Moving Certificate Of Insurance (COI)

Most buildings in NYC need one in order to protect their property for damages. You can also check your move-in paperwork to see if one is required. Your building management team may provide you with a COI template that outlines the information they want included.

When you call us to schedule your move, make sure you mention that a COI is required but it will be one of our top questions when finalizing your booking (You will also receive a COI Request from your moving consultant after booking your job). This is one factor that can cause an unnecessary delay as your movers will not be allowed to enter the building on the day without it. Be proactive and find out if you need a COI to make sure the day goes off without a hitch.

As it’s mentioned in the previous part, it’s best to ask both of your building’s property managements, just to avoid potential delays on the date of move.

Your COI has the following key information:

• Confirmation your moving company is insured and an outline of their insurance for that specific building.
• The address of the property you are either moving into or out of.
• Additional details on what is covered if any damages occur and how the certificate should be used.

Piece of Cake movers are experienced professionals who are well trained in avoiding accidental property damage during a move, however sometimes mishaps do occur.

These incidents could be a scrape on a wall, or a mark on a floor. Once our movers see that damage has occurred, we take responsibility as a fully insured moving company.

Be assured we meet the minimum state requirements for liability so if there is any problem, you or your building manager can contact us and we will address it. We may choose to pay for repairs directly, or we might submit an insurance claim. Either way, we’ve got it covered.

There are a couple of steps to this process, and we will support you but first, you need to ask your building or property manager for the buildings you are leaving and moving into for a sample COI. There is usually one kept on hand in their office, but if they don’t supply it, you can just get the details of the certificate holder with the address, and any additional entities insured.

This is when Piece of Cake can step in. Piece of Cake provides optimum services for you COI. We have them issued directly from our insurance company and we give a copy to our clients as well. Just in case, we’ll arrive with a hard copy on moving day as well. We’ll have all the bases covered, so there are no last minute hassles because this is not a negotiable area of your building management’s policies.

If any mover quotes or charges you a fee to produce a COI, that is an obvious red flag that you may not be dealing with a reputable company. Most NY insurance companies do not charge the moving companies when COIs need to be produced. That means there is no cost to pass on to the customer.

One measure you can introduce to make extra sure your COI gets where it needs to go, is to request it be emailed to you. That way, if your building manager says they never received it, you have a copy to show.

The other thing you want to do is to double check the COI coverage amount. If a moving company’s insurance doesn’t cover the amount required for your building, that could also be a deal breaker on moving day.

Just say the word, or in this case, the 3 letters! Your Piece of Cake Moving Consultant will prompt you in an event, by asking if you need a COI and then will forward your details to our specialist COI department, who are dedicated solely to looking after COIs.

Contact your Building Management and confirm if they require a COI, ask if they have a template and what they require. As our COI request says, we need to obtain information about Certificate Holder (with address) and Additional Insured. We will ensure all requirements are met including: the minimum insurance value, the right timing to ensure it’s finalized well before your move and we double check all the details and format of the COI so it’s acceptable to your Building Management requirements.

There is absolutely no charge for a certificate of insurance.

There is no flexibility on this policy when it comes to building management requirements so you should always ask your building whether a moving company Certificate of Insurance is needed when you are planning your move. Ideally, Piece of Cake Moving would like to know whether a COI is needed at the time of booking, that way they can square away all your move details right away, and you’ll have nothing to worry about leading up to move day!

If Piece of Cake is not made aware that a COI is necessary, the consequences can be costly. The crew could show up on move day only to have your building management refuse to let us in! The crew then has to wait around for the building, our COI department, and insurance company to sort out the certificate of insurance so they can come inside and begin the work. If they have another booking arranged immediately after yours, it may mean a rescheduling of your well planned relocation.