Does My Business Need Commercial Umbrella Insurance?

You've worked hard to build your business up to where it is now. While you keep an eye out for new business opportunity, you are also wary of anything that may conceivably jeopardize your company's name and all for which it stands.

No matter how well-informed you may feel, no matter what precautions you have taken to ensure your continued success, at some level you may be ever wary of the unexpected leaking through the cracks that protect your company.

Business Insurance

Do you own and operate your own business? Do you employ only a few - or many - workers to staff your company? Does your business entail high-risk speculation or high liability activities? Does your business stand a good chance to be open well into the future?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, then chances are you may have already purchased insurance policies to protect your company.

Common policy forms of business insurance you may have already purchased may include:

• Professional Liability Insurance (Errors and Omissions, E&O)
• Workers' Compensation Insurance
• Business Liability Insurance Package Policy

"Gaps" in Your Insurance Coverage?

Depending on your relationship with your insurance carrier, you may even have arranged other forms of insurance to protect your company - including policies that may have been customized to address risks peculiar to your business or industry.

No matter what precautions you have taken, do you know with full certainty that your insurance will cover any "gaps" left open by your current insurance policies?

Commercial Umbrella Insurance

To answer this question, review your policies with your insurance agent. If you have identified any gaps or exclusions, consider looking at commercial umbrella insurance to further cover your liability.

Commercial umbrella insurance (also called excess liability and umbrella liability insurance) is a supplemental form of liability insurance that goes beyond what insurance coverage you may currently have. Commercial umbrella insurance may provide features such as:

• blanket contractual liability protection (on both oral and written agreements)
• extension of protection for additional insured persons
• worldwide (or global) coverage
• personal injury coverage
• care, custody, and control coverage
• watercraft liability
• non-owned aircraft liability
• liquor law liability
• advertisers liability
• XCU liability

Aside from feature-specific coverage, commercial umbrella insurance may also provide coverage for self-insured retention (SIR), which comprises money to be paid by the insured. In allegorical terms, this retention money can be likened to an auto insurance deductible - a limited amount of money paid up-front by the insured before policy payout monies kick in.

Commercial Umbrella Insurance for Autos

Of the more common forms of commercial umbrella insurance policies are those offering coverage beyond the limits of what your standard auto insurance policy can bear.

Whether for personal or business purposes, if you drive frequently, drive far or drive in areas notorious for more frequent auto mishaps, you may wish to consider commercial umbrella insurance as a furtherance to your regular car or truck insurance.

Sources:

"Commercial Umbrella Liability Insurance", CBS MoneyWatch

"Let Business Insurance Now Help You Manage Your Small Business Risk", Business Insurance Now