Umbrella Policy - To Cancel or not?

K

Karloff

Recycles dryer sheets
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Jun 29, 2010
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188
Our umbrella policy went up again. We are in Florida. It was about $200 for many years, which was a no-brainer for $1M coverage, but then it went to $450 in 2020, and now it will be $750 in 2022! No claims, same coverage. And we only have one car and nothing else. Absolutely insane.

They always regurgitate the same excuse about the state raising this and that, and the fraud, etc. But that is nothing new in FL, and I doubt any of that can justify a rate that more than tripled in less than 14 months.

I am seriously debating increasing the coverages on our auto and home policies to 1M each, and simply cancelling the umbrella altogether. We would loose the personal coverage, but we never really have anybody over at our place (Covid) and if we do, it would be family. I would like to think they would not want to sue us if they slip and fall inside our home... Raising the coverage on our existing auto policy would only cost an extra $100/year. Better than $700+/year! What else am I missing here? Anybody else debating the same?
 
Ask your agent to explain. It doesn't seem right, ours has been stable - was high with kids at home, but they've been on their own for a few years now.

-ERD50
 
ERD50 said:
Ask your agent to explain. It doesn't seem right, ours has been stable - was high with kids at home, but they've been on their own for a few years now.

-ERD50
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I did. Spoke to 3 different folks. There are no mistakes. The new premium is correct, even though nothing changed. They raised it because they can, but they use new FL insurance regulation changes as an excuse. Yes, fraud is high in this pathetic state, but I doubt that can justify such an increase.
 
That sounds funny to me. I'd shop around. Not sure what my price is for piece of mind the umbrella gives me but I like having it in place.
 
Ours recently went down significantly (~35% reduction) when our youngest daughter moved off of our auto policy to her own when she moved out of state. That said - our $2M policy is now ~$450 down from ~$700... but that's NJ, multiple properties, boat, etc.
 
Yipper said:
Ours recently went down significantly (~35% reduction) when our youngest daughter moved off of our auto policy to her own when she moved out of state. That said - our $2M policy is now ~$450 down from ~$700... but that's NJ, multiple properties, boat, etc.
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Exactly. Nothing like our case. We have none of that. But I did shop around and these rates seem to be the new normal in FL. It is disgusting.
 
Shop all your insurance on a regular basis or better yet develop a relationship with an independent rep who will shop annually for you.
We have switched providers 3-4 times in the last 5 - 7 years - 2 different brokers in that time frame because we moved and reduced our cost each time. Don’t settle for the old insurance trick of making the loyal customers pay more than the new customer.
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
Shop around. Loyalty to an insurance company rarely has any monetary benefits.
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In fact, I think maybe most people don't actually shop around and insurance companies take advantage of that by increasing rates and hoping inertia and laziness keep customers from leaving.
 
ShokWaveRider said:
North East. Jax area.
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That may explain the dramatic difference. We are South. I just got a few other quotes back. Long story short, the umbrella premium could be $300 / year cheaper elsewhere... but the car premium would be $300 more. So everything ends up being almost exactly the same. I think Geico knows this and that is why they raised the premium so much on one policy. They give and take.
 
Karloff said:
That may explain the dramatic difference. We are South. I just got a few other quotes back. Long story short, the umbrella premium could be $300 / year cheaper elsewhere... but the car premium would be $300 more. So everything ends up being almost exactly the same. I think Geico knows this and that is why they raised the premium so much on one policy. They give and take.
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We are with Progressive. Car insurance is $433 for 2022 for 6 months on 1 New Leased car full coverage, 2 drivers 350/500k.
 
It’s really hard to compare insurance rates in a thread when there are so many moving parts, deductibles, liability limits, zip codes, prior record, too many things.
 
It is understandable that the south is more. They get way more influx of snowbirds than we do. We do get quite a few, but not so much as the saturation that occurs in the south. That was one of the reasons we chose further north as our preferred location.
 
COcheesehead said:
... develop a relationship with an independent rep who will shop annually for you. ...
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This. Get all your insurance through one independent agent. These people are loyal to you and will go to bat for you on any claims issues. They have clout with the insurance companies, too, since they control where multiple customer policy renewals will go.

Tied agents (State Farm, etc.) are "independent" but effectively are representatives of the insurance company they work for. They will not shop. They also cannot effectively go to bat for you on claims issues. IMO there is no good reason for any insured to be working with a tied agent.

Start by copying the "dec" (declaration) pages of all your policies; house, cars, umbrellas, etc. The dec pages list the insurance details,limits, deductibles, etc. Use a black marker to block out the premium charges and copy the pages again. Make two or three packages like this and send them to two or three well-recommended independent agents. Listen very carefully as they contact you to discuss needs, particularly future shopping. I have a rep at an independent agency who placed our business with the same company that she uses for her personal insurance. I like that.
 
Is it worth it to have Umbrella insurance if we're in an apartment rental? We sold the house and plan on renting from here on out. We have renter's insurance
 
Sunset said:
As long as you don't drive a car, it's not really needed. :cool:
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This is also part of my overall question. We share a single car. I work from home and we rarely go anywhere or have folks over. If I raise my car insurance coverage to $1 Million, would that not be essentially the same as the coverage on the umbrella policy?
 
Nobody can answer a "should I" question for you. The chances of getting sued are arguably small, but the impact could be high. In our case, the policy is not particularly expensive as a fraction of out total insurance bills so we leave it in place. Note if you get an umbrella you may be able to reduce the liability limits on your other policies.

Hopefully you are working with an independent agent who can shop your insurance and coordinate limits.
 
Karloff said:
Our umbrella policy went up again. We are in Florida. It was about $200 for many years, which was a no-brainer for $1M coverage, but then it went to $450 in 2020, and now it will be $750 in 2022!
Click to expand...

We pay less than half that for $4M - State Farm in MI.
 
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