Coverages:

Homeowners - Homeowners insurance is designed for individuals who own their homes. This is a policy which packages the following insurance coverage: Property damage to your home and it's contents (furniture, clothing, etc.); Outbuildings on your property; Additional Living Expenses (extra expense for Rent, Food Utilities; etc) if you cannot live in your home because of covered damage; and your Personal Liability.

Condo Owners - Condo Owners insurance is designed for individuals who own and live in a condominium. This is a policy which packages the following insurance coverage: Property damage to that portion of the condominium which you are responsible for maintaining and repairing; Your contents; Additional Living Expenses (extra expense for Rent, Food, Utilities, etc.) if you cannot live in your home because of covered damage; and your Personal Liability. You can also obtain coverage for Assessments by your Condominium Association, for damage to common property.

Renters - Renters insurance is designed for individuals who rent their residence. This is a policy which packages the following insurance coverage: Property damage to your Contents; Additional Living Expenses (extra expense for Rent, Food, Utilities, etc.) if you cannot live in your apartment because of covered damage; and your Personal Liability.

Automobile - Automobile insurance is available for autos you own, rent or lease. You may also purchase coverage even if you do not own an automobile, but occasionally drive one. This is a package insurance policy, which covers your Personal Liability when using an automobile. Optional coverage include: Medical Payments (for your passengers); Uninsured Motorist; Underinsured Motorist; Comprehensive (fire, theft, glass breakage, vandalism, flood, etc.); Collision (damage to your Auto in event of an accident); Towing; Rental Reimbursement; and others.

Personal Umbrella - This Liability policy provides additional coverage, above that provided in your Home, Auto and Boat policies. This policy is typically purchased by those individuals with higher incomes, and more assets at risk.

Boat - This policy is designed for all types of watercraft, including boats with outboard engines, inboard engines, house boats, jet skis, sailboats, yachts, etc. If the boat is larger than 26 feet in length, or has an engine with more than 25 horsepower, it is normally not covered under a Homeowner policy and a Boat owner policy is required. This policy can be written to cover your boat, fishing, skiing, communication equipment, etc., as well as any trailer used to haul the watercraft. Premiums are based on the type of boat, value, geographical area of use, and both the motor vehicle and boating experience of the operators. Coverage normally includes: fire, lightning, wind, hail, explosion, earthquake, vandalism, malicious mischief, theft, collision, stranding, capsizing, sinking, etc.

Aircraft - This policy is designed for individually owned aircraft, used for pleasure, business or industrial aid. This is a package policy, offering coverage for: Your Personal Liability for passengers and others and Damage to the Aircraft (hull) while on the ground and in-flight.

Farm Owners - This policy is designed for individuals who own acreage, and do engage in some degree of farming or own livestock. This is a package policy, offering the following coverage: Property damage to your Home; it's Contents; Storage buildings, Barns and other Outbuildings and their contents; Property damage to hay, feed and silage, etc.; Additional Living Expenses (extra expense for food, rent and utilities) if you cannot live in your home because of covered damage; Farm equipment and machinery; damage to your livestock, poultry and other animals; Your Personal Liability; Animal Collision (with autos) Liability. Optional coverage may include: Animal Mortality insurance; Crop insurance; etc.

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Commercial Property - This commercial coverage for business owners is designed to cover the following: Property damage to your owned or leased building; your Business Personal Property; your Improvements and Betterments; Property of Others in your care; Loss of Business Income; Portable equipment; etc.

Commercial General Liability - This commercial coverage for business owners is designed to cover the following: Premises and Operations Liability; Contractual Liability; Products and Completed Operations Liability; Personal Injury Liability; Fire Damage Liability and Medical Payments coverage. Premiums are normally based on your Sales Revenue and/or Payroll.

Professional Liability - This commercial coverage is designed to cover the unusual Liability exposures arising from certain Professions. Those Professionals who may need this special coverage include: Physicians; Dentists; Pharmacists; Attorneys; Accountants; Social Workers; Nurses; Funeral Home Directors; Architects and Engineers; Ministers; Barbers and Beauticians; Computer Programmers and Software Designers; Insurance Agents; Opticians; Veterinarians; etc.

Business Automobile - This policy is designed for automobiles owned by and used by businesses (sole proprietors, partnerships, corporations, etc.) This coverage protects the business entity and employees for Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability for which they may be legally liable. Other coverage which can be provided include Medical Payments, Uninsured Motorists, Collision, Comprehensive, Towing, Rental Reimbursement, etc. Coverage can also be provided for Non-Owned Autos used for business purposes, as well as Hired Autos, rented for short periods of time. No coverage is provided for any cargo which you are hauling. Premium is based on the type of vehicle, usage, value, limits of coverage, and the driving record of all regular operators.

Workers' Compensation - This coverage is Statutory (required by law) and varies by state. Coverage is Compulsory in most states. North Carolina requires that any employer of 3 or more employees provide this coverage. Should you fall within the Workers' Compensation laws, you are responsible, without regard to fault, for any employee injury. Workers Compensation laws also protect the employer, by preventing lawsuits against the employer for negligence. Employers of fewer than 3 can voluntarily elect to have Workers' Compensation laws apply. Premiums are determined by applying a rate (determined by the type of work performed) to the annual payroll of your employees, and is adjusted according to your previous claim experience.

