Finch · Q3 2026 edition
State of the Claim.
Finch is a claims intelligence platform that turns property insurance claim data into leverage, giving the policyholder side a view of the claim that carriers have always had. Drawing on its growing bank of claim data, its Q3 report reveals 21 findings from selected property claim files that sharpen the industry’s understanding of costs, coverage and settlements.
The report by the numbers
Database: 9,333 claim files, data through September 1, 2026
- Underpricing outweighs omissions
- 9:1
- Median underpricing gap
- $76K
Summary: most of the gap sat in the price of repairs already on the list, not in what was omitted.
- median time from peril to PA
- 11 days
- where disputed claims settled, relative to the insurer’s figure
- 1.43x
- median time from intake to final payment
- 318 days
Inside this report
A claim may begin with a damaged property, but it quickly becomes something more personal. A family needs to get home. A business owner needs to reopen.
Somewhere in a crowded file are the details that decide what happens next. This report looks across selected property claim files for the patterns those details make, and the places where they are easiest to miss.
Findings come from selected property claim files and are not a representative national sample.
01 · The estimate gap
The big gap: price.
On 21 large, disputed claims where both the insurer and the public adjuster itemized the work, the insurer usually listed the same repairs and priced them lower.
9:1
Carrier underpricing to omissions
146 lower-priced items28 omissions
Where insurers price lower
Plumbing: 83%
Insurer prices for plumbing were typically 83% below the adjuster’s. Labor added up to the biggest dollar gap, about $782,000.
- Plumbing83%
- Labor73%
- Cabinetry55%
- Temp. repairs55%
- HVAC49%
Where the dollars cluster
42%
Heavy equipment, labor, and permits made up 42% of the measured dollar gap. Three categories carried nearly half the difference.
- Heavy equip.$1.22M
- Labor$0.78M
- Permits, fees$0.61M
Add temporary repairs and demolition, and five categories made up 53% of the gap.
02 · Where coverage meets the loss
Where coverage meets the loss.
Lost business income
42 of 99
In 42 of 99 claims with BI limits and BI losses, lost business income met or exceeded the policy’s cap. The typical claimed loss used 72% of the available coverage.
Shows losses against coverage limits, not what insurers paid.
42 at or above
57 below
Building code coverage
32.3%
About one in three claims with a readable policy limit had coverage for upgrades required by current building codes. The typical cap was 10% of the home’s coverage limit.
This is from 978 of 3,030 claims. The records do not show how often insurers paid for those upgrades.
Exclusions
Wear and tear leads.
The exclusions insurers cited most often in coverage decisions, ranked. Wear and tear appeared in 42.0% of policies and was cited in 36.1% of decisions.
In policy
Cited
- Wear and tearIn policy 42.0%Cited 36.1%
- Faulty workmanshipIn policy 39.7%Cited 23.3%
- Rust, corrosion, smogIn policy 33.9%Cited 23.0%
- TheftIn policy 44.5%Cited 20.6%
- Mold, fungi, rotIn policy 60.5%Cited 20.6%
- Settling, crackingIn policy 37.2%Cited 17.5%
03 · Settlement and timing
The first number is not the last.
Where disputed claims settled
1.43x
In 43 claims where insurer’s figure is stated alongside the adjuster’s request, the final number sat closer to the adjuster’s request. It was typically 43% above the insurer’s figure.
- 1.00xInsurer
- 1.43xSettled
- 1.58xAdjuster
First valuation to final amount
1.29x
On 134 claims with no insurer payment for six months, the final amount was typically 29% above the insurer’s earliest valuation.
- 10th0.55x
- 20th0.89x
- 30th1.01x
- 40th1.07x
- 50th · median1.29x
- 60th1.64x
- 70th2.42x
- 80th4.44x
- 90th13.98x
Each bar is a decile breakpoint. Only 26% of claims landed below 1.00x; half landed below 1.29x. The thin line marks 1.00x, the insurer’s earliest valuation. The 90th bar is cut short to fit.
How long claims take
318 days
A claim in this book took an estimated 318 days to finish. About 9% were still open when measured.
- Under $50K160d
- Book-wide318d
- Above $1M538d
Larger claims took much longer. An open claim may move into a higher dollar group as more money is paid.
