Loss Runs a New Authority Has to Produce
Underwriting will not quote until they see loss runs, and the company is two weeks old. You do not invent a history. You produce a no-loss letter and you disclose any company that actually had one.
Not SAFER
A loss run is claims
No-loss letter
For a true new venture
3–5 years
If a prior entity exists
No quote
No bind, no BMC-91
Ahmad Qazi
Founder & CEO, O Trucking LLC
Fact-Checked by O Trucking Owner-Operator Desk
Walks new authorities through Motus filings, insurance, and the first legal load after ACTIVE
Written by Ahmad Qazi, founder of O Trucking LLC, drawing on 9+ years dispatching for owner-operators. Learn more about us.
O TruckingLoss Runs a New Authority Has to Produce
Key Takeaways
- Loss runs are claim histories from insurers, not FMCSA scores.
- A true new venture writes a no-loss letter. It does not fabricate years.
- If a prior company exists, three to five years of runs is the common ask. Disclose it.
- The legal name on the runs has to match the applicant.
- A gap or a refused renewal is a fact. Hiding it is how quotes die later.
- Without a quote you cannot bind, and without a bind there is no BMC-91.
What a loss run is
A loss run is the insurer's record of claims. It lists policy periods, claim numbers, dates of loss, what was paid, what is still reserved, and whether the claim is open or closed. Underwriters use it to see frequency and severity, not to admire your CSA score. A clean SAFER printout with no loss run is an incomplete packet whenever a prior policy existed.
You do not create a loss run in a spreadsheet. The insurer, or the agent of record on that policy, orders it. If you were on someone else's policy as a driver, you may not be able to get their company run, and you should not present their run as yours. Your MVR is the driver document. The loss run is the insured's document.
Valued as of a recent date matters. A run that is two years old hides the claim from last spring. Ask for currently valued runs. A printout titled loss runs that is actually a declarations page will be sent back.
New venture: the no-loss letter
A brand-new authority has nothing to run. The substitute is a no-loss or new-venture letter on the applicant's letterhead, plus MVRs and the equipment list. The letter says you have not carried commercial auto insurance because you did not previously operate, or it says exactly what you did operate. It does not invent a history. Underwriters know the letter is a statement, not a magical five-year file.
Write it as the legal entity that is applying. Sign it as the owner. Date it. One paragraph is enough: no prior commercial auto policy in this name, no known claims, drivers listed, vehicles listed. Attach the MVRs you already pulled so the underwriter is not waiting on you twice.
Do not buy a fake loss-run PDF from a website. The first claim conversation will compare it to the clue databases and the prior insurer. A forged run is a denied claim and a cancelled filing. The no-loss letter is the honest short document. Use it only when it is true.
The letter does not invent a history
If you had a policy, order the run. If you did not, say you did not. There is no third document that splits the difference.
How many years underwriters usually want
Markets commonly ask for three to five years if any prior entity exists. That range is what agents request every week. It is not a statute, and a particular underwriter can ask for more after a bad year. If you only operated for two years, you send two years and you say the operation started on a date you can prove. You do not backfill the other years with zeros.
If there was a prior company, new is the wrong story. Disclose it. The prior company may be a sole proprietorship, a carrier you leased onto in a way that made you the named insured, or an LLC you closed last year. Common control is the same fact the MC application asks about. The underwriter and FMCSA are not required to believe two stories.
Order the runs the week you decide to apply for authority, not the week the Register publishes. Insurers take days or weeks to issue them, and some charge a fee or release them only to the agent of record. That delay sits on the critical path.
When the runs are under a different company name
A different legal name than the one on the runs will stall the quote the same way a name mismatch stalls FMCSA. North Line LLC runs do not automatically satisfy an application for North Line Logistics LLC. Send the formation documents that connect them, or send the runs in the name that is actually applying and explain the old name in the no-loss letter for the new entity.
DBA runs are a frequent mess. The policy was issued to the trade name. The MC application uses the legal name. Tell the underwriter both strings and give them the assumed-name filing. Do not pick the friendlier name and hope.
