Check the Prior Claims Record on Your House Before the Roof Visit

Many homeowners learn about an old claim on their house at the worst moment, when the insurer quotes it back during a roof review. The record that makes this possible is usually a property claims history report, and the one most insurers check is called a CLUE report. Before you make the first call on a roof claim, get a copy of the record for your address and read it the way the insurer will read it. The goal is not to hide anything. The goal is to know what the file says so the roof conversation starts from facts you already have.

What the record is and who keeps it

CLUE stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, and it is run by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Insurers report property claims into the database when they pay or close them, and they check the database when they write or renew a policy. The report lists the address, the loss date, the type of loss such as wind, hail, water or fire, and the amount paid. It does not show the full claim notes. The look-back window is several years, so an older loss may not appear at all.

Because the report is built from what insurers report, a claim filed with one company can follow the house to the next. A payment made under a previous owner's policy can still appear for the address. That is why the record matters even when the current owner never filed anything.

How to request yours

The Fair Credit Reporting Act generally gives you the right to a free disclosure of your consumer file once a year, and LexisNexis Risk Solutions has a consumer disclosure process for CLUE property reports. Ask for the property report for the street address, not only for your name. The request steps can change, so check the current instructions on the company's consumer pages before you send anything. Keep the confirmation and the report together in your roof file, with the date you pulled it written on the first page.

What to read in each entry

• The loss date, and whether it matches a storm you know about or a date you had not thought about.
• The loss type. Hail, wind, water and fire each leave different evidence, and each one raises different questions for the roof that is there now.
• The amount paid, and whether the entry shows a roof payment, a contents payment or a payment for another structure such as a shed or fence.
• The address. A neighboring property can be keyed in wrong, and a wrong address is worth correcting in writing with the insurer.
• Any entry that says closed without payment. That still means a claim was reported, and it can matter when you describe the history of the roof.

When an older claim touches the same roof

A prior claim does not decide a new one. An older hail claim on the same roof can still be a fair loss if the damage from that storm was repaired and the current damage came from a later event. The question the insurer asks is which damage is new, and which slope, area or component it sits on. If the old payment covered the north slope and the new storm hit the west slope, the photos and the written scope should show that split clearly.

If the earlier repair was partial, ask the roofer to write down what was replaced and what was left alone. A repair that replaced three shingles is not the same as a repair that replaced a full slope, and the file should show the difference. Keep the earlier invoice, the earlier estimate and any photo from that job. Pictures of the roof taken before the old repair are often more useful than anything taken after it.

What the roofer's file can and cannot show

Keys documents the roof. The written scope goes into your hands with photos and measurements, so you have the same record the insurer receives. Keys attends the inspection as the contractor while you deal with your own insurer. The company does not represent you in the claim and does not negotiate it for you. Missouri law bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim under RSMo 407.725, so that conversation stays with you and the insurer.

The roofer's file can show what the roof looks like today, where the damage is, and whether an earlier repair is still sound. It cannot tell the insurer what a past payment covered. That answer comes from the insurer's own claim file for the old loss, which you request in writing.

What a clean record does not tell you

A report with no entries does not prove the roof is undamaged. It only means no claim was reported to the database for that address. Hail can strike a roof and never reach a claim file, and a repair paid for out of pocket leaves no trace in the report. The roof's own condition is still the open question, and a documented inspection is what answers it. Shingle age, damage nobody reported and older work a previous owner paid for in cash all stay outside the report.

Bring the record to the first insurer call

Bring a copy of the prior-claims report to the first call or the inspection, and note the date you pulled it. If an entry looks wrong or incomplete, ask the insurer in writing how it was entered. Write down the exact entry, the claim number if you have it, and the reply. Do not guess at what a past payment covered. Ask for the file for that earlier claim, and put the request in writing so the reply carries a date.

If the record shows something you did not expect

Most people find one old entry they had forgotten, and it is often a small repair from a previous owner. The steps stay the same. Date the entry, find the photos or invoice, and show the roofer what was repaired before. The roofer's written scope should name the existing repair in the same place the photos show it, so the insurer sees one roof with one history rather than two stories that disagree.

Ask your roofer to check the earlier repair on the roof itself before the scope is written. A patch that is still sound can be listed as existing work, and a patch that has failed should be noted with its own photos. If you have questions about your policy, the insurer's written reply is the document to rely on, not a verbal summary from anyone on the roof.

If you want the roof walked and documented before you talk to the insurer, call Keys Roofing at (314) 220-2333. The inspection gives you a written scope with photos and measurements to keep, and the insurer conversation stays with you.