When you buy an engagement ring or expensive jewelry, know what your policy says.
Most homeowners and renter's insurance include jewelry as personal property, but that coverage may not be enough to cover your purchase.
Many policies set a limit and might not protect against all losses. Given the sentimental value of some heirlooms, think about coverage for all situations.

• Your standard policy might only cover a fraction of what your jewelry is worth.
• Most policies will protect against theft, but you may need additional coverage to protect your jewelry against damage or loss.

A jewelry floater is an optional addition to a homeowner's insurance policy that protects against financial loss from the damage or theft of valuable jewelry.

• Though a basic homeowners policy provides some jewelry coverage, if an individual has a sizable and valuable jewelry collection they should add a jewelry floater on top of their basic policy. The jewelry floater will provide a higher dollar amount of coverage for jewelry than a basic homeowner’s insurance policy does.
• Some jewelry floaters also offer coverage against more perils than homeowners insurance does. For example, they might cover accidental loss, while a basic homeowners policy would not. Since not everyone owns expensive jewelry that they want to insure, a basic homeowners policy provides limited coverage for jewelry.
  
• The minimal jewelry coverage provides homeowners with some jewelry insurance, but homeowners do not pay for unnecessary jewelry coverage. For example, a basic policy might provide $1,000 or $1,500 in jewelry coverage. So if a homeowner purchases a $5,000 engagement or wedding ring, they might buy a jewelry floater to ensure that they have protect the ring’s full value.
  
• Depending on how much the premium for the jewelry floater is, the individual might decide to self-insure, meaning that they’ll plan to pay for a new ring out of pocket if the existing one is stolen during a burglary, falls off in the ocean during the couple’s honeymoon or is otherwise damaged.
• It’s also possible to purchase floaters for other high-value possessions, such as baseball card collections, antique silverware sets, fine art paintings, computers and fur coats. 
  
• Renters insurance also insures personal possessions such as jewelry; you don’t necessarily need to be a homeowner to insure these items. You can also purchase a jewelry floater for a renters insurance policy.
  

Check with one of our insurance agents to better understand the scope of your policy. If it's not enough to cover the items you want to protect, consider purchasing a separate policy or adding an endorsement.

​Wherever you go and whatever you do this Thanksgiving, I wish you the best. Being able to work with you is something I’m truly grateful for.

1. Inspect electrical decorations for damage before use. 
Cracked or damaged sockets, loose or bare wires, and loose connections may cause a serious shock or start a fire.
2. Do not overload electrical outlets. 
Overloaded electrical outlets and faulty wires are a common cause of holiday fires. Avoid overloading outlets and plug only one high-wattage into each outlet at a time. 
3. Never connect more than three strings of incandescent lights. 
More than three strands may not only blow a fuse, but can also cause a fire. 
4. Keep trees fresh by watering daily.
Dry trees are a serious fire hazard.
5. Use battery-operated candles. 
Candles start almost half of home decoration fires (NFPA).
6. Keep combustibles at least three feet from heat sources. 
A heat sources that was too close to the decoration was a factor in half of home fires that began with decorations (NFPA).
7. Protect cords from damage. 
To avoid shock or fire hazards, cords should never be pinched by furniture, forced into small spaces such as doors and windows, placed under rugs, located near heat sources, or attached by nails or staples. 
8. Check decorations for certification label.
Decorations not bearing a label from an independent testing laboratory such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL), Canadian Standards Association (CSA), or Intertek (ETL) have not been tested for safety and could be hazardous. 
9. Stay in the kitchen when something is cooking.  
Unattended cooking equipment is the leading cause of home cooking fires (NFPA).
10. Turn off, unplug, and extinguish all decorations when going to sleep or leaving the house. 
Unattended candles are the cause of one in five home candle fires. Half of home fire deaths occur between the hours of 11pm and 7am (NFPA).

The definition of “commercial use” varies by company. Our agency can help you determine your needs.
Do you:

• Have a trailer or permanently attached equipment such as ladder racks, shelving, etc.?
• Have a commercial license plate?
• Have other people drive your vehicles to work?

A Few examples of businesses that generally require a commercial auto policy:

• Sole proprietorship, partnerships, corporations
• Pizza, newspaper and food delivery
• Real estate agents
• Catering
• Door-to-door consulting services,
• Landscaping or snowplowing services
• Day care or church van services
• Transporting passengers or property for a fee

So which policy is right for you? Commercial Auto or Personal Auto. We invite you for a no-obligation review of your unique situation.

If you are ever sued, your standard homeowners or auto policy will provide you with some liability coverage, paying for judgments against you and your attorney's fees, up to a limit set in the policy. However, in our litigious society, you may want to have an extra layer of liability protection. That's what a personal umbrella liability policy provides.

