Additional Insured Gaps

Contracts routinely require vendors, subcontractors, and tenants to name the property manager, landlord, or general contractor as an Additional Insured. That status extends liability protection to them for harm caused by or arising out of the Named Insured’s operations.

This gap means the submitted documents don’t confirm that coverage. The sections below explain what’s missing and how to resolve it.

Finding the right section:

Missing Additional Insureds

A “missing” gap is flagged when the required Additional Insured entities do not appear, or are incomplete, on the submitted insurance documents.

It is important to note that Additional Insured coverage must always be indicated on the same document as the applicable policy.
How to fix this gap? The broker must reissue the document, including the required entities, exactly as required, and added as Additional Insureds on the indicated policies.

Where to Add the Missing Coverage

Additional Insured entities are usually included in the Description of Operations box of the Certificate of Insurance, like in the example below:

If there is no space to add the entities in the Description of Operations box, it can be mentioned on the Additional Remarks page (ACORD 101):

The Additional Insured entities can also be evidenced on a separate endorsement page, corresponding to the applicable policy:
Partially Missing Additional Insured
If the Additional Insured entities on the insurance documents seem identical to the required information but are still being flagged as a gap, a specific part may be missing. Jones uses quotation marks (“”) to highlight the exact problem.

Here are some examples:
Missing designation
FLAGGED GAP
Missing Persona Strategies, “LLC”

In this case, most of the entity is listed on the documents, but the designation “LLC” is missing. To fix the gap, the document needs to be updated to reflect the complete entity name.

Missing related interests
FLAGGED GAP
Euphoria Ventures “and its affiliates, employees, officers, directors, partners, members, agents, board of managers, and any successors and assigns”

Here, the gap is needed because, although the full entity is added as an Additional Insured, the related interest information is missing and must be provided alongside the main entity name.
Unacceptable Abbreviations
Sometimes, entities are listed with abbreviations that aren’t acceptable. In these cases, a “missing” gap will also be flagged.

Here, the Additional Insured requirement asks for Lopez & Reis, Inc. and ABC Development, LLC. However, the provided abbreviations are not acceptable, since they aren’t standard and can have different meanings, so the missing gaps will be flagged.

FLAGGED GAP
Missing “Lopez & Reis”, Inc.

FLAGGED GAP
Missing ABC “Development”, LLC

Name Listed as Certificate Holder Only
Being listed as a Certificate Holder does not grant any rights or benefits under a policy. If the required Additional Insured entity is only included as the Certificate Holder on the COI, a “missing” gap will be flagged.

In the example below, Alpha Landscape Associates is only listed as the Certificate Holder, and there is no wording confirming Additional Insured status, so coverage is not extended to them.

ADDL INSR Box Checked Alone
The ADDL INSR column on the COI confirms that the policy includes Additional Insured coverage. However, having the box checked alone is not evidence enough that the required entities are covered. In such cases, a “missing” gap is flagged.

On the following COI, although the ADDL INSR indicated that the General, Automobile, and Umbrella Liability policies have Additional Insured coverage, no name appears in the Description of Operations box, on the ACORD 101, or on any endorsement page.

For it to be acceptable, the required entities must be listed as Additional Insureds.

Misspelled Additional Insureds
A “misspelled” gap is flagged when the required Additional Insured entities appear on the submitted insurance documents, but the name contains an error.
Note that even if the difference is minor, such as a letter being missing or typed incorrectly, the gap is still needed. Jones uses quotation marks (“”) to highlight the exact problem.
How to fix this gap? The broker must correct the entity name on the document, so it matches exactly what is required.

In this example, the “Collective” is missing one of the letters “l”, which might seem minor, but the misspelling gap still applies.

FLAGGED GAP
Misspelled Additional Insured: 613 “Collective”, Inc. must be corrected to 613 Collective, Inc.

Missing Additional Insured Status
When the required entities appear on the documents, but are not explicitly named as Additional Insureds, a “status” gap will be flagged.
How to fix this gap? The broker must reissue the document with wording that explicitly confirms Additional Insured status for the required entities on the indicated policies.

The following COI mentions Beta Organization Inc. in the Description of Operations box, but there is no explicit statement such as “Beta Organization Inc. is included as Additional Insured”; therefore, coverage cannot be confirmed, and a gap is needed.

In the example below, the verbiage listed alongside the entity name explicitly confirms their status as an Additional Insured, which is sufficient.

Missing Additional Insureds for Specific Policies
While Additional Insured coverage is most commonly associated with General Liability policies, it can also be required for other types of insurance, including but not limited to Automobile, Umbrella, Pollution, and Liquor Liability.

When Additional Insured coverage is required under multiple policies, each applicable policy must provide evidence of that coverage.

It is important to note that, when policies are provided on separate documents, the Additional Insured coverage must be indicated on the same document as the applicable policies.
How to fix this gap? The broker must reissue the documentation showing Additional Insured status on every policy listed in the requirement.

Coverage may be shown in one of the following ways for it to be acceptable.
Specific wording listing each policy
When entities are added with respect to specific policies, the wording is accepted on its own for the listed policies.

In this case, the Additional Insureds are compliant for General, Automobile, and Umbrella Liability, as explicitly mentioned on the COI. This is the clearer format of providing coverage.

Broad wording, with no policy boxes marked
Accepted for all applicable policies on the COI, since broad language presents no restrictions and the coverage is also not restricted by the boxes.

In this example, Additional Insured coverage is compliant for the General, Automobile, and Umbrella Liability policies.

Broad wording, with some policy boxes marked
As explained, broad language presents no restrictions and applies to all policies. However, when the ADDL INSR column is checked for some policies, but not all, the wording identifies the entities and the checkboxes identify the policies that have the coverage.

The COI below shows broad language for the Additional Insured coverage and has the ADDL INSR box checked for General Liability, so the coverage is compliant only for this policy.