Loss run request software for trucking insurance agencies

What a loss run is

A loss run is the claims history report an insurer produces for a policy: every claim reported during the policy period, the date of loss, what was paid, what is still reserved, and whether the claim is open or closed. Underwriters read it the way a lender reads a credit report. For a trucking risk they want it for each line — auto liability, physical damage, motor truck cargo, general liability — for the last three to five years, and they want it currently valued: produced recently enough that the numbers are real.

What a loss run report contains

A loss run report lists, for each policy period: the insured and policy number, the valuation date, and every claim — date of loss, claim number, a short description, the amount paid, the amount reserved, and whether the claim is open or closed. A clean report reads “no losses” for the period. Underwriters also read what is not there: a gap between policy periods means a lapse or an insurer you have not asked yet.

How to request loss runs, step by step

1. Confirm the prior insurer and policy number for each line and each year you need — the dec page or the FMCSA filing history shows the current one; the insured knows the rest.
2. Have the named insured sign a letter of authorization (LOA) naming your agency. Insurers will not release loss runs to an agent without it.
3. Send the request to the insurer's loss-run address — most carriers publish a dedicated email or portal — with the LOA, the policy number, and the years requested.
4. Ask for the report to be currently valued and to cover every line: auto liability, physical damage, cargo, and general liability.
5. Follow up on a schedule — a week is typical — and escalate to the carrier's agency services line if a request sits.
6. When the report arrives, check the lines and years against what you asked for, then file it with the policy and attach it to the submission.

Loss run request letter template

Send this on agency letterhead with the signed LOA attached. Replace the bracketed fields. It is the same letter RenewRig generates and sends for every prior insurer on a file.

[Date]

[Prior insurer name]
Attn: Loss Run / Underwriting Services
[Loss-run email or address]

Re: Request for currently valued loss runs
Named insured: [Insured legal name]
USDOT: [USDOT number]    MC: [MC number]
Policy number(s): [Policy numbers]
Policy period(s): [From – To], and the prior [3–5] years
Lines: Auto liability, physical damage, motor truck cargo, general liability

To whom it may concern,

[Agency name] has been authorized by the named insured to obtain
currently valued loss runs for the policies listed above. A signed
letter of authorization is attached.

Please send the loss runs, valued as of the date issued, for each
policy period and line listed, to [agency email]. If any policy
number is incorrect or a period was written by another carrier,
please let us know.

Thank you,

[Agent name]
[Agency name]
[Phone] · [Email]
Attachment: Letter of authorization signed by [Insured name]

Why every trucking submission needs one

No trucking market quotes a fleet without loss runs, and most will not release a formal quote on a report older than 30 to 90 days. That turns the loss run into the critical path of every renewal and every new-business submission: until it arrives, the agent has an application and no quote. The prior insurer holds the report, and the prior insurer has no reason to hurry.

The manual process, and where it breaks

1. Find out who the prior insurers were — for every line, for every year needed.
2. Draft a letter of authorization and get the named insured to sign it.
3. Find each insurer’s loss-run request address — a mailbox, a portal, sometimes a fax.
4. Send the request with the signed authorization, policy number, and named insured.
5. Wait. Resend when nothing comes back. Call. Resend again.
6. Receive the report, check it covers the right lines and years, file it, and attach it to the submission.

It breaks in predictable places. The insured never returns the signed form. The request goes to a general mailbox and dies. Nobody remembers that the request was sent nine days ago and is now late. The report arrives to the insured, who forwards it a week later — or not at all. Multiply by every prior insurer and every client renewing that month, and an agency has an assistant whose whole job is chasing paper.

What loss run request software should do

• Generate the paperwork. The letter of authorization and the request letter for each prior insurer, filled from the client record — not retyped.
• Collect the signature online. A link the insured can sign from a phone, with a timestamp and IP on record, and reminders if it sits unsigned.
• Ask the insured who the prior insurers were. During signing, not in a separate email — the insured knows; the FMCSA filing only shows the current one.
• Know where requests go. A directory of insurers’ loss-run contacts, matched to the names the insured typed.
• Send, and follow up on a schedule. The request with its attachments, then automatic follow-ups at set intervals until a report arrives — with escalation when it is late.
• File the report where the policy lives. Received loss runs stored with the client and the policy, ready to attach to the submission, with an audit trail of every step.

How RenewRig does it

Loss runs were the first thing we automated, because they were the first thing our own agency was losing renewals to. In RenewRig the loss-run workflow starts from the client record:

• Clients arrive by spreadsheet import or one at a time, and each is matched to its FMCSA registration.
• One click generates the letter of authorization and the loss-run request letters as PDFs.
• The insured gets a signing link — draw or type a signature — with a 48-hour reminder if it is not signed. The signing page asks the insured to list their prior insurers.
• Each prior insurer is matched to the loss-run contact directory, and the requests go out with the signed authorization attached.
• Follow-ups go out automatically at 7 and 14 days, and a request that is still open escalates to the agent.
• Received loss runs are uploaded to the client’s file under the policy, and every action — generated, sent, signed, reminded, received — is in the audit log.

The same client record drives the rest of the renewal: the documents Smart Intake reads, the client portal in the client’s language, and the renewal radar that shows what is still missing. See every feature.

Questions agents ask about loss runs