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| Annual Mileage Discount | A 10% discount if your verified annual mileage falls between 0-5000 miles or a 5% discount if your verified annual mileage falls between 5001-7500 miles. |
| Anti-Theft Discount | A discount of up to 36% of the price of your comprehensive coverage if your vehicle has a qualifying anti-theft device. |
| Bodily Injury to Others | A required coverage which pays for damages to anyone injured or killed by your car (only when the accident occurs in Massachusetts). This does not cover injuries to the driver or passengers in your car. This coverage covers up to $20,000 per person or $40,000 per accident. |
| Bodily Injury by an Uninsured Auto | A required coverage which protects you, anyone you let drive your car, and passengers in your car (unless they are covered by another Massachusetts policy) against losses caused by an uninsured driver. This also covers "hit and run" accidents. This does not cover property damage to your vehicle. |
| Bodily Injury by an Underinsured Auto | Pays for bodily injury damages to you, anyone you let drive your car, and passengers in your car when the damage is caused by a driver without enough bodily injury coverage on his or her policy. It pays you up to the difference between the total amount collected from the other driver's insurance and the bodily injury limits on your policy. This coverage is not required, but it is recommended. |
| Collision | Pays for collision damage to your car, after a deductible, no matter who causes the accident. While this coverage is not required, it is recommended, especially on newer cars. If you choose to finance your vehicle, the lender may require you have collision coverage. |
| Comprehensive | Pays for damage to your car, less your deductible, resulting from fire, theft, vandalism, etc. If this damage is to your windshield or windows, you are not required to pay your deductible. This coverage does not cover damage from a collision. This is not a required coverage, but it's highly recommended. |
| Damage to Someone Else's Property | A required coverage which pays for damage to another person's property when you or an authorized driver on your vehicle cause an accident. |
| Deductible | What you must pay before you are covered by collision or comprehensive coverages. You can choose the amount when you fill out your application for insurance. The amount usually ranges from $300-$1000. This deductible can be waived on your collision coverage if another vehicle is at fault. Also, there is no deductible on glass coverage within comprehensive. |
| Driver's Education Discount | A 10% discount available for inexperienced operators (licensed less than 3 years) if they have completed an approved course. |
| Medical Payments | Covers medical expenses for you, other drivers on your policy, and passengers in your car above amounts covered by your Personal Injury Protection coverage no matter who caused the accident. |
| Multiple Cars Discount | A 5% discount available if you (or you and your spouse) two or more vehicles that are insured by the same company. You can not receive this discount if there is an inexperienced operator on your policy or one of your auto is primarily used for business. |
| Optional Bodily Injury | This optional coverage extends your liability protection above the required bodily injury up to the amount you choose to purchase. It also covers accidents outside of Massachusetts (within the U.S. or Canada) and covers passengers within your own vehicle. This coverage is highly recommended since you could be liable for much more than the compulsory bodily injury limits. |
| Passive Restraint Discount | A 25% discount applied to the price of your Personal Injury Protection, Bodily Injury by an Uninsured and Underinsured Auto, and Medical Payments coverages if your vehicle has air bags or automatic seatbelts. |
| Personal Injury Protection | A required coverage that protects you, anyone who you let drive your car, passengers in your car, and pedestrians no matter who is at fault. It pays up to $8,000 for medical expenses, replacement services, and 75% of any lost wages. PIP coverage will cover medical expenses above $2,000 only if your medical insurer will not pay. |
| Save Driver Insurance Plan (SDIP) | A state program that rewards safe drivers (drivers who do not cause an accident or receive traffic violations) by adding a discount to their insurance premiums. Click here for more information. |
| Substitute Transportation | Reimburses you for car rental or other transportation (taxi, bus, or train) while your car is undergoing covered repairs. Even if you have this coverage, some car rental agencies will not rent to you because of age, poor credit, or an unacceptable driving record. This coverage is optional. |
| Towing and Labor | An optional coverage that pays for towing and labor charges each time your car breaks down whether or not their is an accident involved. This only covers on-site labor costs that are needed to get your car running again. |
| Guide to Homeowner's Insurance Terminology | |
| Actual Cash Value |
A form of insurance that pays damages equal to the replacement value of damaged property minus depreciation. |
| Additional Living Expenses | Extra charges covered by homeowners policies over and above the policyholder's customary living expenses. They kick in when the insured requires temporary shelter due to damage by a covered peril that makes the home temporarily uninhabitable. |
