How to Get an Insurance Loss Run Report
Call your current or past insurer and ask for one directly, since loss runs list your claims history and aren't posted online.
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Why you'd need this for a renewal that went up
A loss run report shows every claim filed on your house, including ones that were closed with no payout, and it's one of the first things to check when a renewal jumps with nothing changed on the property. If the report shows a claim you forgot about, like a small water damage call from years back, that can explain the increase even without a recent claim. If the report comes back clean, the higher premium more likely comes from a rate change across your insurer's book of business in your state, not anything specific to your house. Either way, the report tells you which it is, and that's what decides whether shopping around makes sense or whether other insurers would price you the same.
Once the loss run report shows what's actually on file, you have something concrete to compare against. A clean history with a steep increase means the price jump is about the insurer's broader costs, not your house, and other companies pricing that same risk may land lower. That's worth checking against quotes before the renewal date passes.
What's actually on a loss run report
A loss run report lists every claim tied to your house, usually going back five to seven years depending on how far the insurer's records go. Each line shows the date the claim was filed, the type of loss like water, wind, or fire, the amount paid out, and the status, whether it's closed, open, or was withdrawn before any payment. It's a record of what happened, not an opinion about you as a homeowner.
Some insurers also include a loss history on the report even when no payment was made. A claim that was filed, inspected, and then closed with zero payout still shows up. That matters because insurers often weigh the number of claims filed as much as the dollar amount paid, so a report full of small, no-payout claims can still affect pricing the same way a paid claim would.
If you're buying a house, the loss run report belongs to the current owner's policy, not yours, so you'd need the seller to request it or sign a release allowing the insurer to send it to you. This is worth asking for during the home inspection period, since a house with several past water or roof claims can mean higher premiums for you regardless of who's asking for coverage, and it's easier to negotiate repairs or price before closing than after.
Requesting the report takes a phone call or a written request to the insurer, and by federal law they have to provide it within 15 days if asked. If you've switched insurers before, each past insurer that covered the house keeps its own record, so getting the full picture sometimes means contacting more than one company. There's no cost to request it, and doing so doesn't affect your current policy or trigger any kind of review.
How to actually request the report
Calling is faster than writing, but either works. Ask for the loss run report by name, specifically, not just your claims history, since some phone reps default to summarizing rather than sending the actual document. Have your policy number ready, or the address of the house if you no longer have the policy number, along with the approximate years you were covered. If you're calling a past insurer from several years back, their system may need your name and the property address to pull up an old file.
The report usually comes by mail or email within a week or two, well inside the 15-day window insurers are required to meet. Some insurers have a self-service portal where you can request it online instead of calling, which skips the hold time but can take just as long to arrive. If a representative says they can't locate a policy under your name, try the address instead. Records sometimes get filed under whoever was the primary policyholder at the time, which may not be you if the house changed hands or a spouse handled the original policy.
If you've had the same insurer for years with no gaps, one request covers the full history. If you've switched insurers, each one only has records for the years they covered the house, so a complete picture means contacting every insurer that's covered the property going back as far as you want to check. This matters most if you're trying to explain a renewal increase using a claim that happened under a previous insurer, since that insurer, not your current one, is the one holding the record.
Once the report arrives, check it against what you actually remember happening at the house. Claims occasionally get misattributed, especially on older records, and a claim that belongs to a different unit or a previous owner entirely sometimes ends up on the wrong file. If something on the report looks wrong, that's worth raising directly with the insurer that issued the report, since an error on a loss run can follow a house through multiple renewals until someone catches it.
Before the renewal date passes
Request the loss run report now and check it against your declarations page. Once you know whether anything's actually on file, compare that against quotes before you're stuck renewing at the higher price by default.
