Excess Umbrella Insurance
What You Need to Know About
Excess Umbrella Insurance
Since 1956, RJ Ahmann Company has been a premier provider of excess insurance nationwide.
What is excess insurance?
Excess insurance provides protection for catastrophic liability losses. It helps protect your company from major claims that would ordinarily put you out of business. A common type of excess liability insurance is the umbrella policy. It sits on top of your general liability, auto liability, and employers liability coverages. Umbrella coverage starts paying when a covered loss depletes the primary policy's per occurrence or aggregate limit.
For example, with many businesses, the most significant liability exposure is driving on work related business. If you or an employee are negligent and cause bodily injury or property damage, the cost could be in the millions. This policy provides for defense costs and pays damages when at fault accidents reach that magnitude.
Who needs excess coverage?
All businesses should have excess liability insurance. Unfortunately, most small businesses are underinsured. Some businesses carry small umbrellas of one or two million, but it really isn't enough. Serious claims can easily go beyond $10 million. Fortunately, excess insurance coverage is relatively inexpensive for the limits of coverage provided. The umbrella liability policy represents an efficient use of premium dollars.
The cost of a commercial automobile insurance claim is rising to a new level whenever bodily injury is modest or severe.
- Gen Re, FacWorld
Important Excess Liability Insurance Considerations:
- Follow form: Your umbrella policy should follow the same policy design as the underlying coverage so the policies complement one another. They should fit together like a hand in a glove. You don't want the excess insurance policy to contain coverage that is less broad than the underlying policies.
- Maintain underlying limits: If you allow your underlying coverage to lapse, you could experience a serious coverage gap. Umbrellas will not drop down to cover a gap left by cancelled underlying coverage.
A Real World Example
A company was hosting an event when a drunken patron stole the truck an employee was unloading. The patron then collided with a vehicle full of teenagers. One surviving teenager had severe permanent injuries. Unfortunately, the business owner's commercial umbrella policy wasn't sufficient and he was faced with a serious shortfall of liability protection. As this case illustrates, the importance of a well-structured commercial umbrella insurance policy can't be overemphasized.
A smart solution
If you need excess liability insurance, or if you just want to learn more, RJ Ahmann can help. With years in the industry, we've helped thousands of businesses protect against catastrophic liability loss. Our experienced excess insurance experts will help you obtain comprehensive, cost-effective excess insurance coverage – tailored for your business's unique needs. Our Minneapolis agency represents a variety of "A" rated insurance companies.
As an RJA international business insurance client, you will...
- Benefit from the advice of experienced professionals, with knowledge and the understanding of what you need and how to tailor an appropriate solution.
- Gain protection for a full range of liability exposures.
- Have access to the liability limits you need. Some of our clients carry in excess of $100 million in excess liability insurance limits to provide true catastrophic protection.
Ready to learn more? RJ Ahmann is ready to help with solutions for excess insurance!