Insurance Review Checklist: 21 Documents to Gather

You need three sets of documents. The first is the insurance file: declarations pages, the full policies with every endorsement, and five years of loss runs for each line. The second is the business file that shows what those policies should match: customer contracts, the lease, loan documents, payroll by job type, vehicle and equipment lists, and property values. The third is the deal file: an entity chart and the insurance and indemnity sections of your purchase agreement. The table below lists each document, where to find it and what it reveals. It is written for owners who just bought a business and are pulling together the file for the first time.

The short answer

Insurance documents: declarations pages, full policies with all endorsements, five years of loss runs, the workers' compensation experience mod worksheet (the mod is a multiplier that raises or lowers that premium by comparing the business's past claims with what is expected for similar businesses) and recent audit statements.
Business documents: customer contracts, leases, loan documents, payroll by job type and state, vehicle and driver lists, equipment schedules and property values.
Deal documents: an entity chart, the purchase agreement's insurance, indemnity and representation sections, and anything that says who handles pre-closing claims.
In an asset deal the seller's policies stay in the seller's name, so some documents may need the seller's written authorization to release.

What is on the complete document checklist?

Documents for a business insurance review
Document	Where to find it	What it reveals
Insurance documents
Declarations pages for every policy	Broker, carrier portal, data room	Who is insured, policy dates, limits, deductibles, premium, locations and the forms list
Full policies with all endorsements	Broker or carrier (ask for the issued policy, not a proposal or binder)	Exclusions, additional insured wording, limitations and conditions the summary does not show
Loss runs, five years, every line	Each carrier, current and prior, or the broker	Claim frequency, open claims, reserves and patterns underwriters will price
Workers' compensation experience mod worksheet	Broker, carrier, the rating organization, or the state fund in North Dakota, Ohio, Washington or Wyoming	The mod, the claims and payroll behind it, and any errors
Recent premium audit statements	Carrier or broker	Whether estimates on the policy match actual payroll and sales, and whether a bill is building
Prior insurance applications	Broker	What the seller told underwriters about operations, revenue and safety
Notices of claims or possible claims sent to claims-made insurers before closing	Seller, broker	Whether pre-closing incidents were reported to the seller's claims-made policy (one that covers claims made while it is in force), so later claims from them may be treated as made under that policy, depending on its wording
Open claim files and adjuster contacts	Seller, broker, carrier	Who is handling each claim and what deductibles may still be due
Certificates the seller issued	Seller's broker, customer and general contractor files	Promises made to customers and landlords that your policies now have to back up; see certificates the seller issued
Bond schedule and surety indemnity agreement (contractors)	Broker, surety	Which bonds are open, who signed the indemnity, and what the surety needs from a new owner
Business documents
Customer contracts with insurance clauses	Contract files, data room	Required limits, additional insured status, waivers and notice duties
Leases	Landlord, data room	Property and liability requirements, who insures the building, waivers
Loan documents	Lender, closing binder	Required coverages, the mortgagee or lender's loss payable clause the lender needs (not just a loss payee listing), proof-of-coverage deadlines
Payroll by job type and state	Payroll provider	Whether workers' compensation class codes and payroll estimates are right
Vehicle and driver list	Titles, registrations, HR files	Vehicles missing from or still on the auto schedule, and driver eligibility
Equipment and inventory schedule	Fixed asset register, operations lead	Tools and equipment that need scheduled or inland marine coverage
Property values	Appraisal or replacement cost estimate	Whether building and contents limits are high enough, including to avoid a coinsurance penalty if the policy has one
Revenue by service line and state	Financials, quality of earnings report	Whether the liability rating basis and described operations still fit
Subcontractor list and their certificates	Accounts payable, project files	Uninsured subcontractor costs that can land on your audit
Deal documents
Entity chart and trade names	Deal counsel, closing binder	Every legal entity and trade name that should be a named insured, including any holding company
Purchase agreement insurance and indemnity sections	Deal counsel	Who pays for pre-closing claims, tail purchase duties, cooperation on claims

Most of these overlap with your pre-closing diligence list. If you are still before closing, the insurance checklist for buying a business covers that stage.

Which documents matter most in the first week?

You do not need everything before the review can start. Collect in this order:

Now: declarations pages for every policy, the lender's insurance requirements, and the insurance clauses in your top customer contracts and lease. These show whether your coverage may fall short of a contract or loan requirement today; deal counsel can confirm what any shortfall means under the agreement.
Within two weeks: full policies with endorsements, five years of loss runs, the mod worksheet, and payroll by job type.
Within 30 days: vehicle, equipment and property schedules, audit statements, prior applications, and the subcontractor list.

