Claims made policies are policies that are triggered when a claim is made even if the event that gave rise to the claim took place years before the current policy period. Claims can be made (as long as the insured was unaware of them) as far back as the retroactive date or the earliest date of continuous coverage if there were any gaps in coverage. This is why maintaining continuity is so important and switching insurance companies for your claims made policies is generally unadvisable, even for a cheaper premium.