The ACORD 25 form, explained field by field

The ACORD 25 — officially the “Certificate of Liability Insurance” — is the standardized form the U.S. insurance industry uses to summarize a business’s liability coverage on a single page. ACORD (the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) maintains the template so that a certificate looks the same whether it comes from a carrier in Ohio or a broker in California. When you ask a subcontractor for “their COI,” this is the document you get. Let’s walk through it top to bottom.

The disclaimer bar (top of the form)

Before any of the details, the top of the ACORD 25 carries a legal disclaimer, and it’s worth reading once. It states that the certificate is issued as a matter of information only, confers no rights upon the holder, and does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage in the actual policies. Translation: the certificate is evidence that policies exist — it is not the policy, and it is not, by itself, a grant of coverage to you. That’s the single most important thing to understand about the whole form.

Producer

The Producer box (upper left) identifies the insurance agency or brokerage that issued the certificate, with its contact name, phone, and email. Because only the producer can legally issue and amend an ACORD 25, this box tells you who to contact for a renewal or a corrected certificate. A COI that didn’t come from a licensed producer is a red flag.

Insured

The Insured box names the business the policies belong to — your subcontractor or vendor. Confirm this exactly matches the legal entity you contracted with. A certificate issued to “Bay Plumbing LLC” doesn’t document coverage for “Bay Plumbing & Heating Inc.” if that’s who is actually on your job.

Insurers affording coverage

Just below, a lettered list (Insurer A, B, C…) names the carriers actually underwriting each policy, often with their NAIC number. Each coverage row further down references one of these letters, so you can see which carrier stands behind which policy. Recognizable, financially sound carriers are a good sign; unrated or unfamiliar ones warrant a closer look.

The coverages table

This grid is the heart of the certificate. Each row is a policy, showing the coverage type, policy number, effective date, expiration date, and limits. These are the lines you’ll see:

Commercial General Liability (GL)

Covers third-party bodily injury and property damage arising from the vendor’s operations. Look for check-boxes indicating occurrence vs. claims-made form, and whether the coverage is primary & non-contributory. The limits shown typically include Each Occurrence (e.g. $1,000,000), General Aggregate (e.g. $2,000,000), Products-Completed Operations Aggregate, Personal & Advertising Injury, and Damage to Rented Premises. Two check-boxes matter to you specifically: whether an additional insured endorsement applies and whether the aggregate applies per project.

Automobile Liability

Covers the vendor’s vehicles. Check-boxes indicate whether it applies to Any Auto, Owned, Hired, and Non-Owned autos. Auto liability is usually expressed as a single Combined Single Limit (commonly $1,000,000). If a vendor drives to your site or hauls materials, this row matters.

Umbrella / Excess Liability

Sits on top of the GL and Auto policies, adding a layer of limit (e.g. $2,000,000 or $5,000,000 each occurrence and aggregate) once the underlying limits are exhausted. Larger projects often require an umbrella. The form distinguishes Umbrella (follows-form) from Excess liability.

Workers’ Compensation & Employer’s Liability

Covers the vendor’s own employees for job-related injury. The workers’ comp benefits themselves are set by state statute, so the row typically shows a check-box for “Per Statute,” while the Employer’s Liability limits are stated explicitly — usually three figures: Each Accident, Disease–Each Employee, and Disease–Policy Limit (often $1,000,000 each). This is the coverage that keeps an injured worker’s claim from reaching your policy, so it’s the most scrutinized line on any jobsite certificate.

Description of Operations

This free-text box is where the important specifics live. It’s used to state who is named as additional insured and under what endorsement (e.g. “Certificate holder is additional insured per CG 20 10 / CG 20 37”), whether coverage is primary & non-contributory, whether a waiver of subrogation applies, and often a reference to the specific project or contract. If your contract requires additional insured status, this box — backed by the actual endorsement — is where you confirm it.

Certificate Holder

The Certificate Holder box (lower left) is who the certificate was issued to — you. Be clear on what it means: being the certificate holder simply means you received the certificate. It grants you no coverage. Coverage comes only from being named additional insured via endorsement, referenced up in the Description of Operations. Confusing these two is the most common mistake people make reading an ACORD 25.

Cancellation

Above the signature, the Cancellation clause states that if a policy is canceled before its expiration date, notice will be delivered “in accordance with the policy provisions.” Note that older certificates promised a flat 30 days’ notice “to the certificate holder,” but modern ACORD 25 wording defers to the policy — which may or may not obligate the insurer to notify you. Don’t assume you’ll automatically hear about a mid-term cancellation; that’s a core reason ongoing tracking matters.

Authorized Representative

Finally, the certificate is signed by the producer’s authorized representative. An unsigned certificate, or one altered after issue, is not valid evidence of insurance.

Reading dozens of these is the real job

One ACORD 25 is manageable. The challenge is reading, verifying, and re-checking one for every vendor, every renewal. CoverGuard uses AI to extract every field on the certificate — carriers, limits, endorsements, and each expiration date — compares them to your requirements, and flags anything short. See how each field turns into a requirement in the COI requirements guide for general contractors, or the complete COI tracking guide.

Frequently asked questions