Something happens to your car or your house. Maybe a fender bender in a parking lot. Maybe a branch comes through your fence during a storm. Maybe a pipe leaks and damages the bathroom floor. You have insurance. That’s what it’s for. Should you file a claim?
The answer is almost never automatic, and getting it wrong — in either direction — has real consequences. Here’s how we think through it at Options Insurance, including the rule of thumb we actually use with clients and a story that illustrates exactly what can go wrong.
We don’t give people a single dollar threshold for every situation, because insurance is personal. But we do have a practical starting point: for auto claims, consider filing if the damage is roughly three times your deductible or more. For homeowners claims, the threshold is closer to five times your deductible.
Why the difference? Because homeowners claims have a bigger impact on your insurability than auto claims. A single homeowners claim tends to follow a property for years and can make it harder to switch carriers, find competitive pricing, or even maintain coverage at all. Auto premiums adjust too, but the stakes around property insurability are generally higher.
These aren’t hard rules — they’re starting points. Your history matters. Your carrier matters. Whether you’ve had recent claims matters. Call your agent before you file anything.
Most people don’t understand the cumulative effect of claim history until it becomes a problem. Here’s the general pattern:
Your claim history follows you through a database called CLUE (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange). When you shop for new coverage, every carrier you contact will pull a CLUE report on you and the property. They’ll see every reported claim, including ones where nothing was paid out.
This is a scenario we’ve seen many times in Minnesota, especially after significant hail seasons: a storm chaser roofing company knocks on a homeowner’s door, inspects the roof, tells them there’s damage, and strongly encourages them to file an insurance claim. Sometimes they use language like “your insurance will cover it,” and sometimes the homeowner trusts that and files.
What often happens next: the insurance adjuster comes out, inspects the roof, and determines the damage doesn’t meet the threshold for a covered claim — either it’s not from a recent event, it doesn’t exceed the deductible, or it’s normal wear rather than storm damage. The claim is denied. No money is paid.
Here’s the problem: the claim is still on your record. When that homeowner goes to renew their policy or shop for new coverage, carriers pull the CLUE report and see the claim activity. Many will ask about roof condition before agreeing to write the policy. The homeowner now has a claim on their history for a loss that wasn’t even paid — and that follows them for years.
Minnesota has legislation specifically targeting predatory storm chasing contractors (§325E.66, §326B.811, §326B.802). These laws address contractor solicitation after storm events and contract terms. But the insurance consequences of filing a claim on a contractor’s advice aren’t covered by any statute — that’s on you to understand before you pick up the phone.
The rule: call your insurance agent before you call a contractor. Discuss whether you have a claim worth filing before you file it. That conversation costs you nothing.
None of this means you should avoid filing legitimate claims. Insurance exists for exactly that purpose. File without hesitation when:
The goal isn’t to never use your insurance. The goal is to use it strategically — for the situations it was designed to handle — and to protect your insurability for the times when you really need it.
Even a single claim can affect your premium at renewal, depending on the carrier and the type of loss. Most carriers will send a letter after a second claim within three years. Having two or more claims within a five-year window makes it significantly harder to find new coverage or competitive pricing — many carriers will decline to quote or will apply a surcharge.
Yes, significantly. The key distinction is weather-related versus non-weather-related claims. Wind and hail losses are generally viewed more favorably — they are outside the homeowner’s control and affect the whole area. Non-weather claims — burst pipes, fire, theft, liability — are weighted more heavily and can reflect property condition or behavior. Multiple non-weather claims in a short window can make a property very difficult to insure. Frequency — the number of claims regardless of size — is often viewed as more concerning than severity.
The claim still goes on your record, even if the payout is zero. This is one of the most common mistakes we see. A homeowner files a roof claim after a storm, the adjuster determines the damage doesn’t exceed the deductible, no money is paid out — but the claim activity is still recorded. Future insurers will see it.
Most carriers look back five to seven years when underwriting a new policy. Some carriers report claims through a shared database called CLUE (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange), which can hold records for up to seven years. When you shop for new insurance, carriers will run a CLUE report on the property.
Sometimes, but think carefully about context. If you’ve had no claims in years and the loss is clearly covered and meaningful (say, $3,000 to $4,000 above your deductible), it can make sense. But if you’ve had a recent claim, or if you’re close to the deductible threshold, the premium impact over three to five years will often cost you more than you recovered.
This is one of the most important conversations in insurance and most people never have it. Whether to file a claim isn’t just about the current loss — it’s about protecting your ability to stay insured at a reasonable cost for years to come. Call me before you file anything and we’ll think through it together.
Call us before you decide. It’s a free conversation and it could save you from a claim that costs you far more in the long run than the payout you received.
📞 Call (952) 392-9508