John and Mary live in a nice five bedroom home located in California. They’ve lived in their three thousand square foot home for twenty five years and are retired. Their home is paid for and worth about $900,000. They live off their retirement and have hardly no bills to pay. John and Mary have always had a homeowners policy to cover their home in case of fire, theft or other potential losses involving their home. Mary is age 75 and John is age 72. They hope to someday leave their home to their adult children.

On a nice spring day, Mary went to run some errands in her vehicle around her neighborhood. She pulled into the parking lot of her local grocery store. For some reason, after Mary parked her car , her foot slipped off the brake and hit the accelerator instead. Mary’s car went through the wall of the grocery store. Her vehicle continued through the wall of the store and she collided into two pedestrians who were standing in line with their grocery carts.

Both of the pedestrians were rushed to the hospital due to the severity of the injuries they sustained from Mary’s car striking them. Mary was upset about the accident and did not know what she should do. She called her insurance agent the same day of the accident and her agent took her information to start processing her claim.

Months later after the accident, Mary and John found out that the damages filed by the two pedestrians injured from the accident, exceeded the auto insurance liability limits that they carried with their insurance company. John and Mary found out from their adjuster that they would be personally liable for any money damages which exceeded the liability limits that they carried.

The adjuster also told them that the pedestrians attorney did an asset check to see if Mary and John owned property. The attorney found out that they owned a home and would be expecting them to contribute additional monies towards the settlement of the pedestrians claims in addition to the auto insurance liability limits that they carried.

Mary and John were devastated and did not realize that their home the most valuable asset they owned was at stake! They worked all their lives for their home and could not believe that it may be at risk due to the accident. John and Mary did not know they may have avoided contributing monies towards the pedestrians injury claims if they had excess liability coverage or an umbrella policy!

What is excess liability coverage or an umbrella policy? This policy would be liability coverage which would exceed your homeowners or vehicle policy for damages you may be liable for.

The cost of excess liability coverage or an umbrella policy is very minimal for the amount of additional coverage you would receive. You can expect to pay somewhere between $150-$400 annually for this coverage. Consult your insurance company for details. Remember, excess coverage is important for you to consider if your assets are substantial, especially being a homeowner. This extra protection may give you better peace of mind in the long run and will be well worth it!

Umbrella insurance is meant to shield consumers from charges that go beyond what their traditional insurance covers. In auto coverage, an umbrella plan will kick in after a traditional liability or comprehensive insurance plan stops paying. For example, if you’re in an accident and are found to be at fault, the insurance you have will pay for the charges up to the limit that you have placed on the policy. A $15,000 liability policy will pay for the first $15,000 damages, but if your bill comes to $40,000, you’re liable for the remaining $25,000. An umbrella insurance policy will pay that bill, and you’ll be left in reasonable financial condition.

Umbrella insurance doesn’t just cover damages due to car accidents. It can also protect you from becoming financially devastated if you’re sued for something that is beyond your control. If a person is damaged on your property, or by something on your property (even a tree!), you can be held legally responsible. Although some states do protect certain assets from being seized, such as your home or vehicle, it is easy to see how much damage even a small lawsuit can do to your financial security.

The cost of umbrella insurance varies by state and by your location in that state. The cost is different for the same reasons that traditional insurance is different, so whatever factors influence the cost of your traditional auto insurance can be expected to play a part in the cost of your umbrella policy. A good range of cost for umbrella insurance is between $200-$300 per year. For that small amount of money, the insurance can contribute up to five million dollars of a lawsuit claim, making it well worth the small increase in the cost of premiums.

Because of the nature of umbrella insurance, it carries a high deductible, sometimes of more that $200,000. Of course, you are not paying that amount out. This is the amount that “you” have to pay before it kicks in, but “you” if often your primary car or homeowners’ insurance. Most companies that sell umbrella insurance will require that you have auto insurance and homeowner’s insurance that is equal to your deductible. This ensures that you don’t have to pay any more out-of-pocket than necessary.