• An umbrella policy kicks in when you reach the limit on the underlying liability coverage in a homeowners, renters, condo or auto policy. It will also cover you for things such as libel and slander.
• For about $150 to $300 per year you can buy a $1 million personal umbrella liability policy. The next million will cost about $75, and $50 for every million after that.
• Because the personal umbrella policy goes into effect after the underlying coverage is exhausted, there are certain limits that usually must be met in order to purchase this coverage. Most insurers will want you to have about $250,000 of liability insurance on your auto policy and $300,000 of liability insurance on your homeowner’s policy before selling you an umbrella liability policy for $1 million of additional coverage.

Want to know more? Our agency stands ready to give you a no-obligation review of your insurance needs.

​With freezing weather bearing down on most of the country this week, it's a great time to make sure you're ready for cold weather. Winter can be unpredictable as temperatures drop quickly and it is important to remember to protect your home. Burst pipes and the subsequent water damage that follows can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your most prized and expensive investment. Please take this opportunity to protect that investment and hopefully to avoid costly water damage. Here are a few tips that can help:

• Disconnect and drain garden hoses.
• Cover outside faucets with insulating foam covers.
• Turn off water to outside faucets, if available, and open valves on faucets to allow them to drain.
• Turn off sprinkler system and blow compressed air through the lines to drain them.
• Close or cover foundation vents under house and windows to basements.
• Close garage doors.
• Insulate exposed pipes (both hot and cold) under house with foam pipe insulation.
• Open cabinet doors under sinks.
• Drip hot and cold faucets in kitchen and bath. Drip single control faucets with lever set in middle.
• Set ice maker to make ice if the water line to it runs under the house.
• Don't forget to check on pipes to your washing machine in the laundry room
• Locate water main cut-off valve and have a cut-off key handy.
• Keep the faucet open when thawing frozen pipes to allow water to begin flowing through it.
• After the weather has warmed above freezing and any frozen pipes have thawed, turn off dripping faucets and monitor your water meter to check for unseen leaks.

Too often, freezing weather catches us unprepared. Before the storm strikes, make sure your home, office and vehicles have the supplies you might need. Make sure farm animals and pets also have the essentials they will need.

Temperatures are expected to fall into the mid-twenties across the state this week, which will spark an uptick in purchases of home heating equipment. It is important to keep safety in mind if you are planning on purchasing or activating a space heater or other heating equipment for your home.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, heating equipment is the second-leading cause of U.S. residential fires and the third-leading cause of residential fire deaths. 53% of all home heating fire deaths resulted from fires that began when heating equipment was too close to flammable items.
Our agency offers the following space heater tips to ensure safety while staying warm:

• Space heaters should always be kept away from anything that is flammable.
• Heaters need to have proper ventilation and it is very important to follow the manufacturer’s instructions when using these products.
• When using a kerosene space heater, make sure it has an automatic shut-off switch in case it happens to fall over.
• Do not use gasoline in a space heater as it can result in an explosion. Only K-1 kerosene should be used.
• Heaters should never be refueled when they are still hot. Make sure you take the heater outside after it has cooled before refueling.
• Kids should never be allowed within three feet of any space heater, fireplace, or wood-burning stove.
• Consumers should have their home heating unit checked annually to be sure it is working safely and efficiently. If there is a suspected gas leak, it is essential that you leave the home immediately and make the call to the gas company from a different location.
• Every household should have a well-rehearsed escape plan. All rooms in the home should have two escape routes in case of emergency. There should also be a designated meeting place outside the home so everyone can be sure they made it out safely (end of the street, other side of the cul-de-sac, neighbor’s house, etc.).
• State law requires a smoke alarm in every home. However, it is recommended to have one on every floor, specifically right outside bedrooms. Changing the batteries in these alarms should be done twice a year. Testing the alarms should be done monthly

It happens every year when it suddenly turns cold.
You switch your HVAC system over to Heat for the first time since Spring.
Nothing happens or, even worse, it starts a fire that's out of control.
Check the following list to be sure your furnace is ready for the coming winter.
1. Turn on the thermostat.
Switch from cooling to heating and set the temperature a couple of degrees higher than the current room temperature. If you don’t hear the heat kick on within a minute, pull off the cover and make sure the wire connections are secure (if you feel comfortable doing so). If the connections are snug, make sure the power source to the HVAC system is turned on. If it’s still not working, you could check the furnace fan, blower or heat pump — but it likely makes better sense to call in a professional.
2. Change the air filters.
You probably have air filters behind a vent grill in the wall or ceiling, or a single filter in the HVAC system itself. Change these filters every few months. Or, if you have a permanent electrostatic filter, you can wash and reuse it. Cleaning or replacing your filters regularly keeps particles out of your HVAC system and can prolong its life. While you’re at it, change your humidifier filter and set the humidistat, if your HVAC includes a humidifier.
3. Cover the AC condenser.
Unless your HVAC is a heat pump (in which case, don’t cover it at all because it runs all year), cover the condenser to protect it from falling icicles. A large trash can lid secured with bungee cords works quite well for this function. You can also use a board to cover the fan — but don’t wrap it in a moisture-trapping plastic tarp.
4. Clean the heat exchanger.
The heat exchanger should be brushed and vacuumed out annually by a trained professional while the unit is disabled. While it’s being cleaned, your technician will look for cracks, which could lead to a dangerous carbon monoxide leak into your home.
5. Lubricate and clean the blower motor.
First check the owner’s manual to see if your motor is the kind that needs lubricating. If it does, turn off the power, open the cover and clean the caps covering the bearings. Then remove the caps and lubricate the bearings.
6. Test the igniter switch.
On an old system, you might have to relight the pilot. Newer systems have electronic ignitors. If the ignitor isn’t working, push the reset button. If that doesn’t do the trick, check your breaker. Still not working? Call in a professional.
7. Inspect the chimney and carbon monoxide detectors.
Chimneys can house carbon buildup or even small animals. A professional should inspect them periodically. Routinely test or replace carbon monoxide detectors as well, as they help protect you from the “silent killer.”
8. If you have an oil-powered furnace, replace your filter and nozzle and check the tank level.
Unlike gas-fired systems, oil units require oil filter changes, burner nozzle cleaning and a pretty thorough heat-exchanger brushing to keep them running efficient since oil doesn’t burn as cleanly as gas.
9. It’s also a good time to check up on your home or renter’s insurance.
We invite you to contact our agency for a no-obligation review so you can rest easy and enjoy the cozy days and nights of the coming Winter season.

