What if something or someone completely out of your control caused you extreme financial hardship? If an incident happened and exceeded your liability protection, you could end up owing millions of dollars in damages. Luckily, there is an inexpensive insurance policy that can protect you from this situation – umbrella insurance.
In today’s litigious society, umbrella insurance is one of the most important types of personal insurance you can purchase. It is an essential tool in any risk management process as it provides an additional layer of financial protection for your assets and your family.
What is Umbrella Insurance?
Essentially, it is additional liability protection that goes beyond what your generable liability, auto liability, personal watercraft liability, and other types of liability insurance provides. One bad accident in a car or on a boat or a catastrophic accident at your home, such as a balcony full of people falling and injuring several people on the balcony and below it, could cost you millions in damages and awards once all the lawsuits have settled – not to mention extensive legal fees.
This could easily exceed the limits of your general, auto, or PWC liability policy leaving you with the responsibility of paying the remaining damages and legal fees from your own pockets. Requiring you to:
- Eliminate personal and retirement savings.
- Empty college savings for your children.
- Sell off assets, including your home.
Even then, you may find yourself indebted to the settlement for many years. Failing to pay could result in wage garnishments and more.
At least, these are things that could easily happen if you do not have umbrella insurance to help offset the awards against you.
How does Umbrella Insurance Work?
Once your initial liability insurance limits are exhausted, umbrella insurance will kick in to cover the extra damages and/or legal fees, minus your deductible. It can be instrumental in sparing your family financial destruction from a single accident. Think of all the things that cause accidents or accidental injuries:
- Missing a red light.
- Using mobile phones while driving.
- Slamming on brakes to avoid hitting a child or animal that darts out in front of you.
- Failing to quickly remove snow and ice from a sidewalk.
- Not providing life vests to all PWC passengers.
Split-second decisions, right or wrong, can have lifelong consequences when you’re behind the wheel of a car, on a jet ski, in a boat, or even away from home during a winter storm. Umbrella insurance can help you survive, these types of incidents, financially.
What does Umbrella Insurance Protect?
In addition to excess liability protection, umbrella insurance brings a few other perks to the table, including:
- Bodily injury protection.
- Property damage coverage.
- Protection from claims of libel, slander, and defamation.
- Legal fees associated with defending yourself.
Bates Hewett & Floyd Risk & Insurance understands how hard you have worked to begin building your wealth and we believe that one moment in time should not ruin years, even decades of hard work on your part. We will work with you to create a comprehensive risk management plan for your insurance needs that includes umbrella insurance. Contact us today to learn more.
Bates Hewett & Floyd
When you think about an independent insurance agency in Northeast Florida, you probably think of a small to a medium-size office run by a family or a few employees. If you have never visited or been inside Bates Hewett & Floyd, you have not experienced the big picture. With 30 employed professionals (currently seeking additional candidates to join the team) we are one big family (some blood, most not) that spans three offices and are spread throughout the many facets of insurance that Bates Hewett & Floyd.
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