Do you need a car in Chester NJ?

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If you live in NYC, chances are you don’t own a car. The same goes in some other cities, like San Francisco and the more urban, densely-populated parts of New Jersey. So what about Chester, NJ? Chester is a little more out of the way and a bit spread-out. Not totally rural, but hardly as dense as the heart of Brooklyn. So is it a driver’s town, or can you get by without a set of wheels of your own?

Here are two basic facts to consider:

  • Chester, NJ does have a transit system, but…
  • Chester isn’t the most walkable town

This means that it’s easy to take a bus for longer trips across town, but the walk once you get there might not always be easy. If your bus stop is a mile or farther away from your home, then you’re going to wind up spending a lot of time on foot.

If you do settle on buying a car of your own, The Insurance Outfit can help you to get a great deal on your coverage based on the simple fact that Chester is a relatively safe town for drivers. When an area is a little more rural, accidents are less likely to happen, so insurance costs are a little lower. That will be reflected when you shop for insurance through The Insurance Outfit.

Choosing whether or not to buy a car in Chester depends on your needs. If you work from home and only go grocery shopping once a week, maybe you can get by on the bus. Otherwise, having a car can be tremendously helpful.

What Kind of Home Insurance Can You Get?

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Just like auto insurance, there are tons of different types of home insurance that you can purchase to protect your home. The agents with The Insurance Outfit in the Chester, NJ area can help you find the policy that is going to work best for you and your home.

There are of course basic policies that cover things like storm damage, theft and break in, and fire and these are going to be the best policies to start with. This type of policy is going to be the policy that every homeowner has before they start to add supplemental policies to cover other eventualities.

There are also specialty policies that can help protect against things like hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and more. These specialty policies are not included in basic insurance policies for one reason, they are not something that everyone has to worry about. Someone that does not live near water is likely not going to have to deal with flood, someone that does not live in an area near the coast is not going to have to worry about hurricanes, and so on.

You can add specialty policies to any basic policy for an added amount of money and your agent can help you determine what policies you need. You can also add more or less coverage dependent on how much the contents of your home are worth. If you have something like a very valuable collection of jewelry or guns you might want to take out a separate policy to cover them. These are all things that you should speak with your agent about when you start to take out your home policy.

In the Chester, NJ area, the agents with The Insurance Outfit can help you find the policy that is going to work for you every single time.

How to Use Auto Insurance to Your Advantage

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Auto insurance isn’t like buying a new pair of shoes or spending the night in a luxury hotel room. People get excited about parting with their money for these reasons, while auto insurance may just seem like a nuisance. But if you look at the situation in the right light, you can see just as much of an advantage to having the right policy as you do when you find the perfect dress. The Insurance Outfit can help you fill in the gaps.

Adding Value to Your Life 

Like it or not, accidents happen in Chester, NJ no matter how careful you are. Auto insurance has nothing to do with how responsible you are as a driver. It’s about ensuring you’re not going to be buried under bills for the rest of your life just because you sneezed at an intersection and had your eyes closed for a split second. No one is immune to having something like this happen to them, so you need to think what it means that insurance is there for you when bad luck strikes.

 More Safeguards, Fewer Problems 

There is a temptation there for everyone who buys auto insurance to buy the absolute cheapest plan available. After all, who doesn’t want a low monthly payment so they can do what they like with the extra cash? The problem with this is that you may end up kicking yourself later on if you’re effected by an event that isn’t covered under your policy. The Insurance Outfit serves Chester, NJ, and we make it easy for you to see where the holes are in your coverage, so you can start closing the gaps and feeling much more confident on the road. Call for more information on what we can do for you.

Keeping Home Insurance Affordable: What to Consider

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It’s not easy to buy property regardless of when you live, but the economy today has made it harder and harder for younger people to afford their land. If you are lucky enough to have a home, the insurance can feel like an unwanted expense that threatens your monthly cash flow. Here are some tips from the Insurance Outfit to keeping it affordable.

Discovering Your Priorities 

For some people, they care about the cars in the garage of their home in Chester, NJ. For others, it’s their expensive couch and flat-screen television. Some people only care about the cup of coffee in the breakfast nook or the vanity in their walk-in closet. Once you know what is most important to you, you can get to work regarding ensuring it’s protected against a variety of events. It can help keep home insurance affordable because you’re becoming more aware of what you can and can’t live without. Whether you choose to buy additional coverage on the belongings in your home or not is at least done with full knowledge of what the consequences will look like in the event of an emergency.

