The analysis of insurance claim data has been an important technique used to assess the effectiveness of federal standards for automotive bumpers. Studies assessing each version of these standards since their inception in 1973 have used this technique. The identification of bumper-involved claims is an essential requirement in performing such studies. Recent changes in automotive design have complicated the process of identifying bumper involvement. Examined in this paper are several different damage criteria that are currently applicable toward identifying bumper-involved insurance claims. The implications of each of these criteria in influencing the results of claim analyses are presented. In addition, a new cost-effectiveness measure, E, which is the product of insurance claim proportion and the average repair cost of these claims, is developed to quantify the risk or expected expense of repairing a vehicle in the first year of ownership due to a low-speed accident. The usefulness of this measure in performing insurance claim analyses is demonstrated.