COI verification checklist

The certificate is not the policy

A certificate of insurance is a summary a producer prepares for someone other than the policyholder. On the date it was issued, it reports the names, dates, and limits printed on it. It does not prove the policy is still in force tomorrow, that an aggregate limit remains after other claims, or that a sentence in the description box changed the policy. Accepted on your log means a named person compared this summary to your requirement. It does not mean an insurer promised to pay.

ACORD forms, high level

ACORD publishes the certificate forms widely used in the United States. ACORD 25 is the certificate of liability insurance. ACORD 28 is evidence of commercial property insurance. They are different documents. A property evidence form does not stand in for a liability certificate unless your contract asked for property evidence. Editions of a form differ, so read the cancellation sentence that is actually printed instead of remembering one from another certificate. This site does not reproduce ACORD’s forms. If the certificate is on a producer’s letterhead instead, read the same facts if they are there, and treat a missing fact as unknown.

The checklist

Compare the file to the requirement for this contract, not to the last vendor who looked similar. Leave an item blank when you cannot tell.

• The named insured matches the contracted party. A parent, a new entity, or a trade name is a mismatch until someone confirms your contract allows it.
• The certificate holder is the legal name your request asked for. Being the holder means the summary was addressed to you. It does not, by itself, make you an additional insured.
• Every required coverage line is present. A strong general-liability limit does not fill in a missing automobile line if the contract requires automobile.
• Each required line has an effective date that has started and an expiration date you can track. Lines may end on different days.
• Limits are copied as printed, label by label, and then compared with the exhibit. This checklist does not supply the numbers. The contract does. Unknown is the honest mark until that comparison is done.
• The description of operations or location matches this job or this building, or your written standard says a blank description is acceptable.
• If the contract requires additional insured status, a waiver of subrogation, or primary and noncontributory wording, a remark on the certificate is recorded as a remark. The endorsement is on file, still missing, or not required, according to your standard. This page will not choose which of those your contract allows.
• The producer’s name and a usable phone or email are on the record, so a typo can be corrected. That call is not confirmation from the insurer unless your standard says you need the insurer or the broker of record to confirm.
• The reviewer’s name and the review date are on the record before anyone marks the row accepted.

Flags that block an automatic accept

• Wrong party. The insured or the holder is a different company, or the description names a different project.
• Dates. The effective date is after work starts, or a required expiration is already past. Do not backdate Accepted across days you had no reviewed file.
• Missing line. A required row on the form is empty. Do not treat silence as a waiver.
• Remark without the form. The description mentions additional insured or waiver language, and your standard asks for the endorsement itself.
• One date for every line. The log shows a single expiration while the certificate shows several. Track each required date. See the renewal process.
• Aggregate remaining. Unknown from the certificate. The form usually shows the limit written on the policy, not what is left after other claims.
• In-force today. Unknown from a certificate issued earlier. A cancellation may already have happened. The notice sentence on the form is not, by itself, proof you will be told.
• Workers’ compensation “statutory.” Record the word. What the statute requires in a given state is a broker question, not a box this checklist can check.

An exception is allowed only when a person with authority accepts the gap in writing and the acceptance has an end date. An exception with no owner becomes permanent by accident.

What to write down

After the review, the record should show the named insured, the holder, each required line’s insurer, policy number as printed, both dates, limits as printed, and whether the endorsement is on file, missing, not required, or unknown. Do not invent a sample policy number to show someone the format. Sample numbers get pasted into live trackers.

Then the status is a decision: received, exception, or accepted. The request letter is how you ask for the file. The vendor guide and the subcontractor guide are the collection habits around two different exhibits. Corrections: info@coitracker.com.