Umbrella Insurance Explained

Chances are you already have a number of different insurance policies in place. It's almost inevitable, however, that even with all that protection, there are some cracks in your coverage. Umbrella insurance is designed to essentially seal those cracks, so that all your bases are covered. It will, metaphorically speaking, shield you from the storms that may come in the form of accidents and other unforeseen events that your existing policies aren't equipped to fully cover.

What is Umbrella Insurance?

Umbrella insurance is a liability insurance policy that will work in addition to your primary policies to protect your assets and your future income. Sound like excess insurance? It's different. Excess insurance only works after all underlying policies have been thoroughly exhausted. In contrast, umbrella insurance essentially "drops down" to fill the gaps in underlying policies.

Value of Umbrella Insurance

Typically, umbrella insurance policies are sold in increments of one million dollars. This is not what the insurance will cost you, but rather its value. An umbrella insurance policy will cover liability claims from all of the existing insurance policies that you have "underneath" it, whether they be homeowners' insurance policies or auto insurance policies. This means that if your auto insurance policy has a liability limit of 200,000 dollars, your umbrella insurance policy will increase that liability limit by one million dollars.

What Umbrella Insurance Can Cover

In addition to providing additional liability coverage to homeowners' and auto insurance policies, umbrella insurance can provide coverage for claims concerning invasion of privacy, slander, false arrest, libel, and other misfortunes.

Do You Need Umbrella Insurance?

Because lawsuits are so common these days, and some people will take advantage of any opportunity to sue, it's prudent to protect yourself with umbrella insurance. If someone is injured in a car accident in which you were involved and decides to sue you for the cost of their medical bills, rehabilitation and/or physical therapy, lost wages due to their injury, and more, your umbrella insurance policy will kick in and cover what your auto insurance policy can't, potentially saving you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Call or Contact Us today to discuss umbrella Insurance, and to see if it's right for you.