Three reasons you should have a personal umbrella policy

3 Big Reasons Why You Might Need Umbrella Insurance.

What is umbrella Insurance?

Umbrella insurance is extra liability insurance. This type of policy is designed to help protect you from major claims and lawsuits and thus it helps protect your assets and your future. It provides additional coverage above the limits of your homeowners, auto and boat policies.

Here are three signs you may need a personal umbrella policy.

You drive.

• Medical Expenses

Maybe you are the safest, most defensive driver to ever get behind the wheel, however no matter what your own driving credentials look like, you can’t say that about every other driver on the road—one in seven of whom is uninsured, according to recent estimates from the Insurance Research Council. That estimate doesn’t even include the number of drivers who carry state minimum auto limits. At a time when many individuals are under the false impression that auto insurance is a commodity, the likelihood of suffering a big loss after an accident with an uninsured or underinsured driver, continues to climb. If you, or your family get into an accident, a personal umbrella policy covers your medical needs if your primary auto policies limits are exhausted. Often people only have $5,000 worth of medical coverage, think of how fast that money would be used if hit by a driver losing control on an icy road. What if your boat is in an accident when you have kids or grandkids in it? What if the boater that caused the accident is uninsured?

• Liability

If we are in in an accident that is our fault, what then? We all live in a world that is increasingly litigious and plaintiff-friendly. Just think of all the commercials for lawyers promising to get the maximum money for that accident. The truth is if you have a couple of hundred thousand in assets ( think houses, cars, retirement) and $1100,000 combined income, they are coming after you,

You interact with people

Today something as simple as insulting someone over Facebook could land you in a legal disaster for defamation of character, slander of libel.

If you have a large lawsuit brought against you, just the cost of the defense will run into the tens of thousands of dollars. I can think of a time that Jan was sued, even though the claim was thrown out by summary judgement, our attorney’s fees were more than $20,000.. Having the insurance company by your side, hiring claims adjusters and making sure the right attorneys are defending you is worth more than mere money. If you are found liable, the payment and settlement could ruin your entire life. If you have a personal umbrella, a $1 million-dollar settlement won’t cause you to spend the rest of your life digging out from underneath this loss.

You own property or pets

You are responsible for any accidents that might occur on your property. Two issues immediately come to mind. Besides the usual slip and fall liability that we assume on our property, we sometimes do not think of the hazards that our animals that we own. If your dog gets out an accidentally bites someone, or a child plays a little too aggressively, or someone takes your horse for a ride, and has a bad fall. you are responsible, bot only for the injury, but for any rehabilitation, or loss of wages, or for any court costs.

But I Want Cheap Insurance!

We are mandated to buy some insurance, the mortgage company demands a homeowner’s policy, the lender requires auto insurance, the landlord needs to see proof of insurance before they will issue a lease, so why should I buy umbrella insurance too?

Think of all you have worked for, your savings, your travel trailer, boat or even a piece of land that you hope to one day build your dream house on. You need to think how much you’re going to lose if you don’t have correct coverage in place. Dollar to dollar, pound for pound, the personal lines umbrella is the least expensive coverage you can pay for, for the amount of coverage you’re going to get.

The next time you think insurance isn’t important, and can just be done over the phone with a telemarketer with only the sale in mind, think about jan jesberger insurance. We have the trained team to help you make the correct insurance choices for you, so you can sleep at night with one less thing to worry about, because we are in this journey together. Give us a call today at 208-762-2122 and lets have a conversation about how to properly protect your loved ones at the best possible price.