gma news: We Finally Got an Umbrella Insurance Policy

Friday, February 15, 2013

We Finally Got an Umbrella Insurance Policy - Bargaineering

Back in 2006, in the first few years of running Bargaineering, I asked you all whether I needed an umbrella insurance policy. Practically everyone said yes. I even went as far as asking GEICO for a quote on a $1 million dollar umbrella insurance policy, which would?ve cost me $124 a year ? or about on par with renter?s insurance.

It?s so cheap, probably because it?s not used very often. You have so many other insurances ?in the way? that you don?t get to the umbrella policy unless things get pretty bad. Then again, that?s why you get insurance. It?s to protect you from the ?pretty bad? stuff right?

So last week, after consulting with a financial adviser and going over the things that I might want to look into, I asked my State Farm agent for a quote. The price for $1 million of coverage was $142 a year. Add an additional million and it?s just another $71. It?s more than what GEICO quoted me six years ago but we also get $65 off our auto insurance for a net increase, on two million, of $148. I don?t know if GEICO included a multi-line discount in their original quote so this might not be an apples to apples comparison.

I?m not one to be easily swayed by the fear argument (since it took me six years to get a policy that took five minutes to implement) but one thing did resonate with me from the last post ? monkeyjoe saying ?All it takes is one bad accident on a slippery day for your wages to be garnished for the rest of your life.?

Given the cost and the protection it affords, it?s a lot like renter?s insurance. You could live happily without it, as many renter?s do, but all it takes is one unlucky scenario and you?ll wish you had it. I?ll just chalk it up to good luck that I didn?t need it the last six years? and will smile on my good fortune if I don?t need it for another fifty.