How to verify a certificate of insurance
A certificate of insurance is easy to receive and easy to mis-read. Most reviews stop at 'the dates look current' — and most COI-related claim disputes trace back to something a 60-second deeper check would have caught. Here's the full verification, in the order that catches problems fastest.
The 7 checks
- 1. Dates bracket the work. Every policy row's effective/expiration dates must cover your project or tenancy — an expiry mid-engagement is a diary entry, not a pass.
- 2. The insured matches your contract. The INSURED box must show the exact legal entity you contracted with; 'ABC Roofing LLC' on the contract and 'ABC Roofing Inc' on the certificate is a different company.
- 3. Limits meet requirements. GL each-occurrence and aggregate, auto CSL, umbrella, employer's liability — against your contract's numbers, not a gut feeling.
- 4. Coverage types are all present. A certificate can be perfectly valid and simply omit workers comp because the agent wasn't asked.
- 5. The endorsement pages are attached. ADDL INSD and SUBR WVD checkboxes prove nothing — the CG 20 10/CG 20 37 additional insured forms and the waiver endorsement must physically follow the certificate face.
- 6. The certificate holder is you. Your exact entity and address — that's your paper trail and your renewal notice path.
- 7. The insurers are real and rated. Unfamiliar carrier? The NAIC number on the form looks up in seconds; an unrated or unauthorized insurer is a finding.
Verify one right now, free
Upload any certificate to our free COI checker and it runs this checklist automatically — full extraction of every policy row, plus the endorsement-page review most tools skip, with the evidence quoted back. No account needed.
Verification is not a one-time event
Coverage cancels mid-term, renewals come back with lower limits, endorsements silently vanish at re-issue. A COI that verified in March can be worthless in June — which is why the real control is continuous tracking with re-verification at every renewal, not a one-time review at onboarding.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if a certificate of insurance is real?
Call the producer (agent) listed on the certificate using a number you find independently, or verify the carrier via its NAIC number. Fraudulent certificates are usually re-typed PDFs — mismatched fonts, missing endorsement pages, and agents who don't answer are the tells.
Can I verify a COI online?
There's no central registry of certificates, but you can verify the content automatically: upload the PDF to a checker that extracts the policies and endorsements and evaluates them against your requirements.
Upload a certificate and see the verdict in about a minute — 14-day free trial, no card, no demo call.