Primary and Noncontributory
Paste the insurance paragraph from your contract to see whether it asks for primary and noncontributory coverage, and what that wording means.
How to use the primary and noncontributory checker
- Click the box labelled “Paste the insurance wording from your contract” and paste only the insurance paragraphs. The box holds up to 50,000 characters.
- Press “Scan wording”. Results also update about 300 milliseconds after you stop typing.
- Read the card “Primary and non-contributory” at the top. Its badge says “Found” or “Not found”.
- Under “From your text”, check the quoted words the tool matched. Then read “What it means” and “What to ask for”.
- Open “Other insurance terms in your text” to see the remaining terms, such as additional insured and waiver of subrogation.
- If “Notice periods in your text” or “Dollar amounts in your text” appear, read them as amounts the text contains only.
- To try the tool first, press “Load an example paragraph”. The example is invented and labelled as not real contract wording. Press “Clear” to empty the box.
The tool only matches words. It can flag a term from an unrelated sentence, and wording it does not recognise is reported as “Not found”, so a Not found result does not prove the contract lacks the term. It does not give a legal reading and does not say whether the wording is good or enough. Text past 50,000 characters is not scanned.
What does primary and noncontributory mean?
Primary and noncontributory describes two effects an endorsement can give a policy. One ISO version is form CG 20 01 04 13. Its wording says the insurance is primary to, and will not seek contribution from, any other insurance available to an additional insured under the policy. In other words, the policy responds without asking the additional insured’s own insurance to share the loss. The form changes the commercial general liability coverage part and the products and completed operations part.
What does the primary and noncontributory endorsement require?
The form’s own words set two conditions. The additional insured must be a Named Insured on the other insurance, and the policyholder must have agreed in a written contract that its insurance would be primary and would not seek contribution. The form says it applies provided that both are true. A certificate is not a policy and does not change the coverage it refers to, according to the NCOIL model act, though state law varies. The printed text of the standard certificate form says a statement on the certificate does not give the holder rights in place of the endorsements. One city’s checklist asks for this coverage to be shown by actual endorsements, separate from the certificate, with the policy number printed on each one. That is one city’s checklist, not a universal rule.
Does primary and noncontributory mean the other policy never pays?
No. The noncontributory part stops the primary insurer from seeking contribution from the other party’s insurance. It does not stop recourse to a secondary policy once the primary policy’s limits are used up. So the wording decides which policy responds first, and a second policy can still pay after that point.
Sources (checked 16 October 2026): ISO CG 20 01 04 13 · Taft Law checklist · City of San Diego insurance checklist · NCOIL model act · ACORD 25 printed text
Frequently asked questions
What does primary and noncontributory mean?
The policy with the endorsement is primary to, and does not seek contribution from, other insurance available to an additional insured. One ISO version of the wording is form CG 20 01 04 13, an endorsement.
What does the primary and noncontributory endorsement require?
The ISO form applies only when the additional insured is a Named Insured on the other insurance and the policyholder agreed in writing that its insurance would be primary and would not seek contribution. A city’s checklist asks for the coverage to be shown by an endorsement, not only on the certificate.
Does primary and noncontributory mean the other policy never pays?
No. It stops the primary insurer from seeking contribution from the other party’s insurance, but a secondary policy can still pay once the primary policy’s limits are used up.
How can I tell if a policy has it?
Ask for the endorsement or the policy page that gives the wording, with the policy number printed on it. A box or note on the certificate does not add the wording by itself.
Is my contract text uploaded?
No. The tool runs in your browser, and the text you paste is never uploaded or stored. It is a keyword scan, not a legal reading of your contract.
Related pages on this site:
- Waiver of subrogation - when a contract asks you to give up recovery rights.
- Additional insured endorsement - why the endorsement terms decide what the status gives.
- Certificate holder vs additional insured - why the holder box is not the same as the status.
- Certificates of insurance - the hub for every tool on this site.
- ACORD 25 checker - compare a certificate’s boxes against the terms you need.
- How to read a certificate of insurance - where the coverage lines sit on the form.
- Insurance requirements letter - when you need to set out the insurance a contract asks for.
- Certificate of insurance sample - a made-up certificate explained part by part.