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Certificates of Insurance

Addendums to COIs: Bad, But…

Agents may be asked to complete an addendum to a certificate of insurance; in fact, the agency may almost be forced to do so. Should the addendum be completed? The “ivory tower” answer is “no;” the correct answer is, “no;” but…. Sometimes agencies make decisions counter to the correct ones, if the agency plans to ignore the advice, what can it do to protect itself?

ATTENTION! It's No Longer JUST the COI That Gets You In Trouble

Without hyperbole, thousands of COI are issued every day, and most of them are issued improperly. As if the COI problem wasn't enough, there's a NEW 'gotcha' in town - the memoranda of coverage/insurance.

Beware! Certifical, CBRE, and Other Third Party Requests for Proof of Insurance

An agent asks – I received a proof of insurance request from Certificial. They no longer accept COIs. They require us to sign onto their platform and enter in their information and attach specific endorsements etc. Can we decline to submit policy information this way and force them to accept a standard Certificate? We have seen this 3 times in the past week alone.

Certificate of Insurance Questions and Answers

Certificates of insurance account for more headaches at the agency level than just about any other issue. Because COIs create so much angst, the VU regularly conducts webinars regarding them. Out of these webinars come questions. In this article, we attempt to answer many of these questions.

Mistakes on Certificates Versus Clear Policy Language

Can information inadvertently left on a Certificate of Insurance limit the breadth of protection extended from the policy? The real question is, does a COI alter coverage?

Should the COI Contain Policy Limits or Contractually Required Limits?

How should agents manage a COI in situations where the insured carries limits higher than those required by the contract between their client and the upper tier contractor? Should the limits required to meet the contractual requirements be listed, or should the actual policy limits be listed? Doing it one way is misrepresentation and the other is, well, misrepresentation. How does the agent avoid misrepresentation?

The Never-Ending Problems with the Certificates of Insurance Monster

Ridiculous requests and difficult situations regarding Certificates of Insurance never go away. Here you'll be able to review the purpose of certificates, get answers to the 21 most common questions we receive here at the Big 'I' VU, and explore some of the more unusual questions we've heard.

Agency Certificate Procedures

Agencies are often asked to review contracts of insureds and/or to issue 'nonstandard' certificates. Does your agency have a standard procedure for processing certificates? If so, the VU would like to hear from you...your feedback will be added to this article. Below is some basic information, links to related articles, and the results of a survey I recently conducted with some of my agency clients.

Beware Indemnity Agreement Agent Affidavits

All too often, agents are asked by third parties to sign an 'agent affidavit' attesting that an insured's insurance program complies with a contract the insured has signed with that party. Chances are, your customer has no idea of the difference between CGL contractual liability and an indemnity agreement. Many agents don't. Please sit down before you read this article.

Certificate vs. Policy Limits

Your insured contractor has gotten a job where the insurance requirements include at least $1,000,000 in CGL coverage. Your insured has a $2,000,000 CGL occurrence limit. He doesn't want them to know that he has this much insurance, so he asks you to issue the certificate showing a $1,000,000 limit, as required in the contract. So, what do you show on the certificate...$1,000,000 or $2,000,000?

Certificates of Insurance Court Cases

Courts have generally held that certificates of insurance are not contracts and, therefore, not enforceable. However, this doesn't mean that agents are insulated from lawsuits involving certificates of insurance under several legal premises. This article explores a number of court cases dealing with certificates of insurance.

Certificates of Insurance Q&A

Recently we conducted teleconferences on certificates of insurance based on our white paper, 'Certificates of Insurance: Issues and Answers.' Following these teleconferences, we received a number of questions which, along with 'answers,' are presented on this page.

Certificates of Insurance...What Do They Really Cost?

Is there any other nonrevenue generating agency activity that takes as much time and causes as much consternation as processing certificates of insurance and related documentation? Have you ever taken the time to calculate what certificate processing costs your agency in time and money? You might be shocked.

Following Up on Certificates of Insurance

Many insurers don't want their agents to copy them on certificates they issue. Other carriers have expressed their intent to NOT copy certificate holders on cancellations. In some instances, even insureds don't want certificate holders notified. So, what's an agency to do? Should YOU be the one following up on all of those certificates?

More Certificate Questions

We get more 'Ask an Expert' questions about certificates of insurance than any other single topic...there isn't even a close second. Most recently we were asked when should you check the box under coverages for an additional insured and for what kind of coverages. In this short article, we give four considerations when identifying additional insureds.

New January 2009 ACORD 25 Certificate of Insurance

It's been over 7 years since the ACORD 25 was revised, but a new version came out this month. Changes include several revisions in the Coverages section and a Disclaimer modification...not earth shattering revisions, but worth noting just to know that nothing substantive has changed.

Providing Proof of Insurance Coverage to Lender

Some lenders are refusing to accept the current editions of the ACORD 27 and 28 and insist that agents issue the 2003 editions of these forms. There are several reasons why agents cannot and should not do this. In this article, we'll examine those reasons. Included is a 'one-pager' you can give to your insureds and their lenders to explain why you can't comply with this request.

Survey: Certificate vs. Policy Limits

This article was a June 2003 Survey from Your 'VUPoint'. Here are your opinions about 'Certificate vs. Policy Limits'.