Risk concentrated despite fewer claims
A Verisk report found overall claims volume fell in 2025, but the underlying risk is more concentrated and elevated in certain areas such as wildfire and targeted auto theft. That pattern shifts focus from processing more claims to identifying which files deserve escalation and where exposure clusters are forming. (globenewswire.com)
Insurance claims fell in 2025, but Verisk said the losses that did arrive were more concentrated in places like wildfire zones and targeted auto theft. (verisk.com) Verisk published the report on April 14 and said homeowners’ claims volume dropped 19 percent from a year earlier to 5.27 million, the lowest level in five years. Personal auto claims fell nearly 3 percent in 2025 after about a 5 percent decline in 2024. (verisk.com) Commercial property claims also moved lower, to 710,000 in 2025 from 910,000 in 2023, while commercial auto claims fell 5 percent in 2025 but still sat 14 percent above 2021 levels. Workers’ compensation and general liability were roughly stable, Verisk said. (carriermanagement.com) The report’s point is that fewer files do not automatically mean less exposure. Verisk said the quieter 2025 hurricane season helped pull down homeowners’ claims counts, while the Los Angeles wildfires created losses that may keep developing for years. (verisk.com) That pattern showed up earlier in 2025, when Verisk’s first-quarter property report found claim volume down about 7 percent even as replacement cost value rose 46 percent from a year earlier, driven mainly by the Palisades and Eaton fires in California. Those fires generated about 48,000 claims totaling roughly $10 billion, with an average estimate of $337,000. (insurancejournal.com) Wildfire losses were concentrated in dense, higher-value neighborhoods rather than spread across wider acreage, according to Carrier Management’s summary of the Verisk findings. Smoke damage accounted for about 30 percent of claims filed in the first 30 days after the Los Angeles fires. (carriermanagement.com) Auto theft moved the same way. Verisk said vehicle theft claims fell 25 percent in 2025, but losses were increasingly clustered in a small group of vehicle brands and expensive components. (verisk.com) Commercial driving risk also kept building inside a smaller share of claims. Verisk said gig-related commercial auto claims jumped 96 percent from 2021 to 2025 and now make up 10 percent of all commercial auto claims, largely tied to food delivery and ride-hailing. (verisk.com) Shane Riedman, Verisk’s president of anti-fraud analytics, said claims data can act as an early signal for changing risk. In this market, the pressure is shifting from handling more claims to spotting which claims, neighborhoods, and vehicle types are producing outsized losses. (verisk.com)
