Is Umbrella Insurance right for your family?

To protect your family, you will need several insurance policies throughout your life. Everyone has heard of insurance for cars, homes, RV’s, motorcycles, and boat insurance. All these insurance policies have two basic components of protection: property damage and liability coverage. Insurance polices will protect your property if it is damaged or destroyed by a covered claim. Insurance policies will also protect you if you are sued because you cause an injury or an accident due to your negligence. 

What is not often discussed is what if your current insurance policy does not offer enough coverage to protect your family from lawsuits. Maybe your teen driver causes a bad accident, and your insurance policy does not have enough coverage to satisfy all the damages. Or maybe your dog causes injury to a person who is walking by your home and your home insurance does not have enough liability protection to cover the injuries. Though these events are rare, they can and do happen. These accidents could put your family’s financial wellbeing at risk. 

The good news is there is a product that can offer extra liability protection for your family and protect you in the event the worst-case scenario happens to you. That product is called umbrella insurance.

You may be asking yourself, “what in the world is Umbrella Insurance?” That is a great question. To better explain, we reached out to our friends at Armed Forces Insurance to help describe what umbrella insurance is and when it might be needed for your family. 

Our friends at Armed Forces Insurance are dedicated to helping your family in all situations, including providing helpful tips and information on all matters of insurance. Below is some information regarding umbrella insurance and how it might benefit your family?

What is Umbrella Insurance?

Umbrella insurance is essentially a financial safety net for your family. It is an insurance product designed to cover you above the limitations of your current auto and home insurance. With most auto or home insurance policies, the most amount of liability coverage available for you to purchase is $500,000 for each policy. 

Now, $500,000 is a lot of money, but there may be a time when that amount is not enough. If you or anyone in your household are ever involved in an accident or situation that causes physical or emotional injury to another person, the resulting monetary damage that you are responsible for could exceed your insurance policy limits. The result of that would be financially devastating to you and your family. 

That is where the umbrella insurance policy comes in. An umbrella policy is there to protect you in the event the liability claim damage goes above the limits of your underlying auto/home/boat/cycle/etc. insurance policy. The umbrella policy will provide extra liability coverage above the limits of your current policy to protect you from major claims or lawsuits. It will even help with the cost to defend you against the lawsuit.

What all does an umbrella policy cover?

1. Bodily Injury – Covers if a person is physically injured by your actions. 

1. Auto accident where the individual(s) in the other vehicle are physically injured. This could also include lost wages as well as pain and suffering.
2. Dog bites that cause injury to a person who does not live in your home.
3. A guest in your home who falls and hurts themselves inside or outside of your home.
4. A person who slips and falls on your icy sidewalk and injures themselves.

2. Property Damage – Coverage for the loss of another person’s property due to your actions or negligence.

1. Damage to vehicles, buildings, or structures due to an accident that you caused and are found at fault for.
2. Accidental damage to someone else’s property that is caused by your children. 

3. Rental Homeowners

1. Someone who gets injured on your rental property. 
2. Your tenants dog injuring another person. 

4. Other Coverage – Umbrella will also cover you for events that may not be covered by your auto and home insurance. 

1. Slander – talking bad about someone and saying things that are not true.
2. Libel – Lying about someone or some business in a written statement. This can include the internet such as leaving inaccurate reviews online of people or businesses. 
3. False Arrest or imprisonment
4. Other personal liability situations

Though an umbrella policy may not be for everyone. It is worth considering, especially if you are looking for ways to best protect your family and your long term assets and retirement. The great news is, the cost of an umbrella is a lot less than you might think and can be extremely affordable for most families. 

You never know when tragedy will strike. Make sure you are prepared if it does. If you have more questions on umbrella policies or would like to get a quote on one today, give AFI a call at 800-313-1936 or visit them online at www.afi.org/milhousing and they will be happy to answer your questions and see if an umbrella policy is right for your family. 

These are just a few tips from Armed Forces Insurance regarding umbrella policies. For a more information on this and other topics, head over to Armed Forces Insurance – Resources and Tools page. 

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As a military family, you need insurance that matches your needs and protects what you value most. You deserve an insurance company that is committed to serving you. MilHousing Network is proud to partner with Armed Forces Insurance to bring military families’ reliable homeowner’s insurance options when buying a home. Contact them today at 800-313-1936 or visit www.afi.org/milhousing to learn how they can support your unique military lifestyle.

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