ACORD 25 Form: Certificate of Liability Insurance Explained, Field by Field

The ACORD 25 is the standard one page Certificate of Liability Insurance a vendor sends to prove it carries coverage. The current edition is ACORD 25 (2016/03) and it carries the 1988-2016 ACORD Corporation copyright. Read what the form says about itself and the picture changes: it states in its own header that it is issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights upon the certificate holder, and that a statement typed on it does not confer rights in lieu of an endorsement. It is a summary somebody else typed, not the policy. Upload a certificate above and the AI reads every box on it in seconds.

Last updated August 2026

Every field quoted from the ACORD 25 (2016/03) form itself
The disclaimer and the IMPORTANT block, word for word
Which boxes are evidence and which are only assertions
Last verified August 2026

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ACORD 25 Form Fields and What Each One Actually Proves

The ACORD 25 (2016/03) grid section by section, transcribed from the published form. The right hand columns are the part that matters when you are deciding whether a vendor is compliant, because several boxes on this certificate record a claim rather than prove a fact.

Section on the form What it holds What it proves Where it fails
PRODUCER, CONTACT NAME, PHONE, E-MAIL ADDRESS The agency or broker that issued the certificate and the person to contact there Who to go back to for endorsement pages, a renewal certificate or a correction Nothing about coverage. A certificate can be produced by any agency with access to the form
INSURED The named insured on the policies listed below Which legal entity is covered The entity you contracted with is often not the entity on the certificate. A parent, an affiliate or a d/b/a on this line can mean your actual counterparty is uninsured
INSURER(S) AFFORDING COVERAGE and NAIC # Insurers A through F with their NAIC company codes The actual carriers, which you can then check for AM Best rating and admitted status The form has no field for carrier financial strength, so a policy from a weak or non-admitted carrier looks identical to one from a highly rated insurer
INSR LTR and TYPE OF INSURANCE Which insurer letter maps to each coverage line Which carrier sits behind general liability, auto, umbrella and workers compensation A blank line means a coverage your contract requires was simply never listed, which is easy to miss on a dense form
ADDL INSD column A checkbox indicating additional insured status on that policy line That the producer believes an additional insured endorsement is attached It is a checkbox, not an endorsement. The form itself says the policy must have additional insured provisions or be endorsed, and that a statement here does not confer rights in lieu of that endorsement
SUBR WVD column A checkbox indicating subrogation is waived on that policy line That the producer believes a waiver of subrogation endorsement is attached The same limitation applies. The IMPORTANT block warns that certain policies may require an endorsement and that the checkbox does not stand in for one
POLICY NUMBER, POLICY EFF, POLICY EXP The policy identifier and its effective and expiration dates in MM/DD/YYYY The policy period the certificate is describing A policy in force on the issue date can be cancelled the next morning. The dates prove a term was purchased, not that it is still running today
GEN'L AGGREGATE LIMIT APPLIES PER: POLICY, PRO-JECT, LOC Three checkboxes recording the basis on which the general aggregate applies Which basis the producer says the aggregate is written on Reviewers routinely assume this box does not exist. It does, and it is still only a checkbox: a PRO-JECT tick is not the CG 25 03 endorsement page, and the schedule on that endorsement is what has to name your job
General liability limit boxes EACH OCCURRENCE, DAMAGE TO RENTED PREMISES (Ea occurrence), MED EXP (Any one person), PERSONAL AND ADV INJURY, GENERAL AGGREGATE, PRODUCTS - COMP/OP AGG The limits the policy was written with The COVERAGES preamble states that limits shown may have been reduced by paid claims. The general aggregate you are reading may already be largely spent
AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY checkboxes ANY AUTO, OWNED AUTOS ONLY, SCHEDULED AUTOS, HIRED AUTOS ONLY, NON-OWNED AUTOS ONLY, plus COMBINED SINGLE LIMIT and the bodily injury and property damage boxes Which categories of vehicle the auto policy responds to HIRED and NON-OWNED ticked without OWNED or ANY AUTO means the vendor insures rented and employee vehicles only. That is a common and expensive gap on service contracts
UMBRELLA LIAB and EXCESS LIAB OCCUR or CLAIMS-MADE, EACH OCCURRENCE, AGGREGATE, DED and RETENTION That excess limits sit above the primary lines The form never shows which underlying policies the umbrella actually sits over, so an umbrella excluding auto or employers liability reads exactly like one that follows form
WORKERS COMPENSATION AND EMPLOYERS LIABILITY PER STATUTE or OTH-ER, E.L. EACH ACCIDENT, E.L. DISEASE - EA EMPLOYEE, E.L. DISEASE - POLICY LIMIT, and the ANY PROPRIETOR/PARTNER/EXECUTIVE OFFICER/MEMBER EXCLUDED? question marked Mandatory in NH Statutory workers compensation cover and the employers liability limits When that exclusion question is answered yes, the detail goes into free text below. A sole proprietor who has excluded himself holds a comp policy covering nobody who will be on your site
DESCRIPTION OF OPERATIONS / LOCATIONS / VEHICLES Free text, with the printed note that ACORD 101, Additional Remarks Schedule, may be attached if more space is required The producer narrative about additional insured status, primary and noncontributory wording, project names and waivers This is prose typed by a person. It is the least verifiable box on the form and the one that contracts lean on hardest
CERTIFICATE HOLDER and CANCELLATION Your name and address, above the cancellation legend Who the certificate was addressed to The 2016/03 legend promises only that notice will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions. There is no number of days and no undertaking to notify you personally
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE The signature of the issuing producer That a licensed producer issued the document It is not a carrier signature. The insurer named on the certificate has usually never seen it