Choosing an Agency to Help

The right agency can remind you of scenarios you may not have thought of before, allowing you to see why home insurance is not only necessary but also downright reasonable. The monthly rates you pay now pale in comparison to the total cost you might face a liability lawsuit or debilitating storm that wipes out your entire property. If you live in Chester, NJ and need more information about quotes or policies, call The Insurance Outfit today for more information.

How To Prepare Your Chester Home For The Fall

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Your home in Chester, New Jersey is where you spend a lot of your time. As the fall months approach and the weather gets colder, you want to be sure you are doing everything to prepare. Creating a checklist of what you can do will make it easier for you to get some things done.

Have the HVAC Inspected

You may not be using HVAC right now because the weather is cool, and you can keep your windows open. However, you are getting close to the time where you are going to be relying on the heat. To avoid any kind of problems, it’s best to have a technician come out and make sure that all systems are working.

Check the Roof

Your roof should be inspected on an annual basis, and the fall is a great time to do so. You want to make sure that there is no damage so that leaves and ultimately snow do not pose any major problems for your home.

Call a Chimney Sweep

It’s only a matter of time before you want to turn on your fireplace for the first time this year. Call a chimney sweep to make sure that all cleaned out so that you can avoid a fire in your home.

Go Through Your Home

You also want to take the time to go through your home to check for various things. This includes:

– Potential fire hazards
– Fire extinguishers
– Batteries in your smoke detectors

Fall is also the time when you should check your home insurance policy. Does it still have all the coverage you need? Have you added anything to your home that needs to be included in your policy?

Contact The Insurance Outfit today to find out more about homeowner’s insurance and how to protect your home.

 

 

What Factors Increase Your Home Insurance Premiums?

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Home insurance is important to protect what may be your biggest investment.  When it comes to your home insurance premiums, you are probably aware that the location and size of your home will play a large part in how your home insurance premiums are determined. Here are some less known factors that can increase your home insurance premiums in the Chester, NJ area.

Premium Increasing Factors 

A couple of obvious items are having a swimming pool or a trampoline, both are great for family enjoyment in the backyard, but they will cause your home insurance premiums to be higher. If someone is injured, you may be held liable, even if you didn’t give permission for the use of the pool or trampoline.  If you keep your pool secured by fencing it off, have safety equipment within easy access, and put a net around the trampoline to reduce injuries, it may help decrease your insurance premiums.

A few less obvious items that can increase premiums are a wood burning stove, a lack of home security or fire safety, and the age of your roof materials.  If any of these factors are issues for you, there are things you can do to help reduce premium rates. For example, show evidence that a licensed contractor installed the stove and it meets safety codes. Install smoke detectors and easy access fire extinguishers. You can also install new locks, dead bolts, and a security system to help reduce rates.

The Insurance Outfit

If you own a home or plan to purchase a home in the Chester, NJ area and have concerns about your home insurance rates, contact a friendly agent from The Insurance Outfit. We can help you address any factors that may be increasing your home insurance premiums.

Practicing Better Home Safety in Chester

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Home safety is hard for everyone, because it’s so easy to make a mistake in a place you’re comfortable in. You get complacent and assume that life will just swing along from day to day. It just takes one partially lit match or one open window to create a disaster though. Before you decide you don’t need a few tips, remember just how forgetful you get when you’re about to head to bed and are so tired you can’t see straight. The Insurance Outfit serves Chester, NJ and wants you to keep your house whole. 

Think Ahead 

This is the best tip for home safety, but also an obvious and an easy-to-miss one. This can be as simple as storing valuables in different places, such as the freezer or behind children’s books. Or you could set alarms for yourself when you’re cooking to ensure you turn off the oven and the burners. You can also think even further ahead and plant thorny bushes under your window to deter thieves. Use window stickers and bath mats to avoid accidents and injuries, and ensure young kids know not to touch dangerous appliances. You may want to consider getting a better alarm system too, or setting up a better incentive system for your children to practice home safety. 

