Umbrella coverage and golf carts

[Stormy Kromer]

I have a 1 million dollars umbrella coverage for my primary residence, rental apt and 2 cars all under the same carrier, I also have a sport bike insured under a different carrier but I did not report or listed it under the umbrella policy, do you think it will affect my umbrella coverage other than my motorcycle?

I don't know if the sport bike would affect your insurability with your umbrella carrier, but I can all but guarantee that your umbrella does not currently extend over any policies that are not listed with them as an underlying policy. Your sport bike policy would be an example.

 

[FLJim]

If it has a motor you better tell them. Take a look at the exclusion section of your policies.

Do electric bikes have a motor?

Does my electric golf cart have a moter?

 

[REWahoo]

Do electric bikes have a motor?

Does my electric golf cart have a moter?

Probably, unless you bought flux capacitor models...

 

[FLJim]

Probably, unless you bought flux capacitor models...

Mine are rated at under 1.7 jiggawatts

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Do electric bikes have a motor?

Does my electric golf cart have a moter?

Yes.

 

[Fermion]

Just make a really long list of all of things you can sit in or ride on and mail it to them. Include things like chairs, riding lawn mower, barbie vehicles, hammocks. Hopefully if the list is long enough, golf cart will get lost in the noise by the person reviewing the list.

 

[RetiredHappy]

Just make a really long list of all of things you can sit in or ride on and mail it to them. Include things like chairs, riding lawn mower, barbie vehicles, hammocks. Hopefully if the list is long enough, golf cart will get lost in the noise by the person reviewing the list.

Actuaries make those decisions and sending a list of things that could get one hurt to an insurance agent is a waste of time. Insurance agents are simply following procedure.

 

[Kings over Queens]

I don't know if the sport bike would affect your insurability with your umbrella carrier, but I can all but guarantee that your umbrella does not currently extend over any policies that are not listed with them as an underlying policy. Your sport bike policy would be an example.

depends on the carrier. not all require a list of underlying (primary) policies. some will just list the minimum amount of coverage per exposure that must be carrier.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Just make a really long list of all of things you can sit in or ride on and mail it to them. Include things like chairs, riding lawn mower, barbie vehicles, hammocks. Hopefully if the list is long enough, golf cart will get lost in the noise by the person reviewing the list.

The agent or underwriter may miss it, but the claims representative won't if something happens.

Like I mentioned earlier, anything that you can ride that has any type of motor, gas or electric, should be considered. Some are covered (items used to service the premises, such as lawn mowers, or golf carts used for golfing purposes and electric vehicles (other than golf carts, electric bikes and mopeds) that go under 15 mph on level ground. vehicles designed to assist the handi-capped are also included for coverage. Outboard motors on watercraft up to a certain hp are typically included. Inboard/Outboards or jet skis typically not. Autos, No. ATV's, snowmobiles and golf carts (used for purposes other than golfing) off of your insured premises. No.

Don't wait until after something happens to find out if you're covered.

Also, for an umbrella policy to kick in there must be a certain level of underlying coverage, typically $500,000. If you don't have underlying coverage your umbrella might provide excess coverage....with a $500,000 deductible.

 

[Fermion]

Looking it up, I didn't realize how many golf cart accidents there were per year. 15,000. Compare that to boating accidents of 5,000 per year (in the USA).

Now think about how many more people own a boat than a golf cart.

Golf carts are a menace!

 

[RetiredHappy]

Looking it up, I didn't realize how many golf cart accidents there were per year. 15,000. Compare that to boating accidents of 5,000 per year (in the USA).

Now think about how many more people own a boat than a golf cart.

Golf carts are a menace!

No doubt golf carts are dangerous. I was in a golf cart accident almost 2 years ago, broke 5 ribs with multi-segment breakage, a large larcerated liver and a perforated lung. I was in ICU but discharged after 2 days. My husband drove the cart up a rock while leaving the 8th green at our course and it toppled over, with it falling on top of me after I got dumped out. My hospital bill was $120K but health insurance negotiated it down to $20K, with reached my max OOP for the year immediately. No claim was ever made to my golf cart insurer since there was not a third party involvement. The ambulance company and city pestered me about my auto insurance but I pushed them to my health insurance and they were paid that way.