Why an ACORD 25 on File Is Not the Same as a Compliant Vendor

The form is unusually honest about its own limits. Four passages printed on every ACORD 25 undercut the way most companies actually use it.

It confers no rights, and says so in the first line

The header states that the certificate is issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights upon the certificate holder, and that it does not affirmatively or negatively amend, extend or alter the coverage afforded by the policies below. Filing it is not the same as being protected by it. What protects you is the endorsement on the vendor policy, and that lives on a different page.

A checkbox is not an endorsement

The ADDL INSD and SUBR WVD columns are the two endorsement indicators on the whole form. The IMPORTANT block directly beneath the header warns that if the certificate holder is an additional insured the policy must have additional insured provisions or be endorsed, and that a statement on the certificate does not confer rights in lieu of such endorsements. Two ticked boxes are an assertion, not evidence.

The limits may already be spent

The COVERAGES preamble ends with the sentence that limits shown may have been reduced by paid claims. A vendor showing a two million dollar general aggregate in January can be down to a fraction of that by autumn because of losses on work you never saw. The certificate records the limit purchased and never the limit remaining.

Nobody promised to tell you about a cancellation

The 2016/03 cancellation legend says only that should any of the described policies be cancelled before the expiration date, notice will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions. Earlier ACORD certificates carried a days-notice undertaking from the producer. This edition does not. If a vendor stops paying premium in month three, the certificate in your folder keeps looking valid until its printed expiry date.

Read the Certificate, Then Read What Sits Behind It

COISoftware pulls every field off an ACORD 25 automatically, checks it against the requirements you recorded for that contract, and flags the boxes that are claims rather than proof.

Every box extracted, not just the limits

Insurer names and NAIC codes, policy numbers, effective and expiration dates, all four coverage blocks, both endorsement columns and the aggregate basis checkboxes are captured as structured data instead of being eyeballed on a PDF.

ADDL INSD and SUBR WVD treated as claims

The two checkboxes are recorded per policy line and matched against whether an actual endorsement page was supplied. A vendor claiming additional insured status with nothing behind it is separated from one that sent the CG 20 10 or CG 20 37.

Description of Operations read as language

The free text box is where project names, primary and noncontributory wording and waiver language hide. It is parsed rather than skipped, so a requirement satisfied only by a typed sentence is visible as exactly that.

Expiry tracked from the policy dates

POLICY EFF and POLICY EXP drive automatic renewal reminders per policy line, so an auto policy expiring two months before the general liability policy does not slip through because the certificate as a whole still looks current.

Limits compared to your requirements

Record what your master agreement demands once. Each occurrence, general aggregate, products-completed operations, combined single limit and the employers liability limits are compared automatically, and a short vendor is flagged before it mobilizes.

Named insured checked against your counterparty

The INSURED line is compared to the entity on your contract, which catches the affiliate and d/b/a mismatches that leave you holding a certificate for a company you never hired.

How to Verify an ACORD 25 Form

Five checks, in the order that finds problems fastest.