Choose a Better Home Insurance Policy  

The Insurance Outfit in Chester, NJ has agents who can help you decide on a policy that will actively keep your home safe from the many elements that could threaten it on any given day. Call us today to learn more about how you can get the coverage that will save you the hassle of footing the bill. Skip the cut-throat insurance companies and instead pick a business you can trust with agents who understand. 

 

What Types of Auto Insurance Are There?

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Auto insurance is as varied as the different makes and models of cars that it covers. For those that want to insure their car or are just curious about what different types of auto insurance there are, the helpful and skilled agents with The Insurance Outfit in the Chester, NJ can help.

Liability Coverage

The first type is liability coverage. This is going to be the minimum required by law. The monetary amount of coverage that is required may vary from locality to locality so you should talk to your agent about what is required. Liability is going to cover the cost of deductibles and some medical bills for both the driver and the person that is involved in the wreck.

Full Coverage

Full coverage is going to be required if you have a car that has a loan or lien out against the value to help protect the interest of the bank or lender. It is going to cover most medical bills and most of the fees and other bills that are associated with the wreck. It is also going to cover the cost of replacing or repairing the car.

Collectors or Antique Insurance

This is for collectors cars or those cars that are not necessarily daily drivers. It covers things like damage that occurs to the car, the cost of replacing or repairing with like parts, and so on. This is going to be necessary for those that have collector cars and is not necessary for those that just have normal cars.

No matter what type of car you own, insurance is something that everyone has to have if they intend to drive on the road. You should take the time to talk with the agents at The Insurance Outfit if you live in the Chester, NJ area to find out what coverage you need.  

General Home Insurance Versus Riders

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In a lot of ways, an insurance rider is an agreeable way that an insurance provider and a consumer can agree on a separate add-on coverage to an existing policy. Keep in mind, most home insurance polices are crafted as a standard package. They include terms that protect the homeowner against a common group of risks. These commonly include things like a home fire or a robbery. And a policy provides a given extent of coverage for the good and products a person keeps in his home without having to be item-specific. That works for most homes, but it also means that special items won’t be included. That could leave special items like jewelry or expensive electronic equipment essentially "out in the cold" if something gets damaged or stolen.

To resolve the problem, a rider is provided as a second add-on policy to the first homeowner’s insurance coverage. However, where the first policy was general, the rider is a specific protection plan that actually names the item or special additional coverage being included. In most cases, riders are used for specific property items versus expanded protection contingencies. Jewelry again is one of the most common categories. However, a valuable collectible can be a rider category as well.

Homeowners in Chester NJ don’t need to stuff their deposit boxes at the bank with critical items. The Insurance Outfit and their agents are well equipped to help customers with original policy plans as well as adding on riders for specific coverage needs. Again, the purpose of insurance is to complete a well thought financial plan for personal stability and success. A rider can provide valuable adjustments to existing policies without having to redo an entire home coverage all over again. Contact the Insurance Outfit to find out more.

Boating, Drinking and Insurance Coverage

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The purpose of boating insurance is very similar to car insurance. It provide coverage and financial recovery when the vehicle is damaged, stolen, or involved in causing damage to people or someone else’s property. Policies consider all types of contingencies, even disasters and unforeseen circumstances. However, one thing that insurance policies don’t typically pay for is damage caused when someone breaks a law.

Drinking alcohol has long been a favorite pastime when boating. Being on the water seems to be equated immediately with recreation and having fun. However, a boat is a licensed vehicle, regardless of being on the water instead of a road. And enough laws and restrictions have been passed in most states, making it clear that getting into a boating accident when drunk opens a person up to both criminal and civil actions. When a boating accident does occur and local authorities determine that driving the boat under the influence was a contributing factor, and insurer is eventually going to get a copy of the police and accident report.

Most insurance policies for boating, just like those for operating a car, have language in them preventing coverage when someone is the cause of damage due to a misdemeanor or felony. And the courts are very clear and unsympathetic in most states: ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it. The problem is, no one thinks about these complications when already on a boating trip for the day or weekend. Then the drinking starts and a problem occurs. Boaters are doing themselves a big favor taking the time to understand liabilities and exceptions to coverage before getting on the water. If in the Chester, NJ area, stop in with the Insurance Outfit. Their agents can point out exactly what happens with boat coverage versus a law violation in clear English.