Why should you get a personal umbrella?
Most personal insurance policies provide liability coverage to protect you if you are sued as a result of an injury you are responsible for, whether it is bodily injury or personal injury. Lawsuits can stem from auto accidents, boating accidents, slip and falls, libel, slander, etc. If you carry a Personal Umbrella policy, you potentially have coverage for the amount of the judgment above your normal limits that would otherwise come out of your own pocket.
What is a Personal Umbrella policy you ask? It’s an excess liability policy above and beyond your personal insurance policies. Like an “umbrella” to protect you from the proverbial rainy day, this policy is specifically designed to provide additional liability coverage for those instances where the coverage on your primary policies (auto, home, boat, dwelling fire, etc.) is simply not enough to satisfy a judgment against you.
There are minimum standards that must be met by the underlying policies in order to purchase an umbrella. The most common is to have 250,000/500,000 liability limits on the auto and 300,000 on the home. Recreational vehicles, motorcycles, etc are required to be insured and must also carry limits to match the auto. Another requirement is good driving, a bad driving record and the company can deny an umbrella.
Personal umbrella policies can be bought in increments of a 1,000,000 and are relatively inexpensive. The more "toys" you own the more the premium will be.
Its good inexpensive protection to have in the litigious society.