1

Confirm the named insured is your counterparty

Start at the INSURED box, not the limits. Compare it letter for letter with the entity that signed your contract. Groups reuse one certificate across affiliates constantly, and a certificate naming the parent proves nothing about the subsidiary doing the work.

2

Read the dates before anything else

Check POLICY EFF and POLICY EXP on every line, not just the general liability line. Coverage lines renew on different dates and a certificate can be simultaneously current for general liability and three weeks stale for auto. Note that the cancellation legend gives you no notice promise, so a date in the future is not proof the policy is still active.

3

Treat ADDL INSD and SUBR WVD as questions

If either column is ticked, ask for the endorsement page by form number. Additional insured status usually means CG 20 10 for ongoing operations and CG 20 37 for completed operations. A waiver of subrogation usually means CG 24 04 on general liability. The checkbox tells you what to ask for and nothing more.

4

Check the aggregate basis and then check the schedule

Look at the GEN'L AGGREGATE LIMIT APPLIES PER row. If PRO-JECT is ticked and your contract requires a per project aggregate, request CG 25 03 and confirm your project is actually written into its schedule. A ticked box with a blank schedule behind it gives you nothing.

5

Read the Description of Operations box last and carefully

Everything a producer could not fit into a checkbox ends up here, including whether an officer is excluded from workers compensation, which project the coverage relates to, and whether coverage is primary and noncontributory. If an ACORD 101 is referenced, ask for it. Then decide which of these statements you need an endorsement to back up.

What the ACORD 25 Actually Says, Quoted From the Form

Most pages about this form paraphrase it. Below is the operative language of ACORD 25 (2016/03), transcribed from published copies of the blank form, so you can read the disclaimers yourself rather than take a summary on trust.

Common Search Terms

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The header disclaimer, word for word

Three sentences run across the top of every ACORD 25 above the producer block. They are the most important text on the page and almost nobody reads them:

THIS CERTIFICATE IS ISSUED AS A MATTER OF INFORMATION ONLY AND CONFERS NO RIGHTS UPON THE CERTIFICATE HOLDER. THIS CERTIFICATE DOES NOT AFFIRMATIVELY OR NEGATIVELY AMEND, EXTEND OR ALTER THE COVERAGE AFFORDED BY THE POLICIES BELOW. THIS CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A CONTRACT BETWEEN THE ISSUING INSURER(S), AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OR PRODUCER, AND THE CERTIFICATE HOLDER.

Read that as three separate promises being withdrawn. The certificate gives you no rights. It changes nothing about the underlying policies, in either direction. And it creates no contract between you and the insurer or the broker who typed it. Courts across the United States have leaned on this language when a certificate holder tried to claim coverage the policy never granted. The document you are filing is a status report, and the party that wrote it owes you nothing on the strength of it.

The IMPORTANT block, which is where compliance programs go wrong

Immediately below the disclaimer sits a second paragraph, printed on the form in every copy:

IMPORTANT: If the certificate holder is an ADDITIONAL INSURED, the policy(ies) must have ADDITIONAL INSURED provisions or be endorsed. If SUBROGATION IS WAIVED, subject to the terms and conditions of the policy, certain policies may require an endorsement. A statement on this certificate does not confer rights to the certificate holder in lieu of such endorsement(s).

This is the form telling you, in advance, that the two checkboxes further down are not enough. If your subcontract requires additional insured status, the vendor policy has to carry an additional insured endorsement, and you need that page. If it requires a waiver of subrogation, the same is true. The ACORD 25 is explicitly declining to substitute for the endorsement, which is why a compliance process built entirely on collecting certificates has a hole in it that the form itself documents.

The COVERAGES preamble and the sentence about paid claims

Above the coverage grid, the form sets out what the listing means:

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE POLICIES OF INSURANCE LISTED BELOW HAVE BEEN ISSUED TO THE INSURED NAMED ABOVE FOR THE POLICY PERIOD INDICATED. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY REQUIREMENT, TERM OR CONDITION OF ANY CONTRACT OR OTHER DOCUMENT WITH RESPECT TO WHICH THIS CERTIFICATE MAY BE ISSUED OR MAY PERTAIN, THE INSURANCE AFFORDED BY THE POLICIES DESCRIBED HEREIN IS SUBJECT TO ALL THE TERMS, EXCLUSIONS AND CONDITIONS OF SUCH POLICIES. LIMITS SHOWN MAY HAVE BEEN REDUCED BY PAID CLAIMS.

