To Be Fully Covered, Buy An Umbrella. Get Commercial Umbrella Insurance.An important way to protect yourself is by supplementing other policies you have such as business automobile liability insurance or general liability insurance. Commercial umbrella insurance (or excess liability) is important because it can protect you from gaps and exclusions already written into your current policies. Whether you are into roofing, building or are a painter, you have to have liability insurance to protect yourself. If you do not, you end up floating up a creek without a paddle. If you don't, you are darned lucky! There are so many claims today it is ridiculous. And yes, there are frivolous claims, but there are a lot of real claims, and you don't want to be on the receiving end of the summons! With general liability insurance, things not covered in primary policies are covered by a self-insurance retention. This retention is the your responsibility to pay as the insured. They can range from $25,000 to more. The commercial umbrella insurance picks up when the self-insured retention is exhausted. It might also cover things that the general policy refused to cover so long as the claim exceeds the self-insured retention amount. Some things offered through commercial umbrella insurance would be personal injury coverage, watercraft liability, liquor law liability, non-owned aircraft liability, and rv coverage. It can even add extra protection for additional insureds. Commercial umbrella insurance usually follows the provisions of the underlying liability coverage. If a loss is not covered by the original liability coverage, it won't generally be covered by the umbrella policy either. If something happens that is not covered by the original liability coverage, or there is something not covered but that happened as a result of something that would be covered, the commercial umbrella insurance will pick up. At this point, the insured will be indemnified and will be covered for the entire net loss. The loss has to exceed the self-insured retention. If a loss is only partially covered by the liability coverage, the insurer providing the commercial umbrella insurance is required to defend any lawsuit against the insured. They can also investigate and settle any claim as they see fit, so things don't necessarily have to go to court. Anyone listed on the policy as an additional insured is also covered on a commercial umbrella insurance policy. The officers, regular employees, directors and stockholders are also protected. Let's face it, you can't be everywhere at once so who knows who is doing what. If the loss involves a motorized vehicle, aircraft or watercraft, coverage for additional insureds is waived. Basically, you have to make sure that you are fully covered, and purchasing a commercial umbrella insurance policy is an easy way to do that. This way you are protected from lawsuits and that is the purpose of having any insurance. |