Personal Umbrella Insurance with Your Northern Neck Homeowners or Renters Policy

Umbrella Insurance: Protecting you and your assets.

Your homeowners or renters policy protects your assets from potential loss and provides liability coverage against expensive lawsuits if someone gets injured in your home. However, if an accident causes serious injuries, resulting in damages beyond your policy limit, you could end up losing your hard-earned assets. Umbrella coverage helps keep your assets safe in the event that the settlement exceeds your standard home or renters insurance.  

At Northern Neck Insurance Company, we have remained steadfast in our commitment to helping Virginians protect their futures. With a solid track record built throughout 125+ years, insuring our clients' homes and valuable possessions remains the core of our business. Our personal umbrella insurance coverage is designed to give you peace of mind, knowing your assets are safe in the event of liability claims that span into millions of dollars or unforeseeable incidents beyond your standard policy coverages. 

Understanding umbrella insurance

Umbrella insurance is personal coverage that covers liability that exceeds your homeowners, renters, or car insurance policy limits. It usually insures the policyholder plus their household members. An umbrella insurance policy may also cover liability claims from damages not insured by your homeowners, renters, or auto policy such as false arrest, slander, or libel. 

Examples of liabilities covered under umbrella insurance include:

• Bodily injury: A neighbor's child is attacked by your dog, and the settlement exceeds your homeowners or renters policy limits.
• Property damage: Your child causes damage to a neighbor's property, and the compensation awarded exceeds your standard policy limits.
• Landlord liability: A tenant or guest gets injured on your rental property, and their medical expenses and other damages exceed your landlord policy's limits.  
• Personal liability coverage: Expenses arise from a defamation lawsuit against you.

Exemptions of umbrella insurance

While umbrella insurance may cover liability claims above and beyond your base policy coverages, some claims do not qualify for compensation, such as:

• Damage to your property: Umbrella insurance is a liability policy, so it does not cover damages to your property.
• Business liability: Liability incurred in business activities does not qualify for umbrella insurance coverage. You need a business liability policy.
• Intentional or criminal actions: Liability arising from illegal or intentional actions is not covered under umbrella insurance.
• Damage arising from contractual agreements: Umbrella insurance does not cover liability from oral or written contracts.
• War or armed conflicts: Liability arising from war or armed conflicts does not qualify for compensation under umbrella insurance.

How umbrella insurance works

An umbrella insurance policy pays once your maximum base policy coverage is exhausted. This means you need the maximum coverage from the standard policy before purchasing umbrella insurance. For instance, if the available maximum coverage for homeowners is $500,000 and your current coverage is $300,000, you need to increase to $500,000 before getting an umbrella policy.

Example: 
A neighbor's child is playing with your kids and is accidentally attacked by your dog. Your neighbor sues you, resulting in a $800,000 verdict. You have a homeowners insurance of $500,000 and an umbrella policy of $1,000,000. Your home insurance company pays $500,000 minus your deductible, and the umbrella policy pays the remaining $300,000. 

Liability limits

The basic policy limit for personal umbrella insurance is $1,00,000. However, increased limits up to $5,000,000 may be provided per the applicable rating rule, with the exception of youthful drivers whose limit is capped at $1,000,000.

Protect your assets with personal umbrella insurance

If you have a Northern Neck homeowners or renters policy, bundling the coverage with an umbrella policy can help protect your assets and provide that added peace of mind in case you face a liability lawsuit that exceeds your standard policy limit or is beyond the scope of coverage. Talk to a local insurance agent today!

Get personalized protection with umbrella insurance.    

^{PHOTO: WHITE STONE, VIRGINIA – BY JAY COLEMAN, IT TEAM}