Two things are happening here. The notwithstanding clause says the policy wins over your contract. If your master services agreement demands coverage the vendor policy excludes, the exclusion governs and the certificate does not repair it. Then the final sentence quietly removes the reliability of the numbers: limits shown may have been reduced by paid claims. Nothing on an ACORD 25 shows remaining capacity, so two vendors with identical certificates can have very different amounts of real protection available to you.

The cancellation legend

Above the authorized representative signature, the 2016/03 edition reads:

SHOULD ANY OF THE ABOVE DESCRIBED POLICIES BE CANCELLED BEFORE THE EXPIRATION DATE THEREOF, NOTICE WILL BE DELIVERED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE POLICY PROVISIONS.

There is no number of days in that sentence and no promise directed at you. It points to the cancellation provisions of the policy, which generally require the insurer to notify the first named insured, meaning the vendor, and not the certificate holder. Older ACORD certificates carried wording under which the issuer would endeavor to mail a set number of days notice, and that undertaking was removed. The practical consequence is that a certificate expiring next March tells you nothing about whether the policy is still in force this afternoon, which is the entire reason certificate tracking exists as a discipline.

The aggregate basis row that reviewers miss

Inside the general liability block, above the limit boxes, the form carries a row labelled GEN'L AGGREGATE LIMIT APPLIES PER with three checkboxes: POLICY, PRO-JECT and LOC. It is easy to overlook because it is set in small type between the coverage triggers and the limits, and it is frequently reported that the certificate has no way to record a per project aggregate. It does. What it cannot do is prove one. A tick in PRO-JECT is the producer stating that the general aggregate applies per project, which on an ISO general liability policy means a CG 25 03 endorsement should be attached, with your job named in its schedule. The tick and the endorsement are different things, and only one of them is evidence.

What the four coverage blocks contain

The grid runs top to bottom in a fixed order. Commercial general liability comes first, with CLAIMS-MADE and OCCUR triggers and six limit boxes: EACH OCCURRENCE, DAMAGE TO RENTED PREMISES (Ea occurrence), MED EXP (Any one person), PERSONAL AND ADV INJURY, GENERAL AGGREGATE and PRODUCTS - COMP/OP AGG. Automobile liability follows, with ANY AUTO, OWNED AUTOS ONLY, SCHEDULED AUTOS, HIRED AUTOS ONLY and NON-OWNED AUTOS ONLY, then COMBINED SINGLE LIMIT (Ea accident) or the split bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage boxes. Umbrella and excess liability come next with OCCUR or CLAIMS-MADE, EACH OCCURRENCE, AGGREGATE and a DED or RETENTION amount. Workers compensation and employers liability sits last, offering PER STATUTE or OTH-ER, the E.L. EACH ACCIDENT, E.L. DISEASE - EA EMPLOYEE and E.L. DISEASE - POLICY LIMIT boxes, and the question ANY PROPRIETOR/PARTNER/EXECUTIVE OFFICER/MEMBER EXCLUDED?, marked Mandatory in NH, whose yes answer is explained in the free text below.

Where the ACORD 25 stops and other forms start

The ACORD 25 covers liability lines only. Property coverage is evidenced on different forms, which is why a landlord asking a tenant for proof of property insurance receives an ACORD 27 or ACORD 28 rather than this one. When the free text box runs out of room the producer attaches an ACORD 101, Additional Remarks Schedule, which the form names directly in its own instructions. If a vendor sends you a binder instead, that is an ACORD 75, and unlike the certificate a binder is temporary evidence that does create obligations. The ACORD forms overview sets out which of these actually give you standing.

Is the ACORD 25 a legal document?

It is a genuine industry standard document, issued and signed by a licensed producer, and misrepresenting coverage on one carries real professional and legal consequences. What it is not is a grant of coverage or a contract with you. The distinction that matters for a compliance program is between documents that evidence a status and documents that create a right. The ACORD 25 evidences. The endorsement creates. Building a vendor insurance program means collecting the first and verifying the second, which is why serious programs request endorsement pages for every additional insured, waiver of subrogation and primary and noncontributory requirement rather than accepting a ticked box.

