Gimbel Insurance Agency

If you live in a co-op or own a condominium, a regular check of your insurance is important to make sure you have adequate coverage. While there are probably two policies in effect – yours and the association's – do they provide sufficient protection? For added peace of mind, add an umbrella excess liability policy to cover what the other ones do not.

Do you have a pool or hot tub on your property? What if there is an accident and someone invited to your home is injured or drowns? Umbrella insurance offers protection after your homeowner's policy is exhausted.

If you decide to take a chance and go without umbrella insurance, don't look at accident statistics. The National Center for Health Statistics says there are more than 31 million injuries in the U.S. each year that require hospitalization.

If you have a boat, you may want to consider adding an umbrella liability policy to protect you if you take guests out on it or if you water-ski or use other recreational watercraft. If someone is injured while aboard your vessel, an umbrella policy covers what your regular insurance will not.

In addition to covering damages that may be awarded to a plaintiff, an umbrella insurance policy will also pay your legal fees if you are taken to court. There are different levels of coverage, so discuss your situation with your insurance agent.

People that are typically covered under a personal umbrella policy are you, your spouse if he or she lives with you, relatives, and other people under 21 living in your home under your care.

One type of coverage provided by umbrella insurance is bodily injury liability. Basically, this coverage is designed to cover the cost of damages to another person’s body, including the cost of medical bills and any liability claims that may result from this.

If your assets have grown in the last few years, you may need to update your umbrella insurance policy. Extra liability insurance may be needed to protect the additional financial or business assets that you have acquired.

If you own a rental unit, umbrella insurance is a good option. This type of policy will help to protect you against liability that you may face as a landlord: everything from personal injury to someone getting bitten by your tenant’s dog.

It’s important to note that it’s usually necessary for policyholders to have their car and home insurance together in order to qualify for umbrella coverage. This ends up being a benefit, however, as in most cases you will qualify for a discount this way.

Umbrella policies are designed to reduce the risk that a horrible accident or catastrophe could put you in financial peril. For example, if you have $300,000 in auto bodily injury coverage and you are at fault in an accident with more than $1 million in damage, you can be personally sued for the difference.

In the event that legal action is ever brought against you or your business, it pays to hire the best defense attorneys to defend your case. Fortunately, extra umbrella insurance policies can cover legal costs associated with accident related lawsuits.