As with any industry, the world of insurance has a vocabulary of its own with a slew of terms and words used and referenced that can often be quite confusing to the layperson. For this reason we have available on our site a full glossary of insurance terms, as well as blog posts specifically defining different jargon. It’s important to understand the terms that are used in your insurance policies.

In this post let’s touch on a very common word used in insurance – endorsement.

Endorsement defined

When you hear endorsement in regards to insurance this means an amendment made to the insurance policy that either adds or deletes coverage for certain specific situations. These special agreements are also referred to as Ontario Policy Change Forms (OPCF) in our province. You may also hear it referred to as a “rider.”

What’s the difference between coverage and endorsement?

Wondering what the difference is between the use of the term coverage and the use of endorsement? Coverage refers to the insurance policy. Endorsement simply refers to any tweaks or adjustments to the coverage.

So for example, in our post on optional policy endorsements in Ontario for car insurance, we outlined some of the endorsements available to tweak an existing car insurance policy that goes above and beyond what is standard and mandatory coverage. So you might have car insurance coverage that includes an additional transportation replacement endorsement to cover the cost of a rental vehicle while yours is being repaired or replaced.

Have some other insurance jargon on your radar that you’d like clarified? Check out our full glossary of insurance terms here.

Have any questions about insurance coverage in Ontario or want to discuss endorsements on your policy further? Get in touch with us today and someone from our team will be happy to help!

We have provided the definitions in this blog post for general information purposes only. They are not meant to be complete descriptions to cover any and all terms, conditions and exclusions that are found in different insurance policies. If there is any inconsistency between this information and the definitions in your policy, it is your policy that governs. Contact your insurance broker if you have any questions or need any clarification about your particular policy and the definitions therein.

Image source: FreeDigitalPhotos.net | Stuart Miles