Business Umbrella - This policy provides additional Liability coverage to your business, above that already provided by other policies (General Liability, Automobile Liability, Employers Liability, etc.) Coverage is available in increments of $1 million and the premium rate decreases as coverage limits increase. This is an important coverage which every business should consider. The greater your companies assets, the higher you Business Umbrella limits should be.

Surety Bonds - This is a Financial Guaranty provided by an insurance carrier. There are many types of Bonds available. The most typical are: Fidelity Bonds (Employee Dishonesty); Financial Institution Bonds; Public Official Bonds; Public Employee Bonds; Judicial (Court) Bonds; Probate Bonds; License and Permit Bonds; Contract Bonds (Bid Bond, Performance and Payment Bond, Maintenance Bond, Supply Bond, Subcontractor Bond, Completion Bond) and Miscellaneous Bonds. Your acceptability for bonding is determined by many factors, but general the "Three C's" apply: Character, Credit and Collateral. Obtaining a Bond is much like obtaining a loan. Heritage Insurance Group, Inc. maintains a relationship with several of the nation's largest bonding companies (St. Paul, CNA, Old Republic, The Hartford, etc.) and has Bond specialists available to counsel and assist you.

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Life Insurance - This is one of the most valuable protections you can provide for your family. The proceeds of this policy are paid to your beneficiary, in the event of your death. Many types of policies are available from many different companies we represent, some of the most popular policies include: Term Insurance (this policy provides protection for a limited period of time, with an increasing premium, and is available in policy periods of 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years and 30 years, these policies are generally renewable with a premium increase at the end of each period); Whole Life, which is designed to provide protection for all of a person's life, at a level premium, and builds a Cash Value; Universal Life (provides for a flexible premium payment, allows you to change the death benefit from time to time, and still builds a Cash Value); and Variable Life, which is similar to Whole Life policies, but allows the insured to choose how the Cash Value is invested, shifting the investment risk from the insurance carrier to the insured. The average person should have Life Insurance equal to 6-8 times their annual income.

Health Insurance - This policy is available in various forms. The most popular policies provide coverage for Hospital and Surgical expenses, outpatient and inpatient Physician expenses and Ancillary (laboratory, x-rays, prescription medication, etc) expenses. Individual Health insurance policies typically now have to conform to the Affordable Care Act. Premium is based on age.

Long Term Care Insurance - As our population ages, we must prepare to take care of not only our parents, but also ourselves. Currently Medicare insurance pays only a limited amount (8 percent on average) of the bills for nursing home stays. Medicaid requires that you use up most of your personal assets before it will pay anything for nursing home expenses. Most Health insurance pays nothing for nursing home or home health care. Long Term Care policies are designed to protect your assets and preserve your dignity by paying for nursing home stays, assisted living facilities and home health care. Normally these policies require that you become unable to perform some of your necessary daily functions (cook, clean, bathe, dress, take medications, etc.) before they pay benefits. This coverage is affordable, and is becoming very popular with clients who are age 50 and older.

Disability Insurance - Your chances of becoming disabled are 20 to 30 times greater than your chances of dying in any given year (based on age 35). Disability Insurance replaces your lost income, should you become disabled. You can purchase Short Term Disability (for the first 6 months of wage loss); Long Term Disability (for wage loss after 6 months); or both. This coverage is triggered by your inability to work as the result of accident or sickness.

Annuities - Issued in two basic categories, deferred and immediate.

1. Deferred annuities provide you with a way to save money on a tax-deferred basis. You do not pay any taxes on the earnings until you withdraw the money. When you withdraw, the earnings are considered to be withdrawn first and are taxable. When they are depleted, your original principal is returned free of tax. If you withdraw before the age of 59 1/2 a penalty tax might apply. All of this assumes non-qualified status. If your annuity is part of a qualified retirement plan such as an IRA, all withdrawals are taxable since a tax deduction was taken on the front end.
2. Immediate annuities provide income for a set period of for life. If it is not part of a qualified retirement plan, part of each payment is received tax-free because it represents a return of principal.

Annuities can be purchased from a number of companies. The internet rates are very competitive with other fixed rate investments. In addition, they can have significant tax advantages and the various states provide guarantees of principal up to generous levels.

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Group Medical - This product is similar to Individual Medical but designed for Employers or Business owners to offer. This coverage normally includes Hospital and Surgical, Inpatient and Outpatient Physician Charges, Prescription Medication, Laboratory and X-Rays, etc. Prescription Cards are available.

Group Dental - Because employees want dental coverage & are often willing to share the cost, providing dental coverage can be an extremely economical way for a company to enhance its benefits package and increase employee satisfaction.
More people in the US suffer from oral disease and related conditions than from any other single disease, meaning that every American can benefit from routine dental care. And because regular care focuses on prevention and early detection, dental coverage promotes oral health and ultimately reduces long-term costs. In short, if an employer wants to improve their employees' overall health, the employees need access to routine dental care - which means they need dental coverage.

Group Life - This coverage is similar to Individual Life insurance, with the exception that rates are normally lower, and coverage is usually automatic. This coverage is normally Term Insurance.

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