What Field-Level Certificate Review Catches

2
Endorsement checkboxes on an ACORD 25: ADDL INSD and SUBR WVD
0
Days of cancellation notice the 2016/03 form promises you
$49
Published starting price per month

Security & Privacy

  • Every ACORD 25 field captured as structured data
  • Checkbox claims separated from supplied endorsement pages
  • Per policy line expiry tracking, not one date per vendor
  • Your certificate data is private and never sold

ACORD 25 Form FAQ

The ACORD 25 is the standard Certificate of Liability Insurance used across the United States. It is a one page summary listing a business general liability, automobile liability, umbrella or excess and workers compensation policies, with their carriers, policy numbers, dates and limits. A licensed producer issues it to a certificate holder as evidence that those policies exist.

ACORD 25 (2016/03). The edition marker prints in the bottom left corner of the form beside the copyright line, which reads 1988-2016 ACORD Corporation. All rights reserved. If a certificate you receive shows an older edition in that corner, its cancellation and disclaimer wording may differ from the current form.

Yes, for liability coverage. Certificate of insurance is the generic term and the ACORD 25 is the specific form the industry uses for liability lines. Property coverage is evidenced on other ACORD forms instead, so a request for proof of property insurance is normally answered with an ACORD 27 or ACORD 28.

No. The first line of the form states that it is issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights upon the certificate holder, and that it does not amend, extend or alter the coverage afforded by the policies listed. Rights come from the policy and its endorsements, not from the certificate.

ADDL INSD indicates the producer believes an additional insured endorsement applies to that policy line, and SUBR WVD indicates a waiver of subrogation. They are the only two endorsement indicators on the form. The IMPORTANT block warns that a statement on the certificate does not confer rights in lieu of the actual endorsement, so both are prompts to request the endorsement page.

Yes, as a checkbox. The general liability block carries a row reading GEN'L AGGREGATE LIMIT APPLIES PER with POLICY, PRO-JECT and LOC options. A tick in PRO-JECT is the producer stating the aggregate applies per project. It is not proof, because the CG 25 03 endorsement and its schedule are what actually create and assign the separate limit.

None. The 2016/03 cancellation legend says only that if a policy is cancelled before its expiration date, notice will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions. Policy cancellation provisions generally require notice to the first named insured, meaning your vendor, rather than to you as certificate holder.

They show what the policy was written with, not what is left. The COVERAGES preamble ends with the sentence that limits shown may have been reduced by paid claims. A shared general aggregate can be substantially eroded by losses on unrelated work, and nothing on the certificate reveals it.

Not on the insurer. The form states expressly that it does not constitute a contract between the issuing insurers, the producer and the certificate holder. It is evidence of insurance rather than a grant of it. An ACORD 75 binder is different, because a binder is temporary coverage and does create obligations.

The insurance producer, meaning the agent or broker for the insured business, issues and signs it. The insured requests it and names the certificate holder. The insurer whose name appears on the certificate typically never sees the document, which is why the signature line reads Authorized Representative rather than carrying a carrier signature.

It is the free text area for anything the grid cannot record: project names and numbers, additional insured wording, primary and noncontributory language, waiver of subrogation detail and workers compensation officer exclusions. When it runs out of space the producer attaches an ACORD 101 Additional Remarks Schedule, which the form names in its own heading.

The ACORD 25 is the certificate itself. The ACORD 101 is the Additional Remarks Schedule, an overflow page for the Description of Operations box. The ACORD 101 has no independent meaning and confers no rights of its own, so treat it as a continuation sheet of the certificate it is stapled to.

Contact the producer named in the PRODUCER box using contact details you look up independently rather than the ones printed on the certificate, and ask them to confirm issuance. Check that the insurers named appear under their NAIC numbers and are licensed in your state. Requesting the endorsement pages is a second, stronger check, because forged certificates rarely come with matching endorsements.

You request them from the producer. Endorsements are separate pages attached to the policy and are never part of the certificate. Ask by form number: CG 20 10 or CG 20 37 for additional insured status, CG 24 04 for a general liability waiver of subrogation, CG 20 01 for primary and noncontributory, and CG 25 03 for a per project aggregate.

Until the earliest policy expiration date shown on it, and no longer, but that is an outer limit rather than a guarantee. A policy can be cancelled mid term and the certificate you hold will not change. Most vendor programs collect a fresh certificate at every policy renewal and check the dates line by line rather than relying on one expiry per vendor.

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Per Project Aggregate Endorsement

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COI Verification Software

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