An ATP form in insurance — short for Authorization to Pay — is a short document you sign to direct your insurance company to send a claim payment straight to a third party, such as an auto body shop, hospital, or contractor, instead of mailing the check to you. It is usually a single page, but once you sign it, your insurer’s payment obligation shifts from paying you to paying whoever you named on the form. ATPs show up most often in auto collision claims and personal injury protection (PIP) medical bills, and sometimes in property damage claims.
You keep your policy rights when you sign one. You can still dispute the claim, negotiate the amount, or take legal action if something goes wrong. The provider gets a guarantee that the check will come to them, but they cannot sue the insurer on your behalf, and they can still bill you directly if the insurer denies payment.
ATP Is Not an Assignment of Benefits
Read any form a provider hands you carefully before signing, because an ATP and an Assignment of Benefits (AOB) are not the same document. An AOB transfers your policy rights to the provider. Once signed, the provider can pursue the insurer directly but generally cannot bill you if the claim is denied. An ATP only redirects payment and leaves your rights intact. The consequences of a denied claim fall on different people depending on which one you signed, so confirm which document is in front of you.
When a Provider Will Ask for One
The most common setting is auto collision repair. The adjuster writes an estimate, you pick a shop, and the shop asks you to sign an ATP before starting work. Many shops will not begin repairs without one, because the signed authorization is their guarantee that the insurance check reaches them rather than sitting in your account.
ATPs also appear in medical billing, particularly in no-fault and PIP states, where a treating physician or hospital uses the form to bill the auto insurer directly instead of routing claims through your health insurance. On the property side, contractors handling a burst pipe or a roof replacement sometimes request an ATP so the homeowner’s payout goes straight to them.
What to Gather Before You Fill It Out
ATP forms are not standardized. Each insurer and many providers use their own version. The fields are predictable, though, so you can collect everything in advance:
- Your insurance policy number and the claim number assigned when you reported the loss. Your adjuster can give you the claim number if you don’t have it.
- The provider’s full legal business name, spelled exactly as it appears on their bank accounts. An informal abbreviation can cause a bank to reject the check.
- The provider’s business address and phone number.
- The provider’s Tax Identification Number. Insurers collect this to meet IRS information-return requirements. For 2026, insurers must file a 1099 for payments of $2,000 or more to a service provider, up from the longstanding $600 threshold. Some carriers ask the provider to submit a W-9 separately.1Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Publication 1099
- The exact dollar amount being authorized, matching the adjuster’s estimate or the final invoice.
- For auto claims, the vehicle’s year, make, model, and license plate number.
Filling Out and Signing the Form
You will usually get the form from either your adjuster or the service provider. Body shops often hand you theirs when you drop off the vehicle. Adjusters working remotely may email a fillable PDF or post one in the insurer’s claims portal.
Enter your personal information exactly as it appears on the policy. If the policy lists you as “Robert A. Smith,” don’t write “Bob Smith” — the mismatch will slow processing while the insurer confirms you are the same person. Fill in the claim number, the provider’s legal name and address, and the authorized amount. Check the dollar figure against the written estimate before signing; a mismatched number is one of the most common reasons these forms get kicked back.
Your signature is the legal trigger that redirects payment, so do not sign until the amount and the payee are correct. Some forms include a clause saying that if the insurer accidentally mails the check to you, you agree to forward it to the provider within 24 hours. Read everything above the signature line.
Electronic signatures work. Federal law provides that a signature or contract cannot be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form, so a digitally signed ATP carries the same weight as a pen-and-ink original.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 7001 – General Rule of Validity Most insurers now accept forms signed through their mobile apps or online portals.
For larger settlement amounts, some insurers require the signature to be notarized. There is no universal dollar threshold; it depends on the carrier’s internal fraud-prevention rules. A notary public can usually handle it for a small fee, often $10 or less depending on your state’s statutory schedule.
If You Still Owe Money on the Vehicle
A lienholder on your car has a financial interest in the repair and usually ends up on the check. In most cases, the insurer issues the payment with both your name and the lienholder’s name on it, meaning the lienholder has to endorse the check before the repair shop can deposit it, even with a signed ATP in place.
Lenders handle this differently. Some endorse the check and let it go straight to the shop. Others hold the funds in escrow and release them only after seeing proof that repairs are complete, sometimes requiring photos or a completion certificate. Call your lender early in the process to find out what documentation they need and how long their endorsement takes. Failing to account for the lienholder is one of the most common reasons an ATP-directed payment stalls.
Occasionally the insurer will issue a single-party check directly to the shop, more often when the shop has an established direct-repair relationship with the carrier, but the lienholder’s consent is still usually required.
Submitting the Form
Get the signed ATP to your carrier the quickest way available. Most insurers’ online portals and mobile apps let you upload a photo or scan. If you send it by email, confirm with your adjuster that it arrived, because attachments sometimes land in spam. Certified mail with a return receipt gives you documented proof of delivery if you prefer paper.
Payment timing depends on your carrier and state regulations. Many states require insurers to acknowledge and begin investigating a claim within about 30 days, though the actual check may issue sooner once liability, coverage, and the repair cost are confirmed. Check the portal or call your adjuster for status, and once the check is issued, confirm with the provider that they received and deposited it.
Revoking an ATP
You can generally revoke an ATP as long as the insurer has not already issued payment. Put the revocation in writing, reference the claim number and the specific authorization, and send it the same way you sent the original — through the portal, by email to your adjuster, or by certified mail. Once the check has gone out, revocation is no longer practical; the insurer already met its obligation based on your signed authorization.
Revoking can also create a problem with the provider, who may have started work expecting direct payment. If the insurer then sends the check to you and the provider has already done the work, you could end up owing them out of pocket.
Mistakes That Hold Up Payment
Most ATP problems trace back to mismatched information: the provider’s name doesn’t match their bank records, the dollar amount doesn’t match the estimate, or the policy number has a transposed digit. The insurer pauses processing and requests corrections, adding days or weeks.
A few other things to watch for:
- Never sign a blank form. A dishonest provider could fill in a higher amount after you sign.
- Confirm you are signing an ATP and not an Assignment of Benefits. Signing an AOB by mistake can cost you the right to negotiate directly with your insurer.
- Loop in your lienholder before the check is cut. Their endorsement is almost always required on a financed vehicle.
- Plan for supplemental authorizations. If disassembly reveals hidden damage and the repair cost goes up, the original ATP covers only the original amount. You will need to sign a new or amended ATP for the additional payment.
Finally, treat the dollar amount and payee information as legally binding. Inflating a repair cost, naming a fake provider, or authorizing payment for work that was never performed constitutes insurance fraud, which every state prosecutes as a criminal offense with penalties scaling to the amount involved.