Chase Carmen Hunter, www.ChaseAgency.com, and Chase Financial Services Since 1993 offers "stand-alone" umbrella policies. In other words, the insurance company that may issue your umbrella policy does not require you to also insure your home and car with this same insurance company. If you own a farm or own real estate or autos located in various states, the umbrella policy can insure all them on one umbrella policy and you don't have to change your current insurance companies. We use dozens of highly-rated insurance companies that are rated A or better by A.M. BestŪ. Click here for a partial list of some of these insurance companies.
A personal umbrella insurance policy provides individuals and families with added protection that applies on an excess basis over any personal liability insurance such as homeowners insurance, auto insurance, vacant land liability, farmer insurance, and other forms of personal liability insurance. Just as the name implies, this insurance responds to claims caused by personal activities, and not business or professional activities.
However, we offer a unique personal umbrella policy that provides coverage
for business activities related to the ownership of rental residences,
office buildings, retail buildings, apartment buildings, etc.
A personal umbrella does not provide coverage for any other type
of business activities EXCEPT in California in which we offer a personal umbrella that can also cover your
business operations, profession, and/or work as an independent contractor.
A personal umbrella policy is excess insurance that does not begin to provide coverage until the insurance provided by a homeowners, auto, or other personal liability policy runs out. If you have an auto accident and are required to pay damages of $1,000,000 and your auto liability limit is only $250,000; your personal umbrella policy will begin to provide coverage for the difference between the amount of total damages ($1,000,000) and the amount of your auto liability limit ($250,000). In this case, the umbrella policy provides $750,000 of coverage and the auto policy provides $250,000.
Some of the types of liability exposures contemplated by a personal umbrella policy include, the use and ownership of an automobile, travel activities, the use and ownership of real estate, the use and ownership of boats and jetskis, activities in civic affairs, and libel and slander allegations. Personal umbrella policies typically exclude coverage for intentional acts, illegal acts, sexual abuse, pollution, ownership and use of an aircraft, lead exposure, asbestos exposure, war, discrimination, transmission of a communicable disease, workers compensation, property damage or bodily injury to an insured, ownership or operation of a farm, fungus or spore exposure, and claims occuring before the policy effective date. If you need coverage for any one of these exposures, make the request on your application and your representative will seek out the coverage you need.
A personal umbrella policy sometimes provides coverage for "personal injury". Personal injury is damage that does not involve a loss to someone's property or damage to someone's body. It involves loss of pride, reputation, rights, livelihood, quality of life, etc. For example, if you a friend's child is hurt while riding his four-wheeler on your property and he becomes comatose, your friend might sue for "personal injury" because of the emotional pain suffered due to this injury. A personal umbrella policy covers "bodily injury". This involves damage to someone else's body. For example, a neighbor is helping you install a window air conditioner, you drop it, it falls on your neighbor's foot and severs two toes. Finally, a personal umbrella policy covers "property damage". For example, you live in a condominium and you have an accidental fire in your condo that causes smoke and water damage to all the other condominium units. Your actions, although unintentional, damaged other people's property.
Some personal umbrella policies have no deductible (also called self-insured retention). Others have small deductibles such as $250 and $500. You cannot select your deductible. You are not given an option. You must accept the deductible offered by the insurance company. The minimum limit of liability is $1,000,000. There is no maximum limit. Our website provides instant online quotes for all limits. You must maintain a minimum of $300,000 of personal liability on all residential properties, $1,000,000 on all apartment buildings, office buildings, & retail buildings, $100,000 of bodily injury on your auto policy, and $250,000 of liability on your boats and jetskis. Higher limits may be required for your auto liability insurance depending on whether or not you have high-risk drivers in your household.
About half of the umbrella insurers offer uninsured/underinsured motorists coverage in addition to coverage for bodily injury, property damage, and in most cases, personal injury to others. Uninsured/underinsured motorists coverage provides coverage for damage to your body if you are in a car accident, it is not your fault, but the other driver has insufficient insurance limits to cover your costs or the other driver has no insurance. Our application will give you the opportunity to select this optional coverage. It typically costs $25-$50 per car per year. No insurance company offers uninsured/underinsured motorists coverage greater than $1,000,000 regardless of the limit selected for your umbrella policy. So, you could have a $10,000,000 umbrella policy, but the uninsured/underinsured motorists coverage will be no more than $1,000,000 but could also be a low as $25,000. Your representative will tell you the options available after you submit your application.
Chase Carmen Hunter, www.ChaseAgency.com, and Chase Financial Services Since 1993 offer services to residents of any country in the world including the following states of the United States of America:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington,
West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Not all products are available in all states.