Business Umbrella Insurance: Coverage For The UnexpectedThere are many different types of business insurance available from general liability to business owner's property and business umbrella insurance. Some insurance policies are necessary for the protection of your business and others are just beneficial but not required. Your business insurance broker will be able to help advise you on which policies are required and which are recommended and how much coverage your business should carry for each policy. Business umbrella insurance is not an essential part of a business insurance portfolio, but it can be useful for a company with a large amount of assets. Umbrella insurance policies are also available for individuals and personal insurance portfolios, but they are not a regular part of most insurance plans. Be sure to ask your insurance broker if business umbrella insurance is right for your company. A requirement for business umbrella insurance is that you have underlying liability insurance policies. Most often, the underlying policies need to include business auto insurance and business owner's property insurance. Minimum coverage amounts are also generally insisted upon before a business umbrella insurance policy will be issued. A minimum of $250,000 for business auto insurance and $300,000 for business owner's property insurance is a general standard. Business umbrella insurance is usually issued in $1 million increments. Business umbrella insurance provides coverage when an underlying policy has been exhausted. If you have a business auto insurance policy with $250,000 coverage, and someone sues your company for $500,000 worth of damages, your business umbrella insurance company will cover the $250,000 beyond your business auto insurance coverage. Business umbrella insurance helps a business in the event a disaster strikes or a large lawsuit threatens the well being of your company. In addition to helping provide coverage to underlying liability policies, business umbrella insurance has another purpose. Business umbrella insurance can help to cover liability losses which do not fall under the coverage categories of underlying policies. However, business umbrella insurance will only provide coverage in the areas where the underlying policies provide coverage. That means that if your general business liability insurance policy does not include your home-based business, then the umbrella insurance policy will not cover it either. Business umbrella insurance is fairly inexpensive in regards to the amount of additional coverage you will receive. Since business umbrella insurance is usually issued in increments of $1 million, it can be difficult to know how much additional coverage your business will actually need. The size of your business and the activities your business performs will help determine the coverage amount your business umbrella insurance policy should provide. Business ranging from large corporations to small contractors or home-based businesses can benefit from the protection of business umbrella insurance. In many instances, a business umbrella insurance policy will cover your business and help you keep your doors open for operation. An experienced business insurance broker will be able to help you determine whether or not your business should add an umbrella insurance policy to your business portfolio and, if so, the proper amount of coverage that should be purchased for your business. |