Bryant Asset Protection

The rise of the internet as a commercial center has revolutionized the way the world shops for everything from books to cookware. Americans even find love by shopping for mates online. The internet is a convenient, immediate and powerful way to find - and buy - everything under the sun.

Obviously, most of us exercise caution in internet commerce. Horror stories describing scams or too-good-to-be-true deals are part of the culture now. We are well aware of the dangers of buying from less than reputable companies or answering emails offering hundreds of thousands of dollars for helping out a displaced Nigerian prince in an oil deal.

A substantial number of Americans - particularly younger tech-savvy people - also respond to offers from auto and homeowners insurance companies that offer large savings in these products on the internet, on television and in printed media. Everyone, they tell us, is paying too much for insurance. Insurance has become an internet commodity like those books and cookware. But, the insurance buying public should be aware that the advertised $351 average annual savings could be coming at a cost - and a risk - elsewhere.

While a lower bottom-line cost of an auto insurance policy may satisfy the soul, a closer look may well be warranted to make sure that an internet purchase of insurance is not less than meets the eye. Quite simply, buying insurances on the internet could be a recipe for lowering your premium costs by unknowingly reducing your coverage.

Is it a scam? Probably not, but those savings must come from somewhere. The convenience of the internet allows some well-known mega-insurers to save you money by reducing the protection of your current policy, often without explicitly telling you.

One of the mechanisms for doing so is called "split-limit" coverage. For instance, the standard $300,000 auto liability policy offered by many agents and companies allows up to that amount in coverage for damages and is divided evenly among all occupants of a given car. With $300,000 in split limit coverage, the coverage is still a maximum of $300,000, but each occupant of the car, including the driver, is only covered for $100,000 each. Thus, a driver could have reduced his or her coverage by two thirds. That reduction in coverage is just one example of how the internet giants save you - and themselves - big bucks.

Local insurance agents like Bryant Asset Protection in Slingerlands are still in business for a very good reason. Every policy quote - including those requested right here on our website - is scrutinized in detail by local professionals familiar with you, your community and New York laws and regulations to make sure that coverages are what you need and want. A boiler-room insurance operation in New Jersey soliciting your business on the internet may only be interested in selling a policy to you - any policy.

By all means, buy your cookware and books on the internet. Research your insurance needs online. But buy your insurance from a professional local agent. To be sure that you haven't saved money at a risk to your well-being, take your policy to a local agent and ask them to review it. Agents like Bryant Asset Protection are more than happy to do so for free and you may save lots more money in the long run.

Posted by Bryant Asset at 11:43 AM.