James L. Cooney Agencies - Personal Insurance

Personal Insurance

AUTO INSURANCE:

The Massachusetts Private Passenger Auto Policy consists of the following twelve parts.

PART 1: Bodily Injury To Others

This covers injuries you cause to people who are not in your auto.

PART 2: Personal Injury Protection

This covers you, anyone else in your car, and pedestrians, regardless of fault, for:

medical expenses
lost wages - The insurance company will pay lost wages up to 75% of the injured person's average weekly gross wage or equivalent for the year ending on the day immediately before the accident.
replacement services- The injured person will be reimbursed for reasonable payments made to anyone outside the household for services he/she would have performed without pay for the benefit of the household, had he/she not been injured.

PART 3: Bodily Injury Caused by an Uninsured Auto

This covers you for injuries caused by an uninsured auto.

PART 4: Damage to Someone Else’s Property

This covers damage you cause to someone else’s vehicle or property.

PART 5: Optional Bodily Injury To Others

This extends your coverage out-of-state and allows passengers to be covered under Part 1.

PART 6: Medical Payments

This covers you and anyone else in your car for medical payments, regardless of fault.

PART 7: Collision

This covers damage to your car resulting from a collision, regardless of fault.NOTE: All losses subject to deductible: standard $500.00. Waiver of Deductible: If you are 50% or less at fault AND can identify the other party, your deductible will be waived.

PART 8: Limited Collision

This covers damage to your car resulting from a collision, BUT ONLY IF, you are 50% or less at fault AND you can identify the other party. NOTE: All losses subject to deductible: standard $ 500.00. However, deductible may be reduced to "0".

PART 9: Comprehensive

This covers damage to your car other than collision, such as fire, theft, vandalism, and glass breakage. NOTE: Standard deductible $500.00. Deductible applies to all losses except glass. (Optional deductible of $100.00 available on glass.) Glass is not covered under this part if damage is due to collision.

PART 10: Substitute Transportation

If you cannot drive your car due to a "covered" loss, you are eligible for the reimbursement of the cost of substitute transportation.

PART 11: Towing and Labor

This covers the cost of towing and/or labor each time your auto is disabled. Repair parts are not covered. NOTE: Available when buying Collision and Comprehensive Coverage.

PART 12: Bodily Injury Caused By An Underinsured Auto

This covers you for injuries caused by and underinsured auto.

SDIP-WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

In Massachusetts we have a system that encourages safe driving by rewarding drivers who have good driving records. It’s know as the "SafeDriver Insurance Plan.

Briefly here’s how it works.

Every driver starts at Step 15, which is considered a neutral point. The driving record is then reviewed for a six year period. A credit point is subtracted for each year of incident free driving, and surcharge points are added for all surchargeable incidents in this period. This results in the SDIP Step which can range anywhere from Step 9 (being the best) to Step 35 (the worst).

Driving safely and avoiding surchargeable incidents can save you up to 42% on certain insurance coverages.

Surcharge Points are incurred by:

Causing an at-fault accident, or
Being convicted of, or paying a fine for traffic law violations
Being assigned to an alcohol education program.

Minor At-Fault Accidents add 3 surcharge points to your SDIP Step.

Major At-Fault Accidents add 4 surcharge points to your SDIP Step.

For accidents that occurred after January 1, 1995, a Minor At-Fault Accident is one that results in a claim payment of over $500 up to and including $2,000 for Collision, Limited Collision or Damage to Someone Else’s Property. If the Claim payment is over $2,000, this is a Major At-Fault Accident.

HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE:

There are three types of policies available to cover your personal assets depending upon the type of home ownership you have.

The "Homeowner’s" policy

Provides coverage for those who own and occupy either single or multi-family homes (up to four-family dwellings).

The "Condo" policy

Provides coverage for those who own a condo. Condo policies also have various optional coverages available to provide coverage for you as a joint owner of one building. One such coverage is the "Loss Assessment Coverage". This provides coverage for losses which are covered under your insurance policy and are assessed to you by your Condo Association.

The "Renter’s" policy

Provides coverage for those who have no ownership in the building where they live. It provides coverage for your personal property.

The Homeowner’s and Condo Policies insure the building you own and occupy as well as your personal contents.

The Renter’s Policy provides only personal contents coverage (i.e., furniture, clothing, jewelry, stereos).

All three of the above policies give you (the insured) liability protection and pay damages to someone else in the event you unintentionally cause bodily injury or property damage. If you rent your property to someone else, then you would buy a "Dwelling Fire" policy with liability protection suitable for a landlord.

All coverage definitions and descriptions of payments shown on our web pages are subject to the limits shown on your declarations page and to the terms and conditions of the insuring agreement known as the " Insurance Policy".