The certificate of insurance, and why onboarding stalls

A certificate of insurance is a one-page summary of a vendor's coverage, issued by their insurer or broker. It is not the policy. It is evidence that the policy exists, what it covers, for how much, and until when. For a ground transport vendor it will normally show commercial auto liability, general liability, and workers' compensation.

Additional insured is the part that matters

Being named as additional insured extends certain protections of the vendor's policy to your entity for claims arising out of the vendor's work. Most corporate procurement requires it. The common failure is a certificate that lists your company in the wrong box — as a certificate holder, which merely means you were sent a copy, rather than as additional insured.

Get the legal entity name exactly right

The name on the certificate must match the entity in your contract, character for character. An abbreviation, a missing Inc, or a subsidiary name where the parent belongs will bounce the document back. It is worth sending the operator the exact entity string rather than letting anyone transcribe it from an email signature.

Dates, limits, and renewal

Check the expiry, and check the limits against your policy minimums before you circulate the document internally. Then diarise the renewal. A certificate that lapses quietly mid-contract is how an approved vendor becomes an unapproved one without anyone noticing, usually discovered at the worst moment.

How to shorten the loop

Ask for the certificate at the first serious conversation rather than after you have decided. Send the exact entity name and your required limits in the same message. A competent operator turns this around in a day or two through their broker. How quickly and how completely they do it tells you a good deal about how the rest of the relationship will run.