Can you get umbrella insurance from a different company from where you get your basic home/auto insurance?
I presently have auto and house insurance with a single company (call it company X). They have a local agent and the cost and responsiveness is quite nice, so I’d rather not leave them. However, the umbrella insurance they offer seems to be quite a bit more than is typical (from online searches). Is it possible to get umbrella insurance from a company different from the company where you get the ‘underlying’ insurance (i.e. house/auto)? Or do you have to get your umbrella insurance always from the place where you get your basic insurance?
Yes, you can buy umbrella insurance from a company other than the company (or companies) your auto and homeowners policies are with.
For example, I have USAA for both my auto and homeowners policies. I have high liability insurance limits on both at amazingly low rates. And when I was researching personal umbrella policies, USAA’s umbrella quotes were the least expensive — approx $128 a year for a $1 million dollar umbrella. However I didn’t go with USAA for the umbrella and instead chose a policy with USLI. The reason is while the USAA umbrella was cheaper, it didn’t cover as many risks as the USLI policy. Risks that I care about.
Umbrella insurance can be pretty complicated. Understanding just exactly what and isn’t covered by one requires careful, detailed reading of both the Umbrella policy and often the underlying home and auto policies as well.
One of the most useful and comprehensive writeups I found on personal umbrellas is:
http://www.kruise.com/pdfbooks/moreinfo/PERSONAL_UMBRELLA.pdf
Yes, this is possible. (I do it myself, for similar reasons as you said in the question.) Just make sure your primary insurance has the correct limits required by your umbrella policy. Also, if you ever add/remove autos, you have to inform both insurance companies.
Theoretically yes; the umbrella kicks in only after the ordinary plan has maxed out.
But I’m not sure this wouldn’t provoke a battle between the two insurance companies over whether the basuc plan really meets the umbrella’s requirements, exactly who pays exactly how much, and exactly how the assessment was done.
So I suspect the answer may be “possible but unwise.”