You may have purchased an umbrella policy and if so you have done the right thing. Just the act of driving a car exposes you to tremendous liability, but not all umbrella policies are the same. A TRUE UMBRELLA policy is both excess coverage beyond your underlying liability on your cars, home, boat, motorcycles etc but also broader coverage. Over my years in the insurance business I have seen claims denied on the base home or car policy, but the broader shorter definition of the TRUE UMBRELLA policy picked up the cost related to that liability.

Many carriers sell a product that they refer to as an umbrella, but it is actually just an excess policy. So, this product only provides the excess not broader coverage. If they claim is denied on the underlying policy it is automatically denied on the excess policy.

There is also what I call a hybrid umbrella. This insurance company will give you broader and excess coverages on only their policies, but not on a differnt carrier’s underlying exposure. This carrier writes only home and auto, so if you have a boat, motorcycle, RV, possible a second home or personal income property you would only get the excess not broader coverages.