| Binder | Temporary proof of coverage issued in lieu of the actual insurance policy. |
| Insurance Score | Insurance scores are confidential rankings based on credit information. This includes whether the consumer has made timely payments on loans, the number of open credit card accounts and whether a bankruptcy filing has been made. An insurance score is a measure of how well consumers manage their financial affairs, not of their financial assets. Insurance companies use insurance scores as an insurance underwriting and rating tool. |
| Declaration | Part of an insurance policy that states the name and address of policyholder, property insured, its location and description, the policy period, premiums, and supplemental information. Referred to as the “dec page.” |
| Deductible | The amount of loss paid by the policyholder. Either a specified dollar amount or a percentage of the claim amount. The bigger the deductible, the lower the premium charged for the same coverage. |
| Earthquake Insurance | Covers a building and its contents, but includes a large percentage deductible on each. A special policy or endorsement is necessary because earthquakes are not covered by standard homeowners policies. |
| Endorsement | A written form attached to an insurance policy that alters the policy’s coverage, terms, or conditions. |
| Exclusion | A provision in an insurance policy that eliminates coverage for certain risks, people, property classes, or locations. |
| Floater (Personal Property Floater) | Attached to a homeowners policy or as a separate policy, a floater insures movable property, covering losses wherever they may occur. Among the items often insured with a floater are expensive jewelry, musical instruments, and furs. It provides broader coverage than a regular homeowners policy for these items. |
| Flood Insurance | Coverage for flood damage is available from the federal government under the National Flood Insurance Program but is sold by licensed insurance agents. Flood coverage is excluded under homeowners policies. |
| Guaranteed Replacement Cost Coverage | Homeowners policy that pays the full cost of replacing or repairing a damaged or destroyed home, even if it is above the policy limit. |
| Hurricane Deductible | A percentage or dollar amount added to a homeowner’s insurance policy to limit an insurer’s exposure to loss from a hurricane. Higher deductibles are instituted in higher risk areas, such as coastal regions. Specific details, such as the intensity of the storm for the deductible to be triggered and the extent of the high risk area, vary from insurer to insurer. |
| Identity Theft Insurance | Coverage for expenses incurred as the result of an identity theft. Can include costs for notarizing fraud affidavits and certified mail, lost income from time taken off from work to meet with law-enforcement personnel or credit agencies, fees for reapplying for loans and attorney's fees to defend against lawsuits and remove criminal or civil judgments. |
| Insurance Score | Insurance scores are confidential rankings based on credit information. This includes whether the consumer has made timely payments on loans, the number of open credit card accounts and whether a bankruptcy filing has been made. An insurance score is a measure of how well consumers manage their financial affairs, not of their financial assets. Insurance companies use insurance scores as an insurance underwriting and rating tool. |
| Liability Insurance | Insurance for what the policyholder is legally obligated to pay because of bodily injury or property damage caused to another person. |
| Limits | Maximum amount of insurance that can be paid for a covered loss. |
| Medical Payments | A coverage in which the insurer agrees to reimburse the insured and others up to a certain limit for medical or funeral expenses as a result of bodily injury or death by accident. Payments are without regard to fault. |
| Ordinance or Law Coverage |
Endorsement to a property policy, including homeowners, that pays for the extra expense of rebuilding to comply with ordinances or laws, often building codes, that did not exist when the building was originally built. |
| Peril |
A specific risk or cause of loss covered by an insurance policy, such as a fire, windstorm, flood, or theft. |
| Renters Insurance |
A form of homeowners insurance available to tenants to cover their belongings against perils such as fire, theft, windstorm, hail, explosion, vandalism, riots, and others. It also provides personal liability coverage for damage the policyholder or dependents cause to third parties. It also provides additional living expenses, known as loss-of-use coverage, if a policyholder must move while his or her dwelling is repaired. It also can include coverage for property improvements. |
| Replacement Cost | Insurance that pays the dollar amount needed to replace damaged personal property or dwelling property without deducting for depreciation but limited by the maximum dollar amount shown on the declarations page of the policy. |
| Subrogation | The legal process by which an insurance company, after paying a loss, seeks to recover the amount of the loss from another party who is legally liable for it. |
| Umbrella Policy | Coverage for losses above the limit of an underlying policy or policies such as homeowners and auto insurance. While it applies to losses over the dollar amount in the underlying policies, terms of coverage are sometimes broader than those of underlying policies. |