Frequently Asked Questions

We are a company that has been known for our excellent customer service and our great rates for the past 100 years. We work hard with over 900 of the best independent insurance agents located within New York State to personally help you find the right insurance coverage. The following are just a few of the reasons that you should choose NYCM:

• Save up to 35% on your homeowners policy and 30% on your auto policy with a variety of discounts available.
• 24-hour customer service center ready to answer your questions anytime.
• Payments can be made online with the use of a credit card or checking to make the process more convenient for you.
• 24-hour claim service designed to settle your claim quickly and without hassle. We pride ourselves in the human touch. You will always talk to a person...not a machine.
• The My Account option enables you to check on your account status, submit a payment, submit a claim, and much more!
• We also offer Auto-Pay, making payments automatic and leaving you worry free.
• The Boxcar Billing feature consolidates all your insurance bills into one, easy to pay, statement.
• Advantage Repair Program to get your damaged car fixed as soon as possible.

$50,000 per person consisting of the following basic no-fault benefits:

1. All necessary doctor and hospital bills, and other health service expenses payable according to fee schedules established by the New York State Insurance Department;
2. 80% of lost earnings up to a maximum of $2,000 per month, for up to three years after the date of the accident; and
3. Up to $25/day, for a year, for other reasonable and necessary expenses the injured party has had because of an injury resulting from the accident, such as the cost of hiring a housekeeper or necessary transportation to and from a health provider.

Motor vehicle incidents are the number one killer of young Americans aged 15 to 24. Today's teen drivers are responsible for five times as many fatal crashes per license holder as are drivers between the ages of 35 to 64. Younger operators are "greater risks" to insurance companies and that is why they charge higher premiums.

NYCM offers liability and physical damage coverage for certain boats. Please contact a NYCM Insurance Agent for specific details.

There are numerous ways to save money on your insurance premium. Some suggestions would be to raise the deductible on comprehensive, collision, and personal injury protection on your auto insurance; or take the accident prevention course.

If you are involved in an auto accident, your insurance company pays you, your passengers or a pedestrian injured by your car for financial losses like medical expenses and lost wages due to the accident, regardless of who is at fault.

An endorsement is any change to your policy. It could be adding a new vehicle to your auto policy or adding a boat to your homeowner policy.

Your New York policy automatically provides you the basic insurance required by other states or Canadian Provinces. Your New York no-fault benefits and additional coverages, if you have them, will protect you and relatives living in your household for out-of-state accidents and may cover guest occupants.

Each vehicle is assigned a rating symbol that is used in determining the premium you pay for comprehensive and collision coverage. Some of the factors that determine the rating symbol are frequency of theft, availability of parts, how the vehicle holds up in crashes, average cost to repair vehicle, engine size and how frequently a certain vehicle is involved in an accident.

Split limits are the liability limits of your automobile policy. Split limits may appear as 50,000/100,000/50,000. This means that you have $50,000 in Bodily Injury coverage per person, $100,000 Bodily Injury coverage per accident and $50,000 in Property Damage coverage. For example: John Doe's car skids on ice and hits another car. Passengers in the other car are injured. If the passengers were to file lawsuits, the most each could receive would be $50,000 per person, and no more than $100,000 total for all passengers. The Property Damage portion of John's policy would cover the damage he caused to the other vehicle.

Yes. Your Collision and Comprehensive coverages are transferable to a rented vehicle while it is being operated by you and by members of your household.

Loss of use: If a loss covered under your homeowner policy makes your residence unfit to live in, we will pay Additional Living Expenses or Fair Rental Value. Additional Living Expenses include any necessary increase in living expenses incurred by you so that your household can maintain its normal standard of living. Fair Rental Value refers to the fair rental value of that part of the residence premises where you reside less any expenses that do not continue while the premises is unfit to live in. There are certain restrictions to loss of use and you should check your policy for specific stipulations.

Filing a claim may affect your rates. Your auto insurance rates are based in part upon your driving experience. Contact your agent, broker, or the underwriter if you have questions about rates. Also, ask your agent or insurer for ways to reduce your rates.

Yes. If you, or someone on your behalf, give false, deceptive, misleading or incomplete information in an application, and if such information increases the insurance company's risk of loss, the company may refuse to pay claims under the policy. Such information includes the description of the vehicles to insured, the names of the operators required to be listed, and the answers given for all listed operators. In the event that you have moved since you filled out your initial application, promptly notify your insurance company and Department of Motor Vehicles of your new address.

Yes, the auto is considered insured until you return the license plates to the Department of Motor Vehicles. If you don't have your license plate because your auto was stolen or because your auto and plates were burned in a fire, then you have to go to the nearest Motor Vehicles Department office to obtain a lost or stolen plates receipt and use that instead. You must give that receipt to your insurance company in order to cancel your policy and to avoid paying any additional premium.

If the repair of the damaged part impairs the operational safety of the auto, then we will pay to replace it with a new one. For non-safety parts, state regulations allow replacement of damaged parts with used or reconditioned parts as long as they are of like kind and quality. This means that a three-year old door will not be replaced by a brand new one. You can insist on new parts, but you will have to pay the difference in cost.

When your auto is declared a total loss, unless you made special arrangements and paid an additional premium, your insurance will only pay you the actual cash value of the auto as of the date of the loss, not the cost to replace it. Your auto's value is determined by the following factors: the retail value for an auto of like kind and quality prior to the accident; the price paid for the auto plus the value of prior improvements at the time of the accident; the decrease in value of the auto resulting from prior unrelated damage which is detected by the appraiser or for which a claim has been paid; and the actual purchase cost of an available auto of like kind and quality. If your auto has substantial value because of its exceptional condition such as an antique, classic, or restored auto you should have it appraised and insure it for the appraised value.

If you have full glass coverage under the comprehensive insurance, you are covered for the full amount of the loss, unless you opted for a deductible for glass breakage.

NYCM Insurance gives its insureds the option of keeping the vehicle and having the salvage value deducted from the settlement payment.

We will do it for you. Your policy's subrogation clause enables us to seek reimbursement from the at-fault driver's insurance company for the cost of repairing your vehicle (the amount of our payment plus the deductible you paid). When we receive reimbursement from the other carrier, we will send you a check for the amount of your deductible. If the other driver was totally at fault, we would recover 100% and send you a check for the entire deductible amount. If the other driver was partially liable for the accident, we would recover the percentage of our collision payment and your deductible that corresponds to the percentage of the other driver's responsibility for the collision.

Insurance companies are required by law to pay all claims in a prompt and reasonable amount of time. However, what constitutes "prompt and reasonable" may vary from claim to claim. Claims that require special or extended investigation may take longer to resolve. If a severe storm increases the number of claims filed, that can slow the process as well.

New York State is a comparative negligent state, which means you may be found a portion negligent (even though you may not feel you are). If the claim is not reported timely, you may be jeopardizing your policy coverage and you may be left responsible for paying the damages yourself.

Please refer to the previous question on negligence in New York State. If your decision is for the other person's insurance to cover the damage to your vehicle you need to report the loss to them. They will send out forms for you to complete and may inspect your vehicle. If your decision is to use your own insurance, we will also send out forms, may choose to inspect your vehicle, and will apply your deductible to any loss payment. We will then attempt to return your deductible by submitting our costs to the other carrier.

We understand that the paperwork involved in submitting a claim can be frustrating; however, it's important for us to secure a complete investigation. The fairest resolution of a claim hinges on prompt and complete details.

Under Regulation 68, wage payments are to be made once every 30 days.

No, no-fault payments are payment of first party benefits and wages are only reimbursed at 80%.