Truly full service Private Client Insurance in New York
You’ve worked hard to build and preserve wealth, acquiring an expansive portfolio of properties and possessions. Over time, you may have accumulated a patchwork of insurance coverages without realizing how your policies gap or overlap. Typical property and liability policies contain designated limits that won’t make you whole. We have relationships with specialty carriers for high net worth individuals and can craft a comprehensive premium insurance solution just for you.
What is Private Client Insurance?
It is a comprehensive collection of coverages that helps you manage the unique set of risks that come with a high net worth. In addition to insurance for your homes and automobiles, it can include protection for special valuables such as art, antiques, private planes, collections, wine cellars, jewelry and more. It can also include proactive loss prevention services.
Art, antiques and other tangibles account for an average of 17% of high net worth individuals’ assets, says The Wall Street Journal. Yet death, divorce and debt are the only times most people have their collections appraised estate lawyers say. By then it could be too late.
Who needs Private Client Insurance?
Someone with substantial assets; this person potentially has multiple properties, valuable jewelry, vehicles, or artwork; has a collection to protect; or travels to dangerous parts of the world where kidnapping is common. Think about the typical exposures – fire, theft, flood – but with a much bigger price tag should you experience a loss. And as an affluent individual, you’re more vulnerable to liability claims, even ransom demands. You have extensive personal assets and complex protection needs – often rivaling those of a business – which require a higher level of expertise and service.
If you have household staff, you should know that homeowners’ policies sold in New York State automatically provide an endorsement that covers minors you hire to perform certain tasks at your home, like mowing the lawn. But for domestic employees like housekeepers, gardeners and nannies, you should have a separate workers compensation policy to adequately protect yourself in case they are injured or killed on the job.
Lawsuits growing out of social media behavior are a rapidly emerging risk area for HNWI.
How does Private Client Insurance protect me?
The fast answer: it protects your life and your lifestyle by ensuring your assets are properly protected, for both property and liability. For instance, if you collect automobiles, maintaining multiple policies can be a challenge. We can provide one policy to cover all your auto needs, from the family car to high-performance collectables. Or if you need yacht insurance, we’ll provide a policy with flexible navigational limits so you’re covered no matter where in the world you travel. If you’re a collector, one collection policy does not fit all. You’ll want a policy crafted with the precise coverage you require, for example, your wine cellar has different exposures than your rare convertibles collection.
On the liability side, the search for deep pockets has intensified. Say you have a live-in au pair and she decides to ‘cash in’ by accusing you of harassment? Personal umbrella liability can help protect your wealth. Or if your chauffeur gets in an accident and hurts someone else, you could be liable for costly medical bills and compensation as plaintiffs allege emotional distress. Domestic Employee Coverage can help.
Personal liability judgments against the very rich escalated in monetary value over the past 20 years.
What Private Client Insurance covers
Private Client Insurance can cover nearly anything, but below are the typical coverages most high net worth New Yorkers inquire about. In addition, PCI can include services such as a security analysis to identify vulnerabilities in your lifestyle and routine, and mitigate those risks.
- Homeowners Insurance (primary, vacation, rental properties, condominiums)
- Personal Liability
- Fine Art Coverage
- Jewelry Insurance
- Collectables and Valuables Insurance
- Automobile and Luxury Automobile Coverage Excess Liability Insurance
- Aircraft Insurance
- Yacht & Watercraft Insurance
- Domestic Employee Coverage
- Flood Insurance
- Kidnap and ransom
- Identify and Fraud Coverage
Some specialty coverage options include:
- No Cap Limit (for your reconstruction expenses)
- Cash Out Options (meaning you aren’t required to rebuild in the aftermath of a disaster)
- Uninsured Motorist Coverage (as an option for your umbrella coverage)
- Rebuilding to Code
- Deductible options up to $100,000 (choosing to take more risk may lower your annual premium)
- Damage caused by domestic pets.
Every hour, two people are kidnapped and held for ransom somewhere in the world, and approximately $1.5 billion in ransom is paid to kidnappers every year.
What are the typical claims?
It goes with the territory: The wealthy face many different challenges, including theft and scams when traveling abroad, often-costly personal liability cases, kidnap and ransom risks as well as an increase in cyber-related dangers. Common scenarios include:
- You collect rare sculptures and statues and are showing one off to guests. One of them stumbles and crashes into your art, smashing it to smithereens.
- Fraudsters email your private secretary claiming to be you and convince her to wire $500,000 to them. Your secretary is taken in, thinking it’s you, and wires the money.
- You attend the Cannes opening night and sometime during the festivities your diamond necklace slips off and is lost.
- Your beach house in California is near an earthquake site and needs to be moved back from the cliff’s edge.
- You have a huge art collection, with some in storage. Superstorm Sandy leaves your storage facility underwater, ruining your art.
More than half (54%) of high-net-worth individuals are concerned that they are underinsured, with many worried their policies may be inadequate for their needs.
What other coverages might I need?
- Personal Umbrella gives you extra liability coverage to cover damages that exceed your primary policy limits, such as a pricey car accident. It can also help cover defense costs, attorney fees and other charges associated with lawsuits.
- Life – protects your family and others who depend on you for financial support and can help cover funeral expenses. Life insurance can also play a role in building wealth and investments
- Disability Income – provides for benefits in the event that you’re unable to work because of a covered disability.
- Pet Insurance – protection can extend beyond your human family, get peace of mind and help with medical expenses for your furry family.
Hackers accessing emails of the wealthy to arrange fraudulent money wire transfers to themselves is definitely a growing issue.
Why should I choose HCP?
Some insurers will offer you exactly what you ask for when you call for a quote. We think that’s only half our job. HCP has worked with affluent individuals and families for more than 100 years, and we understand the challenges you face to protect all you’ve worked for. Our agents have extensive expertise and knowledge in this personal insurance sector, as well as solutions to address your potential liabilities. HCP will serve as your advocate and customize a solution to your risk tolerance.
What’s more, we have agents who specialize in New York private client insurance. General agents who don’t specialize in private client insurance or who don’t even live in New York may not understand your needs as a high value client. We understand what keeps you up at night and provide personal service before, during and after you choose your policy. Many of our employees have been with us 15, even 25 years, and make their career here. You get to work with the same person year in, year out, no need to initiate someone new. It’s a concierge approach that brings you added peace of mind and discretion.
Hurricanes, flooding and wildfires impact HNW families more since many own second homes in disaster prone tropical or mountainous regions.
What if I have a claim?
We know how important it is to have someone who gets it when everything else is going wrong. Your Honig Conte Porrino agent is your advocate, ready to help you navigate the claim process, no matter which coverage is impacted: one agent, one call. We want you to be delighted every time you connect with us.