The first group is about compliance; the rest is about fit and price. If the first group shows a problem, such as a policy that still names the seller's company, fix it right away rather than waiting for the full review. See do your policies still list the seller?

How do you get documents the seller still controls?

It depends on how the deal was structured.

Stock purchase. The company you bought is still the named insured, so you (as an officer) can usually request policies and loss runs from the broker or carriers directly.
Asset purchase. The seller's policies stay in the seller's name. Carriers usually release loss runs and policy copies only to the named insured or its broker, so ask the seller for a signed letter authorizing release. Your purchase agreement may include a cooperation clause; ask deal counsel what it requires.

Some states require insurers to provide loss runs within a set number of days of a written request. The rules, with Florida and Oregon as examples, are in how to read loss runs after you buy a business.

If the seller changed carriers in the last five years, request loss runs from the prior carriers too. A single carrier's report shows only its own years.

What business data should you pull from your own systems?

Insurance documents show what the seller bought. Your own numbers show what the business needs now. Pull:

Payroll by job type and state for the last year and your estimate for the next. Workers' compensation is rated per job classification, so a total payroll figure is not enough. See class code corrections.
Revenue by service line, because many liability policies are rated on sales and describe specific operations.
A vehicle list with year, make, model, VIN, garaging address and who drives each one, plus a driver list. Share driver details securely.
Equipment and tools with replacement values, especially items that leave the premises.
Property values based on what it would cost to rebuild or replace today. A purchase price or book value is not the same thing as the insurable value a property policy measures, and limits set from deal numbers can be too low.
Subcontractor spend and whether each subcontractor carries its own workers' compensation and liability coverage.

Why is a certificate or summary not enough?

The seller's broker may send a certificate of insurance or a proposal summary instead of the policies. Neither is the contract. A certificate is a snapshot that confers no rights by itself, and a proposal shows what was offered, not necessarily what was issued. See why a certificate is not coverage.

Even the declarations page is only a summary. The exclusions and limitations that matter most are often in endorsements listed on a forms schedule. Ask for every form listed, and check that each one is actually attached. Declarations page vs full policy explains what to look for.

A hypothetical example. A buyer of a $3 million revenue landscaping company sends his reviewer five declarations pages and a stack of certificates. The reviewer asks for the last two premium audit statements, the prior applications and the subcontractor list. The audits show payroll running well above the estimate on the workers' compensation policy, so another audit bill is likely building. The application described the business as residential maintenance only, though a third of revenue now comes from commercial snow removal. And four subcontractors have no certificates on file, so their payments could be counted as payroll at audit. None of this was visible in the summaries he started with.

How should you organize and send the file?

A tidy file can save a week. A simple structure works:

One folder per policy, holding the declarations page, the full policy, endorsements and loss runs for that line.
One folder for contracts, leases and loan documents, with the insurance clauses flagged.
One spreadsheet for business data: payroll by class and state, vehicles, drivers, equipment, locations and property values.
A short cover note listing what is missing and who is chasing it.

Use a secure file share rather than email for anything with driver or employee details.

Once the file is together, the review itself follows the steps in what happens in a business insurance review. Morrow can take the file you have, chase what is missing with the carriers, and flag gaps; any new terms depend on carrier underwriting.

Keep reading

Frequently asked questions

Why do I need the seller's old insurance applications?

They show what the seller told underwriters about operations, revenue, safety and claims. If the description no longer matches the business, coverage questions can follow, and underwriters will expect your new submission to explain the difference.

Can I get the seller's loss runs after an asset purchase?

Usually yes, but the policies are in the seller's name, so the carrier may release them only to the seller or its broker. Ask the seller for a signed authorization letter, and check with deal counsel whether your purchase agreement requires the seller to cooperate.

How do I send employee and driver information safely?

Use a secure file share or the reviewer's portal rather than email, share only the fields needed (names, license numbers, dates of birth for drivers), and limit who can open the folder.

Do I need the purchase agreement for an insurance review?

Only the parts that touch insurance: the insurance covenants, the indemnity sections, any duty to buy tail coverage, and who handles pre-closing claims. Your reviewer can flag questions, but deal counsel should interpret the agreement.

What if the seller's broker only sends certificates?

Ask again for the declarations pages and full policies. A certificate is a summary that does not change the policy and does not show endorsements or exclusions.

References

Just bought a business? Get your insurance reviewed.

Send Morrow the declarations pages, loss runs and key contracts you inherited. Morrow can review them against the business you bought, flag gaps and request quotes where it makes sense. Any new terms depend on carrier underwriting.

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This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice, and not a coverage determination. Coverage depends on the actual policy wording, carrier underwriting, your purchase agreement and your contracts. Ask your attorney and accountant about deal and legal questions.

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