Commercial Umbrella Insurance: Protect Your Business from Liability

Commercial umbrella insurance is a way to supplement your primary insurance policy. It provides additional coverage when the coverage provided by your primary policy is exceeded. If you own a business, commercial umbrella insurance could be indispensable to you in the event of a lawsuit, accident or loss of property. 

Commercial Umbrella Insurance Defined

Commercial umbrella insurance is also known as "excess liability" insurance. It is a secondary policy that covers a wide variety of contingencies. The purpose of an umbrella policy is to fill in gaps or exclusions in your primary policy. It comes into effect when the limits of your underlying insurance are exceeded. In other words, if you have coverage of $500,000 on your general liability policy, but you have a claim of $1,000,000, then your umbrella policy will cover the extra $500,000. In addition to covering overages such as this, umbrella insurance will probably also insure you against a variety of things that your general policy does not. 

What It Usually Covers

Commercial umbrella plans are generally very thorough in the types of claims they cover. A good commercial umbrella plan will typically cover things like the following: personal injury; contractual liability for both written and oral agreements; non-owned aircraft liability; watercraft liability; liquor law liability; and extension of coverage to other insured parties, such as business partners or employees. Coverage will of course vary by provider, so ask your insurance agent for a rundown of what your particular umbrella plan covers.

Umbrella Insurance and Your Business

If you are concerned that an accident, theft or lawsuit may occur that your general policy may not totally cover, commercial umbrella insurance is probably a good choice for you. A complete commercial umbrella plan will cover you for just about any situation you can think of. While it is true that this means that you will be paying for a lot of coverage that you may never need, you may decide the costs are worth the peace of mind. If your business is growing, it may be a good idea to talk to an insurance agent about the ways a commercial umbrella plan can benefit you.