Insurance with a personal touch.

This is the question we get more than any other right now, and it usually has nothing to do with you. Carriers price on what it costs to rebuild homes and repair cars in your area, and both have risen sharply. Reinsurance costs — the insurance that insurers buy — have gone up too, and New Jersey's coastal exposure feeds directly into that.

What it does mean is that your carrier may no longer be the competitive one. That's the moment an independent agency earns its keep: we re-shop it across our carriers without you having to start over anywhere.

Yes, and we'd rather you asked. Send us your declarations page and we'll tell you what you actually have, where the gaps are, and whether your current pricing is fair. Sometimes the honest answer is "you're in good shape, stay put" — and we'd rather tell you that than churn you into something worse.

Possibly, and your homeowners policy will not cover it either way. Flood is always a separate policy. People assume flood means beachfront, but most flood claims come from heavy rain overwhelming drainage, not storm surge — and roughly a quarter of flood claims nationally come from properties outside high-risk zones.

New Jersey has more coastline, tidal river and flash-flood exposure than almost any state its size, and it is not only the shore towns. Tell us your address and we'll look up your flood zone and price it — outside the high-risk areas it is usually cheaper than people expect.

Replacement cost pays what it takes to buy a new equivalent today. Actual cash value pays that minus depreciation for age and wear.

On a ten-year-old roof, that gap can be tens of thousands of dollars. It's one of the biggest differences between two policies that look identically priced, and it's worth checking which one you have before you need to know.

Enough to protect what you have. Anything above your policy limit comes out of your own assets — your savings, your home equity, potentially your future wages.

New Jersey's minimums are far below what a serious injury claim costs. Raising your limits is usually cheaper than people assume, and an umbrella policy sitting over your home and auto is one of the best-value products in insurance: typically a few hundred dollars a year for an extra million in protection.

Call us before they get the license, not after. Carriers price young drivers very differently, so which company you're with matters enormously here — this is often the single biggest re-shopping opportunity a household ever has.

Also ask about good-student and driver-training discounts, and think hard about liability limits. A teenage driver is the point at which most families' exposure jumps and their coverage doesn't.

Nothing extra. We're paid by the carrier that writes the policy, exactly as a captive agent is. You get the comparison shopping, the annual review and someone who answers the phone during a claim at no additional charge.

Often not. For a loss close to your deductible, the claim can cost you more in future premium than it pays out today, and it stays on your record for years.

Call and ask before you file. Asking does not open a claim, and we'll tell you honestly which way the maths falls.