Acord 147 is a standardized industry form used to capture structured details about specific insured exposures in support of broader commercial insurance placements.
It provides a uniform framework that brings together critical data points in a way underwriters, brokers, risk managers, and finance professionals can review quickly and interpret consistently.
Organizations use Acord 147 because it helps keep technical information organized, comparable across accounts, and easier to integrate with underwriting, credit, operational, and audit workflows.
What Is Acord 147?
Acord 147 is a standardized form used to collect detailed information about commercial auto exposures, typically supporting applications for business auto and fleet insurance coverage.
It appears in the underwriting stage when brokers, agents, and carriers need a consistent way to capture data such as vehicle schedules, driver details, usage patterns, and loss histories across diverse insureds.
Risk managers, insurance brokers, underwriters, lenders, equipment finance providers, and claims professionals often rely on Acord 147 because it presents complex commercial auto information in a uniform and widely accepted format.
As a common industry reference, it functions as a shared language that reduces ambiguity, supports accurate pricing and coverage decisions, and helps downstream workflows in areas like collateral evaluation, financing arrangements, and claims review.
By standardizing how key exposure data is recorded and transmitted, Acord 147 plays an essential role in keeping multi-party processes aligned, auditable, and easier to integrate with policy, billing, analytics, and document management systems.
When Is the Acord 147 Used? (Common Use Cases)
Acord 147 is used whenever an organization needs a structured schedule of specific risk items, such as locations, vehicles, or other exposures that support a broader commercial insurance submission.
It typically comes into play during new business submissions, renewal underwriting, midterm changes, and coverage remarketing, when carriers require detailed, line-by-line information that cannot fit neatly into the core application.
Underwriters rely on Acord 147 to evaluate exposure values, risk characteristics, and coverage requests in a consistent format, which supports more accurate pricing, clearer terms, and more efficient review.
The form also feeds into related workflows such as credit and account review, compliance checks, and internal file documentation, giving carriers and brokers a uniform reference point across systems and departments.
By capturing key schedules in a standardized layout, Acord 147 helps keep submissions complete, comparable, and easier to handle throughout underwriting, servicing, and any subsequent policy audits.
What Is Included in Acord 147?
Acord 147 is arranged as a focused installation or builders risk schedule that collects detailed project information in a consistent way.
It begins with installation or builders risk project details, where the user supplies identifying data about the specific job so the carrier can correctly associate coverage with a defined site and scope of work.
A project description and value section gathers a narrative description of the work along with the total installed cost, helping underwriters understand the exposure type and the limit required for the completed project.
Construction details capture how and where the work is being performed, including materials, construction methods, and key dates, so risk characteristics and construction timelines are clear.
Limits for location, transit, and storage organize separate fields for each exposure, allowing the user to allocate coverage amounts to property at the job-site, in transit, or held at temporary or permanent storage locations.
Coverage options may appear as selectable fields or checkboxes that indicate requested extensions or special terms, clarifying which protections apply to this project.
Job-site security and material storage details ask for descriptions of safeguards, controls, and storage conditions, supporting an assessment of theft, vandalism, and damage risk.
A remarks area offers open-text space for supplemental disclosures that do not fit earlier fields, rounding out a complete submission.
Why Is Acord 147 Important?
Acord 147 is important because it organizes complex commercial vehicle schedules into a single, consistent format that different organizations can interpret quickly and accurately.
By capturing standardized details on vehicles, drivers, usage patterns, and coverage requirements, the form reduces the risk of missing information that would otherwise trigger follow-up questions and processing delays.
It supports accuracy in underwriting, lending, and advisory workflows by aligning all parties on the same structured data set, rather than relying on ad hoc spreadsheets or unformatted attachments.
This level of completeness and consistency strengthens compliance with internal controls and external regulations, since key data points are systematically recorded and easy to verify.
As a result, insurers, lenders, underwriters, and professional services teams depend on Acord 147 to move from initial submission to informed decision-making with fewer interruptions and less operational friction.
How Can Heron Help With Acord 147?
Handling Acord 147 forms often slows teams down when information arrives through scattered emails and broker portals.
Heron transforms this process by capturing every incoming Acord 147 the moment it is received, whether it comes in via shared inboxes, client portals, or secure uploads.
The platform automatically recognizes that the document is an Acord 147 and distinguishes it from other submission or supplemental forms in the same thread.
Heron then extracts all relevant fields from the schedule of hazards, locations, limits, and endorsements into a clean, structured format.
Advanced validation checks run in the background to make sure required data is present, values are within expected ranges, and details like locations and coverage options are internally consistent.
The system flags gaps or discrepancies so teams can address issues early instead of discovering them deeper in the workflow.
Once the Acord 147 is processed, Heron syncs the structured data into underwriting workbenches, policy administration platforms, CRMs, or other downstream systems used by carriers, brokers, and program administrators.
This removes repetitive manual data entry and reduces time spent rekeying the same information across multiple tools.
Underwriters and operations teams receive clean, organized data almost immediately after the form arrives, which accelerates triage and pricing decisions.
By automating the end-to-end handling of Acord 147, Heron reduces operational friction, supports consistent data quality, and lets teams focus on analysis and client conversations rather than form processing.
FAQs About Acord 147
How is the Acord 147 used in the commercial insurance workflow?
The Acord 147 is used to capture detailed information on commercial auto exposures, including vehicle schedules, drivers, garaging locations, and usage patterns.
Carriers rely on this form to evaluate risk, price commercial auto coverage, and align endorsements with actual fleet operations.
Brokers and agents typically attach the completed Acord 147 to submission packets so underwriters can review exposure data in a consistent format.
Who typically completes the Acord 147 and what information do they provide?
The Acord 147 is usually prepared by the retail agent, broker, or account manager working on behalf of the insured business.
They gather operational details from fleet managers, risk managers, or finance teams and translate them into the standardized fields for vehicles, drivers, loss history, and coverage limits.
This division of work helps internal client teams focus on operations while the insurance professional aligns the information with carrier underwriting requirements.
Why do lenders, equipment finance firms, and lessors ask for an Acord 147?
Lenders and equipment finance companies often request the Acord 147 when financed or leased vehicles are part of the collateral package.
The form gives them a clear view of how the vehicles are used, who operates them, and what limits and protections are in place for liability and physical damage.
Having a current Acord 147 on file supports covenant monitoring, certificate issuance, and confirmation that the borrowers coverage aligns with finance or lease terms.
How do organizations submit and process the Acord 147 in modern systems?
Organizations typically submit the Acord 147 electronically through agency management systems, carrier portals, or secure email as part of the full commercial auto submission.
Carriers and MGAs then upload the form into underwriting platforms that read the structured data, connect it to rating tools, and flag missing or inconsistent fields for review.
Many larger brokers map Acord 147 fields directly into their internal systems so updates to fleet data flow through to renewals, endorsements, and lender or lessor documentation with minimal rekeying.
