How to Get a Certificate of Insurance (COI)

What a Certificate of Insurance Actually Is

A certificate of insurance (COI) is a one-page document that summarizes your insurance coverage. It lists who is insured, which policies are in force, the coverage limits, and the effective and expiration dates. When the policy covers general liability, people call it a certificate of liability insurance — it's the same document, just emphasizing the liability coverage.

Almost every COI is issued on a standardized form called the ACORD 25 — if you want a field-by-field breakdown of what each box means, see what a certificate of insurance is. A general contractor, property manager, or project owner typically requires one before letting a contractor start work, as proof the contractor carries real, current coverage — and they'll usually track it with COI software rather than a filing cabinet.

The key thing to understand: a COI is a snapshot, not a contract. It proves coverage existed on the day it was issued. It does not, by itself, give the certificate holder any rights under the policy — that requires an additional insured endorsement, which is a separate step covered below.

Step-by-Step: How to Get a Certificate of Insurance

What to Give Your Agent (the Fast-Track Checklist)

Hand your agent these five things and you'll usually get an accurate certificate on the first try:

• Your exact legal business name as it should appear as the named insured.
• The certificate holder's full legal name and address — the party requesting the COI.
• The required coverages and limits (e.g., $1,000,000 per-occurrence general liability, workers' comp, $1,000,000 auto).
• Additional insured request, if the contract asks for it — and whether it needs to be on a blanket or scheduled endorsement.
• Special wording such as primary and non-contributory or waiver of subrogation, copied straight from the contract.

How to Get a Certificate of Liability Insurance

A certificate of liability insurance is simply a COI that highlights your liability coverage — most often commercial general liability (CGL), and sometimes commercial auto and umbrella. The process to obtain one is identical to the steps above; you're just confirming your liability policy is the coverage being certified.

To get a certificate of liability insurance:

1. Make sure you actually carry a general liability policy. If you don't, you'll need to buy one before a certificate can be issued — a COI only certifies coverage that already exists.
2. Ask the agent or carrier on that GL policy to issue a certificate of liability insurance.
3. Tell them who the certificate holder is, and request additional insured status if the contract requires it.

On construction projects, clients frequently want the GL coverage to be primary and non-contributory with a waiver of subrogation in their favor. Those are policy endorsements, so request them explicitly — they show up in the description box of the ACORD 25 once your carrier adds them. The exact limits a client asks for usually come straight from their own rules; see general contractor insurance requirements and our guide to COIs for subcontractors for typical numbers.

How Much It Costs and How Long It Takes

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Trying to fill out the ACORD form yourself

A COI is only valid when issued by a licensed insurer. Completing a blank form or editing a certificate you received is insurance fraud, and the certificate holder's tracking process will catch the mismatch. Always go through your agent or carrier.

Requesting it at the last minute

If the contract needs an additional insured endorsement, that takes carrier processing time. Ask for the COI as soon as you know you've won the job, not the morning you're supposed to be on site.

Confusing certificate holder with additional insured

These are two different roles. If your client needs to be covered under your policy, "list them as certificate holder" won't satisfy the contract — they have to be added as an additional insured.

Mismatched business names

The named insured on the COI must match the name on your contract. DBAs, LLCs, and parent companies create mismatches that get certificates rejected during review. Confirm the exact legal entity before the certificate is issued.

Forgetting renewals

A COI expires when the underlying policy does. The party holding it will ask for a new one at renewal — build a reminder so you're never the contractor whose coverage looks lapsed mid-project. GCs and property managers who collect a lot of certificates skip the manual reminders entirely and let automated expiration alerts handle the follow-up.

If You're the One Collecting COIs

Many people searching "how to get a certificate of insurance" are actually on the other side of the transaction — a general contractor or property manager who needs to collect a COI from every subcontractor or vendor before they start work. If that's you, requesting the certificate is the easy part. The hard part is collecting dozens of them, reading each one correctly, and catching the moment one expires.

TrackMyVendor handles that side for you:

• Send each sub a one-time magic link — they upload their COI from their phone in under two minutes, no account or login required.
• AI reads the uploaded certificate and extracts the coverage limits and expiration dates automatically — no manual data entry from the PDF.
• Automated 90/60/30/7-day alerts fire before any certificate expires, and the renewal link goes straight to the sub.
• Every COI, W-9, and contractor license sits in one compliance dashboard, so you're audit-ready without chasing paperwork.

It's the difference between asking for a certificate once and actually keeping a whole roster compliant over time. See the COI audit checklist for the eight fields to check on every certificate you collect.

Frequently Asked Questions

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