Insurance policy checking: what to check and how

Policy checking means comparing an issued policy against the terms you agreed, line by line, before it reaches the client: names, dates, premium, limits, excess (deductible in the US) and endorsements. Record what matches. Hold each difference with the source wording alongside, so someone can raise it with the insurer (carrier in the US).

New to AI? Start with how to use AI in an insurance agency.

What to check, line by line

Take the agreed terms as the reference: the accepted quote, the confirmation email, or the instruction you sent. Then read the issued schedule and wording against it, in the same order every time.

• Names and addresses: the policyholder, any additional insureds, and the insured premises or vehicles.
• Dates: start, end, and any retroactive or waiting period that was agreed.
• Premium: the amount before tax, the tax, the total, and the payment terms.
• Limits and sums insured for every section, including sub-limits.
• Excess for each claim type.
• Endorsements: every one that was agreed is there, and nothing extra has appeared.
• Conditions and exclusions that were not in the quote.

The last two catch the costly problems when a claim arrives. A missing endorsement means cover the client thinks they have is not there. An extra condition can limit a claim later.

A made-up example: the agreed quote says the excess is the same for every claim. The issued schedule shows a higher excess for water damage. Nothing else is wrong, and the premium is correct. Without a line-by-line check, nobody notices until a pipe bursts.

What contract certainty means for your check

Lloyd's publishes a standard called contract certainty. Lloyd's describes it as "the complete and final agreement of all terms between the insured and insurer", "with contract documentation provided promptly thereafter". Lloyd's says contract certainty applies to general insurance contracts entered into by a UK regulated insurer or arranged through a UK regulated intermediary. Your compliance contact can tell you whether and how it applies to your firm.

It gives your check a clear order. First the terms are agreed in full. Then the documents follow. Your job is to confirm that the documents say what was agreed, because once the client has paid and a loss has happened, the paperwork is all anyone has.

The FCA's rules point the same way for regulated UK firms. ICOBS 6.1.5 asks for information "in good time and in a comprehensible form". A client who receives a schedule with errors days after cover began may not have what they need to decide. Your compliance contact can tell you how these rules apply to your firm.

Where differences come from

Differences can come from ordinary errors in a busy process. A figure is typed twice. An endorsement is agreed by phone and never reaches the issuing team. A name is spelled the way the insurer's system holds it, not the way the client writes it. A renewal rolls forward last year's schedule instead of the new terms.

Some differences are real changes of terms. The insurer may have added a condition between quote and issue, perhaps after a survey or a referral. Fixing that quietly would hide it from the client. They have to hear about it, and your team has to decide what to do.

Telling the two apart needs the source wording. If a difference is held with the agreed text on one side and the issued text on the other, the reason can be clear within a minute.

Do the check as soon as the policy is issued, not at the end of the month. A difference found in the first days is a quick correction. The same difference found after the client has paid, or after a loss, is a dispute.

Check renewals as carefully as new policies. A renewal can look identical to last year while carrying a changed limit or a dropped extension. Compare it against the renewal terms you agreed, not against the expiring policy alone.

Raising a difference with the insurer

When you contact the insurer, send what they need to act without a second email: the policy reference, the line that differs, what was agreed, what was issued, and the document each came from. Ask for a corrected document or written confirmation of the change.

Keep the thread with the policy record. Note the date you raised it, who you spoke to, and what was promised. If the corrected schedule has not arrived by the date you were given, you can follow up with the history in front of you.

Do not release the policy to the client with a known difference unless your team has decided to. If you do, tell the client plainly what differs and what is being done about it.

Getting details into your records without retyping

Once a policy matches, its details need to be in your own system (your broker management system, or BMS, and the agency management system, or AMS, in the US): policy number, dates, premium, commission, insurer, client. Doing this by hand means the same information is typed from the schedule by the same person who just checked it.

Retyping adds a second source of error to a process meant to remove errors. Where details can be read from the issued document and entered into your records, with the entry kept beside the document it came from, a later question has a short answer: here is the line, here is the source.

The regulator expects firms to keep these records in order. SYSC 9.1.1 requires "orderly records to be kept of its business and internal organisation, including all services and transactions". Again, this is a UK rule for FCA-regulated firms, and your compliance contact knows how it applies to you.

Records that match the issued policy also make the next job easier. When a client asks to change cover part-way through the year, read mid-term adjustments and endorsements. For where this job sits among the others, see AI for insurance brokers.

Can AI do this?

Yes, for the checking and the record. A system can compare the issued policy with the agreed terms, enter matching details in your records and hold each difference beside the source wording. Your team decides what to raise with the insurer and whether to release the policy.

Where Navicade fits

Navicade builds and runs AI systems that do this work. For checking and recording policies, issued policies are checked against agreed terms. Matching details go into your records, and differences are held for review with the source wording alongside. Results arrive in your existing tools. Insurance decisions stay with your team. The system checks its work on every run and alerts us.

See the row on checking and recording policies, or ask for the free operations map in our contact section. It starts with a free 30-minute call, and we take on one agreed task at a time.