Additional insured is one of the most common requests in commercial insurance — and one of the most misunderstood. Property owners, general contractors, lenders, and lessors regularly require businesses to add them as additional insureds. Handling these requests correctly is an important part of commercial account management.
When a party is added as an additional insured on a commercial GL policy, the policy extends to cover that party for claims arising out of the named insured's operations. If the named insured's work causes injury to a third party and the additional insured is sued, the GL policy responds to defend the additional insured and pay covered claims.
Additional insured status does NOT cover the additional insured for their own negligence — only for claims arising from the named insured's work.
Common situations where additional insured status is required:
• Contractors required to name the general contractor or property owner • Tenants required to name their landlord on their GL • Vendors required to name a retailer or distributor • Professionals required to name a client by contract • Anyone who has signed a contract with an indemnification clause that requires them to provide AI status
A scheduled additional insured endorsement names a specific party. A blanket additional insured endorsement automatically extends AI status to any party that the named insured is required by written contract to name as additional insured.
Blanket AI endorsements are generally preferred because they don't require updating the policy every time a new contract is signed. Agents should confirm which endorsement type the carrier provides and whether it meets the client's contract requirements.
Most contracts that require additional insured status also require the policy to be primary and noncontributory. This means the named insured's policy responds first, before any coverage the additional insured has, and the named insured's insurer cannot seek contribution from the additional insured's insurer.
This is a separate endorsement from the AI endorsement itself. Agents who add an AI without confirming the primary-noncontributory language may leave their client out of compliance with their contract.
AgencyAssist collects all the information covered here through a plain-English client intake link. No phone calls, no PDF forms, no missing fields — just a complete, submission-ready ACORD package.