A Certificate of Insurance that is abbreviated as COI is an official document that is given to you by the insurance company that insures your business. The certificate confirms coverage and acts as a guarantee that your business is for sure covered.
Is it a Must To Have COI?
COI is important for most if not all small business owners. The reason for that is because many clients are likely to request to see your COI before they can sign a contract with your business. Thus, if the services or products you are offering your clients have a lot of risks involved, then a COI is going to be a must.
What Is The Price of COI?
The COI should be provided to you free of charge. As long as you have a valid insurance policy, the insurance agent you used to insure your business should be able to provide you with a valid COI at no cost.
Sample Letter Requesting Certificate of Insurance From Vendors
If you are enlisting specific services from a vender, it is recommended that you demand the vendors submit to you a certificate of insurance. In case you are not sure how you should request this certificate, below is a sample that you can use.
SAMPLE 1
[Date]
[Company Name]
[Address]
RE: Valid Certificates of Insurance
Dear: Vendor’s name
Since year 2010, our company enacted a policy that it is only going to work with vendors who are fully insured. To that effect, I hereby request you provide us with the valid certificate of insurance for your specific line of business as specified below:
- Contractors and Subcontractors – submit to us Certificate of Insurance as well as maintenance insurance for general liability.
- Vendors and Suppliers – submit to us Certificate of Insurance specifying the general liability coverage.
- Transport Service Providers – Submit Certificate of Insurance specifying the minimum limits of all relevant liabilities.
- Consulting and Professional Services – submit to us a Certificate of Insurance for the general liability and professional liability coverage.
The Certificate of Insurance have to be provided directly from your insurance company or agent. We also require that the agent notifies us immediately the insurance policy is cancelled for any reason.
Thanks for your attention to this request.
Sincerely
Your Name
Sample 2
Dear
One of the key requirements for all the vendors working with us is that they provide us with valid Certificate of Insurance (COI). The certificate has to provide proof that your business is insured against general business liability to the amount not less than $1,000,000.
We thus request that your insurance agent or the insurance company provide us with the COI. In the certificate, the name of the insuring company, insurance policy number, validity of the insurance policy, and the scope of the insurance policy have to be specified.
Kindly have the certificate forwarded directly to be within ten (10) days of receipt of this letter. I request that you also provide us with a copy of your present Certificate from the State of Washington Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. If we do not receive the requested documentation, we might have no option apart from annulling the contract that we already have with your business.
Thanks for your consideration.
Sincerely
James Brian.
