibles to lower your rates and stop putting claims in for a few years,

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You should always ask & compare quotes for insurance every renewal. There’s no value being a long term customer in this issue.

For diminished value, check your statue of limitation on claiming it in your state. You will need to file it against the other party’s insurance, not yours. Get an independent appraisal of the diminished value (I used tiger DV), and have a quote from carmax/carvana for similar car with & without the accident record. Be prepared to go all the way to small claim court to get what you are due, they will lowball you.

Don’t file claim unless it’s necessary & you can’t afford to pay it out of pocket.

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I think your biggest issue is choice of vehicle. EVs are VERY expensive to insure. The other issues you’re stating probably are not impacting the cost of your coverage that much.

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This is accurate. I had an accident with an Uber driver at airport. Geico said I could file a report with Uber’s insurance (State Farm) and wait, either with my car out of commission or pay for repair out of pocket. Or I could file a claim with them, pay my $500 deductible and they would fix it. I filed with GEICO and got my car back 7 days later. Meanwhile the police report showed Uber driver was at fault (at the airport so they had plenty of security footage to review). Geico and State Farm both now have the footage.

This accident was October 6. Police report was completed October 15. State Farm is still fighting the claim. It’s going to interparty arbitration at some point next month.

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I used to sell insurance for SF (over 10 yrs ago) and we were able to pull clue reports during the quote process with just your name and address. The system automatically did it when getting to a certain step. It essentially pulled up everyone in the household. It’s not a big deal (like a credit report) and actually made it easier to quote people bc we could ask specific questions about what we saw. When we saw collision claims and the customer claimed they were not at fault, we just needed them to provide a letter from their current company confirming that, and there was no surcharge. Comprehensive claims were never surcharged. That said, if there were a bunch, I’m sure the quote generated by the system factored them in, but it didn’t explicitly say.

Idk how much has changed since then as I’m no longer in the business and this was in a different state.

If you shopped insurance every 6 months, you’d find a company cheaper than the last each time.

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No disrespect but you’re incorrect that the EV is the biggest part of the problem. While I understand insurance is higher on EVs, that is NOT the reason my quote from State Farm is almost $600 per month for a single vehicle. Sure, EVs may be 15-35% more to insure than gas vehicles but we’re talking about 300%

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The fact that the guy quoting insurance was aware of my windshield claims with previous company says that he’s likely right. He shouldn’t have that information. And there is NO WAY to corroborate it. State Farm doesn’t publish their algorithm. We don’t have a calculator that we can use to input variables so we make better decisions.

While you’re right that he’s not an underwriter and doesn’t know exactly, THIS IS THE PROBLEM. Imagine buying a TV at Best Buy and the salesperson has to go get a number from the wizard every time and it’s different every time.

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I understand what you’re saying and this is good advice to navigate the current landscape. With that said, I never like the answer that focuses on the behavior of those being screwed instead of focusing on the assholes doing the screwing!

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If this is true (and I believe it is), this is predatory and should be illegal. Charging us $ for insurance that if we use will cost us even more $. This is unacceptable.

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Here is an analogy of what is happening. I apologize in advance for the example but it’s to make a point.

Imagine a woman has been raped and impregnated and then being told that her health insurance is going up because since shes been raped now, she’s the kind of person who is likely to be raped. If you’re the poor woman who is gang-raped, your health insurance goes up exponentially.

Everyone would agree that this would be despicable and it would never fly. Please explain how being the victim in accidents that were not your fault or having rocks hit your windshield and being classified as high risk for insurance is any different?

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Why not?

Separately…

We had roadside assistance on a State Farm policy, and used it 5 or 6 times in one unlucky year (flat tires and dead batteries).

Every incident showed up as a claim on CLUES, which was called to my attention by an agent that was quoting me new (very aggressive) rates. He could see every one of incidents on our history, and he paused the conversation to discuss the frequency and nature of the claims.

Fwiw, also never take at face value any information you get about credit reporting or credit scoring from a banker or a loan officer. They may get some of the crude, basic concepts correct, but IME they’re almost always wrong about details.

I didn’t say the agents were wrong about glass claims, I suggested that you validate your / their assumptions with an authoritative resource.

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BTW, is your credit perfect?

(You don’t need to answer, but note that credit has pretty strong predictive value for insurance claims, and is used in most states as an input into the premium calculation.)

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