A certificate of insurance (COI) is a one-page snapshot proving your coverage exists: carrier names, policy numbers, limits, effective dates. Brokers won't load you without one, shippers won't gate you in without one, and the whole thing should take minutes, not days. Here's what goes on it, what slows it down, and how to get one fast.

Request a certificate of insurance

What is a COI, actually?

It's evidence, not coverage. The standard form is the ACORD 25, issued by your insurance agent, listing your policies: primary auto liability, motor truck cargo, general liability if you carry it, sometimes physical damage. The fine print on every certificate says the same thing: the certificate doesn't amend or extend the policies behind it.

That matters because of a trap we flag constantly: a certificate can say anything, but only the policy pays claims. A COI showing coverage you don't actually have protects nobody, which is why legitimate agents issue certificates straight off the policy, and why brokers verify them.

What do brokers and shippers require on a COI?

Almost every broker packet asks for the same handful of things:

  • The certificate holder. The broker or shipper's exact legal name and address, printed in the holder box. This is how they file and track you, so get the entity name right, because "close enough" gets certificates kicked back.
  • Specific limits. $1M primary auto liability is the near-universal floor. The federal minimum is $750k, but the market runs on $1M. Cargo is typically required at $100,000.
  • Cargo shown explicitly. Freight brokers want to see the motor truck cargo line, not just liability. Some also ask for your reefer breakdown coverage if you haul temperature-controlled.
  • Additional insured, where appropriate. Some brokers and facilities require to be named as additional insured on your liability policy. Unlike the holder box, this is an actual policy endorsement. Your agent has to add it, and it's worth understanding you're extending your policy's protection to them when they ask.

Read the insurance section of the broker packet before you send anything. Ten seconds of reading beats three rounds of "please revise and resend."

Why do COIs get delayed?

When a certificate takes days instead of minutes, it's almost always one of these:

  • The agent is the bottleneck. At a lot of agencies, certificate requests go into an inbox and wait for a human. Friday afternoon request, Tuesday certificate, and your load went to someone else.
  • The request is incomplete. No holder name, no address, no email for delivery. The agent can't issue what they can't fill in.
  • The requirement doesn't match the policy. The broker wants $1M and you carry $750k, or wants additional insured status your policy doesn't support yet. That's not a paperwork delay. That's a coverage change, and it takes an endorsement.
  • The policy is in trouble. Lapsed for nonpayment, mid-rewrite, or waiting on a renewal. A certificate can't be issued off a policy that isn't in force, and if your agent is stalling, this is sometimes why.

If you're getting slow-walked on certificates regularly, that's not normal. It's a sign of how the rest of your service will go when something actually matters.

How fast should a COI be?

Same day. That's not aspirational. Issuing an ACORD 25 off an in-force policy is minutes of work when the agency is set up for it. Ours is: most of our certificates go out the same day they're requested, and many go out instantly through our online request system. You tell us the holder's name, address, and where to send it; we issue it off your live policy data and it's in the broker's inbox before you've finished fueling.

Request a certificate of insurance

Can I just make my own certificate?

Don't. Editing an old COI, changing dates, limits, or holder names, is fraud, and brokers check. Verification services and direct agent callbacks catch altered certificates all the time, and the result isn't just a lost load; it's your name on a do-not-use list and, in the worst cases, a criminal referral. If your coverage doesn't meet a requirement, the fix is a phone call to your agent, not a PDF editor.

How McClure helps

Certificates are the most frequent thing an insured ever needs from us, so we built for it: request a COI online any time and most go out same-day, many instantly, with the holder, limits, and additional insured wording done right the first time. And because we read the broker packets too, we'll tell you before you sign one whether your policy actually meets its requirements. Request yours here.