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COI request email templates

Pick the situation, fill in what your contract requires, and get an email you can send as-is — including the awkward ones, like a certificate that came back naming the wrong holder.

The email is assembled in your browser. Nothing is sent from here and no address is collected — you copy it and send it yourself, so it comes from you.

What’s the situation?

You need a certificate from a new vendor before work starts.

The exact legal name and address that must appear in the holder box. Getting this wrong is the most common reason a certificate has to be reissued.

Coverage you require
Tone

Nothing here is sent, stored, or transmitted — the email is assembled in your browser and it’s yours to copy. There is no account and no email capture on this page.

Your email

When the certificate comes back

  • Check the certificate holder box names you, exactly as your contract requires.
  • Check each coverage’s expiration date — not the certificate date at the top, which only records when the document was produced.
  • Check the limits against your contract, reading per-occurrence and aggregate separately.
  • If you required additional insured or waiver of subrogation, ask for the endorsement form, not just a marked box.
  • Record the earliest expiration date and set a reminder well before it, so the renewal request goes out ahead of the lapse.
  • Keep the PDF. If an audit ever asks what coverage a vendor carried, the certificate is the answer you can produce.

Worked examples

Filled in for a fictional vendor, so you can see the shape before you use the generator. The names and limits below are invented.

First request

You need a certificate from a new vendor before work starts.

Subject

Certificate of insurance needed — Acme Roofing / Riverside Property Management

Body

Hi Sam,

Before we get started, we need a current certificate of insurance for Acme Roofing on file by Friday.

What we need on it:
- Certificate holder (must appear exactly as written): Riverside Property Management LLC, 900 River St, Vancouver BC
- Coverage required: General liability, Workers’ compensation
- Minimum limits: $1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate

If anything on that list doesn’t match what your policy carries, tell me now rather than after — it’s much easier to sort out up front.

Your insurance broker or agent can issue this — it’s usually same-day and there’s normally no charge for it.

Thanks,
Alex
Riverside Property Management

Already expired

The certificate on file has lapsed and they are still working.

Subject

Expired certificate of insurance — Acme Roofing

Body

Hi Sam,

The certificate of insurance we have on file for Acme Roofing has passed its expiration date, so we currently have no current evidence of coverage on record. Could you send an up-to-date certificate by Friday?

What we need on it:
- Certificate holder (must appear exactly as written): Riverside Property Management LLC, 900 River St, Vancouver BC
- Coverage required: General liability, Workers’ compensation
- Minimum limits: $1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate

If the policy renewed on time and it’s only the paperwork that’s outstanding, the certificate should be quick to get. If there was an actual break in coverage, I need to know that separately so we can work out what it affects.

Your insurance broker or agent can issue this — it’s usually same-day and there’s normally no charge for it.

Thanks,
Alex
Riverside Property Management

Additional insured missing

Your contract requires the endorsement and the certificate does not show it.

Subject

Additional insured endorsement needed — Acme Roofing

Body

Hi Sam,

Thanks for the certificate. Our agreement requires that we’re named as an additional insured, and the certificate doesn’t show that. Could you ask your broker to add the endorsement and send a certificate reflecting it by Friday?

Worth flagging so this only takes one round: additional insured status is an endorsement added to the policy itself, not a box ticked on the certificate. If we get a certificate with the box marked but no endorsement behind it, we’re back here again — so a copy of the endorsement form alongside the certificate is ideal.

What we need on it:
- Certificate holder (must appear exactly as written): Riverside Property Management LLC, 900 River St, Vancouver BC
- Coverage required: General liability, Workers’ compensation
- Minimum limits: $1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate

Your insurance broker or agent can issue this — it’s usually same-day and there’s normally no charge for it.

Thanks,
Alex
Riverside Property Management

Seven more situations are in the generator above: renewal before expiry, blank certificate holder, missing waiver of subrogation, limits below requirement, a required policy absent entirely, and a follow-up when nobody replied.

Why certificates come back wrong

Almost always one of three things, and all three are fixed by what you put in the original request:

  1. 1

    The holder box is blank or names someone else.

    If you don’t supply the exact legal name and address, the broker fills in whatever they have. Give them the wording verbatim.

  2. 2

    Additional insured or waiver of subrogation is a ticked box with no endorsement behind it.

    Both are endorsements on the policy, not certificate fields. Ask for the endorsement form in the same message and you avoid a second round entirely.

  3. 3

    The limits are right on the policy but wrong on the certificate.

    Quote the limits your contract requires in the request. It’s much easier for the broker to match a number than to guess at one.

Once it arrives, check the certificate before you file it — the dates and holder box are quick to verify and expensive to get wrong.

Frequently asked

How do I ask a vendor for a certificate of insurance?
Tell them three things in one message: the exact legal name and address to list as certificate holder, the coverages and limits your contract requires, and when you need it. Their broker issues the certificate, usually the same day and at no charge. Requests that omit the holder wording are the ones that come back wrong and have to be sent twice.
Who actually issues the certificate — the vendor or their insurer?
The vendor’s insurance broker or agent prepares it from the policy. The vendor requests it; they do not fill it out themselves. That is why it helps to offer to deal with the broker directly — it removes a step and a chance for detail to get lost.
What do I do if the certificate names the wrong certificate holder?
Ask for it to be reissued with your details in the holder box. A certificate naming a different entity was prepared for another relationship, so it is not evidence issued to you. The rest of the certificate may be perfectly fine — it is usually a quick correction on the broker’s end.
Can I just tick the additional insured box on the certificate?
No, and this is the single most common source of a worthless certificate. Additional insured status and waiver of subrogation are endorsements added to the policy itself. A marked box on a certificate with no endorsement behind it does not create the coverage. If your contract requires either, ask for the endorsement form along with the certificate.
Does this send the email for me?
No. It writes the email and you copy it into your own mail client, so it comes from you and lands in the reply thread you already have with that vendor. Nothing is sent, stored, or collected here — there is no account and no email capture on this page.
What should I do after the certificate arrives?
Check that the holder box names you, that each coverage’s expiration date is in the future, and that the limits meet your contract. Then record the earliest expiration date and set a reminder ahead of it, so next time the request goes out before the policy lapses rather than after.

The part that repeats

Writing the email is easy. Remembering to send it is the problem.

Every certificate you collect expires, and the renewal request has to go out before it does. COI Tracker records each vendor’s expiry date and emails you 30, 14, and 7 days ahead — so the request goes out on time instead of after you notice. Free for your first 3 vendors.

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