What is an Additional Insured Endorsement? Is this is the same as an Additional Insured Certificate?
Any endorsement to a policy is a change to the insurance contract. When an entity is added as Additionally Insured to your policy they are given the right to make a claim directly against your policy. This is because they are an "insured" on the policy. A certificate of insurance is basically a statement about what should be in the policy. If an Additional Insured Certificate is issued but the policy does not have the required endorsement then it is basically false.
There are several types of AI endorsements. The CG 2010 11/85, CG 2010 10/1 and the CG 2010 10/93 are the three most common. Other endorsements are usually modifications to one of these types generally referred to as "Manuscript AI Endorsements." Recently the CG 2033 and CG 2037 have become widely utilized.
Of the three endorsements the cg 2010 "11 85" has stronger wording. An entity added with an 11/85 is an additional insured for "your work". This means that even after you have completed the job, even years later, the AI can make a claim directly on your policy for a liability claim. The 11/85 endorsement is increasingly hard to obtain. Some claim that it is even gone but we still see it being issued for commercial work. Update: (2012-2013) - Despite all of the predictions that the 11/85 endorsement would be going away it has proven to be a continually referred to and used endorsements. Several carriers have once again started to include the 11/85. The intention of the Insurance Services Office was to replace the 11/85 with a combination of CG 2033 and CG 2037. These two endorsements are still pretty much the same thing as the 11/85 but the 11/85 continues to be the go-to endorsement.
The 10/93 form provides the AI coverage for "your ongoing operations". In this case the AI would only be able to make a claim directly during the time that your project or operations are ongoing. After the job is completed their status as additional insured is no longer in force. The 10/01 is very similar to the 10/93
With this in mind one should be conservative with endorsement requests and they should only be made when required by a written contract.
(Feb 2010) Lately we have seen an increased willingness for 11/85 equivalent endorsements to be issued for remodeling operations. While this wording is still not available for new residential 11/85 equivalent wording is available from some carriers for remodeling and service jobs.
Regarding the question of, "What does and Additional Insured Endorsement Cover?" , the only correct answer to the question is, "It depends on the language of the endorsement."
For a comprehensive list of articles on the subject of Additional Insured Endorsements click here.
To learn what Blanket Additional Insured Endorsements are read this article.
(CG20101185,CG 20 10 11/85, CG2010, CG 20 10, CG20101093, CG 20 10 10/93, CG 20 33, CG 20 37)
Venture Insurance Services
866-726-8442