Yes, a not-at-fault accident generally does go on your record — usually on two records, actually. Your state driving record and your insurance claims history are separate systems maintained by different organizations, and each one captures the crash in its own way. Whether it can also raise your premiums is a different question, and the answer there depends on your insurer and your state.
One quick clarification, because the phrasing trips people up. “No-fault” can mean either an accident someone else caused, or the insurance system used in about a dozen states where each driver’s own insurer pays their medical costs regardless of who caused the crash. This article is about the first meaning. If you live in a no-fault insurance state, that framework changes how your claim gets paid, but it doesn’t change whether the accident gets documented.
What Goes on Your State Driving Record
Your state’s motor vehicle agency maintains your official driving record, sometimes called a motor vehicle report. It lists traffic violations, license actions, and accidents that were reported to the state.
Whether your accident lands there depends on your state’s reporting threshold. Every state requires a report when someone is injured or killed. For property-damage-only crashes, most states set a dollar threshold — commonly around $1,000, with the range running from zero to roughly $3,000 depending on the state. If the damage falls below your state’s threshold and nobody was hurt, the accident may never reach your driving record at all.
When it does appear, most states list the accident without an explicit fault determination. The entry shows you were involved in a reportable crash, not that you caused it. Any citation issued at the scene shows up separately as a violation, and that carries its own consequences.
What Goes on Your Insurance Claims History
Your claims history lives in a completely separate system. The most widely used database is the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, or C.L.U.E., run by LexisNexis. When you file a claim, or when another driver’s insurer processes a claim involving you, the information flows into C.L.U.E. Insurers pull this report when you apply for coverage or come up for renewal.
Unlike your driving record, C.L.U.E. includes a fault indicator field for each accident. Your insurer fills it in — at fault, not at fault, or undetermined — and that field is what other insurers see. In theory, a not-at-fault crash is labeled as such. In practice, the coding is only as accurate as your insurer made it, which matters because premiums often ride on it.
You don’t have to file a claim yourself for an accident to appear. If the other driver files against your policy, or if your insurer opens a file after you call in just to report what happened, it gets logged. People are sometimes surprised to find a claim on their record after making what they thought was an informational phone call.
How Long Each Record Keeps the Accident
C.L.U.E. generally holds claims data for up to seven years, including not-at-fault claims. After that, the entry drops off automatically.
State driving records typically keep accident entries for a shorter window — most states retain them for three to five years, with longer retention for serious crashes involving injury or impaired driving. You can request a copy of your driving record from your state’s motor vehicle agency for a small fee.
Can a Not-at-Fault Accident Raise Your Premiums?
This is where things get frustrating. Logically, a crash you didn’t cause shouldn’t affect your rate. Some insurers do treat it that way; one major national carrier has been documented as never increasing premiums after a not-at-fault accident. But the practice is not universal. Research has found that several large insurers routinely raise rates after a not-at-fault crash, with some doing so in every market where state law doesn’t prohibit it. Documented average increases have ranged from roughly 7 to 12 percent depending on the insurer and the driver.
The insurer’s rationale is statistical: drivers who have been in any accident are more likely to file future claims. Whether that’s fair is debatable, but it’s the actuarial logic behind the practice. A handful of states have banned surcharges for not-at-fault accidents, which removes the issue entirely in those markets. Your state’s department of insurance can tell you whether that protection exists where you live.
Accident Forgiveness
Some insurers offer accident forgiveness to shield your rate after a qualifying claim. The programs vary. A basic version may come automatically with a new policy, covering small claims below a set dollar threshold. Others require you to earn forgiveness by keeping a clean record for a period, often five consecutive years. Some sell it as a paid add-on.
Read the terms carefully. Some forgiveness programs apply only to at-fault accidents, which makes them irrelevant if your crash wasn’t your fault to begin with. Others cover any claim regardless of fault. The marketing language tends to be vague, so the policy language is what matters.
How Fault Actually Gets Decided
Fault isn’t stamped on the record by a single authority. Several parties weigh in, and they don’t always agree.
The police report is often the most influential document. Responding officers diagram the vehicles, take statements, note conditions, and sometimes include an opinion on who caused the crash. A citation at the scene is a strong signal of responsibility. But a police report is investigative, not a legal ruling — persuasive without being binding.
Your insurance company runs its own investigation. Adjusters review the police report, examine damage, interview the parties, and sometimes consult reconstruction specialists. The insurer then makes its own fault determination, and that determination is what gets recorded in the C.L.U.E. fault indicator field. Insurers can disagree with the police report, and occasionally do. Their call is what directly affects your premiums and claims history.
If a case goes to litigation, a court’s finding of fault supersedes everything else. Most fender benders never get that far, so the insurer’s determination stands unless you dispute it.
How to Check and Correct Your Records
Errors in fault coding happen more often than you would expect, and they can quietly inflate your premiums for years. Checking both records periodically is worth the effort.
Your Insurance Claims History
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to request a copy of your consumer file from any consumer reporting agency, including LexisNexis.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681g – Disclosures to Consumers LexisNexis runs a consumer disclosure portal where you can request your C.L.U.E. report, and you’re entitled to one free copy during any 12-month period by online, mail, or phone request.2LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Consumer Disclosure Home
When the report arrives, check the fault indicator on every listed accident. If a not-at-fault crash is coded incorrectly, or if a claim you don’t recognize appears, you have the right to dispute it. The reporting agency must investigate disputed information free of charge and either correct, delete, or verify it within 30 days of receiving your dispute. That window can extend by 15 additional days if you submit new supporting information during the investigation.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
If the investigation confirms the information is inaccurate or unverifiable, the agency must promptly delete or correct it and notify the insurer that furnished the data.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy Gather your evidence before filing. A police report naming the other driver, photos, witness statements, and correspondence from the other insurer accepting liability all strengthen your case.
Your Driving Record
Request a copy from your state’s motor vehicle agency, usually through the agency website or a local office. If an accident is listed incorrectly, most states offer a formal correction process that involves a request form and supporting documentation like a police report. Procedures and forms differ by state, so check your motor vehicle agency’s site for the specific steps.
A Note for Commercial Drivers
Commercial drivers operate under closer scrutiny. Federal regulations require motor carriers to pull each driver’s motor vehicle record at least once every 12 months and review it for disqualifying violations or patterns of unsafe driving. Carriers must keep a copy of each MVR in the driver’s qualification file and consider the driver’s accident record.4eCFR. 49 CFR 391.25 – Annual Inquiry and Review of Driving Record
For carriers, the FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System uses reportable crashes from the preceding 24 months to calculate a Crash Indicator score. Through the Crash Preventability Determination Program, carriers and drivers can request a review of specific crashes. If FMCSA determines a crash was not preventable, meaning a reasonably careful driver couldn’t have avoided it, that crash comes out of the carrier’s Crash Indicator calculation, though it still appears on the record.5U.S. Department of Transportation. Crash Preventability Determination Program
So the crash still shows up, and your employer will see it during their annual review. A “not preventable” determination keeps it from counting against the carrier’s safety score. Employers in this industry check both driving records and claims histories when hiring, so disputing inaccurate fault coding matters more here than almost anywhere else.6Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Driver’s Motor Vehicle Record