Partial Loss

What Does Partial Loss Mean?

A partial loss refers to damage to an insured property that is not total, meaning the property can still perform its intended function. The damage does not exceed the coverage limit of the insurance policy.

Insuranceopedia Explains Partial Loss

In insurance, losses are categorized into two types: total and partial.

Total Loss is further divided into:

• Actual Total Loss: This occurs when the property is completely destroyed, such as a house being entirely consumed by fire, rendering it uninhabitable.
• Constructive Total Loss: This occurs when the property, while not entirely destroyed, can no longer serve its intended function, or when the cost of repairs exceeds the insured value.

With vehicles, a constructive total loss is what most people mean when they talk about a car being “totaled,” and the payout process is different from a partial claim. Our guide on what happens when your car is totaled walks through how insurers calculate the settlement in that situation.

Partial Loss is also divided into two types:

• Partial Average Loss: This refers to damage that affects only part of the property, such as a fire destroying one room of a house but leaving the rest intact.
• General Average Loss: This is a voluntary loss incurred to save the insured property, such as intentionally hosing down a room to extinguish a fire.

Most homeowners claims are partial losses rather than total losses, which is why the way an insurer handles repair estimates and depreciation matters so much when comparing the best homeowners insurance companies. Water damage from a burst pipe is a common example of a partial loss, and you can read more about how that is treated in our breakdown of whether homeowners insurance covers water damage.