What to ask for
There's no one format
Unlike a software import, a schedule goes to a person: the underwriter, often through the broker's agency system or pasted into the carrier's own spreadsheet. Every carrier lays it out a little differently, but they all rate on the same details, and they all send back the same mistakes. Fix them before the submission, not after the questions.
Common errors and their fixes
Values written as text
Cause: Building values arrive as $1.2M, 1,250,000.00 USD, approx 500k or TBD. The carrier's rating sheet can't add them up, so the total insured value is wrong or blank.
Fix: Write every value as a plain number, such as 1200000, and ask for a figure instead of TBD. The currency symbols guide shows how to clean a column.
A totals row counted as a building
Cause: Clients add a Total row at the bottom, or subtotals per location. Copied into a carrier's sheet, it's read as another building and doubles the insured value.
Fix: Remove totals and subtotals before sending. The carrier adds the values up itself.
Construction typed freehand
Cause: Brick, steel, wood, block or CBS instead of a construction class. The underwriter has to guess, or send it back: brick walls with a wood roof are Joisted Masonry, with a steel deck Masonry Non-Combustible.
Fix: Use ISO's six classes: Frame, Joisted Masonry, Non-Combustible, Masonry Non-Combustible, Modified Fire Resistive and Fire Resistive. Ask the client about walls, floors and roof if they're unsure.
Year built as a decade or a guess
Cause: 1990s, c. 1985, pre-war or unknown can't be rated, and a two-digit 85 is ambiguous.
Fix: Ask for the four-digit year from the deed, permit or property tax record. If only a range is known, say so in a note column, not in Year Built.
ZIP codes losing their zeros
Cause: Excel turns 02134 into 2134 when the column is formatted as a number, so New England and New Jersey addresses land in the wrong territory, or don't match at all.
Fix: Format ZIP code columns as Text before typing or pasting. See the leading zeros guide.
Several buildings on one row
Cause: Bldgs 1-3, or one row for a campus with a combined value, hides each building's construction, year and value. Merged cells do the same in a spreadsheet.
Fix: One row per building, each with its own building number under the same location number.
Location numbers change at renewal
Cause: Renumbering buildings, or sorting the list differently, means the carrier can't match this year's schedule to last year's, and every building looks new.
Fix: Keep each building's location and building number for as long as it's on the policy. Add new ones at the end.
Occupancy left vague
Cause: Various, mixed or commercial doesn't say whether a building is an office, a warehouse or a restaurant, which rate very differently.
Fix: Describe what each building is used for. For mixed use, give the main use and the others, such as retail ground floor, offices above.
VINs the wrong length
Cause: Every VIN from the 1981 model year on has exactly 17 characters (49 CFR 565). A character dropped or added when typing one in means the carrier can't decode the vehicle.
Fix: Copy VINs from the title, registration or the plate at the base of the windshield, and check each has 17 characters.
O for zero, I for one
Cause: VINs never use the letters I, O or Q, so a VIN with one has a 1, 0 or 9 typed as a letter. Its check digit (the ninth character) won't match either.
Fix: Replace I with 1 and O or Q with 0, then check the VIN against the vehicle's documents.
The same vehicle twice, or vehicles long gone
Cause: Lists merged from a fleet manager and an accountant repeat vehicles, and last year's schedule still has trucks that were sold. Each one is premium for a vehicle that isn't there.
Fix: Check for repeated VINs, and ask the client to confirm every vehicle is still owned before renewal.
Garaging ZIP is the head office
Cause: Vehicles are rated by where they're kept overnight. A fleet listed at the head office's ZIP code is rated in the wrong territory.
Fix: Give each vehicle the ZIP code of the yard, depot or home where it's parked overnight.
Year, value or radius missing or freehand
Cause: A model year written as 19 or 2019/20, a stated value of market or $45k, and radius left blank or written as local-ish leave the underwriter guessing at the rating.
Fix: Four-digit model year, plain-number value, and a radius of local (up to 50 miles), intermediate (51 to 200) or long distance (over 200).
A last check
Before sending, add up the building, contents and business income values and compare the total with last year's. A big jump or drop usually means a value in the wrong column, a missing zero, or a totals row. Count the buildings and vehicles against last year's schedule too.
Keep the cleaned schedule as next year's starting point. Send it back to the client at renewal to update, rather than asking for a new one, so numbering and construction details stay the same and only the changes need checking.
Checklist before you send
Collecting schedules from clients?
Send clients a form instead of a spreadsheet. The statement of values template takes ISO construction classes, four-digit years and plain-number values, and the vehicle schedule template checks every VIN's length and flags vehicles listed twice.
Try the statement of values templateRelevant Templates
Import Builder is an independent product. VIN rules as 49 CFR 565.13 sets them out; construction classes as ISO publishes them. ISO is a trademark of Insurance Services Office, Inc., a Verisk company. This guide isn't underwriting advice: follow each carrier's own requirements.