Insights & Guides
Certificate of Currency: What It Is and How to Get One
Sooner or later a landlord, a dealership or a principal contractor will ask you to prove your insurance is active, and they will ask for a certificate of currency. Here is exactly what it is, what it needs to show, and how to get one without holding up the job.
Quick summary
- A certificate of currency is a one-page document from your insurer confirming a policy is active, who it covers, what it covers and when it expires.
- It is proof of cover, not the cover itself. The policy schedule and the product disclosure statement are what actually set out what you are insured for.
- It expires when the policy period on it ends, so a certificate issued mid-term still shows the original expiry date.
- Workshops are most often asked for one by a landlord, a dealership or fleet operator, a principal contractor, or a council or tender process.
- Check the insured entity name matches the entity signing the contract, or the certificate can be rejected even though the cover is real.
- Request it through your broker. We can obtain and forward one for any policy we have arranged for you.
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What is a certificate of currency?
A certificate of currency is a short document issued by an insurer confirming that a specific insurance policy is currently active. It names the insured business, the type of cover, the policy number, the limit of indemnity, and the period of insurance. It exists for one purpose: so a third party can verify your cover without being handed your full policy.
That third party is usually someone who carries a risk if you are uninsured. A landlord leasing you a workshop, a dealership sending you overflow servicing, a fleet operator, or a principal contractor on a site you are attending. None of them want your policy documents. They want one page they can file.
It is worth being clear about what it is not. A certificate of currency does not create cover, extend cover, or change what a policy responds to. It is a statement of fact at the moment it is issued, and it can be out of date the day after if something changes.
Certificate of currency vs certificate of insurance
The two terms are used almost interchangeably in Australia, and in practice most insurers issue a single document that serves both purposes. If a contract asks for a certificate of insurance and your insurer issues certificates of currency, that is almost always the document they mean.
Where people do get caught out is confusing either of them with the policy schedule. The schedule is the detailed document that sets out your cover, your excesses, your endorsements and your exclusions. The certificate is the summary that proves the schedule is live.
- Certificate of currency: confirms a policy is active right now, and until when
- Certificate of insurance: the same job in most Australian contexts, and usually the same document
- Policy schedule: the detail of what you are actually covered for, including limits, excesses and endorsements
- Product disclosure statement: the insurer's terms, conditions and exclusions for the product
If a contract asks for something more specific, read the wording carefully before you send anything. A request to be named as an interested party, or for a waiver of subrogation, is not satisfied by a standard certificate. Those are policy changes, and they need to be arranged before the certificate is issued. Send us the clause and we will tell you what it actually requires.
How to get a certificate of currency
Certificates are issued by the insurer, not by you, so you cannot write your own. If we arranged the policy, the fastest route is to ask us and we will obtain it and send it through. You do not need to know your policy number to make the request.
It helps to tell us who is asking and why. A landlord and a principal contractor often want different things, and knowing the purpose means we can check the certificate will actually satisfy the request before you forward it rather than after it comes back rejected.
We are the motor trade specialist arm of Grace Insurance, an Australian-owned insurance brokerage helping businesses find cover tailored to their needs. That means the certificate request goes to a broker who already holds your file, rather than into a call centre queue.
- Tell us which cover is needed, for example public liability or workers compensation
- Tell us who is asking for it and forward the clause or email if there is one
- Confirm the exact legal entity name the contract is in
- Let us know the deadline, so we can flag it as urgent with the insurer if needed
When a workshop gets asked for one
For most mechanics the request arrives at an awkward moment, usually attached to something you want to get on with. These are the situations that come up most often in the motor trade.
- Signing or renewing a workshop lease, where the landlord requires evidence of public liability cover at a set limit
- Taking overflow or warranty work from a dealership, which will usually want liability and often garage keeper's liability as well
- Servicing a fleet or a government contract, where evidence of cover is part of the supplier onboarding
- Attending a site as a mobile mechanic, where the principal contractor requires certificates before you are allowed on
- Employing staff, where evidence of workers compensation may be requested by a principal or a scheme
- Tendering for work, where the certificate is part of the submission and a missing one can rule you out
What to check before you forward it
Most rejected certificates are not rejected because the cover is wrong. They are rejected on details, and each one costs you a round trip.
The most common problem is the entity name. If the policy is in your trading name and the lease is in the name of the company, or the other way around, the certificate does not match the contract and it will come back. Worth checking the moment you receive it rather than the moment it is refused.
The second is the limit. A lease or a contract will often specify a minimum limit of indemnity, commonly expressed in millions. If your certificate shows a lower limit than the contract requires, that is not a paperwork problem, it is a cover problem, and it needs to be addressed before you sign.
- Insured name matches the legal entity on the contract exactly
- The cover type is the one being asked for
- The limit of indemnity meets or exceeds any minimum specified
- The period of insurance covers the whole term of the work or the lease
- Any required endorsement or interested party is actually shown on the document
A certificate that expires part-way through a contract term will usually need to be reissued at renewal, and the other party will often ask for it without prompting. If you hold contracts with certificate requirements, it is worth telling us so we can send fresh certificates at renewal rather than waiting for the chase.
If yours has expired or the details are wrong
An expired certificate is only a problem if the policy has also lapsed. If the policy is still active and has simply been renewed, a current certificate can be issued against the new period of insurance.
If the details are wrong, the fix depends on which detail. A misspelled name or an address correction is usually straightforward. A limit that is too low, or an endorsement the contract requires and the policy does not carry, is a change to the cover and needs to be arranged and confirmed by the insurer before a certificate can reflect it.
If you are not sure which situation you are in, send us what you have received. We will tell you whether it is a reissue or a cover change, and what it takes to satisfy the request. Speak to a broker and we will work through it with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
A certificate of currency is a document issued by an insurer confirming that a policy is currently active. It shows the insured business, the type of cover, the policy number, the limit of indemnity and the period of insurance, so a third party can verify your cover without seeing your full policy.
Related Cover & Guides
This guide is general information only and does not take your specific circumstances into account. Mechanics Insurance is an insurance broker. We help you review and arrange cover, we do not underwrite or issue policies. Cover terms, limits and exclusions vary by policy and insurer.
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