Do you carry Excess Liability Coverage

[pb4uski]

Did you even read the link?

This was where the insured suffered an injury from their own accident and was suing their insurer. They were paid under the base policy but were also trying to get more money by filing a claim under the umbrella. It isn't even close to the situation that most of us buy umbrella insurance for where there is some sort of accident that injures a third party. I think very few people buy an umbrella to get a payday from our insurer should we have an accident.

In this case, the woman and her husband had an accident, she was injured and he died, and then she sues their insurer for damages caused by her injury and for her husband's death. I didn't read the whole opinion but from the first few pages I agree with the court's conclusion and that the petitioner was overreaching.

 

[Golden sunsets]

That's not the response we got at all. They just added the Trust as a Named Insured to our regular Homeowners policy. That might be because it's called the Athena53 Trust and I'm the sole Trustee. We have all our policies with Travelers.

After a battle royal with my current insurer, they have admitted that their insistence that the policy had to be changed was based on their assumption that the Trust was Irrevocable (despite my statement initially that the home was in the name of a Revocable Trust). They will add the Trust as an also insured and also add the Trust as an also insured on the Umbrella Liability. Now back to determining how much Excess to carry.

I did learn one important thing, which relates to Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists coverage, which we are told by a friend who is a Personal Injury attorney, is extremely important, greatly misunderstood and an item most people don't protect enough against. I have found that we can lower our liability coverage on the autos(from the current 1MM/1MM to 250M/500M), while leaving the uninsured motorists at the highest level(1MM), thus reducing the cost of auto policy, but not reducing the UI coverage. The reduction in the cost will help offset the increase in the Umbrella policy. My agent originally told me yesterday that the liability coverage and UI coverage went hand in hand, so a reduction in Liability would also mean a reduction in UI.

I gather from our attorney friend that Chubb is really the best out there and will write additional Excess UI coverage as part of the Excess Umbrella Liability therefore we are pricing all of our policies with them. I know the cost will be higher - it will be interesting to see how much higher.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Sorry if my posts are annoying you, it was not my intention and this will not happen again. In my corporate job part of my duties for many years was being responsible for overseeing insurance policies and my experience is that insurance companies are very happy to take umbrella premiums but work very hard at looking for exclusions when a claim occurs, occurring in much the manner as this claim against State Farm:
http://mdcourts.gov/opinions/coa/2013/48a12.pdf
So to me it requires a level of understanding what you are actually insuring because I do believe the insurance company is worrying about their pocketbook not yours, and their best defense is to look for an exclusions of coverage in the policy unfortunately and not in joining with me in defense of my actions and awards against me. However this insurance is very cheap, my bias is from my former interactions with insurance companies on a corporate level and there are many examples where it has been beneficial and definitely not at all needing this level of analysis. I personally do not carry umbrella insurance.

Thank you for this Running_Man. I'm the OP and I'm in the midst of sorting out increasing coverage under our Umbrella, making sure that our home is properly covered as it is in a Trust and now the Uninsured Motorist issue. Our policies are with State Farm. I have just found out that our Umbrella includes additional coverage for Uninsured motorists (we are grandfathered in as we have owned the policy for so long - new policies do not include UI in Umbrellas I am told unless one uses Chubb or similar premium policies). This case is an example of one I would never have thought of (husband the driver at fault and deceased, so wife((survivor)) trying to claim on UI under their joint Umbrella). Never the less as you point out insurers are always looking for an out, so I will queery our Agent on this specific example as it relates to our State Law and our specific policy. Thank you for your info.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I've never been asked by an insurer about total assets and have never heard of anyone that has. If you don't believe me then do a poll.

they asked me when I wanted to bump mine to $2M


next question - if I hit something while driving my golf cart with that be covered under the umbrella policy?

 

[Drake3287]

I just renewed my Umbrella policy yesterday. 1 Million in coverage for $345 a year with AAA. Sort of surprised that some of you guys are getting a better deal then me.

 

[travelover]

I just renewed my Umbrella policy yesterday. 1 Million in coverage for $345 a year with AAA. Sort of surprised that some of you guys are getting a better deal then me.

It is based on risk. Do you run with scissors?

 

[ETFs_Rule]

I just renewed my Umbrella policy yesterday. 1 Million in coverage for $345 a year with AAA. Sort of surprised that some of you guys are getting a better deal then me.

