Personal Liability insurance

[Hyper]

Not that we have an extremely high NW, but the little we do have we sure would like to keep.
I've heard where some would purchase personal liability ins just to protect themselves financially should someone file a bs lawsuit against them.
Since DW has been in that industry for a long time, we sure hear a lot of it happening and much of it being bs, the majority will settle so it doesn't go before a jury.
We have the normal liability that comes with your home and autos but this is more to protect personal NW.

I haven't called around to check into it but do wonder if it is available and what the cost would be.

 

[Al18]

The insurance you speak of is frequently called an Umbrella Policy, or PUP - Personal Umbrella Policy. It's available from most of the major insurance carriers - cost is about $150/year for $1 million in coverage.

 

[REWahoo]

A couple of previous threads on umbrella coverage...

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/umbrella-insurance-46193.html
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/umbrella-insurance-separate-from-home-auto-56305.html

 

[2B]

I pretty much hate insurance companies and deal with them as little as possible. I do use insurance products to cover risks I can't afford on my own. I have high deductible auto, home, medical policies plus a $2MM umbrella policy. I feel my biggest risk is a liability law suit. I'd hate to have an event and a lawyer reducing my careful accumulation of assets to shreds.

I've actually used it once. I had a person claim my youngest daughter hit her with her (my) car. I called the insurance company and they totally took over. It turned out that the poor woman my daughter supposedly hit was also supposedly hit by five other people the same day. Three were with the same insurance company but not all had umbrella policies. The woman had recently been released from jail for......wait for it.........insurance fraud. I suspect we taxpayers once again started paying for her keep after supporting her public defender.

 

[LoneAspen]

I had contacted my agent (a major insurance company) and they provided me a quote, but it was only auto-related. It wasn't a general umbrella policy. When I asked about it, they said they didn't have such a thing, only the auto-related umbrella policy.

I found that kind of confusing, as this insurance company is one of the BIG ones, and I would have thought they offered that product. I guess not.

 

[ChainsBeGone]

We have a $1M umbrella policy. It is for that rare bad event, but one that could be catastrophic without insurance. Helps me sleep at night.

 

[H2ODude]

I have the umbrella; my Dad taught me two things on insurance. One: don't pay to insure losses you could afford to pay. Two: When you do need it the best insurance is not good enough.

Knock on wood I've never been involved in anything that called for coverage, although I was able to claim some water damage from a leak on homeowners once. We pay about $2,500 a year on Auto, home, and umbrella. Over 40 years that's real money. Frankly I wouldn't carry homeowners if it wasn't the base for liability. Greatest horror would be blink of an eye car accident, permanently injure someone for life, and lose everything. The umbrella helps me not to worry about that.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I have it as well. Cheap really, but the expensive part is raising your other policies to the minimum requirement for the insurer. I use personal umbrella.com for ours. Found them through my local broker.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Chuckanut]

I don't have time to earn it all over again. So, the cost of the Umbrella insurance helps me to sleep well at night.

 

[nun]

I have a $2M umbrella policy and high deductible auto insurance.

 

[Sunset]

I have it as well. Cheap really, but the expensive part is raising your other policies to the minimum requirement for the insurer. I use personal umbrella.com for ours. Found them through my local broker....

Wow, we reduced our home liability since we got the umbrella.

 

[Sunset]

Remember, while its State dependent, most States protect your 401K and IRA from creditors, the limit for some states is 1MM.
So its largely your other things that are at risk.

 

[braumeister]

This is the explanation for the limits, from the USAA website:

Why do I have to maintain higher limits on my underlying policies? Isn't that what umbrella insurance is for?
-
Affordability of an Umbrella policy is dependent on it covering damages only in excess of minimum underlying limits. Thus, the Umbrella policy is part of a coordinated approach to managing insurance needs. If you have underlying limits below the minimum required, you will be personally responsible for damages assessed against you before the Umbrella policy applies.

 

[Goonie]

I have a $1M Umbrella policy with State Farm, and it costs $178 per year. Our home-owner's and automobile policies are with them as well.

 

[Walt34]

We also have a $1 million umbrella policy for the above stated reasons.

A benefit often not mentioned is that it also gets you the attention of some expensive insurance company attorneys right out of the gate since the insurance company is potentially on the hook for that amount.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

USAA has been my auto/homeowner insurance company since 1979. I had never heard of an umbrella policy until I started reading Bogleheads but soon after I added umbrella to the mix in 2008.

 

[EastWest Gal]

We also have an umbrella policy, $1million, for about the same amount. Any insurance company with homeowner's insurance should offer it.

 

[meierlde]

Note that if for example you have homeowners with one company and auto with another they and the Umbrella with one of the two they will check every year that the other policy is still in place. I sold a home, and got a non renewal notice, but a quick call to the agent fixed it when I said I sold the home.

 

[jetpack]

I have it as well. Cheap really, but the expensive part is raising your other policies to the minimum requirement for the insurer. I use personal umbrella.com for ours. Found them through my local broker.

Indeed.. I think the more expensive part was raising the auto insurance.. probably where some people really get bit. I was worried about other things (home/rentals) .. but now feel a bit better, with $2M+ on everything.

 

[LoneAspen]

I have a $1M Umbrella policy with State Farm, and it costs $178 per year. Our home-owner's and automobile policies are with them as well.

They told me their umbrella policies were only auto-related.

I wonder if the person that provided a quote for me really knew what kind of policies they had.

 

[meierlde]

They told me their umbrella policies were only auto-related.

I wonder if the person that provided a quote for me really knew what kind of policies they had.

From my experience they are willing to do an umbrella if they hold the auto policy, but do not require a homeowners policy with them. They do check on the other policy however

 

[38Chevy454]

We also have a $1 million umbrella policy for the above stated reasons.

A benefit often not mentioned is that it also gets you the attention of some expensive insurance company attorneys right out of the gate since the insurance company is potentially on the hook for that amount.

Same $1M umbrella policy for same reasons as others.

Walt, I did not think about that, but you make a lot of sense!

 

[Goonie]

They told me their umbrella policies were only auto-related.

I wonder if the person that provided a quote for me really knew what kind of policies they had.

I was told that as long as I had an auto or home policy with them, they would sell me an Umbrella policy. There was no problem, because I already had both policy with them. I don't know whether they would provide an Umbrella policy if I had auto and home owner's with a different company.

 

[RE2Boys]

Indeed.. I think the more expensive part was raising the auto insurance.. probably where some people really get bit. I was worried about other things (home/rentals) .. but now feel a bit better, with $2M+ on everything.

Interesting as that was only a few dollars more to double my previous auto liability coverage. You may have been grossly under-insured for your situation. In my state, the state mandatory minimum coverage is $30K per accident but given my assets, 10x that would be much more prudent.

 

[Redbugdave]

About the only thing I can add to the conversation would be to not advertise or tell anybody you have a lot of extra coverage. Some people may be looking for an easy lawsuit to get money and you may be it.