What Is Loss Run?

A loss run is the paper trail underwriting decisions actually get made on. Where a submission describes what a business does and how big it is, the loss run tells a carrier what has actually gone wrong on that risk historically: how many claims, how severe, how much is still reserved and open versus already closed and paid. A thin, clean loss run is one of the strongest arguments a producer has when shopping an account to a new carrier at renewal, and a heavy or worsening one is exactly what pushes that same account's combined ratio, and its renewal quote, in the wrong direction.

Requesting loss runs is a routine part of working an x-date. A producer marketing a business ahead of its renewal needs current loss runs in hand before a new carrier will even quote the account seriously, since no underwriter prices blind on claims history. That makes the loss run one of the practical, non-negotiable pieces of paperwork sitting between an x-date conversation and an actual bound account, alongside the application and any required supplemental underwriting information.

Loss runs also matter directly to BOR strategy: a business owner considering a BOR letter switch is a much easier sell with a clean loss run in hand to shop, and a producer working that conversation benefits from asking for loss runs early rather than after a letter is already signed.