What is the certificate of insurance request form template?
If your business does work for other people, certificate of insurance requests arrive constantly: a landlord before a lease starts, a general contractor before you set foot on site, a venue before an event, a new client's procurement team before the first invoice. Most come as a short email that says little more than "please send your COI", and the details that matter only surface after you or your agent have issued the wrong one.
This one-page template gives everyone who needs a certificate from you a single link to ask for it properly. They name the certificate holder exactly as it should print, tick the coverage types they need and enter the limit for each one. The limit boxes only appear for the cover they tick, so a simple general liability request stays short. Ticking Additional insured opens a box for the full legal names of every entity that has to be listed, which is where most reissues come from.
Each request is saved as a PDF in your FileIt vault with any contract clause the requester attached, so you or your insurance agent can issue the certificate from one complete, dated record.
- Best for
- Contractors, trades, caterers, vendors and insurance agencies that issue COIs on request
- Filled in by
- The landlord, client or contractor who needs proof of your cover
- Time to complete
- About 3 minutes
- Includes
- Holder name and address, limits per coverage, endorsements, deadline and contract upload
Who uses a certificate of insurance request form?
- A roofing contractor putting the link in its quote emails so general contractors can ask for a COI
- A caterer collecting venue requirements before each wedding season
- An insurance agency taking certificate requests on behalf of its commercial clients
- A cleaning company answering property managers who need workers' compensation proof
- A software consultancy handling the insurance step of a new client's vendor onboarding
- A food truck sending event organisers one link instead of trading emails about holder names
Questions on this certificate of insurance request form
23 questions · includes file upload, conditional questions.
1 Request
- Your name*
- Your organisation*
- Email*
- Phone
- Why do you need the certificate?* Lease or tenancy · Client or service contract · Subcontract on a project · Event or venue booking · Vendor onboarding · Something else
- Insured business name*
- Contract, lease or project reference
- Certificate holder name*
- Certificate holder address*
- Coverage types required* General liability · Commercial auto liability · Workers' compensation and employer's liability · Umbrella or excess liability · Professional liability (E&O) · Property or inland marine · Cyber liability
- General liability: each occurrence* asked only when it applies
- General liability: general aggregate asked only when it applies
- Auto: combined single limit* asked only when it applies
- Employer's liability: each accident asked only when it applies
- Umbrella: each occurrence* asked only when it applies
- Professional liability: per claim* asked only when it applies
- Other limits or deductibles to show
- Wording the certificate must show Additional insured · Waiver of subrogation · Primary and non-contributory · Notice of cancellation to the holder
- Entities to name as additional insured* asked only when it applies
- Certificate needed by*
- Send the certificate to*
- Insurance requirements from the contract
- Anything else we should know?
The certificate of insurance request form, page by page
1 Request
The requester gives Your name, Your organisation, email and phone, then answers Why do you need the certificate? with a lease, a client contract, a subcontract, an event booking, vendor onboarding or something else. Insured business name records whose cover the certificate should show, which matters for agencies handling many clients, and an optional reference ties it to a contract, lease or project.
Under Certificate holder, the Certificate holder name is entered exactly as it should be printed, with a full address.
Under Coverage required, Coverage types required lists general liability, commercial auto, workers' compensation and employer's liability, umbrella, professional liability (E&O), property and cyber, plus Other. Each type ticked reveals its own limit: each occurrence and general aggregate for general liability, a combined single limit for auto, employer's liability each accident, umbrella each occurrence, and professional liability per claim. Other limits or deductibles to show catches the rest.
Wording the certificate must show offers Additional insured, Waiver of subrogation, Primary and non-contributory, and Notice of cancellation to the holder. Ticking Additional insured asks for Entities to name as additional insured, one per line. The page ends with Certificate needed by, Send the certificate to, an optional upload of the insurance requirements from the contract, and a notes box.
Make the template yours
- Add your agent's name and usual turnaround time to the cover text
- Remove coverage types you don't carry, so nobody asks for cyber cover you don't have
- Add a note under the coverage list showing the limits you hold today
- Make the contract upload required if you only issue certificates against a written clause
- Add your insurance agent to the notification emails so requests reach them straight away
- Change the currency on the limit fields if you work outside the US
Tips for a better certificate of insurance request form
- Check requested limits against your policy before passing the request on; if they're higher, talk to your agent early
- Don't promise endorsements such as waiver of subrogation until your agent confirms the policy allows them
- Send the certificate to the address in the request, not to whoever forwarded the email
- Keep each issued certificate next to its request in the vault so you can answer "what did you send us?" quickly
- Add your own policy expiry dates in your FileIt vault so you're reminded before renewals, when every holder will want a new certificate
Every response becomes a PDF in your vault
The request is saved as a PDF in the vault folder you choose, titled with the requester's name and the date, with any contract clause attached. You're notified by email, and you can add your insurance agent to the notification list. The requester can get a copy of what they asked for.
The Responses table becomes a queue of certificates to issue: search by holder or organisation, check the needed-by dates, and export to CSV if you handle a lot of them.
- Start from this template. It opens in the FileIt Forms designer — change any question, add pages, set the rules for when questions appear.
- Share it. Turn on a public link, or send it to people by email, each with their own link. They don’t need a FileIt account.
- Get the answers as PDFs. Each response is saved as a PDF in the vault folder you choose, with uploaded files attached — and listed in a Responses table you can export to CSV.
Certificate of insurance request form: frequently asked questions
Is this certificate of insurance request template free?
Yes. It's one of the starter templates in FileIt's Forms app, available on every account, and you can edit any question.
Does FileIt issue the certificate?
No. The form collects the request. You or your insurance agent issue the certificate and email it to the address the requester gave.
Who fills in this form?
Whoever needs proof of your cover: a landlord, a general contractor, an event venue or a client. They don't need a FileIt account.
What happens when someone ticks Additional insured?
A required box appears for the entities to be named, one per line. Having those legal names in writing avoids the most common reason certificates are reissued.
Can the requester ask for cover not on the list?
Yes. Coverage types required has an Other choice, and Other limits or deductibles to show takes the details.
Can an insurance agency use it for several clients?
Yes. Insured business name tells you which client each request is for, and you can file responses into one folder or sort them later from the Responses table.