Personal Umbrella Insurance is additional liability insurance, designed to pay out when your existing auto and homeowner’s/renter’s insurance policies are exhausted. For example, you may only have $300,000 in liability coverage on your car insurance. If you are in a car accident and found liable for $1,000,000, you would be on the hook for $700,000 yourself unless you had an adequate umbrella insurance policy. Here is a diagram explaining this from MSN Money:

umbrellahow

In addition, an umbrella policy can also fill in the gaps by providing coverage for other incidents like liability for rental properties or being sued for slander or libel. Imagine working and saving for decades, only to have all of it taken away with one incident.

Real-world examples of $300,000+ liability claims. Every time I read about one of these scenarios, I think of them as a reason to keep paying for my umbrella insurance policy.

Do you drive a car? In a sever car accident, medical costs alone can exceed $100,000 per person easily. Now imagine if there were 2, 4, or even 6 people in the car. Here is one example from a NY Times article on umbrella policies:

One of Mr. Cox’s clients crashed into the rear of a car on a slick highway. A woman and a child were critically injured. After two years of litigation, his client settled the lawsuit for more than $5 million. The client had $15 million in umbrella coverage. The policy paid for the settlement and all legal costs. “Without the umbrella,” Mr. Cox said, “they would have been completely wiped out.”

Are you ever a parent chaperone? A high school field trip led to a $700,000 verdict for negligence:

Lauren Crossan, of Randolph, N.J., had traveled to Hawaii in 2004 with Susanne Sadler, Sadler’s daughter, and another New Jersey cheerleader to perform in the halftime show of the Hula Bowl. Within hours of her arrival at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort, Crossan was seen drinking alcohol. Her body was found the next day on the hotel grounds.

An arbitrator determined last month that Sadler was partially responsible for Crossan’s death and ordered her to pay $690,000 to Crossan’s parents and her estate.

Do you have a dog? This Reuters article discusses the increasing number of dog-related claims. Here are two examples that didn’t even involve a bite:

State Farm public affairs specialist Heather Paul’s dog ran out through her open gate and scared an elderly neighbor, who fell off the curb and broke her ankle. The lady filed an insurance claim with Paul’s carrier, but the standard liability coverage of $100,000 was not enough for her bone reconstruction. Luckily, Paul had an additional umbrella policy, which kicked in and covered the rest.

A California woman went through a two-year lawsuit after her dog got loose and knocked over a postal worker. The dog did not bite anyone, but the worker claimed damages greater than the homeowner’s policy covered. […] This owner said she had no umbrella policy, and now she cannot get one. Her homeowner’s premium has skyrocketed.

More scenarios:

  • You leave a negative Yelp review about a company and the business sues you for defamation. Look what can happen with a mediocre 3-star Yelp review.
  • A man was asked to cut down a tree from his own yard. He refused, and later a hurricane blew the tree down and injured someone in the neighboring house.
  • Your child gets in a fight at school, and injures another student.
  • You have a pool, and a visitor hurts themselves.
  • A handyman or contractor hurts themselves on your property.

Have the insurance company lawyers be on your side. Forget even getting a large jury verdict against you. If someone simply sues you for a frivolous reason, you’ll have to pay for a lawyer to defend yourself. With an adequate umbrella policy, the money at risk will be the insurance companies instead of your own. That means the big corporate lawyers will be on your side, and your defense costs will be covered as part of the umbrella policy.

The premiums are relatively affordable. It cost us about $250 a year for $1 million in coverage for the both of us, including 2 cars and a house. That’s basically $10 per month per person. However, we did have to raise the liability limits of our auto and homeowner’s policies slightly to $500,000 each. So if you are only carrying the bare minimum required by law, your actual additional costs may be higher. If your net worth is higher, then you’d want to buy higher limits, but it should still be affordable on a relative basis.

It’s often easy to add to your existing policy. It was really simple to get as well; we had an umbrella policy added to our existing policies with just one phone call. We already had our homeowner’s and auto insurance at the same company. We didn’t have to fill out a long application or go through a credit check. If the cost is a shock, consider contacting an independent insurance broker and shopping around. You may find a better deal and get a multi-line discount.

But the low cost also means you may have to look out for your own interests. Something that involves a big commission like universal life insurance is more likely to generate interest from your insurance agent. On the other hand, selling you an umbrella policy results in a tiny commission. When I asked about it initially, all I got was a “yeah, I suppose that might be a good idea…” and they never followed-up. You need to take action on your own behalf.

One less thing to worry about. Peace of mind. Some people believe that you may be a bigger target for lawsuits if someone finds out you have a $1 million umbrella policy. Here’s how I look at it. If I really wanted to premeditate a lawsuit against someone, I’d pick someone who is worth a lot more than $1M. More like $10 million and up. In a big metro area like mine, multi-millionaires are a dime a dozen. Even if I was frivolously sued, again the whole point is that I’m still covered. To me, this argument is like saying you shouldn’t earn more money because someone will sue you for it.

Now, if you have a low or negative net worth, then perhaps there would be less incentive in getting such coverage. I certainly had no idea what umbrella insurance was in college. I would imagine lawyers are less likely to go after a big amount if you are “judgment-proof”. However, consider that your net worth may change quickly in the future, and if you did have an incident it may affect your future insurability.

Bottom line. Umbrella insurance gets to the core of the purpose of insurance. You pay money to share the risk with others and protect you and your family from a catastrophic event that could ruin your lives. In other words, you pay the premiums with the hope that you will never have to make a claim on it.

Here Are 11 Reasons We Have An Umbrella Liability Insurance Policy from My Money Blog.


© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2018.

©

You may also like