To fill out a COI, you pull the details from each active policy’s declarations page, give your insurance agent or broker the certificate holder’s name, address, and any endorsement language the contract requires, and have the agent complete and sign the ACORD 25 so every entry on the form matches what the underlying policy actually says. You do not sign it yourself. The sections below walk through the form field by field, flag the endorsement notations that most often cause rejections, and explain what the certificate does and does not accomplish.
What a Certificate of Insurance Actually Is
The top of every ACORD 25 carries a disclaimer in bold capital letters: the certificate is issued as a matter of information only, confers no rights on the certificate holder, and does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage provided by the underlying policies.1Texas Railroad Commission. ACORD 25 Certificate of Liability Insurance Form Text It is also not a contract between the insurer, the producer, and the certificate holder.
That matters when you decide what to put on the form. A COI proves coverage exists at the moment it was issued. It does not create coverage. If a contract requires you to name someone as an additional insured, writing them on the certificate accomplishes nothing on its own; the policy itself has to be endorsed. The certificate is a snapshot, not the policy.
Gather Your Information First
Every entry on the ACORD 25 comes from your declarations pages. Pull them for every active policy that might appear on the certificate: commercial general liability, commercial auto, umbrella or excess liability, and workers’ compensation are the usual set. For each policy, confirm:
- Policy number assigned by the carrier.
- Effective and expiration dates. A certificate showing expired dates is the fastest way to get rejected.
- Coverage limits in dollars for each category, measured against whatever your contract requires.
- Insurance carrier name and NAIC number. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners assigns each carrier a unique identifier that appears on the form.
Your legal name as the insured has to match what appears on the policy and the contract exactly. A missing “LLC,” a DBA used instead of the registered entity, a dropped “Inc.” — compliance systems flag any of these. Keep the contract and the declarations pages side by side so you can cross-reference the required limits and the specific endorsement language the other party wants.
The ACORD 25 Section by Section
The form flows top to bottom in a logical order.
Date, Producer, and Insured
The date field in the top-right corner is the certificate’s issue date. The Producer box below it identifies your insurance agent or brokerage firm, with name, address, phone, and email.1Texas Railroad Commission. ACORD 25 Certificate of Liability Insurance Form Text The producer is the agent who manages your policies, not the insurance company.
The Insured box sits just below and contains your legal name and mailing address as the policyholder. Use the exact name on the policy. If the policy lists “Smith Construction LLC,” do not write “Smith Construction.”
Insurers Affording Coverage
This section lists up to six insurance companies, labeled Insurer A through Insurer F, along with each carrier’s NAIC number.1Texas Railroad Commission. ACORD 25 Certificate of Liability Insurance Form Text The letters key the coverage rows below to the right carrier. If general liability sits with Carrier A and auto with Carrier B, the letter in each coverage row tells the certificate holder which company stands behind which policy.
Coverage Rows and Limits
This is where most errors happen. Each row covers one type of insurance and has columns for the insurer letter, policy number, effective and expiration dates, and the limits.
Commercial General Liability. The form breaks general liability into several limit categories: each occurrence, damage to rented premises, medical expenses per person, personal and advertising injury, general aggregate, and products-completed operations aggregate.1Texas Railroad Commission. ACORD 25 Certificate of Liability Insurance Form Text Commercial contracts commonly require at least $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 in the general aggregate, though your contract may demand more. Indicate whether the policy is occurrence-based or claims-made, and whether the general aggregate applies per policy, per project, or per location. The aggregate basis matters a great deal on construction projects where the holder expects per-project limits.
Automobile Liability. This row lists coverage for owned, hired, and non-owned vehicles. Limits appear either as a combined single limit or broken out into bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident, and property damage. Check the boxes that match the auto categories your policy covers.
Umbrella and Excess Liability. If primary limits don’t satisfy the contract, this is where the umbrella or excess policy picks up. The form asks for each-occurrence and aggregate limits plus the retention, and whether the policy is umbrella or excess.
Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability. Workers’ comp limits list as “statutory,” meaning the policy pays whatever the state of injury requires. Employers’ liability has three separate limits: each accident, disease per policy, and disease per employee. A typical set is $500,000/$500,000/$500,000 or $1,000,000 across all three, though contracts may specify different figures.
