In August 2009, some vehicle history information providersstarted to share auto insurance claim data with their customers.Insurance claim data is now being released to the public. Thisinformation is shared with used car buyers and sellers throughoutNorth America. Surprisingly, many auto insurance companies did notknow this was happening and they may not have given theirauthorization. Some vehicle history information providers havetaken it upon themselves to disclose this information and to decidehow it will be shared without any insurance companyinvolvement.

“We were shocked to discover our information was being sharedwithout our knowledge,” said the assistant vice president of autophysical damage for a major insurance company. “When we discoveredwhat was happening, we took immediate steps to stop it.”

For more than 20 years, vehicle history providers have soughtauto insurance claim data. For that same length of time, insurershave consistently refused to share auto insurance claim data. Manyinsurance companies may not realize that some vehicle historyreporting companies — despite the industry's longstanding refusalto share such data — have started to include insurance claiminformation on their reports.