The ACORD 25 is the standard form the U.S. insurance industry uses to summarize a policyholder's coverage. It's produced by an agent, not the insurance company directly, and it's worth understanding what each section actually tells you.
Producer and Insured
The top of the form identifies the insurance agency or broker that issued the certificate (the "producer") and the policyholder (the "insured"). Confirm the insured's name matches the business you're actually contracting with — a certificate for a similarly-named entity, a parent company, or a DBA that doesn't match the contract is a mismatch worth resolving before work starts.
Insurer(s) Affording Coverage
A short list, usually lettered A through F, naming the actual insurance carriers underwriting each policy. The coverages table below references these letters.
The coverages table
This is the core of the form: a grid listing each type of insurance (commercial general liability, automobile, umbrella/excess, workers' compensation, and any others), the policy number, the effective and expiration dates, and the coverage limits. Two things are worth checking every time: that the expiration date hasn't already passed, and that the limits actually meet what the contract requires — a policy with the right coverage type but too low a limit doesn't satisfy most requirements.
Description of Operations / Locations / Vehicles
A free-text box, often the most important part of the form and the easiest to skip. This is where endorsements like additional insured status, waiver of subrogation, and primary & non-contributory wording are typically referenced — if a specific project or GC isn't named here, the coverage described elsewhere on the form may not actually extend to that job.
Certificate Holder
The party the certificate was issued to. Being listed as certificate holder means you receive a copy of this document — it does not by itself mean you're covered under the policy. Coverage as an additional insured has to come from the description box or a separate endorsement, not from appearing here.
The cancellation clause
Older ACORD 25 versions promised advance notice before a policy was cancelled; current versions generally state only that notice "will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions" — which shifts the actual notice terms to the policy itself, not the certificate. Don't rely on the certificate's language here as a guarantee of advance warning.