Quick answer: A certificate of insurance, or COI, is a document your building requires from your mover before moving day, proving the mover carries the liability and workers’ compensation coverage the building demands. Big Apple Moving issues COIs for New York buildings at no charge, usually the same business day. Send us your building’s management company name and their sample certificate, and we handle it directly with them.
Almost every managed building in New York — co-ops, condos, high-rises, doorman buildings and most loft conversions — will not let a moving truck load or unload until it has a certificate of insurance from the mover on file. Buildings are strict about it because their own insurance requires them to be.
It is also the single most common reason a New York move gets delayed on the day. Not because the mover is uninsured, but because nobody asked for the COI until the morning of the move.
What a Certificate of Insurance Actually Is
A COI is a one-page summary issued by our insurer that proves what we are covered for, and names your building as an additional insured party for the day of your move. It typically shows:
General liability
Usually $1,000,000 to $2,000,000, covering damage to the building itself — lobby floors, elevator interiors, door frames, walls.
Workers’ compensation
Covering our crew if someone is injured on the premises, so the building is not exposed.
Umbrella or excess liability
Some Manhattan buildings require $5,000,000 or more in total. We can issue at that level.
The certificate holder
Your building, named exactly as the management company specifies, at the correct address.
That last one is where most COIs get rejected. Buildings will refuse a certificate that names the entity even slightly incorrectly, which is why we ask for their sample rather than guessing.
How to Get a COI From Big Apple Moving
Buildings We Issue COIs For
Requirements vary more than people expect. A condo may accept a standard template while the high-rise across the street wants $5,000,000 umbrella cover and a booked elevator window. We work from whatever your building sends us.
What almost never varies is how firmly it is enforced. A doorman with no certificate on file will not let the truck unload, regardless of how reasonable the request sounds on the day. Getting the sample early is the whole job.
Manhattan high-rises
The strictest requirements in the city, frequently $5,000,000 umbrella coverage and a booked service elevator window. See Manhattan movers.
Co-ops
Often want the certificate two weeks ahead and may require board acknowledgement as well.
Condos
Usually a standard management-company template, straightforward once we have their sample.
Doorman buildings
The doorman will physically stop the move without a COI on file. There is no negotiating on the day.
Loft conversions and pre-war
Freight elevator rules and narrow service entrances, often with their own additional insured wording. Common in Brooklyn.
Commercial and office
Office moves almost always need a COI plus a booked freight window — see commercial movers.
Licensed and Insured in New York
Big Apple Moving has operated in New York since 1979. We are USDOT licensed, we carry general liability and workers’ compensation, and we can issue certificates at the coverage levels New York buildings ask for, including umbrella cover where a building requires it.
That matters beyond the paperwork. A building asking for a COI is really asking whether the company coming into their lobby is a real, insured operation.
If you are comparing movers, ask two questions: can you issue a COI for my building, and how fast. A mover who hesitates on either is telling you something.
For a plain explanation of what being licensed and insured means for your move, and what our cover includes beyond the certificate itself, see our licensed and insured movers page. What that coverage pays, and how New York’s rules differ from the federal ones, is on the Big Apple Guarantee page.
Certificate of Insurance — Frequently Asked Questions
What a COI is, how fast we issue one, and what buildings require.
