How to Complete the Acord 25
As you begin a career in insurance, it will be critical that you develop a familiarity with forms and applications used in the Agency Management System (AMS). Continue reading for more details on the applications you will be using every day to manage client information.
What Are Acord Forms?
ACORD forms are universally recognized documents that contain information which most, if not all, insurance carriers require be completed in order to provide a quote back to the agency. There are several Acord forms and each serves a purpose specific to the type of coverage that it represents. Of all of the forms, however, one you will commonly see is the Acord 25.
What is an Acord 25 form?
The Acord 25 is more commonly known as the Certificate of Liability Insurance. It is used in many business contracts when there is a requirement for one party to hold a certain amount of insurance. A certificate of insurance is used to provide proof of insurance to the third-party who has an “interest” in the insured’s coverage. The third-party is most often referred to as the ‘certificate holder’.
You may wonder if it is important to know how to fill out Acord 25? Yes! You absolutely should. This form is used in most situations where a client needs to provide proof of coverage and it is important that you understand the different parts and how to complete the Acord 25.
Let’s take a moment to go over the various sections of the Acord 25 – Certificate of Liability Insurance.
The very top portion of the Certificate of Liability Insurance form requires Agency and Insured Information along with some carrier details. For the Producer you will need to enter the Agency name and complete address along with the contact name, phone number, fax number and email address. For the Insured, you will need to provide the full named insured and complete mailing address. In the lower right-hand area, you will need to enter the carrier name for any carriers represented as providing coverage on the certificate.
Once that is completed, you will move on to the Coverages section of the form. You will need to enter information for all applicable lines of coverage whether it is General Liability, Auto Liability, Umbrella or Excess Liability and Workers Compensation.
For the General Liability you should include: Carrier letter (from the section above), Claims-Made or Occurrence, General Aggregate (per policy, project or location),
On the Commercial Auto, you will need to indicate all applicable auto coverages.
With the Umbrella policy, you will need to Check the box to indicate whether the insured’s commercial umbrella or excess liability policy is on a “claims-made” or “occurrence” basis.
The Workers Compensation will need a “yes” or “no” to indicate whether any proprietors, partners, officers or members are excluded from workers compensation and employers liability.
All lines will require you to indicate “yes” or “no” for each the Additional Insured and Waiver of Subrogation, policy number, Policy effective and expiration date and policy limits.
The following section on the form is an area to enter details regarding the Description of Operations. Here you will need to Enter the information necessary to identify the operations, locations, vehicles, exclusions added by endorsement, and/or special provisions for which the certificate was issued.
The final section of the Certificate of Liability Insurance provides a spot to enter the Certificate Holder information including full name and mailing address. You’ll also find here the standard Cancellation notice and an area for a signature from an authorized representative from the agency.
An Acord 25 fillable form (as well as other Acord forms like the Acord 125) should be available in your Agency Management System. You can complete the form and then send an Acord 25 PDF to the client to review and distribute to the certificate holder.
Many (if not all) of the details reviewed will automatically populate in your AMS. This will save you time when completing the Acord 25 form.
