WHO NEEDS UMBRELLA INSURANCE?
Umbrella insurance can benefit almost anyone. That is because accidents that result in high costs can happen to anyone. A personal umbrella policy can help prevent you from paying out of pocket for another person’s medical or legal bills if you are found responsible. There is a good reason for just about everyone to have an umbrella policy, the more assets you have the more reason you have!
An umbrella policy will also typically extend to other members of your household. This means that your spouse or children would be covered under that umbrella.
UMBRELLA POLICY DESCRIPTION
If your homeowner’s insurance has a liability limit of $500,000, you may add an umbrella policy with an additional $1 million of coverage. That would give you a total of $1.5 million dollars of protection should someone be injured at your home. Similarly, an umbrella builds on the liability coverage your auto policy provides. If you are sued, your home or auto policy kicks in first and your umbrella policy covers the excess.
Home + auto + umbrella = total protection
With policies of $1 million of coverage starting at as little as $20 a month, financial experts agree that an umbrella policy offers the best value for the dollars you spend on insurance to protect your family and assets. Additionally, raising the deductible on your homeowner’s policy from $500 to $1,000 typically reduces your homeowner’s premium enough to cover the cost of a $1 million umbrella policy.
PERSONAL UMBRELLA POLICY IN ACTION
Here is an example of how a personal umbrella policy works: if you are involved in a car accident that injures another driver or their passenger(s), your auto insurance would cover up to the limit you selected. For this example, we will say that you are carrying 250/500 which means there is liability coverage of $250k per person and $500k per occurrence.
If the other driver’s injuries are severe, you may be legally responsible for damages beyond the $250,000 your car insurance policy covers. If that driver decides to sue you, your personal assets could be at stake. Let’s say that other driver misses 6 months of work because of the injuries sustained in that accident. Now you are not only being sued for the medical expenses but for all that time that person had to miss work. What if that person is a high paid employee/executive? Now suddenly, they are suing you for $1 Million.
Your auto policy’s liability coverage may pay for up to $250,000 but where are you going to come up with the remaining $750,000? This is where a personal umbrella policy comes in to play. If you have a $1 million umbrella policy, then you have the answer to that extra $750k.
If you have any questions regarding personal umbrella policies, or just insurance in general, feel free to reach out! I will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have or take a comprehensive look into your insurance portfolio to ensure that you have the appropriate coverages.
Email: areams@vprm.net
Phone: 616-726-6147
Alex Reams