What are insurance loss runs? As a traditional method and resource for underwriters, loss runs have historically been used to evaluate risk in commercial auto insurance. These reports detail an organization’s past insurance claims, giving critical information about risk assessment, underwriting and premium pricing.
However, loss runs can inhibit an auto insurer’s ability to accurately assess driver risk, which can inform better pricing models. Why? This tool, part of the foundation of commercial auto underwriting, shows only what has happened and very little of what will happen.
In an insurance landscape that has historically faced uncertainty, we’ll break down:
- Specifics on what loss runs are
- Limitations of loss runs in commercial auto
- How a 360-degree view of data can give insurers a competitive edge
We’ll also highlight how supplementing loss runs with comprehensive risk data can help underwriters achieve better loss ratios and more accurate pricing than those relying solely on historical claims data.
The Limits of Loss Runs for Commercial Auto Insurers
The expression, “always looking in the rearview mirror,” certainly describes the nature of loss runs. Before the advancement and accessibility of technology and data, commercial auto insurers have historically used loss runs to assess driver risk.
What type of driver risk will a loss run highlight? They summarize past claims activity—typically three to five years—of frequency and severity data. However, it only tells a portion of the risk story. Here are two limitations of loss runs for commercial auto insurers:
Lag in Data & Time
Despite their access to three to five years of claims information in a loss run, many underwriters who rely solely on loss runs won't have a complete picture of risk that reflects current policyholder operations.
For example, if a commercial trucking company updates its route or hires inexperienced drivers since its last reported claim, its risk profile completely changes. Not only will underwriters not see this, but that information likely won’t appear in loss runs for months or years.
Economic pressures, changes to regulation and new business lines can alter risk exposure faster than loss runs can capture.
Missed and Incomplete Risk Data
Traditional loss runs leave a significant gap in explaining why the loss occurred. Was the claim a result of distracted driving? Did something mechanically malfunction to cause the loss?
Contextual data can provide insight into the root cause for underwriters, helping them distinguish between a one-time incident and a systemic risk. Loss runs miss emerging risks that don’t typically exist in historical claims data.
With distracted driving surging, loss runs cannot capture violations, supply chain disruptions or driver behaviors that can affect driver safety and signal elevated risk. A fleet could have frequent speeding events in high-risk areas or untrained drivers—all of which are invisible to underwriters in a typical loss run.
This breakdown of loss run dependency highlights how insurers must adopt risk data solutions to stay competitive in a market defined by evolving risk factors like driver shortages, nuclear verdicts and higher repair costs.
Commercial Auto Insurance Trends in the Wrong Direction
The SambaSafety 2025 Driver Risk Report highlights the ongoing challenges many commercial auto insurers face—and the numbers don’t lie. In Q1 2025, the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) reported a 10.4% increase in premiums across commercial auto policyholders.
As the report outlines, several influences demand a more proactive approach to risk assessment. These include:
- Rising loss severity as repair costs soar—influenced by electric vehicle (EV) fleet adoption, complex parts and supply chain issues.
- Excessive nuclear verdicts, with a median verdict of $23 million in 2023, have an outsized impact on commercial auto insurance and place pressure on insurance costs and company finances.
- Regulatory pressure from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) places tighter compliance on fleets.
- Unsafe driver behavior, such as speeding and distracted driving, contributes to an increase in claim severity and risk that loss runs may not capture.
These risks highlight how rapidly the risk landscape changes and why a clean loss run from two years ago may not adequately reflect a policyholder’s emerging or elevated risk—bringing attention to the importance of building a complete risk assessment framework with data.
Commercial Auto Insurance Loss Runs and More Data
Underwriters have a large opportunity to move beyond loss runs and create dynamic risk profiles for policyholders with vast driver pools. This pairing of loss runs and contextual driver data, like telematics, creates a forward-looking risk model that generates more accurate risk scores.
Risk monitoring represents a shift from annual policy reviews to continuous assessments because insurers readily have access to continuous data flow. Telematics data can provide ongoing risk visibility to teams like Loss Control, enabling proactive intervention before claims occur.
For underwriters specifically, this pairing of past and present data can improve the accuracy of underwriting pricing models, reduce premium leakage and enable profitability streams more quickly.
Underwriting teams with this improved risk assessment framework may see loss ratio improvements when implemented correctly and ethically, because pricing more accurately reflects actual risk. Today, insurers can harness technology and make risk assessment practical for their underwriters.
Moving Forward with Insurance Loss Runs
Commercial auto underwriters no longer have the luxury of relying on lagging risk indicators, like loss runs, to price risk accurately. There’s a reason why the commercial auto insurance market has continuously struggled with profitability.
The combination of evolving risks, operational complexities and technologies readily available to insurers demands a more comprehensive approach. Insurers who actively work to empower their teams with a 360-degree view of data can position themselves as competitive and agile in a competitive market.
At SambaSafety, our rich data set embraces a complete view of risk that can provide insurers and their underwriters with a framework that captures the full spectrum of commercial auto risk and provides tools to mitigate future losses.
Get to know the SambaSafety Risk Cloud and discover why our comprehensive data solutions can help you move forward.
