The commercial renewal review checklist
When a bound renewal comes back from the carrier, it should get the same comparison every time, in the same order, documented the same way. That consistency is what turns 'we check renewals' into a defensible procedure. Here's the checklist to run against the expiring policy.
The comparison, step by step
Line up expiring vs. renewal and confirm each item:
- Named insured(s) and entities — matches prior, including added/dropped DBAs and correct mailing address.
- Policy term — continuous, no gap between expiring and renewal effective dates.
- Coverage parts — every part carried last term is present this term.
- Limits and sublimits — equal to or greater than prior; flag any reduction.
- Deductibles and retentions — unchanged; a raised deductible is a silent coverage change.
- Form schedule — every form and endorsement by number and edition date; flag additions, removals and edition changes.
- Additional insureds — required parties and the correct AI endorsement forms (CG 20 10 / CG 20 37) carried forward.
- Key endorsements — waiver of subrogation, primary & non-contributory, blanket AI where the account requires them.
- New exclusions — cyber, communicable disease, abuse & molestation, sublimits added at renewal.
- Manuscript endorsements — read individually; they carry no standard meaning.
Then document and communicate
Save the marked-up comparison to the file with the date and reviewer, and surface material changes to the insured so the file reflects informed acceptance. The record is what protects the agency — and the kind of documented, consistent procedure an E&O procedures audit (the Big 'I' Best Practices review behind some carriers' premium credits) evaluates.
Automate the line-by-line
BindCheck runs this checklist automatically: upload the prior policy and the renewal and it returns the changed named insureds, forms, limits, deductibles and endorsements, flags manuscript items for your review, and saves the whole diff as your documentation — so every renewal gets the same check without the same hour of manual line-matching.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a renewal check take?
By hand, a thorough check on a multi-part account can take an hour or more of line-matching. Automated diffing does the comparison in about a minute and leaves you the flagged changes and manuscript items to judge.
What's the single most-missed item on a renewal?
A dropped endorsement — most often a completed-operations additional insured (CG 20 37) or a waiver of subrogation — because the dec page looks unchanged while the endorsement schedule quietly isn't. Comparing the form schedules catches it.
Diff your first renewal free — upload the prior policy and the renewal, and see what changed in about a minute. No signup wall, no demo call.