There are times that it’s better be “self-insured.” This simply means that you are responsible for paying all of your insurance costs, which translates into an easy concept: you don’t have insurance! Those who choose to be self-insured do so because they don’t expect to ever need it. For example, if you don’t drive but once a week, or you’re a hermit and don’t invite people to your home, you could possibly afford to be self-insured. But if you’re a typical, extroverted American who uses a vehicle on a daily basis, it would be to your benefit to consider an umbrella insurance policy.

Architects have always been in demand for their ability to design houses and buildings that people hold in awe. It is a highly skilled profession, where projects range in size and scope, from small office buildings to colossal sports stadiums.

However, most people can only see the bright side of architecture as a profession and do not realize that it is fraught with responsibilities. Any architectural firm may incur heavy liabilities due to the slightest error, oversight, or omission.

Such conditions require the protection of architect liability insurance for an individual architect or his/her firm. It protects professional architects in case of any legal claims that allege negligence on the part of the architect in the execution of services. At times, even when the case proves to have no validity, the legal cost involved in fighting the case can be substantial and can even leave an architect or firm reeling from the financial pressure.

Hence, architect liability insurance is a must for all architects and firms. There are various insurance and brokerage firms that offer architect liability insurance. While many of these offer the architect liability insurance as part of their other insurance packages, some others especially deal in architect liability insurance. It is a better idea to go with a brokerage or insurance firm that deals specifically with architect liability insurance, as they are knowledgeable of the field of architecture and may be open to negotiations on the premium price.

One can find information about such insurance and brokerage firms easily on the internet. However, like all types of liability insurance, it is important to first have a proper understanding of the needs from the insurance as well as what one is looking from a architect liability insurance company.

Medical practitioners are often faced with lawsuits and claims for negligence and malpractice – an occupational hazard of being a medical practitioner. Hence, medical liability insurance that covers practitioners in case of such lawsuits and claims is very important for every kind of medical professional.

There are many insurance companies that offer medical liability insurance. However, because of the mounting number of lawsuits and cases against medical practitioners, many of these companies have either stopped providing medical liability insurance or charge a heavy premium. This is because most of these companies have had to pay a lot in such claims or for legal expenses. Thus, medical liability insurance in itself seems to have become a liability for most liability companies.

This has led to a kind of crisis within the medical community, more so in specialty areas like orthopedics, with many practitioners choosing to retire early or to close practices because of the unavailability of affordable medical liability insurance. This is causing other social problems because it results in increasing costs of health care, making it harder for everyone.

However there are many insurance companies that offer medical liability insurance, either directly through their exclusive brokers and agents or through independent agents. Independent agents are those who are entitled to sell policies from different companies. These agents can help medical practitioners select the suitable policy from among the available policies.

Most of the insurance companies have compartments and segregations when it comes to charging premiums. For instance, an orthopedic surgeon would be charged a different premium than a general practitioner. Usually these premium rates are fixed and are not negotiable. However, looking and shopping around with different companies will open up different options for someone who is shopping for medical liability insurance.

Since the onset of modern society, engineers have toiled and made man?s best dreams come true. They have, in their own ways, laid the foundations of a civil society, and, in turn, engineering has remained a lucrative business. However, like every other human, engineers are prone to follies and errors. When a case is filed against them and they must pay for their liabilities, the profession no longer remains lucrative. The errors on the part of engineers are mostly unintended, but this reason may not be enough to get them a sound hearing in a court of law. Engineer liability insurance is there to safeguard the interests of engineers in such cases.

There are many channels though which an engineer can purchase engineer liability insurance. First there are many individual insurance providers, as well as exclusive agents, independent agents, and brokerage firms. The exclusive agents are those who deal only with one insurance company and therefore may provide only limited options. The independent agents, however, offer a wider range of options and allow one to compare the prices of various companies. A comparison exercise is a good idea to understanding what engineer liability insurance can cover and finding out which insurance company offers the best coverage with the lowest premiums.

