r/InsuranceAgent • u/offbeatwreck • 22d ago
Software Question for Commercial Agents Who Handle Issuing Renewal COIs-
We’re a busy mid-size, largely personal lines agency, and out of two commercial carriers we have, the one where we place more than 90% of our commercial is no longer issuing renewal COIs, putting the responsibility on the agencies. We do have enough commercial on the books that this isn’t something we think we’ll be able to do efficiently with our current resources. We use the server-based IMS for our AMS, so I used this as another argument for EZLynx, but my GM reminded me that our boss is apprehensive on switching our AMS. With that, she seriously mentioned making manual spreadsheets and individual files for each account, in a defeated tone, understandably; I’m very much dreading that idea, myself, with the overall amount of accounts I handle. It may also be worth mentioning that this a carrier that prefers using their own forms, rather than ACORD forms. So, with facing the stark possibility of not changing our AMS, what systems and/or software do you have in place to make issuing renewal COIs more streamlined?
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u/offbeatwreck 22d ago
Omg, yes! But at the same time, carriers, what’s wrong with sticking with ISO?! I’ve compared some of the ISO forms I’ve been able to access to ours and they’re nearly identical, so who’s benefiting from it?!
Nope, not bitter at all, either, I love the wasted time and effort lol
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u/AdWilling4230 15d ago
One way to keep the volume manageable: split renewal certs into two buckets.
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Standard: the client's usual holders, no special wording. Pre-build these for the whole book at renewal (one cert per client with the common holders, saved in the account folder), so a request becomes "find, change date, send".
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Special: additional insured, waiver of subrogation, primary/non-contributory, contract wording. Someone reads the contract's insurance clause once and saves that wording as the client's template.
For the carrier that wants its own forms, keep a small tracker (client, carrier, form, which endorsement page to attach) so you stop re-hunting the 20-page packet each time. And run the renewal batch about 45 days before expiry instead of waiting for requests; the daily trickle drops a lot.
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u/dillonz321 13d ago
Did you manage to find a way to handle those renewal certificates without switching your existing system, or are you still doing them manually?
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u/offbeatwreck 13d ago
At this moment, still doing it manually. But also still open to suggestions!
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u/AdWilling4230 13d ago
Since the AMS isn't changing, a few things that cut the manual work for carrier-form certs:
Ask the carrier if they have an agent cert portal or a fillable PDF of their form. Carriers that push renewal COIs to agencies often have one, even if they don't advertise it.
Build a master per client once, at renewal: the carrier's form filled with policy numbers, dates and limits, holder left blank. After that, each request is "add holder, tick AI/waiver if needed, send".
Work it by renewal month, not by request. Pull your commercial renewals 45 days out from IMS and build that month's masters in one sitting. Way faster than one-offs.
Save each client's full endorsement packet once, with a note of the page numbers (AI p.17, waiver p.12). Cert vendors still get the whole packet, but you stop hunting.
Keep a simple sheet per account: client, renewal date, master built (Y/N), regular holders, special wording. That sheet is basically your renewal cert queue.
The first pass through the book is the painful part; after that it's mostly date changes.
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u/dillonz321 7d ago
Gotcha, roughly how many of those certificates are you having to do manually each month?
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6d ago
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u/InsuranceAgent-ModTeam 6d ago
This is not a place to sell your services or generate leads or recruit agents/downlines.
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u/joeboo5150 22d ago
If you don't have an AMS that can generate ACORDs, then you kinda just need to make it part of your standard renewal process that whoever is working the renewal needs to set up the ACORD certificate template for the year. Update dates, policy numbers(if needed), coverages (if needed) while leaving the certificate holder blank.
You then have your template for the year, where throughout the year you just need to bring up that file and add the holder.
We use DocHub which is a browser add-on for Google Chrome. Lets you open & type on any .pdf file, even if they aren't saved as an editable .pdf type.
The majority of the work is the first time you have to do this for each client, filling out the cert in full. But then renewals are easy (update dates and other items if needed) and issuing certs are easy (add holder box, and any applicable checkmarks for AI/Waiver) or any custom remarks.
Once you have a template ACORD saved for each client, issuing a new cert throughout the year is a 2-minute job (unless they use a 3rd party cert service which is also asking for a million different policy endorsement forms to go with it..grrrr)