> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://watchmycover.com/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How chasing works > Switch renewal chasing on, and WatchMyCover emails subcontractors and their brokers before a policy expires, when it lapses, and when a certificate falls short. Chasing is the part of WatchMyCover that emails your subcontractors for you. It is **off** when an account is created. Nothing is emailed to a subcontractor until an owner or admin switches it on. ## Switch it on Go to **Settings → Renewal chasing**. **Replies go to** is the address a subcontractor's reply lands in. Chase emails ask them to reply with the certificate attached if they prefer, so this should be an inbox someone reads. It starts as the owner's email address. Change it and choose **Save**. While chasing is off, reminders are still generated and listed under **Reminders**, so you can read every email before anything goes out. Cancel any you do not want sent. See [The Reminders page](/docs/chasing/reminders-page). Choose **Turn on**. The box reads **Chasing is on**, and reminders already due start going out within a few moments. Your email address must be confirmed to use the app at all, so chasing can only be switched on by someone whose address is confirmed. To stop chasing, choose **Turn off**; no further reminders are emailed. ## What gets chased ### Upcoming expiries: the ladder For each **mandatory** coverage, each policy expiry gets up to five emails: | Rung | When | Subject | | ------------ | ------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 30 days out | 30 days or fewer before expiry | Renewal needed: *coverage* for *vendor* (expires *date*) | | 14 days out | 14 days or fewer before | Renewal needed: *coverage* for *vendor* (expires *date*) | | 7 days out | 7 days or fewer before | Renewal needed: *coverage* for *vendor* (expires *date*) | | Final notice | The day before expiry | Renewal needed: *coverage* for *vendor* (Final notice, expires *date*) | | Overdue | On or after the expiry date | Expired: *coverage* for *vendor* | Each rung is sent once per policy expiry. If a subcontractor is first seen with 20 days to go, the first email is the 30-day rung and the ladder continues from there. If an earlier rung is still queued when a later one becomes due, only the later one is sent. A renewed policy starts its own ladder. The overdue email is sent **on** the expiry date, because a policy has no cover on that day. After it, the ladder sends nothing more for that expiry. Each coverage has its own ladder. A subcontractor whose general liability and auto policies expire on the same day receives one email for each at every rung. A renewal already on file that continues the cover means the old expiry is not chased at all; a chase queued before the renewal was recorded is withdrawn. See [Renewals and several certificates](/docs/certificates/renewals). ### Gaps: chased at once A certificate that fails a requirement today is chased straight away, rather than waiting for an expiry that may be a year off: | Finding | Subject | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | No certificate on file | Certificate of insurance needed: *vendor* for *your company* | | Required coverage missing, limit below the minimum, limit not provided, endorsement not evidenced | Action needed: *coverage* does not meet *your company* requirements | | Endorsement only stated on the certificate, certificate over 365 days old | Documents needed to confirm *coverage* for *your company* | Each gap is chased once for the certificate on file. Several findings of the same kind on one coverage go in one email, one bullet each. When a new certificate is recorded and the gap is still there, it is chased again. Not chased: a vendor with no requirement template, a policy not yet in force, a certificate dated in the future, and anything on an optional coverage. ## Who gets the email * **To:** the vendor's **Contact email**, greeted by **Contact name** when there is one. * **Copied:** the vendor's **Agent email**, named in the email as the agent of record. The broker is usually the person who can fix a certificate. * **Reply-to:** the **Replies go to** address in Settings, or the account owner's address when none is set. * **Signed:** with your organization's name. Emails are plain text, written to be forwarded to a broker unedited. Every one carries a private upload link: see [What subcontractors see](/docs/chasing/what-subcontractors-see). A vendor with no email address on file is never chased. If a recipient's mail server refuses the address, that chase is marked failed with the reason, and the vendor is not chased at that address again until you change it. ## Chasing one vendor now On a vendor's page, **Chase now** re-checks the vendor and queues whatever is due for them now. It does not resend an email already sent for the same gap or rung, and it does not send anything while chasing is off. The message tells you what happened, for example "Nothing new to send — this vendor has already been chased for its current gaps." ## Timing WatchMyCover checks for due reminders every hour, and when something changes (a certificate recorded, a vendor edited, a template saved, an import). Days are counted in your organization's time zone. A reminder that waits unsent for more than a week, for example because chasing was off, is replaced by an up-to-date one rather than sent late with stale wording. ## Related * [What subcontractors see](/docs/chasing/what-subcontractors-see) * [Pauses, and when chasing stops](/docs/chasing/pauses-and-stops) * [The Reminders page](/docs/chasing/reminders-page)