Certificates of Insurance: What They Do and Don’t Prove

Contracts & compliance5 min read

A certificate is a snapshot

A certificate of insurance confirms that certain policies were in force on the day it was issued. It is not the policy, it does not amend the policy, and it does not create coverage. If the policy is cancelled the next week, the certificate still reads the same.

Naming someone does not always cover them

Listing a party in the certificate’s description box does not make them an additional insured. That status comes from an endorsement attached to the policy. If a contract requires additional insured status, the endorsement is the thing that matters — the certificate merely reports it.

Blanket versus scheduled endorsements

Some policies grant additional insured status automatically to anyone you have agreed in a written contract to include — a blanket endorsement. Others require each party to be scheduled by name. Which one you have determines how quickly you can satisfy a new contract.

Watch the wording your contract demands

Contracts commonly require additional insured status, waiver of subrogation, and primary and non-contributory wording. These are three separate endorsements. Satisfying one does not satisfy the others.

Keep issuance and tracking organized

For contractors and multi-location operators, certificates are operational infrastructure. Work gets held up when a certificate is late, and renewals need to flow to every party who requires one.