Working with this agency
Claims reporting and support
Reporting it the same day, sending the carrier the history, and escalating when an adjuster has stalled. What we will not do is tell you that you are covered, because that is not ours to say.
Claims are where an agency is either useful or ornamental. What we can genuinely do is procedural and it matters: get the loss reported within the deadlines, get the carrier the policy and endorsement history so nobody is arguing about what was in force, document what happened while it is fresh, and push when a file has gone quiet.
What we cannot do is decide the claim. Coverage is determined by the carrier's adjuster against the policy wording, and an agency that tells you on the telephone that you are covered is guessing with your money. We will tell you what we think the wording says and we will label it as our reading rather than as an answer.
Report it the same day, and why the deadlines are real
Every policy requires prompt notice, and several New York deadlines are specific rather than general. No-fault benefits need the written application to reach the insurer within thirty days of a motor accident, and medical bills within forty-five days of treatment. A hit-and-run needs prompt reporting to the police as well as to the carrier, because late notice on an unwitnessed claim is the most defensible denial an insurer ever writes.
Late notice is one of the commonest reasons a valid claim is refused, and it is entirely avoidable. Ring us the same day even when you are unsure whether you will claim — reporting a loss and deciding later whether to pursue it are two different things, and the first one preserves your options.
What we do once it is open
Send the carrier your full policy and endorsement history, so that what was in force on the date of loss is established rather than reconstructed. Help you assemble what the adjuster will ask for before they ask: photographs, receipts, an inventory, a police report number, contractors' estimates.
Follow the file. If it has gone quiet, we chase the adjuster, and if the adjuster is not moving we escalate to a supervisor or to the carrier's claims manager. And if we think a denial is wrong, we say so in writing, quoting the wording we think applies. Carriers do reverse decisions when the argument is specific and documented.
The line we do not cross, and why
We do not negotiate your settlement figure. In New York, negotiating a claim on the insured's behalf for a fee is the work of a public adjuster, licensed separately by the Department of Financial Services. Documenting, estimating, quoting the wording and attending the inspection without negotiating, and charging nothing for any of it, is not.
Taking no fee for claims work is therefore not only generous, it is structural — it is part of what keeps this agency on the right side of that line. If your claim genuinely needs somebody to negotiate the number, we will tell you that you need a public adjuster and that it is not us. They typically charge a percentage of the settlement, which is worth understanding before you engage one.
When to claim at all
Not every loss should be reported as a claim, and we will do the arithmetic with you honestly. A $2,400 loss on a $1,000 deductible nets you $1,400; if it raises your premium for five years and costs you a claims-free credit, it can easily cost more than it pays.
That calculation is different for liability, where you should always report, and for anything involving injury to another person, where you should report immediately regardless of what you think it is worth. The small-property-loss question is the one where judgment applies, and we will give you ours with the numbers rather than a policy of always claiming or never claiming.
We report your claim. We do not decide it. We do not decide your claim, and no agency does. Coverage is decided by the carrier's adjuster against the policy wording, and an agency that tells you on the telephone that you are covered is guessing with your money. What we can do is real but limited: report the loss the same day, send the carrier the policy and endorsement history, put our reading of the wording in writing, escalate above the adjuster, and tell you plainly when we think a denial is wrong. If you need somebody to negotiate the settlement figure itself, that is a public adjuster, licensed separately by the Department of Financial Services, and it is not us.
Included as standard
How we handle this line
Reported the same day
Within the deadlines, including the New York no-fault clock that runs at thirty days and denies whole claims when missed.
Policy and endorsement history sent
So what was in force on the date of loss is established from the record rather than argued about later.
Escalation when a file stalls
Adjuster, then supervisor, then claims manager. Persistence is most of what an agency can genuinely contribute.
Our reading of the wording, in writing
Labelled as our reading rather than as an answer, because the adjuster decides and we do not.
The claim-or-not arithmetic
Deductible against premium impact and lost credits, done honestly, including when the answer is not to claim.
Told when you need somebody else
A public adjuster to negotiate, or a lawyer for an injury claim or a denial you intend to fight. We take no fee for the referral.
When to ring us
Signs this is worth a conversation
- Something has happened and you are not sure whether it is a claim.
- You had a motor accident in the last thirty days and have filed nothing.
- Your claim has gone quiet and the adjuster is not returning calls.
- You have received a denial you do not understand.
- You are being asked to sign something by a contractor who arrived unprompted.
- You are weighing a small property loss against your deductible.
Claims support — what this costs you
- Included with every policy placed here. We take no fee for claims work, which is what keeps us out of public adjuster territory.No charge
This one is our own charge, and it is nothing. We are paid a commission by the carrier whose policy you buy; we charge no broker fee and no policy fee, and we take no fee for claims work or for certificates — which is also what keeps this agency on the correct side of the New York public adjuster licensing line. Ask what we are paid on your policy and you will get the percentage and the carrier in writing.
Questions we are actually asked
Claims support — frequently asked
Should I report a claim through you or directly to the carrier?
Either works and both are fine. Telling us as well means we send the carrier your policy and endorsement history, follow the file and escalate if it stalls. If it is outside office hours, report it to the carrier's own line first — those run around the clock, and this office does not — then tell us the next morning.
Can you tell me whether I am covered?
We can tell you what we think the wording says, and we will put that in writing. We cannot tell you that you are covered, because that decision belongs to the carrier's adjuster. Any agency that answers this question definitively on the telephone is guessing with your money.
Do you charge for claims help?
No, never. Beyond it being included with the policies we place, taking a fee for claims work would put us into public adjuster territory, which requires a separate New York licence we do not hold and do not claim to.
Will making a claim put my premium up?
Often, for several years, and it can also cost you a claims-free credit. That is why we do the arithmetic with you before reporting a small property loss. For anything involving injury to another person, report it immediately regardless — the calculation does not apply there.
Related cover
Usually considered alongside this
Certificates
Usually within the hour. What we will not do is describe cover on a certificate that is not on the policy.
No charge
Policy review
An hour with your actual declarations pages, looking for the three gaps that open quietly between renewals.
No charge
Renewals
We look at your renewal before you do, and we tell you when the answer is to stay put — which it often is.
No charge
No-fault & PIP
New York pays your medical bills through your own policy regardless of fault — and gives you thirty days to file the form that starts it.
IncludedBring the declarations page and we will read it with you
Ask us what it would cost
Send or bring the summary pages of what you already have — those two sheets are where most of the useful conversation is. We will tell you what we would place it with and what that would cost, what we are paid for doing it, and whether you should move at all. Quite often the answer is that your current policy is priced fairly and you should keep it, and that is an answer we give in writing like any other.