What does basic form actually leave out?

Enough to matter. Basic covers a short list — fire, lightning, explosion, windstorm and hail, smoke, aircraft or vehicles, riot, vandalism, sprinkler leakage, sinkhole collapse and volcanic action. Broad adds items including falling objects, weight of ice and snow, and water damage from plumbing. Theft appears on neither; it is a special-form peril. A last-resort placement such as a FAIR Plan policy is narrower still, covering fire, lightning and internal explosion only.

Is special form the same as "all risk"?

It is the same idea and the phrase is discouraged for a good reason: it oversells. Special form covers direct physical loss unless excluded, and the exclusions are substantial — flood, earthquake, wear and tear, faulty workmanship, ordinance or law, war, nuclear, and often mould and pollution. Reading "all risk" as "everything" is how owners are surprised by an excluded loss on the broadest form available.

Does the form affect how quickly a claim is paid?

Often, because it decides who has to establish what. On a special form the insurer must identify an exclusion to decline, which tends to make ambiguous losses resolve in the insured’s favor. On a named-peril form an ambiguous cause — water appearing with no obvious source, damage of uncertain origin — means the insured has to prove it came from a listed peril, and unprovable causes simply are not covered. That difference is invisible at quote and decisive at claim.

What is a "cause of loss" form, and what is the difference between basic, broad and special?

It is the part of a commercial property policy that says WHICH perils are covered, and there are three. Basic and broad are named-peril forms: they list what is covered, and anything not on the list is not. Special form reverses the burden — everything is covered unless it is excluded — which is both broader and much easier to claim under, because the insurer has to point at an exclusion rather than you having to point at a listed peril. Special form is what you want, and "all risk" is the informal name for it.

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The detail

Basic and broad cause-of-loss forms cover only the perils they name, while the special form covers direct physical loss except as excluded — shifting the burden onto the insurer to establish that an exclusion applies.
International Risk Management Institute

What this means for you

Check which form you have before you compare prices. A basic-form quote against a special-form quote is not a comparison.
The burden of proof is the practical difference. On a named-peril form you must prove the cause was listed; on special form the insurer must prove it was excluded.
Theft is the giveaway. It is absent from basic form and present on special — if a quote looks unusually cheap, this is often why.
Flood, earthquake and wear-and-tear are excluded from ALL THREE. Special form is broad, not unlimited.

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