What is a loss report? What goes in one, with an example

What is a loss report?

A loss report is the document you send your insurer after a fire, theft, flood or storm. It lists each thing you lost or that was damaged, with enough detail for an adjuster to put a price on it. You may also hear it called a contents claim, a schedule of loss or a personal property inventory.

It matters more than any other paper in a contents claim. The adjuster doesn't walk through your memory of the house; they work from the report. A thing that isn't on it usually isn't valued, and a vague line usually comes back as a low number.

What goes on each line?

One line per item, or per set of matching items. Each line needs:

• What it is. The brand and model when you know them.
• Where it was. The room, so the adjuster can picture the house.
• How many. Eight dining chairs, not "chairs".
• When you bought it. The year is enough.
• What it costs new today. The same item or the closest one on sale now, with where you found the price.
• Proof. An order email, a card statement line, a photo, or a note on where the proof is.

The price new today is the replacement cost. It is the number most settlements start from, whatever you paid years ago.

An example line

Here is one sofa as an adjuster would see it on a good report, and what an actual cash value policy would pay for it:

That reduction for age is depreciation. The insurer adds it to each line, not you, but a line with a clear age and price is much harder to over-depreciate.

Is a loss report the same as a proof of loss?

No, though they travel together. The proof of loss is a short sworn form, usually a page or two, where you state the total you're claiming and sign it. The loss report is the detail behind that total: every item and every price.

Your policy may set a deadline for the signed proof of loss, sometimes 60 days from the insurer's request. Ask your adjuster what yours is and whether they will accept the loss report in stages. Many will, and it lets you send the big things first.

How the insurer uses your report

1. The adjuster reads each line and checks it against your proof and photos.
2. They price each item, usually from the replacement cost you gave or one they find.
3. They take off depreciation for age and wear, line by line.
4. They total the lines, apply any sublimits and your deductible, and send an offer.

The offer often comes back as a spreadsheet of its own. Put it next to your report and compare line by line. Where a price or an age differs from yours, you can ask why.

Mistakes that cost money

• Lumping things together. "Kitchen items, $2,000" can only be negotiated. Forty lines can each be checked.
• Using what you paid instead of today's price. Prices have gone up, and the policy usually pays today's.
• Leaving out small things. Towels, spices, phone chargers and kids' toys add up to thousands in most homes.
• Guessing an age that's too old. A younger age means less depreciation, so find the order email if you can.
• Sending it once and stopping. You will remember more for weeks, and you can add to the report as you do.

How long does a loss report take?

Longer than most people expect. A whole-house loss can run to several hundred lines, and a first pass often takes a few weeks of evenings. That's normal, and adjusters plan for it.

It goes faster in passes. Do the expensive things in every room first, send those, then go back for the small things. Each pass you send moves part of the money while you keep working on the rest, and adjusters expect a list to grow this way.

Who writes the loss report?

Usually you do. Some insurers send a form or a spreadsheet to fill in, and most will take your own spreadsheet if it has the same columns. For a big or complex loss, a public adjuster can build it for you for a share of the settlement.

If you're starting from nothing, our guide to the house fire inventory list walks through it room by room, and the same method works after a theft or a flood.

Where Indemnia helps

Indemnia builds the loss report from what you already have. It finds order confirmations in your email, lists what's in the photos you take of each room, prices every line at today's cost and works out its depreciation, then gives you the report to send.