Operating a motor vehicle is the most dangerous and potentially deadly activity we do every day. While a necessary task, it takes focus, practice and skill to safely operate a vehicle moving 80 feet per second (55 mph). In a vehicle, anything distracting a driver's hands, eyes, or mind — phones, food, friends, or control dials — becomes deadly. Ten-percent of fatal accidents in the U.S. involve at least one distracted driver, killing approximately 3,500 people each year.1
Younger drivers and passengers — those more likely to be using smartphones — face the highest risk. The tragic consequences are piling up and impacting more of our friends and families.
As we rush through our daily lives, the temptation to eat a meal while behind the wheel can be strong. Eating, changing clothes or putting on make-up are routinely identified as the cause of accidents. While most states prohibit texting while driving, only a few have laws specifically forbidding eating and grooming. But with or without these laws, police can still determine your behavior or driving to be unsafe and pull you over because they know distracted driving can be deadly.
Some distractions or cognitive impairments occur before the driver gets in a vehicle. While not the epidemic it once was, alcohol- and/or drug-impaired drivers still causes more than 10,000 deaths per year.1
Passengers: Friends or Foes?
State laws limiting or prohibiting passengers in cars driven by young drivers affirm the risk they can pose as distractors. That is why it is important, regardless of the driver's age, for passengers to partner with drivers to reach their destination safely.
Speak up if a driver is doing anything to put you at risk. Take control of the driver's phone, radio or climate control dials and be sure the driver is attentive, focused and alert. Never let a friend drive after drinking alcohol or taking drugs. And always buckle up.
Take the Keep the Road Code pledge and commit to being a focused, responsible driver.

• Auto insurers price their policies based on a number of factors. Sometimes these cost factors go up, and sometimes they go down. In most states, costs are currently rising. Your actions, as a policyholder, can affect what you pay, too. For instance, if you add another car, or a teenaged driver to your policy, your costs will increase. Alternatively, your costs will decrease if you drop either a car or a driver from your policy.
• But there are also other factors outside of your control that could cause rates to increase, such as the crashes other people are involved in. The number of crashes, and the cost of these crashes, are a component of auto insurance pricing in every state. For example, drivers living in large metropolitan areas are likely to pay more. This is simply because more cars, therefore more crowded roadways, increase the number of car crashes in those cities. On top of all that, speed limits are also being raised. Speed is the single-biggest contributor to crashes in which driver error is cited as the cause. Distracted driving is an issue everywhere. In big cities and small, people texting, talking or otherwise occupied with another activity while driving is being blamed in part for more crashes.
• Auto insurance covers more than vehicle repair. It also covers the cost of injured crash victims’ medical care and lost wages as well as the repairs and/or replacement of vehicles and any property damaged in a crash. In recent years, medical and auto body repair costs have increased at a rate much faster than inflation. Legal costs have gone up, too.
• Another trend affecting the cost of auto insurance is that with the unemployment rate falling, more people are driving both to and from work. And with more disposable income, they are presumably driving more for leisure. They also have the means to purchase more expensive cars. And while many of these cars have all types of safety features that might help in accident avoidance, these cars’ often high-tech components are also more expensive to fix and replace once damaged.
• Auto insurers are committed to reducing U.S. crash rates. They fund the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), support efforts to combat distracted driving as well as drunk or drugged driving. In addition, auto insurers offer discounts to policyholders who take defensive driving courses or drive fewer miles.

Consumers can take proactive and positive steps to reduce auto insurance costs. Talk to one of our insurance agents to make sure you’re getting all the discounts to which you’re entitled. We always shop around to see if another auto insurer offers you a policy which meets your needs at a lower cost.