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I Need an Umbrella for My Home?

By April 25, 2016July 11th, 2022No Comments

One thing that we wanted to do was to raise awareness around our community to show everyone WHAT an umbrella policy is, that an umbrella is NOT just used for when it rains, it IS important for everyone to consider, and it has the potential to be a fairly inexpensive policy.

So, let’s start here …

What is an umbrella policy?

“A personal umbrella policy is an insurance policy with high liability limits designed to provide protection over other insurance policies like a homeowners or personal auto. A personal umbrella policy can provide coverage in excess of other policies limits, and in some cases, if coverage is excluded on other policies the umbrella will “drop down” to cover the loss.”

The umbrella policy is in addition to the homeowners and auto policy, and not in place of.

So, the next question is…

Who needs an umbrella policy?

“Anyone who wants to protect their personal assets is a candidate for an umbrella policy. With the costs of lawsuits increasing, individuals need to protect their families as best they can. An umbrella is a perfect way to preserve their current assets as well as their future earnings so they can maintain their livelihood and lifestyle in the event they have a loss and are sued. Consider the following questions to determine if you are a good candidate for an umbrella policy:”

  1. Do you own a home? 
  2. Do you own a car? 
  3. Do you have children? 
  4. Do your children drive? 
  5. Do you own a dog or other animals? 
  6. Do you own a boat or Jet Ski? 
  7. Do you own a motorcycle? 
  8. Do you own snowmobile? 
  9. Do you own any recreational vehicle? 
  10. Do you entertain guests at home? 
  11. Do you provide alcohol to guests? 
  12. Do you have a swimming pool? 
  13. Do you have playground equipment? 
  14. Do you have significant assets?

 

Fun fact: 

If you travel worldwide, and you rent a vehicle from somewhere outside of the US, Canada, and US territories, then your regular insurance will not cover your driving. If you purchase an umbrella policy, then this coverage normally goes over and above what your home and auto policy already cover. So, if you drive overseas with an umbrella policy, you will have coverages should you get into a car accident while out of the country. This is a fun fact that will hopefully save you thousands in the long run.

We thought it important to give an example of what this coverage actually looks like in action. *This example comes from one of our companies that sells umbrella insurance*

auto and home photo

Example: You own a vehicle and your 17-year-old son takes it out for a drive with his friends. The vehicle is involved in an accident that was caused by your son and several people are seriously injured. You end up getting sued for $2,500,000 for the damages that have been caused. If you have a $500,000 auto policy, you are really only covered for 20% of the lawsuit. If you had an umbrella for $2,000,000 limits, that would cover the full loss. Without an umbrella policy the money may have to be used from your personal assets which could leave you bankrupt.

auto and home photo

We hope that this is helpful. We just want to help to make sure that you know what options are out there for coverage, because you can never be too careful these days.