Loss Run Reports — What They Are & How to Use Them
When your insurance policy comes up for renewal, your broker requests a loss run from your current carrier. The underwriter at the new carrier reviews it. Your premium is set accordingly. Most organizations treat this as a passive process — something that happens to them. Organizations that actively manage their loss runs understand them as a financial performance document and use them strategically.
A loss run is a comprehensive report of your insurance claims history — showing every claim filed against your policy during a defined period, with the current financial status of each claim (paid amounts, reserves, and total incurred). Insurance underwriters use loss runs as the primary data source for renewal pricing. Organizations that understand their loss runs can identify data errors, provide favorable context for anomalous claims, and present improving trends that support premium negotiations. IncidentVault generates the underlying claims data that produces accurate loss runs — and tracks total incurred automatically so your loss data is always current.
What a Loss Run Contains
A loss run is a claims history report that your insurance carrier produces from their claims records. For each claim in the report period, a loss run typically shows:
- Claim number: The carrier’s internal reference number for the claim
- Date of loss: When the underlying incident occurred
- Date reported: When the claim was first reported to the carrier
- Claimant name: The name of the injured person or claimant
- Description of loss: Brief description of the claim circumstances
- Claim status: Open (still being managed) or closed (resolved)
- Paid losses: Indemnity payments made to or on behalf of the claimant
- Paid expenses: Defense costs, investigation expenses, and other claim management costs paid
- Reserve (for open claims): The carrier’s estimate of remaining future payments
- Total incurred: Paid losses + paid expenses + remaining reserves — the total expected cost of the claim
How to Read a Loss Run for Premium Negotiation
Check for Errors
Loss run errors are more common than most policyholders realize — misclassified claims, incorrect reserve amounts, claims that were closed but still show as open, and duplicate claims all appear in loss runs. Every error that overstates your incurred losses overstates your risk to the underwriter. Review every claim line on the loss run before renewal and dispute any inaccuracies with your broker in writing.
Identify Trend Direction
Is your total incurred declining year over year? A declining trend — even if your current year’s total is above industry average — demonstrates an improving program and gives underwriters evidence for favorable rate treatment. Rising trend data, even with currently low totals, signals a deteriorating risk profile. Prepare a narrative that contextualizes your trend for the renewal submission.
Contextualize Anomalous Claims
A single catastrophic claim that distorts your 5-year loss history deserves explanation: was it a one-time event unlikely to recur? Does it reflect a risk that has been addressed with specific corrective action? Underwriters respond to context. A large claim with no explanation is worse for underwriting purposes than the same claim with a documented explanation and prevention response.
Verify Reserve Adequacy
Open claims with reserves that are too low will eventually develop to their true cost — producing adverse development that surprises the carrier and affects future pricing. Open claims with reserves that are too high overstate your current total incurred. Review open claim reserves for accuracy before submitting to renewal underwriters — and provide updated reserve analysis if carrier reserves are materially incorrect.
How IncidentVault Generates Your Loss Data
IncidentVault’s claims management module maintains the data that produces accurate loss runs — tracking every claim’s payments, reserves, and total incurred from opening through closure. The AI Insights Chatbot generates the loss summary that loss run preparation requires: “What is our total incurred by coverage type for the past 5 years?” “Which open claims have the highest reserves?” “What percentage of claims closed with payments above the initial reserve?” — answers from claims data without a manual spreadsheet project.
Accurate Total Incurred
Paid amounts + current reserves calculated automatically for every open and closed claim — the core metric that loss run accuracy requires. Updated in real time as payments are recorded and reserves are adjusted.
Loss Run Analytics
5-year loss history by coverage type, by location, and by incident type — the analytical foundation for renewal presentations that contextualize your loss history and demonstrate program improvement.
Exportable Claims Data
Export your claims data in Excel or PDF format for submission to brokers and underwriters — or as the source data for verifying your carrier’s loss run accuracy.
Your loss data always current. Loss run errors caught. Renewal narratives supported by data.
IncidentVault’s claims management tracks the payment and reserve data that produces accurate loss runs — giving risk managers the visibility into their claims financial history that effective premium negotiation requires.
