Umbrella Policy for 4+ properties

[Roman S.]

Hello, I used to have umbrella with GEICO that was pretty affordable, but once I purchased over 4 properties, they refused to carry my insurance and referred me to their sister company RLI. This company charged me a bit over $500 for 6 SFH rentals, but now that I have 7 rentals and 1 primary, they are trying to charge me over $800 a year for a 2 mill coverage, which seems pretty steep. Could anyone recommend a more affordable umbrella company that supports 4+ properties in CA TX IN TN?

[John Mocker]

Roman,
You are correct about what an Umbrella policy is. The Umbrella provides a limit, normally in increments of $1,000,000. The policy is triggered when one of the underlying policies (home, dwelling/fire, auto, boat, etc...) listed on the policy has a claim that exhausts its limits. Say there is an auto accident and the judgement against you is $750,000. If you have $300,000 in liability on your auto policy it would be exhausted by the claim and the remaining $450,000 would be paid out of the Umbrella.

Most Personal Insurance companies want to write some or all of the underlying coverage before they will write an umbrella. Also, most have a limit on the number of rental properties or units that they will cover. Those numbers can vary from company to company.

You may want to shop your home/auto/rental properties with Independent agents that represent multiple Insurance companies to see if they can find a less expensive overall solution for you.