Insurance documents
Loss runs: the document every renewal starts with
What loss runs contain, how to request them, how to read them, and why the slow ones quietly cost money at every market switch.
Every new market asks the same first question. The answer takes minutes or months.
Switch markets, renew a commercial policy, finance premium, settle a dispute: the first document every counterparty asks for is the same one. The loss run. It is the claims history of a policyholder, straight from the carrier's records, and it is the single most requested document in commercial insurance.
Here is what it is, how to get it fast, and how to read it once it arrives.
What a loss run actually is
A loss run is a carrier-produced report listing every claim against a policy: dates, claim numbers, coverage lines, amounts paid, amounts reserved, and status of each. It answers one question with authority: what has this insured actually cost, and what might it still cost.
Three fields matter most:
- Paid losses: money actually out the door, closed or not.
- Reserves: the carrier's estimate of what each open claim will finally cost. Underwriters price the reserve as if it were paid, because to them it is.
- Incurred: paid plus reserves. This is the number underwriters mean when they say losses.
How to read one
The loss ratio is incurred losses divided by earned premium over the same period. Below 40 percent is comfortable, 40 to 60 is watchable, above 60 invites markets to decline or reprice. But the ratio is the start, not the verdict:
- One large shock loss and a pattern of small ones read completely differently at the same ratio.
- Open reserves from years past still count. A claim that never closed never stopped pricing.
- Frequency trends matter more than any single year: three small claims this year after two last year is a story underwriters recognize.
- Zero-loss history is the strongest document in commercial insurance, and worth protecting at renewal even when the price tempts.
How to request one, and why they are slow
The request itself is trivial: the policyholder or their authorized agent asks the carrier, in writing, ideally with policy numbers and dates. Carriers commonly produce them within a few business days to a few weeks, depending on the carrier and the book.
The slowness is structural, not personal:
- Only the carrier can produce it, and requests queue behind their service model.
- Five years of history commonly means five carriers and five requests, each with its own timeline.
- Authorization has to be verified each time, and mismatched requester names add rounds.
- Nobody is paid to chase it, so it waits politely in an inbox while the market clock runs.
Here is what the slowness costs. A submission without loss runs is a submission that sits. Markets that would quote today quote next month instead, or not at all. The client shops slower, the broker places slower, and the renewal that should have been a comparison becomes a default. Speed on this one document is speed on everything downstream.
What a fast pipeline looks like
- One tracker: every request, every carrier, every follow-up, visible, instead of living in five inboxes.
- Authorization on file: the letters signed before the request needs them.
- Automatic follow-up: the chase happens on a schedule, not when someone remembers.
- Delivered where the work happens: the PDF lands attached to the account, not in a download folder.
How we fit into this
This is a first system for a reason: it is bounded, it is measurable, and the win is visible in weeks. We build the request-and-chase pipeline and connect it to the account record: see how engagements start.
Frequently asked questions
What is a loss run report? +
A carrier-produced report of every claim against a policy: dates, coverage lines, amounts paid, amounts reserved, and claim status. It is the authoritative claims history, and nearly every commercial renewal, market switch, or premium financing decision starts by asking for it.
How do I request loss runs from an insurance company? +
The policyholder or their authorized agent requests it in writing from the carrier or agent of record, with policy numbers and the period wanted. Most carriers turn it around in a few business days to a few weeks. Two things make it fast: authorization already on file, and a follow-up cadence that does not depend on someone remembering.
How far back do loss runs go? +
Five years is the standard request in commercial markets, and most carriers produce at least that. Longer histories exist and matter for lines with long tails, like products or professional liability. Multi-year histories usually mean multiple carriers and multiple requests, which is where the calendar goes to die without a tracker.
What is a good loss ratio? +
Below 40 percent incurred-to-earned over the period reads as comfortable in most commercial lines, 40 to 60 is watchable, and above 60 invites declines or repricing. But the ratio alone is not the verdict: one shock loss, open reserves from prior years, and claim frequency trends all change how the same number gets read.
Why do loss runs take so long? +
Because only the carrier can produce them, requests queue behind their service model, five years of history often means five carriers, and nobody downstream is paid to chase. The document itself is simple. The coordination around it is the bottleneck, and that is a pipeline problem, not a patience problem.