If the old company was revoked or non-renewed, the name match is how the underwriter finds that fact. Hiding the name does not hide the DOT number, the VINs, or the drivers' MVRs. It only makes the quote slower and then worse.
What a gap or a refused renewal does to the quote
A gap in coverage is a question: were you operating uninsured, or were you shut down? A refused renewal is a louder question. Either fact can move you from a standard new-venture market to a harder one, or it can end the quote. It does not help to wait until the binder is subject to a clue report. Put the gap on the application.
A gap while you were a company driver, with no authority of your own, is a different fact from a gap while your MC was ACTIVE and the policy had cancelled. Say which. Underwriters have heard both. They have also heard the version that falls apart when the filing history shows a BMC-35.
You will not get a better price by omitting the non-renewal and you may get a rescinded bind. Rescission during the 20-day window is how a funded down payment turns into a dismissal letter. The loss run was supposed to prevent that surprise.
How this sits on the critical path to the BMC filing
No quote, no bind, no BMC-91. Loss runs are on the authority clock even though FMCSA never asks to see them. The insurer will not transmit a filing for a risk it has not quoted and bound. If the runs arrive after Register publication, the 20-day window is already burning. Order them before you pay the $300 if you have any prior entity at all.
The rest of the clock, publication, protest, and the filing window, is how long MC authority takes. Do not rebuild it here. Just do not be the carrier who starts that clock with an empty underwriting file.
This is not a list of insurance companies and it is not a premium table. New MC authority insurance is the shopping page. Your task on this page is narrower: produce a real loss run or a true no-loss letter, in the legal name, for the years you actually operated, before anyone promises you a bind date.
- List every entity you controlled that carried commercial auto.
- Order currently valued runs for those policies, commonly three to five years.
- If there is truly no policy, sign a no-loss letter and attach MVRs and a unit list.
- Match the legal name to the MC application before the quote is issued.
- Do not pay a second premium to a second agent who will discover the same missing run on day 15.
What to verify before you act
Order the runs, or sign the no-loss letter, before you pay the $300 if you can. Insurers take days. Some will only release runs to the prior agent. A prior LLC with a slightly different name needs formation papers in the same email, or the underwriter will pause exactly when your 20-day window is shortest. Currently valued means this month, not a PDF from the last renewal cycle.
If the honest packet is a no-loss letter, keep it short and true. No prior commercial auto in this legal name. No known claims. Drivers and units listed. MVRs attached. Do not decorate it with years you did not operate and do not borrow another carrier's run because you were their driver. Your MVR is yours. Their loss run is theirs.
A quote that arrives only after the runs arrive is the quote you can bind. Anything sooner is a teaser. No quote, no bind, no BMC-91, no ACTIVE. That chain is why loss runs sit on the authority clock even though FMCSA never asks to see them. Build the chain before publication, not after the dismissal letter explains it to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I send a SAFER snapshot instead of loss runs?
No. SAFER is a safety and authority record. A loss run is the insurer's list of claims, reserves, and payments. A CSA score is neither. Underwriters ask for the insurer's document.
We have no prior insurance. What do we send?
A no-loss or new-venture letter on the applicant's letterhead, plus MVRs and the equipment list. Say that you have not had a policy to run. Do not invent carriers or years.
How many years will they ask for?
Markets commonly ask for three to five years if any prior entity exists. If there was a prior company, new is the wrong story. Order the runs from those insurers.
The old company has a slightly different name. Is that a problem?
Yes. A different legal name than the one on the runs stalls the quote the same way a name mismatch stalls an FMCSA filing. Bridge the names with formation papers. Do not hope the underwriter shrugs.
We were non-renewed. Do we mention it?
Yes. A gap or a refused renewal changes the quote. Hiding it until the MVR or the clue report hits is how a bind falls apart inside the 20-day window.
Do loss runs alone get the BMC-91 filed?
No. They get you a quote. The quote plus money gets a bind. The insurer files the BMC-91 after the bind. The timeline around that filing is how long MC authority takes.
Produce the runs before the 20-day clock is loud.
O Trucking does not underwrite liability. After the filing is posted and authority is ACTIVE, dispatch is flat weekly.