The renewal wording
A renewal arrives with a new wording that is "substantially the same" as the expiring one. Somewhere in it a sub-limit moved, an exclusion was widened by one word, or a definition changed in a way that affects six clauses. The broker has to tell the client what changed. The underwriter has to know what they are now covering. Neither of them wants to find out at the claim.
The difficulty is that nobody reads a sixty-page wording twice with the same attention. The second reading is always a skim, and a skim is exactly where a changed number or one extra word slips through.
What a quiet change looks like
Say the expiring wording excludes loss "caused by flood" and the renewal excludes loss "caused by or contributed to by flood". Five words added to a sentence nobody expected to change. On a read-through it looks like the same exclusion. In a claim where flood was one of several causes, it is a different policy.
Or say the definition of "Premises" loses a reference to outbuildings. The definition sits on page three. The clauses that rely on it are on pages fourteen, twenty-two and thirty-one, and none of their text changed. A reviewer checking the operative clauses finds nothing. The cover still shrank.
These are the changes a comparison is for. It reports the inserted words in the exclusion and the deleted words in the definition, each with the page it sits on in both versions, and leaves it to a person to work out what they mean.
Endorsements
An endorsement is supposed to change specific terms and nothing else. Comparing the endorsed wording against the original confirms that. The change list should contain the intended changes and nothing more; anything else is a drafting error to fix before it becomes a claims dispute.
It helps to write down what the endorsement is meant to do before running the comparison. "Increase the business interruption limit and add one location" is a short list. Then the check is simple: every item in the change list should map to that description, and every part of the description should appear in the change list. A missing item is as much a problem as an extra one.
What the comparison handles
- Word-level changes inside long clauses, including changed figures and defined terms.
- Moved clauses, reported as moves rather than as a deletion in one place and an insertion in another.
- Formatting changes, classified separately so a re-typeset wording does not bury the real changes.
- Repeated headers, footers and page numbers, excluded automatically.
- Schedules laid out as tables. Unchanged tables are held out, and a changed table shows only the cells that changed.
Where it needs help
The engine compares the text layer of the PDF. A wording produced from a word processor has one. A signed schedule that was printed and scanned may not, and a pure image scan is refused rather than compared badly. If the scan went through OCR it can be compared, though expect some character-level noise from the recognition. The guide to comparing scanned PDFs covers what to expect.
The other limit is judgement. The tool tells you that "or contributed to by" was added. It does not tell you whether that matters for this client. That part stays with the broker or underwriter, which is where it belongs.
Working it into renewal season
A practical routine for a broking team: when the renewal terms arrive, compare the renewal wording against the expiring wording before anything goes to the client. Save the redlined PDF to the client file. Use the change list as the skeleton of the renewal letter, so the client sees each change with a page reference instead of a general reassurance.
For an underwriting team the same comparison runs the other way, checking a broker's manuscript wording against the house form to see where it departs. For reinsurance, compare treaty drafts between negotiation rounds, and always against the last round rather than the first, so a change introduced in round two and quietly reversed in round three does not go unnoticed.
Sharing the result
Every comparison produces a standalone side-by-side HTML file with synced scrolling and a redlined PDF. Brokers send them to clients as the renewal comparison. Claims teams attach them to the file when the applicable wording is disputed. Files are processed in memory and never stored, so the wording is not sitting on anyone else's server afterwards.
Wordings up to 30 pages can be compared on the homepage without an account. Longer wordings and regular volume need a plan; the insurance industry page covers team use and private deployment.
Try it on your own documents. Upload two versions on the homepage. Documents up to 30 pages need no account, and nothing is stored.
Industry page: PDF comparison for insurers and brokers