ACORD form guidance written by someone in the industry.
Look up any ACORD form, understand what it does, and find out what usually goes wrong with it. Written by someone who has worked with these forms every day. Free, no account needed.
Serving insurance professionals across
Start here if ACORD forms are new to you
New to ACORD forms or just want a clearer picture of how they fit together? These guides answer the questions agents and brokers ask most. Read them before a submission goes wrong, not after.
View all guidesACORD forms by category
Each form page tells you what the form is actually used for, which fields agents most often get wrong, and which other forms you usually need alongside it.
Built around how they work in practice
Most resources give you the PDF and nothing else. We cover what agents and brokers actually need to know: the context, the common errors, and the situations the form instructions never address.
Which forms go together
Some forms are almost always used together. If you send the wrong combination to a carrier, the submission gets rejected. We cover which forms belong together and why, so you get it right the first time.
Completely free to use
ACORD's own website charges a membership fee to access its forms. We do not. Every form and every guide here is free to read and download. No account, no sign-up, nothing to pay.
Why submissions get rejected
Most rejections come down to a few simple mistakes: a name that does not match, a missing field, or an endorsement the policy does not actually cover. We explain exactly what to check on each form before you send it.
Different rules for different states
Texas, New York, and California all have specific rules about what a certificate of insurance must include on a construction job. We cover those differences clearly so you know what applies to your situation.
Written for the people who handle these forms every day
Different people use these forms in different ways. We write for each of them separately so the guidance is actually useful, not a one-size-fits-all answer that ends up helping nobody.
Insurance agents and brokers
You fill out applications, issue certificates, and deal with policy changes every day. When something gets rejected or a client comes back asking why their certificate was not accepted, you need a quick answer. That is what these pages are for.
Contractors and business owners
A general contractor asks for a certificate of insurance before your work can start. Your agent sends one over. The GC says it does not meet their requirements. Knowing exactly what they need, and why, saves several phone calls and gets things moving again.
Agency support staff
You check forms before they go out, answer client questions about what a field means, and make sure nothing is missing. These pages give you a quick reference you can actually use day to day without needing years of experience to understand.
MGA and carrier operations
You review submissions coming in and flag the ones with problems. Our guidance is written from the carrier side. Focused on what actually causes a submission to be sent back, not on what the form instructions say should have been done.
When two forms cover the same ground
Sometimes two forms look like they do the same thing but they do not. These guides explain the difference so you send the right one and avoid the back and forth.