Brokerage firms are also specialty agencies that solicit in favor of their customers. They can again provide good options, as they have links with many national and international agencies that provide engineer liability insurance through these brokerage firms. It is useful to check out firms specializing in engineer liability insurance in order to learn about the best deals available in the liability insurance market.

One also must remember to consider many options before finally deciding on one. Surfing the internet to get a better idea of the offers and conditions may indeed bring many benefits to the insurance seeker.

Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) refers to the insurance package, which is a combination of both property insurance and liability insurance. The reasonable price tag makes this option more attractive for the small businesses instead of buying separate policies for property insurance and liability insurance. Business owner’s policy is not suitable for the large businesses because they do not fulfill the eligibility criteria for this policy. Insurance companies feel that large business involve greater amount of risk so they do not consider them for BOP.

Eligibility Criteria:

On the contrary, small and medium businesses are suitable candidates for business owner’s policy. Eligibility criteria for this policy are liability limits, premises size, nature of the business and activities performed offsite. These factors along with financial stability, location of business, security measures, and quality of construction and possibilities of fire determine the price of the BOP.

There are vast variety of businesses are eligible for business owner’s policy. Some of the examples are bakeries, fast food restaurants, convenience stores and restaurants providing fast food, wholesale and retail traders and many other businesses related with service industries. Interestingly, restaurants providing full services may be denied the advantage of this policy. Other businesses that may find eligibility difficult are bars, auto repair mechanics and manufacturers.

Let us discuss the property insurance and liability insurance separately. If you have property insurance, you are entitled to get the reimbursement for the losses to you business property. You have two options to choose from for property insurance. First is the Standard Form. In this option you will get compensation only if the losses have occurred due to certain predefined perils. On the contrary, if you choose Special Form, then you policy will cover losses due to any reason. However, make sure that no peril is specifically excluded in the policy. Not only the risk of your business property is covered, but the risk of machines and plants permanently installed like air conditioners, business inventory, furniture, and also property stored at other sites.

If you have the liability insurance, then the company will reimburse the amount if any visitors get injured at you premises or any of your products cause an injury to the customer. You can get some additional advantages by paying extra premium coverage like losses due to dishonest employees, Robbery, Burglary and mechanical breakdown.

Protecting business assets against loss is as important as the insurance cover for home and the contents. However, you need to make sure that the amount covered is not inadequate. Estimate both replacement value and actual value of your property. BOP also covers the losses occurred due to the damage to property or an instance of injury because either your business did something or it didn’t do something.

As an insurance customer you may have to consider which is more cost effective, an independent health insurance plan or a plan that includes your family. Individual health insurance will generally be cheaper than health insurance that must be extended to cover several individuals unless the individual in question is suffering from numerous complications. There’s still a lot of decisions to make if you go with an individual insurance plan like do you want a basic or major insurance plan, do you want to be able to pick which doctor you go to and have a more expensive plan or do you want to choose from a list of doctors available from your insurance company and see them thus having a smaller premium to pay.

However, this all changes if you have to pay for not only yourself but your dependents’ health needs. In this case it’s cheaper most times to have plans that include your dependents as four individual plans will of course, be more expensive than one plan that covers all four individuals. The more people covered under a particular insurance plan, the more expensive it will be in much the same way as the more people covered under an umbrella, the bigger the umbrella needs to be.

Of course, the more people covered under an insurance plan, the more problems you may run into in paying for the plan as smokers’ plans are more expensive than non-smokers, people with asthma or diabetes may not fall under the insurance’s payment plans as this may qualify as a preexisting condition. Gender, age and general health previously is also a large factor in determining the cost of premiums.

Family Insurance plans cover all the same things that individual plans do including x-ray and laboratory service, prescription medications, surgery, hospital stays, emergency treatment, ambulance services, dental and mental health care. However, like most insurance policies eye care services are usually not included and can be added on for a fee.

