If you choose to bundle your home and car insurance policies, then you can often reap several financial benefits. Besides just that, bundling might also help you when enrolling in further coverage. One additional policy that might enhance your bundle's benefits is umbrella liability coverage. Umbrella policies can add extra liability limits beyond those of your standard coverage. That way, your personal insurance policies will receive additional support.
Understanding Umbrella Insurance
Within a home/auto bundle, you will have two types of liability insurance. Both liability policies will pay up to their limits for third-party losses that are your fault. Therefore, you'll need coverage to adequately protect you in case a claim arises.
Still, there is no guarantee that someone’s liability claim will stay within your policy’s limits. Umbrella insurance is the solution. It can help you if you owe money for a liability claim beyond what your standard policy limits cover. Once a standard policy pays to its limit, you can make a claim against your umbrella policy. It will help make up for the difference.
The Benefits of Umbrella Coverage for Bundle Holders
When you bundle insurance policies, you already get them from the same insurance provider. It is often easy to roll umbrella coverage for both your home and auto policies into the bundle, too. One of umbrella coverage's many perks is that a single policy might apply to several standard policies at once.
By adding this one extra element to your bundle, you might gain a lot of extra coverage. Most umbrella liability policies will provide at least $1 million in extra coverage. Some also cover liabilities not insured by your standard policy. These policies are also very affordable in most cases. It usually only costs a couple of hundred dollars per year to gain several million in benefits.
For example, suppose that you cause a car wreck that injures another driver. That driver sues you to recoup $300,000 worth of medical bills. However, your auto liability insurance will pay only up to $100,000 for someone’s bodily injuries. That’s a potential $200,000 shortfall that you don't want to think about paying on your own.
To leverage your umbrella coverage, your standard policy can first pay up to its $100,000 limit. Then, you can make an umbrella policy claim for the remaining $200,000.
There is one potential drawback to getting umbrella coverage, however. To qualify for a policy you might have to buy the highest liability limits available on your home and auto policies. However, bundling can be a benefit here, too. Though you might have to buy more coverage, any bundling discounts might help you offset some or all the price increases.