Description of Operations
This free-text box is the most flexible part of the form, and it is where the specific language the contract demands usually goes.1Texas Railroad Commission. ACORD 25 Certificate of Liability Insurance Form Text Common entries include the project name, job site address, contract number, and any endorsement notations the certificate holder requires. Additional insured status, waiver of subrogation, and primary-and-noncontributory designations are stated here when the policy carries the matching endorsements. If space runs out, attach an ACORD 101 Additional Remarks Schedule for overflow.
Be precise. Vague language like “all operations” when the contract names a specific job site will get kicked back. Copy the endorsement language from the actual policy endorsement, not from the contract, because the certificate has to reflect what the policy says.
Certificate Holder and Cancellation
The Certificate Holder box in the bottom-left corner identifies the person or entity that will receive the completed document, with full name and mailing address.1Texas Railroad Commission. ACORD 25 Certificate of Liability Insurance Form Text
The cancellation language on the current form simply states that if any listed policy is cancelled before its expiration date, notice will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions. The insurer follows whatever the policy itself says about cancellation notice. There is no automatic 30-day warning to the certificate holder unless the policy carries a specific endorsement requiring it.
Authorized Representative
The bottom-right corner is the signature line. Only your authorized insurance agent, broker, or a representative of the insurance company can sign. The signature, physical or electronic, validates that the certificate matches current policy records. An unsigned certificate has no authority and will be rejected.
Endorsement Notations Contracts Commonly Require
The Description of Operations box almost always carries at least one of three endorsement notations. In every case, the notation on the certificate is only meaningful if the policy itself has been endorsed accordingly.
Additional Insured
When a contract requires you to name someone as an additional insured, the policy must be formally endorsed to include them. In general liability, the common endorsements are CG 20 10, which covers the additional insured for liability arising from your ongoing operations, and CG 20 37, which covers liability arising from your completed operations. Most contracts require both, because the property owner or general contractor wants protection both during the work and after it is finished. Writing “additional insured” on the COI without the matching policy endorsement provides no coverage. The form itself warns that if the certificate holder is an additional insured, the policy must be endorsed.1Texas Railroad Commission. ACORD 25 Certificate of Liability Insurance Form Text
Waiver of Subrogation
Subrogation is your insurer’s right to pursue a third party to recover money it paid on your claim. A waiver of subrogation endorsement gives up that right with respect to a specific party, usually the certificate holder, so your carrier does not turn around and sue them after paying a loss. The waiver has to exist as an actual policy endorsement before it can be noted on the certificate.
Primary and Noncontributory
This language means your policy pays first and will not seek contribution from the certificate holder’s own insurance. Without it, the two insurers may argue about shares. Like the other endorsements, this one has to be in place on the policy before it belongs on the form.
Who Fills Out and Issues the Certificate
You do not complete or sign the ACORD 25 yourself. Once you know what the certificate holder requires, send a request to your agent or broker with the details: who the certificate holder is, what endorsements the contract demands, and any project-specific language for the Description of Operations box. The agent pulls the data from the carrier’s records, completes the form, and signs it. Most agents deliver the completed certificate by email or through a secure digital portal, often within the same business day.
Why Certificates Get Rejected
Compliance departments and general contractors reject COIs constantly, and the same mistakes come up over and over:
- Insured name on the certificate does not match the entity name on the contract. Even a missing “Inc.” or “LLC” can trigger it.
- Policy limits fall below the contract’s minimums.
- Contract requires additional insured status, waiver of subrogation, or primary-and-noncontributory language, but the Description of Operations box is blank or generic.
- Certificate shows a policy that has already lapsed or will expire before the project is complete.
- Contract requires auto liability or professional liability, and the certificate only shows general liability and workers’ compensation.
- Authorized representative line is blank.
The fastest way to avoid rework is to send your agent the actual contract language specifying insurance requirements rather than a summary. Let the agent match each requirement to the matching policy endorsement and form field.
Consequences of an Inaccurate or Fraudulent Certificate
Altering a certificate, fabricating coverage that does not exist, or presenting an outdated COI as current is insurance fraud. A growing number of states have enacted laws specifically criminalizing the creation or use of fraudulent certificates, with penalties ranging from fines to felony charges depending on the jurisdiction and the dollar amounts involved. A fraudulent COI also leaves you personally exposed for any loss the claimed insurance would have covered.
Honest mistakes carry real consequences too. A certificate that overstates limits or lists endorsements the policy does not actually carry creates a gap between what the certificate holder expects and what the carrier will pay. That gap becomes your problem when a claim is filed and coverage is denied for the discrepancy. The few minutes it takes to verify every entry against the declarations page is the cheapest risk management available.