If you're traveling this over the holiday weekend, please be extra cautious and follow these safety tips. As we consider the many things for which we are thankful, Murphy Insurance Agency is truly appreciative of our clients, our partners, our team members, and our community. Wishing you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

With winter comes snow and snow plowing. If you plow snow as part of your business or as a side business, you need to consider liability protection for completed operations in addition to auto insurance. Changes to Massachusetts Laws in 2010 increased the snow removal liability risk for property owners and snow plow contractors, which has made having proper protection increasingly important.

Personal umbrella policies are growing in popularity. In the past, only wealthy individuals and families purchased this coverage. Today, middle-income families also may procure this policy for protection in our society's increasingly litigious climate. As the tendency to sue for damages rises and awards granted by the courts grow, the personal umbrella policy is increasingly seen as an insurance necessity, rather than a luxury. It is especially attractive because of its relatively low cost.

If you have a heating oil tank in your home, be sure you consider purchasing Oil Remediation coverage for your policy. Typically, home insurance policies exclude coverage for fuel contamination to your personal property, groundwater, and a neighbor’s property, but you can add coverage to your policy, which is a good idea when you consider the costs of clean up.

To protect your home and your financial well-being in the event of a major fire or other disaster, you should regularly review and update your insurance. While many home policies adjust automatically to keep pace with increasing construction costs, it’s wise to complete a home replacement cost estimator every 5 years or anytime you make major alterations, additions or upgrades...