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OLD HARBOR INSURANCE

Umbrella Insurance

What is Umbrella Insurance?

Premium insurance

What is Umbrella Insurance?

Umbrella insurance provides extra liability protection over and above your home insurance and auto insurance. An umbrella can prove critical in the event your legally obligated to pay damages that exceed your primary policy’s limits. Umbrella insurance offers peace of mind to you against large, otherwise devastating, judgments and claims.

Additionally, some umbrella policies provide coverage for claims such as defamation of character, libel, or slander, that may not be covered by your other policies.

Why Do I Need Umbrella Insurance?

Most people would be surprised if they did a close review of the coverage they have under their policies. Many would find their auto insurance limits inadequate to cover a helicopter or ambulance ride* for the person they’d injured. And that’s to say nothing of the ensuing medical bills or lost wages claims.

If you don’t have enough coverage for an accident, whether it’s in a car or at your home, you are putting your assets and future earnings at risk.

How Much Umbrella Insurance Do I Need?

A personal umbrella policy supplements your underlying insurance coverage such as your home and auto policies. An umbrella policy will also typically include coverage for additional recreational vehicles owned such as a RV, motorcycle, or boat.

Two questions we commonly receive from clients are

Here is our simplified methodology to calculate how much umbrella insurance you need.

Here is an example to help you with the process

A family with a net worth of $2.5MM and home insurance liability limit of $300,000 should consider an umbrella of at least $2.2MM. However, personal umbrella policies are only sold in increments of $1MM, so the decision would have to be made whether to purchase a $2MM or $3MM policy.

There are additional factors such as the family’s protected assets that should be discussed to help identify the right decision.

Our Lines of Coverage

Excess Uninsured Motorist Coverage

This coverage is often available by endorsement to an umbrella policy and can be utilized in several circumstances – it’s not limited to just you while you’re driving. An example that happened to a friend nearly a decade ago is a helpful illustration:

It’s around ten in the evening, and our friend is getting into her car that is parked on a residential street. Just as she begins to open her door, an uninsured** drunk driver comes down the street and hits her.

It was a tragic circumstance and fortunately she survived the ordeal! Further, she had this coverage that assisted with medical bills, physical therapy costs, and her lost income while she spent more than a year recovering.

Purchasing A Personal Umbrella Insurance Policy

Umbrella insurance companies require that you provide them with all relevant policy information for your underlying coverage such as home and auto insurance. This is necessary to make certain you’re insured with a good company and that you have the coverage limits they require. Most umbrella carriers will need at least $300,000 in liability protection on your home policy and $250,000 per person on your auto insurance

We’ve written about the importance of combining home and auto insurance with the same carrier. We recommend that you combine your umbrella insurance with the same company as well – this will offer you the best pricing and typically the most complete coverage.

We Would Love to Work With You!

Learn more about our umbrella insurance coverage today.