04 · Inside the file
What the file holds.
How much is in a claim file
57 emails, 15 files
A typical property claim held at least 57 emails (across 14 email threads with 15 files). The largest 5% held at least 500 emails and 241 files. When claims get big, important details can be easy to miss.
Emails
- Typical file57
- Largest 5%500+
Files
- Typical file15
- Largest 5%241+
Time and money recovered
7.5x
The longest-running quarter of claims had a typical payout 7.5 times that of the quickest quarter. This does not mean waiting caused the extra money.
- Fastest$77K
- Second$170K
- Third$293K
- Slowest$577K
How many policy templates exist
2,400
The records first appeared to hold 3,103 different policy forms. After Finch grouped editions of the same form and corrected typos, 2,400 distinct forms remained.
- Raw count3,103
- Distinct2,400
67.4% of templates appear in just one claim. The 200 most common accounted for about half of all form mentions.
05 · More from the record
Three more patterns in the record.
Fire claims carried the largest gaps in dollars. Belongings tended to lose more to depreciation than buildings. And some claims appeared to reach the building limit, depending on how repairs were measured.
Fire and estimate gaps
$45,160
In fire claims with detailed estimates from both sides, the typical gap between insurer and public adjuster was $45,160, versus $25,621 across all damage types.
- All types$25.6K
- Fire$45.2K
Fire accounted for 70% of the claims compared.
Withheld for depreciation
13% vs. 10%
When values were reduced for age and wear, belongings lost a typical 13%, versus 10% for the building.
- Belongings13%
- Building10%
Based on 22 belongings documents and 78 building documents. These figures do not compare insurers with public adjusters.
When a building limit may cap a claim
15.7%
Using the final repair cost, 15.7% of 663 claims appeared to reach the insurance limit for the building. Other ways of measuring gave lower results.
- Final value15.7%
- Contractor11.1%
- Bid total5.9%
The three percentages come from different groups of claims and cannot be combined. The records cannot tell whether each home had enough insurance to rebuild.
06 · Duration
Duration, duration, and more duration.
Duration by state
395 days
Delaware and Georgia claims took a typical 395 days to resolve, the longest in the book, followed by Tennessee at 387 days. Louisiana was quickest at 149 days, with Massachusetts and California close behind.
Longest
- Delaware395d
- Georgia395d
- Tennessee387d
Shortest
- California178d
- Massachusetts161d
- Louisiana149d
Longest by cause of damage
379 days
Fire claims took the longest to resolve, a typical 379 days against 318 days book-wide. Collapse followed at 348 days, then wind at 310 days.
- Fire379d
- Collapse348d
- Book-wide318d
- Wind310d
Claims measured: fire 2,000; collapse 42; wind 485.
Shortest by cause of damage
143 days
Vehicle impact claims resolved fastest, at a typical 143 days. Flood followed at 188 days and outside water damage at 231 days.
- Book-wide318d
- Outside water231d
- Flood188d
- Vehicle impact143d
Claims measured: outside water damage 661; flood 83; vehicle impact 86.
07 · Limits, pace, timing
How a claim moves.
Which limits are reached most
37%
Other-structure coverage was the limit most often reached: payments came within 5% of the cap in 37% of claims (103 claims). Business income and loss of use followed at 32% and 30%.
- Other structures37%
- Business income32%
- Loss of use30%
- Contents22%
- Dwelling21%
- Personal prop.7%
Emails move fast, documents do not
1.3 hours
The typical email reply arrived in 1.3 hours across 152,317 messages. Formal claim documents moved far more slowly: 14 days after a status report, 145 days after a policy.
- Policy145d
- Estimate84d
- Notice of claim54d
- Demand letter38d
- Status report14d
Days until the next formal document. Email and document timing measure different kinds of communication.
When people bring in an adjuster
11 days
The typical policyholder brought in a public adjuster 11 days after the loss. One in four did so within three days; one in ten waited more than five months.
- Within a week43.1%
- 1 wk to 1 mo25.5%
- 1 to 3 months15.4%
- 3 mo to 1 year11.3%
- Over a year4.8%
Covers 7,870 claims with both dates. Timing explained very little of the difference in claim size.
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