Carrier vetting

How to Read a Carrier's COI (and Spot a Fake One)

By Ahmad — Co-founder, Keelway · Operator, Triple C Trucking

Last updated August 23, 2026

Why does the COI deserve a careful read?

Because it's the one document in the carrier packet that pays a claim — or doesn't. A COI that expires before delivery, covers a different legal entity than the one on your rate con, or excludes the commodity you're shipping is worth exactly nothing on the day a load is damaged. And because it's a PDF supplied by the carrier, it's also the easiest document in the packet to fake. Reading it field by field is a five-minute skill that prevents five-figure mistakes.

What does each field mean?

Field	What it is	What to check
Producer	The insurance agency that issued the certificate.	This is who you call to verify — via a number you find independently.
Insured	The carrier the policies cover.	Legal name must match the FMCSA registration and your rate con — not a DBA that almost matches.
Insurers (A, B, C...)	The actual insurance companies behind each coverage line.	Real, rated companies you can find independently. An insurer you can't verify is a stop sign.
Auto liability	Bodily injury and property damage coverage for the trucks.	FMCSA floor is $750K for general freight (49 CFR 387); most brokers require $1M contractually.
Cargo	Coverage for the freight itself.	Market standard $100K — a broker/shipper requirement, not an FMCSA filing. Watch for reefer-breakdown and commodity exclusions.
Policy dates	Effective and expiration per policy line.	Expiration must clear your delivery date. A cert issued months ago proves nothing about today.
Certificate holder	Who this certificate was prepared for.	Your brokerage's name here means you got a copy — it does not mean you're covered.
Description box	Endorsements, additional-insured status, special terms.	If you require additional-insured status, it lives here or in an attached endorsement — not implied.

What are the federal minimums — and what do shippers actually require?

Two different numbers get conflated constantly. The federal floor: FMCSA requires $750,000 in public liability for most for-hire general-freight carriers (49 CFR Part 387), filed by the insurer on form BMC-91/BMC-91X — with higher minimums for oil ($1,000,000) and certain hazmat ($5,000,000). The market reality: most brokers and shippers contractually require $1,000,000 auto liability and $100,000 cargo. Cargo coverage isn't an FMCSA filing requirement for most property carriers at all — it's a commercial standard, which is why it only exists on the COI and in your carrier agreement, not in the federal record.

Certificate holder vs additional insured — why does it matter?

Seeing your brokerage's name in the certificate-holder box feels like protection. It isn't. Certificate holder means the agent sent you a copy — full stop. Additional insured means your brokerage is endorsed onto the policy with actual rights under it, and it requires an endorsement that shows up in the description box or an attached page. Decide which one your carrier agreement requires, then read the cert for what it actually grants, not what its arrival implies.

How do fakes actually get caught?

Almost never by staring harder at the PDF. The tells help — mismatched fonts, a policy number in the wrong format for the stated insurer, limits that match your requirements to the dollar, an expiration date conveniently far away — but the reliable checks are external:

Call the producer. Find the agency's number independently — never dial the one printed on the cert, which on a doctored COI rings the fraudster's desk. Ask them to confirm the policy, the insured, and the limits.
Check the federal filing. Liability coverage for authorized carriers is filed by insurers directly with FMCSA. If the filing shows different coverage — or a cancellation — believe the filing.
Match the entity. Insured name, FMCSA legal name, and the name on your rate con should be the same company. "Almost the same" is how double-brokering and identity fraud dress up.

Insurer-sourced data beats carrier-submitted paper for one structural reason: the carrier controls the PDF, and the insurer controls the filing. When the two disagree, the document is the one lying.

Where does automation fit?

Keelway is an AI platform that automates carrier email triage for freight brokers — turning 40+ carrier replies per posted load into a ranked, vetted shortlist in under a second. Insurance is one of the signals in that check: the FMCSA insurance-on-file record is verified on every inbound carrier email, re-verified at load acceptance, and again at pickup — so a policy cancelled between quote and load date surfaces before the truck moves, which no folder of PDFs can do. The product side of that story is on the carrier insurance monitoring page; the COI read above stays your manual layer for cargo coverage and endorsements. The full pre-booking sequence is in the carrier vetting checklist and the step-by-step vetting guide.

New brokerage writing its first insurance requirements? The startup broker guide covers where COI collection and automated insurance checks fit in a first-year workflow.

Frequently asked questions

What is a certificate of insurance (COI)?+

A COI is a one-page summary of a carrier's insurance coverage, typically issued on the ACORD 25 form by the carrier's insurance agent. It lists the insured carrier, the insurance companies, policy numbers, coverage types and limits, effective and expiration dates, and the certificate holder it was prepared for. It is evidence of coverage at issuance — not a contract, not a guarantee the policy is still active, and not something that gives the holder rights by itself.

What insurance is a carrier legally required to carry?+

FMCSA requires most for-hire carriers of general freight to maintain $750,000 in public liability (bodily injury and property damage) coverage under 49 CFR Part 387, filed by the insurer on form BMC-91 or BMC-91X. Oil transport requires $1,000,000 and certain hazmat loads $5,000,000. Cargo insurance is different: FMCSA no longer requires cargo filings for most property carriers, so the $100,000 cargo figure you see everywhere is a market standard set by brokers and shippers, not a federal minimum. Most brokers require at least $1,000,000 auto liability and $100,000 cargo contractually — above the federal floor.

What's the difference between certificate holder and additional insured?+

Certificate holder means you were sent a copy of the certificate — that's all. It gives you no coverage and no rights under the policy beyond, at most, a courtesy cancellation notice. Additional insured means you're actually endorsed onto the policy and can claim under it in defined situations. Brokers are routinely certificate holders; additional-insured status requires an endorsement and appears in the description box or an attached endorsement page. Don't confuse receiving the certificate with being covered by the policy.

What are the red flags of a fake or doctored COI?+

The common tells: fonts or alignment that don't match the rest of the form (edited PDF), an expiration date that's suspiciously far out, a policy number format that doesn't match the stated insurer, an insurer or agent you can't find independently, coverage limits exactly matching your requirements to the dollar, and an agent phone number that routes back to the carrier. The deeper problem: a COI is carrier-supplied paper, and a motivated fraudster can edit any field. Verification has to happen outside the document.

How do I verify a COI is real?+

Call the producer — the insurance agency listed on the certificate — using a phone number you find independently, not the one printed on the cert, and ask them to confirm coverage and limits for that carrier and policy number. Cross-check liability coverage against the carrier's FMCSA record, which reflects filings made by the insurer directly. If the certificate says one insurer and the federal filing says another, or the FMCSA record shows coverage cancelled, believe the filing, not the PDF.

Can COI checking be automated?+

The strongest part can. The liability coverage that matters most is filed by insurers directly with FMCSA, and Keelway checks that record automatically — on every inbound carrier email, again at load acceptance, and again at pickup, in under 2 seconds per check (Keelway infrastructure, 2026). A lapse between quote and pickup triggers an alert before the truck moves. The COI document itself still deserves the field-by-field read for cargo coverage and endorsements — automation covers the part the PDF can't prove.

The filing doesn't lie. The PDF might.

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