Motor Vehicle Reports

Usually the insurance industry requires that our agency order Motor Vehicle Reports (MVR’s) on all the licensed drivers of a company that the employee may be driving for business purposes. However, to do so, we must comply with the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 (FCRA). This act states that all persons on whom the report is ordered must give their written permission before a report can be ordered. The law states that failure to do so can result in severe penalties, such as fines up to $2,500, plus court costs. This applies not only to the entity ordering the report, but also to the employer of the individual.

Once written permission is obtained from the employee or perspective employee, Stout Insurance Brokers, Inc. has online access to DMV through a 3^rd Party to obtain the Motor Vehicle Report and determine driver eligibility or exclusion. With written permission we are able to discuss the results of the MVR if needed and guide our clients accordingly in terms of how they wish to fill their driver schedule. Each insurance company has their own guidelines for driver eligibility. Some insurance companies will exclude a driver altogether who has an adverse driving history while other insurance companies will accept that person as a driver but you (the employer) will pay a higher premium for having a high risk driver on your schedule. For Motor Vehicle Requests that come back with a questionable history, we have various solutions. However, in being pro-active we recommend any perspective employees that you anticipate will drive for business, have us obtain an MVR prior to hiring them to determine their driver eligibility.

Running MVR’s is service we provide to our clients at no charge. While there is a charge to obtain the MVR, we believe as part of being your broker this is a service we should provide to you as your advisor.