Umbrella
The coverage nobody brings up.
It sits above your auto and home liability, it usually costs less per year than people expect, and it is the piece most households are missing.
We raise this at the first conversation and again at every annual review.
Shrewsbury · Massachusetts
Where the gap actually is
Most people who are underinsured are not underinsured inside their auto policy or inside their home policy. They are underinsured in the space above both of them.
Your auto liability limit is what the policy will pay when you are at fault for hurting somebody. Serious injuries do not respect that number. Neither do multi-car accidents, nor a claim involving somebody whose earnings were substantial. When the damages exceed the limit, the rest is yours.
An umbrella is the answer to that, and it is the reason we ask about it before we ask about almost anything else.
Who it is for
Six reasons we would raise it with you.
If more than one of these describes your household, it is worth a conversation.
- 01
You have a teenager on the policy
Nothing puts a household past its auto limits faster than a new driver. This is the most common reason we bring umbrella up.
- 02
You own more than you could replace out of pocket
A house with equity, savings, retirement accounts, a second property. Liability claims are collected from assets and from future income, not just from the policy.
- 03
People come onto your property
A pool, a trampoline, a dog, a steep set of front steps, a regular stream of guests. Ordinary domestic life, and all of it sits under your home liability limit.
- 04
You rent a property out
Being a landlord puts you in front of a category of claim most household policies were never sized for.
- 05
You are visible or you have a professional reputation
Umbrella policies commonly reach beyond injury claims into things like slander and libel, which most people never realize they are exposed to.
- 06
Your income would be worth chasing
A judgment above your limits does not disappear because you cannot pay it today. It can follow earnings for years.
Straight answers
About umbrella coverage
What is an umbrella policy, in plain terms?
It is a layer of liability coverage that sits on top of the liability you already carry on your auto and home policies. When a claim goes past what those policies will pay, the umbrella picks up from there.
It is not extra coverage for your own car or your own house. It is coverage for what you may owe somebody else.
Why is it usually cheap?
Because it only pays after your underlying policies have paid their limits, which is rare. You are buying the tail of the distribution: the small chance of the very large loss. That is exactly the kind of risk insurance prices well and households handle badly.
Do I need one if I do not feel wealthy?
The question isn’t what you feel like, it’s what a claim could reach. If you own a home with equity and you earn a living, there’s something to collect from. Plenty of people who would never describe themselves as wealthy are carrying real exposure.
Why did nobody ever mention this to me?
Because it is a small premium and it takes a conversation. It gets skipped constantly, both online and by agents working through a quote as fast as possible. It is one of the first things we look at, and it comes up at every annual review.
Do I have to move my auto and home to you to buy one?
Usually the umbrella requires your underlying auto and home to carry certain minimum liability limits, and it is generally simpler when those policies sit with the same company or at least with the same agency. We’ll tell you exactly what would need to be true in your case.
The Never-Overpay Review
Ask us what it would cost you.
It is usually a short answer and a smaller number than people expect. We will tell you what limits your auto and home would need to carry underneath it.