Umbrella Coverage
Umbrella Coverage
Why Do You Need Auto Insurance AND Umbrella Coverage?
There’s no such thing as too much money, too much time or too much fun. You’ve never heard of a car being too safe or bulletproof glass being too strong. So why on earth do most people assume that they can ever have too much auto insurance?
All right, granted, when you’re talking about auto insurance you get what you pay for. You want better auto insurance? You’re going to pay for it. You want higher coverage limits? You’re going to pay for it. You want to add some “special features” like rental insurance and emergency roadside assistance to your insurance? You’re going to pay for it.
So, with the insurance industry already charging you an arm and a leg, why on earth would you want to pay extra to add umbrella coverage onto your auto insurance policy? Because you’re going to pay a lot more if you don’t.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the cost of health care is going up. And up. And up. As a matter of fact, if someone doesn’t find a way to put a ceiling on that pretty soon we’re all going to be struggling to meet even the most basic healthcare needs without insurance! If you’re in an accident in a state that doesn’t offer personal injury protection coverage and you’re injured in an accident, you’re out of luck. Unless, of course, you weren’t the one who caused it.
Then you can kick back, relax and enjoy the free ride.
When you’re the driver responsible for an accident you’re responsible for everything about it, including the other drivers’ and passengers’ medical expenses. That’s called liability, and liability knows no bounds. Unfortunately, liability insurance does!
Your auto insurance is only going to cover your bills up to a certain point. If you’re in an accident with five other people, their medical bills total $1,000,000 and you’re only carrying $300,000 in liability coverage, you’re going to be paying that $700,000 out of pocket. Since most of us don’t just “happen” to have $700,000 lying around, this can seriously hurt your long term financial status.
This is where umbrella coverage steps into the arena. Most umbrella policies offer up to $1,000,000 worth of coverage, and they pick up where your auto insurance gets off. With an umbrella policy, the only thing you’d have to pay out of pocket is your regular auto insurance deductible. (The math can get a little more complicated than that, so you need to talk to your agent about your individual coverage, but you get the idea.)
Umbrella insurance can swoop in and play the white knight when you’re a bank account in distress when your auto insurance isn’t up to the job, and that’s why you want to make sure you’ve got both of them on your side.
About the Author
Tony Peck is the Director of Business Operations at QuoteScout.To learn more about umbrella coverage and your auto insurance, visit them on the web at http://www.QuoteScout.com.
Emergency dispatchers: New E911 service does not end need for law enforcement dispatchers
Editor’s note: This is the first of a series of stories examining effects of the new centralized dispatch center.