To request loss runs from any carrier, get a letter of authority signed by the insured, send it with the named insured, FEIN, policy numbers and policy terms to the carrier's loss run department or agent portal, and follow up on day 3, 7 and 14 until the report arrives. The rest of this guide covers each step, the wording that carriers accept, and the mistakes that add weeks to a renewal.
Loss runs are the single document most likely to hold up a commercial submission. The account can be fully rated, the ACORD applications complete and the schedule of values clean, and the market still will not quote without currently valued claim history. The process below is the same one we built into our loss run software, and it works just as well by hand if you run a small book.
Who can request loss runs
The policyholder owns its claim history. The named insured can ask any carrier it has been insured with for loss runs at any time, and the carrier will release them directly. The agent of record usually has access through the carrier's agency portal and can pull the report without any extra paperwork.
Everyone else needs written permission. A broker who is not the agent of record, a prospecting producer, an MGA working a submission from a retail agent, or a new carrier reviewing the account all need a letter of authority (sometimes called an authorization to release loss information) signed by an officer or owner of the insured. Many states also have rules that require an insurer to provide loss information to the insured within a set number of days of a written request, which is why a request made in the insured's name tends to move faster than a request made in the broker's name alone.
Start with a signed letter of authority
The letter is short. It has to identify the insured, name who may receive the information and be signed by someone with authority to bind the business. A version that carriers routinely accept reads like this.
To whom it may concern. Northgate Valley Landscaping LLC, FEIN on file, authorizes the release of all loss information, including loss runs for all lines of coverage for the policy periods listed below, to Harbor Point Insurance Services. Please send currently valued loss runs to the address below. This authorization remains in effect for twelve months from the date signed.
Below the paragraph list each carrier, policy number and term, then the signer's printed name, title, signature and date. Northgate Valley Landscaping and Harbor Point Insurance Services are fictional names used for the example. Our loss run request letter page has a full template, and the companion article on the ACORD loss run request form explains why a plain letter is usually what carriers want.
What makes a letter get rejected
- Signed by an employee without authority, such as an office manager, when the carrier expects an owner or officer.
- Missing the named insured exactly as it appears on the policy, including DBA names.
- No policy numbers, which forces the carrier to search by name and often stalls the request.
- An expired date range, or a letter signed more than a year ago.
- A request for "all claims" without a period, which some carriers read as the last three years only.
Collect the details the carrier needs
Carriers find accounts by policy number first and named insured second. Before you send anything, build a short table for the account. It saves a round trip with every carrier.
| Field | Why it matters | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Named insured and DBAs | Carriers search by legal name, and DBAs are often on separate policies | Declarations page |
| FEIN | Separates two businesses with similar names | Application or insured |
| Policy number per term | Fastest lookup, and numbers often change at renewal | Prior declarations, prior agent |
| Policy effective and expiration dates | Defines which terms you are asking for | Declarations page |
| Lines of coverage | Auto, GL and workers comp are often run by different units | Declarations page |
| Delivery address | Email or upload link where the report should go | Your agency |
Ask for five full policy years plus the current term unless the market tells you otherwise. Our guide on how many years of loss runs you need explains when three years is enough and when you need more.
Send the request to the right channel
Every carrier has its own route for loss run requests, and sending to the wrong one is the most common cause of silence. In practice there are four channels.
- Agency portal. If you are agent of record, most large carriers let you pull loss runs from the policy screen on demand. This is the fastest route by far.
- Loss run department email or fax. Many carriers publish a dedicated mailbox for loss run requests. Send the signed letter as a PDF with the policy table in the body.
- Underwriter or marketing representative. For smaller specialty carriers and MGAs, the underwriter on the account is often the person who runs the report.
- Insured self-service. Some carriers let the policyholder download loss runs from a customer account, which is useful when the prior agent is slow.
Our carrier loss run guides list the channel each major carrier uses, based on what the carrier publishes. Where a carrier does not publish a contact, request through your agent portal or the carrier's loss run department.
One request per carrier, not one per account
An insured with five years of history may have moved between three carriers. Send a separate request to each carrier, listing only that carrier's policies. A combined letter forwarded to everyone forces each carrier to work out which policies are theirs, and some will simply return nothing.
Follow up on a fixed schedule
Many carriers answer within a few business days. Some take two weeks. A few will not answer at all until someone calls. A fixed schedule keeps the renewal from slipping.
| Day | Action | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Send the request with the signed letter and policy table | Standard request |
| 3 | Reply on the same thread asking for confirmation of receipt | Short and polite |
| 7 | Resend the full request and copy the underwriter or marketing rep | Firm, mention the renewal date |
| 14 | Call the loss run unit, then ask the insured to request directly | Escalate |
Always reply on the original thread so the carrier sees the history. Keep a log of every send, every answer and the date each report arrived. That log is also your evidence if a renewal slips and the client asks why.
Check what comes back before it goes into the file
A report that arrives is not automatically a report you can submit. Before it goes into the file, check four things.
- Valuation date. Markets usually want loss runs valued within 60 to 90 days of the submission. Anything older should be re-requested. See currently valued loss runs for why.
- All terms covered. Compare the policy terms on the report with the terms you asked for. A missing year is the most common gap.
- Totals. Add up paid and reserved amounts and compare with the totals line on the report. Scanned and multi-page reports are where errors hide.
- No-loss letters. A term with no claims should still produce a document that says so, signed or on carrier letterhead, rather than silence.
Once the reports are in, the next step is turning them into one summary the underwriter can read. Our guide to loss run analysis covers what a good summary contains, and how to read a loss run report explains each column.
When to start
For a renewal, start loss run requests 120 days before expiration. That leaves room for a slow carrier, a re-request when the first report is stale, and still gets complete, currently valued history to markets 60 to 90 days out. For new business, send the requests the same day the prospect signs the authorization. Every day the loss runs are outstanding is a day the producer cannot market the account.
Doing this at volume
A renewal desk with a few hundred commercial accounts can easily have dozens of loss run requests open at any time, each with its own follow-up dates. That is the work LossRunReports takes over. You upload the signed letter once, the product sends one request per carrier and policy term, follows up on day 3, 7 and 14, receives replies on a dedicated inbound address or a secure upload link, and reads the report into one claims schema the moment it arrives. Stale valuations, missing terms and totals that do not reconcile are flagged before anyone builds the submission.
If you want to see what that looks like on a real report, analyze a loss run on the homepage, or read the full how to request loss runs guide for carrier by carrier detail. Plans start with Broker at $299 a month, and yearly billing saves 50 percent, as shown on the pricing page.
Quick reference
- Get a letter of authority signed by an owner or officer, valid for twelve months.
- List named insured, FEIN, carriers, policy numbers and terms.
- Send one request per carrier through the portal, loss run mailbox or underwriter.
- Follow up on day 3, 7 and 14 on the same thread.
- Check valuation date, terms, totals and no-loss letters before you file the report.
- Start renewals 120 days out and new business the day the letter is signed.