Where do Ins Compaies get info?

Rancher Will wrote:
I should have been more clear in my original post. I first called the State Farm phone number listed on the premium renewal notice. I was told that the rate increase was for the reason that "I had filed a claim "two or three years ago". I have never filed any claim and so informed that State Farm Rep.

I then called my local State Farm agent that has had my account for decades. That agent told me that she could not find any record of any claim that I had submitted and she "doubted that the increase was due to any claim", and in our discussion she stated that she could not adjust the premium rate increase since the rate was set by "the Company". She said that she did not know how or where State Farm got the information that I had made a claim and she could not find any such record.

I then again called State Farm at the phone number listed on the premium notice. The State farm Rep that I talked to again stated that there was a record that I had submitted an accident claim "two or three years ago". At my request she could not give me even a date when such an "accident claim" was submitted.

When I asked why my premium rate was just now increased, but not last year, if their record indicated a claim "two or three years ago", she would not answer but only repeated that State Farm had an Accident claim record.

I then, again, asked where the erroneous claim record was obtained, since I have never made any claim, never had an accident of any kind and never had any occasion to file any claim of any kind. Again, she would only say that there was a record of a claim but even when I pressed the question, she never answered the question, "where did State Farm get the Record of a claim?".

I really don't care if the State Farm Rep was telling the truth or not (I am inclined to believe that she was lying) since I know that there was no claim of any kind and never had been any for decades. As I mentioned the Local State Farm agent could find no record of any claim when she tried to find one, and three other insurance agents could not find any record of any insurance claim that was on record against me at all when I informed them why I was cancelling the State Farm policy.

Thank all of you above for your comments. In a way I am happy about it since as a result I cancelled State Farm to get a policy from National General Insurance Co that gives me even better coverage with a lower annual premium than I had been paying over the past few years with State Farm. The local State Farm Agent, a friend of mine for years, is not happy about it either but she can do nothing about it and could not give a reason for the State Farm error.

from my experience with agents me thinks your agent was not as proactive as they could have been. A good agent is worth their weight in gold if you have one. We have state farm, as do my folks. In both cases we have outstanding agents, and more than once when the saw unusual increases coming our way, called to let us know, told us they were investigating why, and ended up letting us know that they had taken care of it and the rate increase didn't apply to us. And in a couple of cases with our kids as they left home and got insurance went through options of insurance coverage that greatly reduced the cost by making sure rental insurance etc. was correct and by adding a very low cost $10k term policy let them have a "multiline discount" that was much greater than the minimal cost of the term life insurance.

So.... a lot boils down to the insurance.