We explain the various liability coverages to help protect your assets and future earnings. Coverages available in New York State include: Bodily Injury, Property Damage, Personal Injury Protection (PIP, also referred to as No Fault), Uninsured Motorist (people without insurance) and Underinsured Motorists (people with low limits of insurance).
We represent many strong, A-rated, national and regional companies that have competitive rates. We review your coverage at each renewal to identify money saving options for you.
Business Insurance
We insure all types of "Main Street" businesses such as offices, retail shops, restaurants, contractors, auto repair, etc. We also insure volunteer fire departments, municipalities and volunteer ambulances. We can write the property, liability, Directors and Officers, Errors and Omissions and professional liability coverages for profit and non profit entities.
First Time Buyers - Long Time Owners - Condo Owners - Renters
Your home is one of your most valuable assets. It is important to insure it properly.
In Central NY, we are faced with threats from earthquakes and floods, both of which are excluded under the standard homeowners policy. Earthquake coverage can be added to your home policy, while flood insurance cannot. Flood insurance is a federally regulated program, and coverage must be written on a separate policy.
Insurance to value is a major issue in the insurance industry today. If you do not insure your home for the proper amount, you will not receive the full value of a claim for damage. We help you determine the proper amount of insurance by completing photo inspections and replacement cost estimates.
The liability portion of the homeowners policy provides legal defense for claims or lawsuits brought because of bodily injury or property damage caused by a covered occurrence.
We also offer ideas for saving money on your homeowners insurance.
We offer both term and permanent insurance policies and will work with you to tailor your coverage to best meet your needs.
- Annual Renewable Term - Annually renewable term or “ART” (sometimes called yearly renewable term, or “YRT”), is an example of a term insurance policy that has a constant face value and premiums that are adjusted upwards each year to reflect the increasing probability of your death in any given year.
- Decreasing Term - Decreasing term insurance refers to a type of annual renewable term life insurance policy with a decreasing death benefit (face amount) and level premiums. Decreasing term is ideal for insuring a liability that is gradually being paid off, like a home mortgage.
- Level Term - If you prefer, you may select a “level term” policy which guarantees that you will pay the same annual premium for a set number of years (usually 5, 10, 15 or 20) for the same amount of death benefit. The longer the guaranteed term, the greater the initial premium, but the longer the premium stays fixed. In most cases, if you know you will your term insurance for an extended period of time, a level term policy will prove less costly than an annual renewable term policy.
- Return of Premium - A relatively new type of policy, “return of premium” life insurance provides the benefits of traditional term life while the policy is in force, and then at the end of the policy period, pays back all the premiums you have paid. The catch, of course, is that you must still be alive to collect your premiums.
- Whole Life - This type of coverage covers you for as long as you live, as long as you make premium payments. Usually, this type of policy has a level premium for the life of the policy. Initial premiums are generally high compared with term insurance premiums, but eventually they become lower than the premiums you would pay if you had kept renewing a term policy. Over time, a whole life policy builds cash value at a rate of interest set by the issuing insurance company.
- Universal Life - With universal life coverage, which also covers you for as long as you live, you can vary your premium payments and the face amount of your coverage. Most of your premium payment goes into an account, which earns interest. You may borrow against the cash value, but eventually, if the balance continues to drop, your coverage will end. To prevent that, you would have to start making premium payments again, increase your premium payments, or lower you death benefits. Generally, your policy will state that it will pay the premiums from the cash value of your policy. Variable universal life also falls into this category; the difference is that a portion of your premium in “invested” in subaccounts that resemble mutual funds and can own stocks, bonds, cash, or some combination thereof.
- Variable Life - This type of policy gives you an element of control over the cash value portion of your policy. Variable life allows you to allocate your cash value among