We just bought a second golf cart in October 2023.

 

[Fermion]

Wow, I am surprised they could tip over that easy. I would have thought the designers would place the batteries (usually about 400 pounds worth) very low to make the C.G. so low it would be near impossible to tip.

Are there any regulations on manufacturing safe carts?

 

[RetiredHappy]

Wow, I am surprised they could tip over that easy. I would have thought the designers would place the batteries (usually about 400 pounds worth) very low to make the C.G. so low it would be near impossible to tip.

Are there any regulations on manufacturing safe carts?

It was a huge boulder (not really a rock) on a slope.

 

[Scuba]

Looking it up, I didn't realize how many golf cart accidents there were per year. 15,000. Compare that to boating accidents of 5,000 per year (in the USA).

Now think about how many more people own a boat than a golf cart.

Golf carts are a menace!

Apparently much more so than I realized! Had no idea that something with an electric motor that maxes out at 20-25 mph would ever be considered dangerous. So many of the other people in our neighborhood have them that it never occurred to me to research this issue prior to purchasing. I’m usually a pretty thorough, deliberate and detail-oriented person but I obviously dropped the ball on this one. DH’s attitude is that he wants to have a golf cart so all of this is just part of owning it. I guess he’s right but I still wish we had known this up front.

 

[OldShooter]

FWIW this thread alarmed me since we have a golf cart at our lake place and it never occurred to me that I needed insurance for it. So I talked to my (independent) agent, who most recently put all my coverages with Acuity. He just emailed me that adding liabililty for the golf cart would be $84/year. I also asked him if we could turn the coverage off in the winter. Haven't heard back yet.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

FWIW this thread alarmed me since we have a golf cart at our lake place and it never occurred to me that I needed insurance for it. So I talked to my (independent) agent, who most recently put all my coverages with Acuity. He just emailed me that adding liabililty for the golf cart would be $84/year. I also asked him if we could turn the coverage off in the winter. Haven't heard back yet.

Take it, it is a good offer.....

$84 a year is a deal. Don't count on getting it discounted for the down months, For $84 a year what do you expect?..its built into their annual rates

This is a good example of what I said earlier. If it has a motor it is a liability exposure. Don't sue your agent if you have an accident and aren't covered. You have a responsibility to inform them of the exposure and pay the premium. $84 a year is a deal.


When your agent recently placed you with Acuity...did they ask if you had a golf cart, or did you tell them you had one? Someone missed the boat if you're both catching it now.

Insurance companies will cover you for millions of dollars if they know about it and charge a reasonable premium ahead of time.

 

[Scuba]

FWIW this thread alarmed me since we have a golf cart at our lake place and it never occurred to me that I needed insurance for it. So I talked to my (independent) agent, who most recently put all my coverages with Acuity. He just emailed me that adding liabililty for the golf cart would be $84/year. I also asked him if we could turn the coverage off in the winter. Haven't heard back yet.

Yes, our golf cart insurance is $150 annually including liability. That isn’t my problem. My issue is the umbrella carrier now won’t cover us because of our golf cart.

 

[Scuba]

Update, in case anyone is interested in how I resolved the situation. We decided to go with standalone umbrella coverage. Unfortunately the extra cost is about $900/year vs what we were paying, although we are getting an extra $1M in coverage vs our previous policy. Still, a big hit.

We contacted our current broker, two other independent brokers, and two carriers trying to find a better solution. We did find one carrier who would provide auto, golf cart, and umbrella coverage, but the additional cost was several hundred more than just sticking with current policies apart from buying the standalone umbrella.

If we decide down the road to sell the golf cart, we will definitely re-evaluate. So far, we haven’t found any neighbors similarly impacted, likely because their umbrella carrier may not know about their golf cart or they don’t have umbrella coverage. Ugh!