VU Resources

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

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be able to tell people that I made $75,000 my FIRST YEAR actively selling insurance on the Internet. And it looks like the coming year will be even better. Through our web site, our small four person San Francisco family agency is selling an average…

Insurance agents have become increasingly burdened with third-party requests for certificates of insurance, additional insured status, agent coverage “affidavits” or compliance checklists, and other sometimes onerous demands. Those that are cost accounting these demands are learning that they are operating at a loss for many insureds. In addition, regulators are imposing constraints on what agents…

ACORD has at least two documents on their web site that state or imply that a certificate of insurance “may be used to copy verbatim information in the policy such as the specific number of days of written notice.” We are aware of at least two instances where certificate holders have cited these documents in…

A number of states have enacted laws, regulations, or regulatory directives governing certificates of insurance and similar forms. On this page, we provide a state by state listing of the laws, regulations, and directives that we’re aware of. As they change and new states come on board, we’ll be updating this page.

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.

The foundation for this document is a series of Virtual University website articles written by Big “I” staff and members of the 50-person volunteer faculty and published in our free bi-weekly email newsletter, The VUpoint.

This program was developed as part of a comprehensive education and public relations initiative that has evolved from our original January 2007 white paper “Certificates of Insurance: Issues and Answers” and the position statement adopted by our board of state national directors in the fall of 2007. This initiative begins with carrying the message of…

Some certificate holders are refusing to accept the September 2009 ACORD 25 form because it no longer includes a notice of cancellation, but rather refers them to the policy. They want you to use an earlier edition, modify the current form, or use a proprietary certificate. This article explains why you should not or can…

A certificate of insurance is an informational document issued by or on behalf of an insurance company. Insurance agents are sometimes asked to provide a certificate of insurance that cannot comply with the contract you may have already signed. In fact, you may have completed the job and need the certificate in order to get…