How to order your insurance history

The auto insurance industry in Canada shares information on claims through a system called Autoplus. When you call to shop for auto insurance, your broker will order your Autoplus report, in addition to your driver’s abstract, to verify the information you’ve given her/him during the call. If you’re not sure what they will find on the report, you can order it yourself, free of charge. If you disagree with anything in the report, you can challenge it.

When you apply for auto insurance, or call for quotes for the purpose of switching insurance companies, at some point the broker, agent or insurance company will use your driver’s license number to order your driver’s abstract, and what is called an Autoplus report. The driver’s abstract will have details about any of your recent traffic-related convictions, and the Autoplus will have information about any claims in which you’ve been involved.

Why might I need my Autoplus report?

A few reasons you might need to request your Autoplus report:

• You’re leaving the province or country and want to be able to show insurers in your new jurisdiction your insurance history.
• You’re applying for a job that requires driving, and the employer may ask for the report as a condition of employment.
• You may just want to know what’s in the report.

The fact is your Autoplus report may contain information about accidents that you know about, but it also could have information that you wouldn’t expect to be there. Say you got in a little fender-bender and agreed with the other driver that you would not go through your insurance companies. Maybe the other driver decided after-the-fact to report the accident at a Collision Reporting Centre. It might show up on your Autoplus.

There could also be errors in your Autoplus report. Afterall, humans enter the data into the system. Someone could have entered one character incorrectly from a license plate, and you could be identified as the at-fault driver in a collision that had nothing to do with you. In other cases, you might have been involved in a collision for which you were not at fault, but the report might show otherwise.

Any of the above errors or inaccuracies in your report could make a big difference in what you pay for auto insurance. You may want to see the report just to make sure all the information is correct, especially if you’ve noticed that your rate has increased by more than 15% from one year to the next for no obvious reason.

How do I get my report?

To order your Autoplus report, you need to complete the appropriate form, and send it CGI, the company that administers the Autoplus system, in one of two ways:

• Scan the signed form and email it to: insurance.helpdesk@nullcgi.com
• Mail the signed form to:

CGI Technical Assistance Centre
5800 St-Denis, 7th floor
Montreal, PQ, H2S 3L5

When you sign the form you are confirming that it is your own information you are requesting. If another driver’s information appears in your report (someone else who is insured under your policy), CGI may ask for their consent as well.

Your report will be mailed to you within 10 days of submitting the form. Allow a few extra days for it to arrive.

What if I disagree with something in the report?

If there are claims in the report that you don’t think are yours, or if you are shown to be at fault and you don’t think you were, there is a process for disputing that information. Your first step would be to contact the complaint resolution officer at the insurance company where you were insured at the time of the accident.