A broker asking a business owner for a loss run report is often the first time the term comes up, usually while shopping a renewal or putting together a quote with a new carrier. Understanding what is a loss run report, and why a document listing old claims matters so much to an insurer deciding how to price new coverage, helps a business respond quickly instead of scrambling to track one down.
This article covers what a loss run report typically includes, why commercial insurers rely on it, how far back it generally reaches, and where a business owner is most likely to be asked for one.
What Is a Loss Run Report?
A loss run report is a document, usually issued by an insurance carrier, that lists a business's claims history on a commercial policy over a defined period. It commonly records the date each claim was reported, the type of loss, the amount paid out, any amount still reserved for an open file, and whether the claim is closed or still active.
Loss run reports show up across most lines of commercial insurance, including commercial general liability, commercial property, commercial auto, and workers' compensation-adjacent programs. A business with coverage across several of these lines may end up with a separate loss run for each one, since each carrier typically reports only on the policies it has written.
What Information Appears on a Loss Run Report?
A typical loss run report is formatted as a table, with one row per claim. Common columns include the claim or file number, the date of loss, a short description of what happened, the claimant, amounts paid to date, amounts reserved, and the claim's current status. Some carriers also include the policy number and effective dates the claim falls under.
The level of detail can vary between insurers, and a report from a smaller carrier may be considerably shorter than one from a national insurer with a standardized claims system. None of the figures on a loss run report represent a statement about how a different, future policy would treat a similar event; they describe what happened on the policy already in force at the time.
Why Do Commercial Insurers Ask for a Loss Run Report?
Underwriters use loss run reports to understand the pattern behind a business's past losses, not just the total dollar figure. A single large claim tied to a one-time event generally reads differently than several smaller claims that suggest a recurring operational issue, even if the totals are similar. Frequency, severity, and whether claims are trending up or down over the reported period all factor into how an underwriter evaluates a renewal or a new application.
A loss run report also travels with a business when it switches carriers. A new insurer almost always asks for three to five years of loss history before it will quote, regardless of which carrier wrote the prior policy, because that history is one of the clearest pictures available of how the account has actually performed. The Insurance Bureau of Canada, whose member companies write a large majority of the property and casualty insurance sold across the country, represents the carriers that typically generate and share these reports as part of the normal underwriting exchange between insurers.
How Far Back Does a Loss Run Report Go?
Most loss run reports cover three to five years of history, reaching back further for larger or more complex commercial accounts and staying shorter for a newer business that has simply not been insured as long. A five-year window is common for liability and property lines, while some accounts request a shorter summary when recent experience is considered more relevant than older history.
Requesting a loss run report typically involves the broker reaching out to the current or a previous carrier on the business owner's behalf, since most insurers require written authorization before releasing claims information to anyone other than the policyholder. Building that request into the renewal timeline, rather than waiting until a new quote is already due, tends to keep the process from becoming a bottleneck.
Benefits of a Loss Run Report
A loss run report gives a business owner the same information an underwriter sees, which makes it easier to understand why a renewal premium moved the way it did or why a new carrier is asking particular questions. Reviewing the report before a broker markets a renewal can also catch an error, such as a claim listed as open when it was actually closed years earlier, before that error affects a quote.
For a growing business, a clear loss run history is also a useful record when comparing markets or considering a change in property or liability structure, since it gives a prospective carrier a documented basis for pricing rather than relying only on self-reported information. Reviewing how a commercial insurance premium audit reconciles estimated exposure against actual figures is a related exercise worth doing around the same time, since both processes feed into how accurately a renewal reflects the real business.
Where You'll Come Across a Loss Run Report
Loss run reports come up most often at renewal, particularly when a broker is marketing a commercial account to more than one carrier to compare terms. They also surface when a business changes ownership or is acquired, since a buyer's insurer typically wants the claims history before binding new coverage. Fleet-heavy operations, such as those carrying trucking insurance, tend to see loss run requests especially often, since commercial auto claims frequency is one of the more closely watched figures in that segment.
A loss run report can also become relevant during a broader conversation about program structure, including whether a business is a candidate for a higher deductible or a self-insured retention structure instead of a standard deductible. A steady, well-documented claims history is often part of what makes that kind of structure workable for a business considering it.
Talk to a Licensed Broker About Your Claims History
A loss run report is a routine part of shopping or renewing commercial coverage, and having one ready ahead of time tends to make the quoting process faster and the resulting terms easier to understand. A licensed broker can help request loss run reports from current or prior carriers, review them for accuracy, and use them to position a business accurately within the wider context of business insurance in Canada. Get a commercial insurance quote to start that conversation.
Claims history, underwriting outcomes, and pricing vary by insurer and by the specific policy in force, and only a licensed broker and the actual policy wording can confirm what applies to a particular business.
