How insurers use a motor vehicle record
An insurer may order a motor vehicle record when you apply or at renewal, using the authorization in the application. The report is one input they can use while they decide whether to offer a policy and how to classify the risk. This page does not estimate a premium, and it does not say that a clean record will lower a price. The motor vehicle record comes first. Any driver score is a separate educational number.
What they actually order
The company, or a reporting firm it uses, asks the state for a report on the license you listed. The report shows the license status and the convictions, crashes, and withdrawals the state releases for that order. It is not a credit report, and it is not a device that watched how you braked last month. If you have licenses in more than one state, an order against only the current license can miss the other file.
The number of years on that order is chosen by the company and limited by what the state still releases. Do not treat a figure from one carrier's form as every carrier's rule or as your state's retention schedule. The state pages and the insurer's own notice are the two places that can answer the question for a real application.
What this site will not tell you
We do not know an insurer's rating formula. We do not convert a violation into a dollar amount, and we do not predict whether a company will accept you. A motor vehicle record can matter in underwriting. That is a description of the document, not a quote. If you want the general shape of how orders work, read the insurance guide. If you want a price, ask the insurer.
The educational score is not an insurance score
Driver Score v1 is calculated from entries on a motor vehicle record so you can read that record in one number. Insurers do not use that number as their score. It is not a credit-based insurance score, it is not a government score, and it is not a savings estimate. If a sample score appears anywhere on this site, it is labeled as an example and it is not yours.
The useful order of operations is the same one the rest of the site uses. Read the motor vehicle record. Understand which lines the state posted. Treat any score as a summary you can ignore if you only needed the report.
Frequently asked questions
Will a clean MVR lower my insurance premium?
This site does not make that claim. An insurer may review a motor vehicle record. What they charge is their decision. We do not estimate savings or a new price.
Is the driver score sent to my insurer?
No. The educational score is calculated here from a retrieved record so you can read it. It is not an insurance score and it is not a rating factor we file with insurers.
How many years will my insurer see?
That depends on the order and on what your state releases. There is no single national number on this page. Check the state page and the notice from the company.
Where to go next
Related reading
More MVR guides
Read the record first
The motor vehicle record is the document. A driver score, when you have one, is only an educational summary of that record.