Basically the choice is entirely dependent on the make up of your family, and the decision should lie upon which would be better economically for your budget. A health care plan that caters to individual needs that may not need to be addressed by the entire family for example an asthmatic child may need special care his or her siblings may not need. Or you can purchase a health care plan that covers your entire family, smokers and alcohol consumers alike.

The purpose of an umbrella insurance policy is to extend the range of coverage above the limits you already have. Insurance companies will typically offer auto and homeowners insurance up to around $500,000 for liability. This is enough to cover most claims. However serious accidents can result in lawsuits above $500,000. An umbrella policy can give you an extra layer of protection for your assets.

An umbrella policy is not just for the wealthy. As a Houston Farmers insurance agent I suggest an umbrella for many people. Some examples include customers with a swimming pool or trampoline. Having assets that could be lost to a lawsuit is a classic indication that an umbrella should be considered. An umbrella is inexpensive protection for the amount of protection it provides. As an example you might pay $2,000 per year or more for $500,000 of liability coverage on a couple cars and a home. For a few hundred more you could add an additional million in coverage!

Umbrellas don’t cover everything. If you own a business, a personal policy will probably not apply. Punitive damages, intentional acts of damage, and other exclusions may apply.

Most companies will require a certain limit of liability coverage on your existing policies before they will offer an umbrella. It is often a good idea to have all your policies with the same company that writes the umbrella. This could result in discounts and will avoid having to collect and submit the other policies to the umbrella company. Please consult a good insurance agent and have all the terms, coverage’s, and conditions explained if you want this type of policy.

If you are like me then you have lots of various insurance policies. Some are required by banks or lending institutions, others provide peace of mind from your worst fears. Unfortunately, even with all the coverage for all these various things, sometimes it is just not enough. This is why you need to discuss and umbrella insurance policy with your insurance agent, broker or independent insurance agent.

If you own a small business then you really need to consider an umbrella insurance policy and it might even save you money on your over all insurance costs. Indeed, it could even be a life saver in the event of some catastrophic event resulting in a huge lawsuit which might threaten to bankrupt your company and your family. These types of things can be prevented with proper insurance, no sense in becoming a statistic or a reason for someone else to get the type of insurance you should have gotten.

To help you examine all your various types of insurance policies you need to get an expert to look them over and audit what you currently have. Perhaps you might even end up making changes. Umbrella insurance policies can fill in any gaps and protect your assets and/or your small business. Sometimes an extra 1 million dollar umbrella policy is a lot cheaper than you think. It was for me and my business. Ask an expert insurance person about this, I did.

I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

Umbrella insurance protection is usually one of the last insurance products a consumer buys. I understand the reasoning. A family budget is stretched thin and we often feel “insurance poor”.

But what happens if you or a family member (such as a teen driver) is involved in an auto crash that injures others? Do you have high bodiliy injury limits under your auto insurance policy? What if the other person is disabled or killed? If you calculate a person’s worth on that basis, I bet 99% of insurance buying consumers have too little protection under their auto policy.

An umbrella policy goes hand in hand with an auto insurance policy and home insurance policy and costs about $350 or less annually for $1,000,000 protection. This premium varies bases on other factors (if you own rental properties, have recreational vehicles, teen driver’s).

If you have too little bodily injury protection under your auto policy, then what? Do you sell your home? Have 25% of your wages garnished for the next 15 years? Cash out a 401k, IRA or something else?

When you buy an umbrella insurance policy keep in mind that you are protecting your assets and income.

Be especially careful when you have teen drivers on your auto policy. Teenagers have more accidents than all the other age groups combined. Consider increasing your deductibles on your auto insurance policy and home insurance policy.

Consider if you have an auto insurance policy or home insurance policy with a $500 deductible and you have a $750 claim. Are you going to file a claim for the $250 difference or pay the entire $750 out of pocket to keep the claim off your record? Many people will pay it out of pocket. If this is you, consider increasing your deductibles.