Home & Auto Insurance area a necessity for every Long Island homeowner and car owner. It covers your posessions from a wide range of perils as indicated on the policy. However, despite this assurance, there is always a possibility that your coverage limits may not be sufficient to cover the cost of loss, injury or damage. In such cases, a type of insurance known as Umbrella Insurance is required to provide you with full financial protection.

Umbrella Insurance is a form of personal liability insurance that covers factors that may require financial compensation that is more than the agreed-upon sum in your home or auto insurance policy. In addition, an umbrella insurance policy also covers members of your household along with injury to others and their property.  Therefore it is important that everyone in the household carries the same underlying limits of liability.

While it might seem excessive to have an additional insurance policy as a homeowner and car owner, you must examine the factors that an umbrella insurance policy will protect you from.

• Auto Accident – Although everyone is required to have auto liability insurance, sometimes the limits available on your policy are simply not enough.  Your regular auto insurance policy would normally not have a problem covering liability related to a small accident but what happens if you are in a serious accident or even worse, what if a fatality is involved in your accident?  Most New Yorkers would carry limits of $100K or $250K per accident.  Is that enough if you seriously injur someone?  Of course not. 

In order to provide protection that exceeds your base policy limits, you should consider looking into an umbrella liability policy to protect you against financial loss if you are in a serious accident..

• Pet Damage – Pets are a valued part of many families, but, pets may cause damage which you could find yourself liable for. Dogs, cats and many other domesticated species could cause harm to individuals outside of your household in attacks that could potentially cost thousands if the animal was not under your control.

While your home insurance might pay for some of the damage, the cut-off point could likely be much less than needed. Umbrella Insurance helps you to cover the additional costs if such an incident should ever occur. The policy can provide the money to help pay for medical bills, lost wages and property damage, ensuring that a stressful situation is a little less pressuring.

•  Personal Liability – If you happen to be someone who is in the practice of hosting parties, it might never have occurred to you that you could be held liable for the actions of your guests. Even after they have left your presence if they are drunk and happen to get into an accident then it is very likely that you might be sued.

As most home insurance policies taper off in financial responsibility at the $300,000 mark, it is quite possible that even with the support of your home insurance you might have to dig deep to find the money if you are found liable. Again such an incident would be covered by your umbrella insurance to make sure that you wouldn’t have to sacrifice your savings to pay the courts.

•  Injury To Guests – Whether invited or not, guests in your home are your responsibility especially from a financial viewpoint. If a guest slips and falls in your home, bumps their head on a low hanging ornament and gets knocked unconscious or is injured in any other way, you will most likely be held responsible. 

 Your home insurance may payout if the courts officially find you liable, but dependent on the severity of the injury and any other loss your guest claims, umbrella insurance could potentially save you from bankrupting yourself to pay what is owed.

In conclusion, an umbrella insurance policy is very much required in addition to your homeowner's policy to make sure that both you and your finances are safe. It is also important to note that despite the financial stability it provides, an umbrella insurance policy is relatively cheap as they are only activated after you exceed the liability coverage of your homeowner's insurance.  Umbrella policies normally start around $250 but there are many factors that can increase the premium including the number of cars you own, the age of the drivers, number of homes you own, your driving history and others.

Much like the name indicates, your umbrella insurance is there to make sure that you have extra coverage on rainy days, and for a few more dollars, the peace of mind it brings is worth it.