Rental Car Insurance

Do you need rental car insurance? 

If you are traveling to a foreign country or going on a long vacation, this article may be useful to you. 

You’ve probably been at the rental-car counter, listening to the representative ask if you want to purchase the company’s insurance. And the thoughts start racing through your head. “Is this a rip-off? Doesn’t my regular auto policy cover me? What about my credit card? Why didn’t I figure this out before I left on my trip?”

Boat Pre-Season Check

Get started early to get your boat ready for summer

If you love the water, few things are better than boating season. Summer just wouldn’t be summer without spending those long, hot days on Lake George, Saratoga Lake, Sacandaga Lake, or any of our other local lakes cooling off with a lazy dip in the water, dropping a line in hopes of catching a “big one,” or having an action-packed day of waterskiing and tubing.

Boating is not without its share of pre-summer preparation. If you’re not on the ball early, it’s easy to find yourself midway through July still on dry land.

Motorcycle Safety

Motorcyclists know that riding gives them a freedom that driving a car just can’t match. But the best riders also know that motorcycles require more focus to operate and don’t provide the same protections cars do in the event of a crash. The best riders also take great care in all situations, whether they’re in heavy traffic on I87 or I90, stuck in the rain or just taking a quick ride on a perfect day.

If your habits aren’t as safe as they could be, or if you’re new to motorcycling, don’t worry! Instead, take time to improve. The quick safety tips below are a great place to start.

Winter Driving Tips

Winter is a beautiful and also potentially dangerous time of the year. If you plan on traveling during the winter, it pays to be prepared for the unexpected. Using common sense and developing a few simple driving habits like planning ahead, driving at a safe and legal speed, driving alert and sober and buckling up could ensure that you safely make it to your destination. We've put together the following tips to help you stay safe and minimize the potential hazards posed by cold weather, winter storms and icy roads. 

Most Overpriced Auto Repairs

Consumers love their cars, but repairing a vehicle is something consumers would like to avoid. Vehicle repairs put the driver at the mercy of the repair shop. Our primary role in the repair process is to hope mechanics are honest and that we get a fair price. For auto repair facilities, not all repairs produce the same profit margin. Just as desserts often mean higher  profit margins for restaurants, some repairs mean big money for automobile businesses. Here's what you should know to avoid paying too much for maintaining your car. 

Service, Service, Service

Every insurance company that advertises on television, radio and the internet does so on the basis of saving you money on insurance.  Logically, every company can’t possibly fulfill their promise of saving money for every prospective client.  It just can’t happen, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from making the claim.

When The Kids Want To Drive…

​From the time when our kids first learn to walk and talk, life becomes more interesting. In this case “interesting”, means “scary” and “stressful”. As kids grow into mobile and verbal young adults, the dangers they face- and sometimes openly encourage- multiply.

Free Home Inventory Tool

​Imagine how you would feel if you came home from an evening out to find that you had had visitors. Not friendly visitors, but visitors who entered your home in the dark of night to rob you. They ransacked your home and took away things of value - gold jewelry, electronics, valuable antique coins and even your son’s new snowboard.

Homeowner Insurance Assumptions

What you think you know…

One of the main purposes of homeowner insurance is to protect your house’s structure and its contents in case of a catastrophe. This protection would allow the homeowner to re-build the home and replace furniture, mechanical systems and possessions should they be destroyed or badly damaged.

Insuring Valuable Possessions

Grandma’s platinum ring, your 1965 Fender Telecaster guitar and that antique cherry rocker in the living room are cherished assets that need special care and protection.

Virtually all homeowners and renters have wisely taken the basic precaution of securing an insurance policy that protects their homes and its contents in case of a catastrophic loss from fire, theft, vandalism and so forth. While these policy types protect against losses on the standard contents of our homes, there may be limits as to the protections for certain individual valuable items we might possess.