I'm with Allstate (middleman). RLI (Peoria, iL) is the excess liability insurer. It was $425 for $2 million. It's $236 for 1$ million.

 

[Corporateburnout]

I just renewed my Umbrella policy yesterday. 1 Million in coverage for $345 a year with AAA. Sort of surprised that some of you guys are getting a better deal then me.

My premium is similar to yours. I did get competitive quotes before I renewed with Liberty mutual from multiple insurance companies in my area and the total cost of policies (i.e autos, home and umbrella) were not too far apart.

So if you live in a high cost of living state it may explain the higher premium.

 

[ziggy29]

I just renewed my Umbrella policy yesterday. 1 Million in coverage for $345 a year with AAA. Sort of surprised that some of you guys are getting a better deal then me.

Mine is $1M with USAA, and it was $159. Maybe living in a church-owned parsonage and not owning real estate helps.

 

[Gumby]

Mine is $1M with USAA, and it was $159. Maybe living in a church-owned parsonage and not owning real estate helps.

I'm sure that your not owning real property is a big factor in the price you pay, since injuries on your property are a major source of exposure for insurers. Ours is $1M with USAA, on top of $500K/1M auto liability and $500K homeowner liability. $378 per year premium.

 

[meierlde]

I suspect that the premium relates to the premium you pay for auto liability, other posters have pointed out that teen age drivers raise umbrella rates. Also living in an area where there are more auto accidents could make a difference, the higher the rate of accidents, the higher the risk. Also in some sense true of where real property is located, if a lot of foot traffic higher risk for example. (A pool might also raise the rates)

 

[SumDay]

We had a $1 million umbrella. We were sued by a wack job, and technically State Farm wouldn't have had to take the case, but they did. Those lawyers were bulldogs, and the case was dismissed with prejudice in a few short months. I probably would have spent $100K in legal fees if it hadn't been for them. I'll be a State Farm customer for life. We now carry a $2 million umbrella.

 

[ziggy29]

I suspect that the premium relates to the premium you pay for auto liability, other posters have pointed out that teen age drivers raise umbrella rates. Also living in an area where there are more auto accidents could make a difference, the higher the rate of accidents, the higher the risk. Also in some sense true of where real property is located, if a lot of foot traffic higher risk for example. (A pool might also raise the rates)

True. I think there are several factors why my rate is so low: just my wife and me, both upper 40s, clean driving records; living in a rural area, not owning real property.

 

[ETFs_Rule]

We had a $1 million umbrella. We were sued by a wack job, and technically State Farm wouldn't have had to take the case, but they did. Those lawyers were bulldogs, and the case was dismissed with prejudice in a few short months. I probably would have spent $100K in legal fees if it hadn't been for them. I'll be a State Farm customer for life. We now carry a $2 million umbrella.

What type of lawsuit was it? Defamation or something?

 

[SumDay]

What type of lawsuit was it? Defamation or something?

No. It was real estate related. They were renting from us, smelled $$ and thought they'd sue us to try to get the house and/or anything else they could get their hands on. This wasn't the first time they'd tried something like this. I could write a book.

 

[Golden sunsets]

We had a $1 million umbrella. We were sued by a wack job, and technically State Farm wouldn't have had to take the case, but they did. Those lawyers were bulldogs, and the case was dismissed with prejudice in a few short months. I probably would have spent $100K in legal fees if it hadn't been for them. I'll be a State Farm customer for life. We now carry a $2 million umbrella.

Out of curiosity how could State Farm have decided not to take the case, even if it was real estate related? Wouldn't that be one example of why you carry liability insurance?

 

[SumDay]

Out of curiosity how could State Farm have decided not to take the case, even if it was real estate related? Wouldn't that be one example of why you carry liability insurance?

No personal injury occurred - that's generally what umbrella coverage covers without blinking an eye. These people were looking for a free house, claiming it wasn't really mine because probate wasn't handled properly. If it wasn't mine, it certainly wasn't going to be theirs. But when you get sued, you get sued. The FBI was after these people for related activities. Long, unbelievable story.

 

[sheehs1]

No personal injury occurred - that's generally what umbrella coverage covers without blinking an eye. These people were looking for a free house, claiming it wasn't really mine because probate wasn't handled properly. If it wasn't mine, it certainly wasn't going to be theirs. But when you get sued, you get sued. The FBI was after these people for related activities. Long, unbelievable story.

Oh wow. I think I want to hear more of this story if you care to share. How dare they!