When you see an umbrella, what do you think? Most people would think, “Oh, it must be raining or going to rain outside.” What does an umbrella do? It protects and shields us from the rain or storm, so we don’t get wet outside. So, how would you like insurance in Florida to protect you as an umbrella does during your “rainy” seasons? Most of us would agree that we would love to have something like that. That is what Personal Umbrella Insurance is all about. They are there to protect you and help you out when the storms of our lives rage and there isn’t enough money elsewhere to cover what has happened to you.

Personal Umbrella is Founded

 Personal Umbrella was started in 1998 by a father and son combination. The father worked for an Excess and Surplus (E&S) Lines Broker, and the son had just finished college and began working for an Excess and Surplus Firm. The company that the son started working for decided to sell their umbrella line of business and approached him to see if he would be interested in purchasing it. After considering it, he determined he would only buy it if he could automate it.

Luckily, he had some friends who worked in that line of business. Hence, he met with them to decide how to approach the situation. They realized the best decision was to either underwrite the business or crunch the numbers through the financial and accounting sides. Finally, they agreed it was best to partner with someone established, so they had to find a company. The dad has connections at United National and discussed the possibility of writing personal umbrella insurance online. United National agreed, and out of that came Personal Umbrella Insurance.

 Ironically, they chose not to buy the line of umbrella insurance from the Excess and Surplus Firm but to start up their own from the bottom and go from there. That decision has paid off. They wrote between $1 million and $10 million. The rate depended on whether the clients were a primary or harder-to-insure risk. For example, clients that are young and just starting out driving. Or older and having trouble with seeing or operating/controlling a vehicle. In addition, those with a DUI or other infraction.

Florida Commercial Insurance Coverage

Commercial umbrella coverage is more challenging to write in the stock market. It is lower premium insurance with lots of paperwork. Personal Umbrella reduced the time it takes to register one of these policies to help their agents by getting rid of the paperwork. Moreover, they speed up other processes. Now, it only takes three minutes for the agent to get a quote and three more minutes to process it.

 So, what exactly is Personal Umbrella? Coverage kicks in after Florida homeowners, automobile, and tenants’ policies pay upfront. It is over and beyond the regular scope to keep a person from losing everything should they not have enough standard coverage. It covers if someone is at your place and injured in your pool while playing a game or just a misfortunate fall and is relatively cheap at just a few hundred dollars to $1 million.

Personal Umbrella Insurance is Automated Only

Personal Umbrella is only available online with agents, and brokers are their means of distribution. Customers have asked them to write policies directly. However, they declined that invitation because this type of insurance is hard to understand. Most normal, average, everyday Joe’s don’t need this type of insurance. It is for people with valuable property and extraordinary people who need additional coverage. 

Personal Umbrella’s primary customer has significant assets they could lose if a lawsuit occurs—for example, items such as boats, motorcycles, rental houses, or second homes. Personal Umbrella Insurance’s job is to ensure you protect these assets in the event of a lawsuit. In addition, their clients have adequate insurance to cover anything that could happen to someone while they are on their premises. Clients with these assets must be aware of the possibilities and protect themselves. 

Personal Umbrella can take the additional risks to provide this type of insurance because it is now more efficient by being done online. Moreover, continuances of loss are low even though some accidents can be severe. Therefore, Personal Umbrella may go for long periods with no claims. Then, suddenly, one will happen, but it balances out and still allows Personal Umbrella to grow and succeed in the insurance market.

Conclusion 

With how the economy is today, Personal Umbrella Insurance recognizes that some people are just looking for a reason to sue someone, even more so in Florida. However, in today’s world, with the size of the awards in a court settlement being significant, most standard insurance policies would not cover the costs. Where would that leave you? You wouldn’t need Personal Umbrella coverage only if you didn’t own a home, have kids, drive cars, or have boat insurance in Florida. If you live an everyday life, you can afford an umbrella policy through Personal Umbrella.