Even if you carry General Liability Insurance for your business, you might face a repair, settlement, or judgment in excess of your coverage limit. Without Excess Liability Insurance, you would have to pay the uncovered expenses out-of-pocket.
Excess liability insurance provides insurance limits above and beyond a business's primary liability policies. When a claim is reported to the insurance company, the first policy to respond is the underlying primary, whether it?s auto liability, general liability or even employer?s liability. If the claim exhausts the limits in the primary policy, the excess liability policy picks up where the primary left off.
Excess liability coverage is essential to a household's financial security, and can provide vital support in the event of a lawsuit. CBW offers broad, competitively priced protection.
Excess Liability Cost
The cost for purchasing excess liability is nominal in comparison to the amount of protection it affords. According to the Insurance Information Institute, the cost of $1 million of personal protection is around $150, as of publication. The second $1 million will cost around $75, with $50 in costs for every $1 million thereafter. The cost to purchase excess liability for a small business may be twice as expensive as buying a personal policy, depending on the type of business and exposure, but even at $300 for $1 million in coverage, it?s worth the investment and peace of mind.
- Contractors
- Food manufacturers and distributors
- Grocery stores
- Department stores
- A wide variety of product manufacturers
- Funeral homes
- Restaurants
- Building owners and landlords
- Hotels and motels
- Auto dealers
- Newspapers, broadcasters and publishers (including media liability)
- Financial institutions and insurance companies
How does Excess Liability Insurance Protect your Business?
For a single premium, umbrella liability or excess liability policies add another layer of protection to any of several other policies that you might hold, including general liability, employer's liability, and hired and non-owned auto liability policies. For instance, if you have $1 million in general liability coverage and a covered claim is settled for $1.5 million, your small business?s umbrella liability insurance policy would pick up the additional amount.
Do I Need an Excess Liability Policy?
As a small-business owner, you may be able to protect more of your assets by investing in an excess liability policy than you would with ordinary insurance. If you face a legal settlement for an amount in excess of your standard insurance, an umbrella policy could protect you from having to drain your bank account and sell your assets to cover the cost.
How Does Excess Liability Help Me?
Excess Liability Insurance is a policy that provides coverage when an underlying liability policy has reached its limits. For example, an Excess Liability policy that extends the coverage of your General Liability Insurance. That way, if you were found liable for $1.5 million in damages and your GL only covers $1 million, they can make a claim on the Excess Liability policy to cover the remaining $500,000.
In Summary
Excess Liability policies provide coverage above the limits of the underlying coverage. It offers no broader protection than that provided by the underlying policy. This insurance does not provide coverage which is unavailable in the underlying policy.