I'm a moderately informed consumer with a question for the forum.
My wife and I have a personal umbrella policy with an underlying limit requirement of $500,000 per accident. The term "underlying limit" is a defined term, and it requires us to maintain $500K coverage for autos that we own, which of course we have. The umbrella policy covers occurrences worldwide, whereas our underlying auto policy is limited to US, Canada and Mexico.
We travel overseas regularly and rent cars. I asked my agent whether the umbrella policy covers car rentals outside the USA, Canada and Mexico, and she checked with the insurer and tells me that it does, but only if we purchase rental car liability insurance with at least the $500K limit. I cannot find anything in the umbrella policy requiring "underlying insurance" except for owned autos. There is nothing in the policy requiring us to purchase rental car insurance. (In fact, I usually do purchase liability coverage when offered, but some companies don't provide supplemental coverage to the $500K limit that my agent says is required).
Two questions: (1) Is the agent right? And if so, (2) are there any umbrella policies out there that will drop down and cover overseas rental car use outside the US without the need for underlying coverage?
My wife and I have a personal umbrella policy with an underlying limit requirement of $500,000 per accident. The term "underlying limit" is a defined term, and it requires us to maintain $500K coverage for autos that we own, which of course we have. The umbrella policy covers occurrences worldwide, whereas our underlying auto policy is limited to US, Canada and Mexico.
We travel overseas regularly and rent cars. I asked my agent whether the umbrella policy covers car rentals outside the USA, Canada and Mexico, and she checked with the insurer and tells me that it does, but only if we purchase rental car liability insurance with at least the $500K limit. I cannot find anything in the umbrella policy requiring "underlying insurance" except for owned autos. There is nothing in the policy requiring us to purchase rental car insurance. (In fact, I usually do purchase liability coverage when offered, but some companies don't provide supplemental coverage to the $500K limit that my agent says is required).
Two questions: (1) Is the agent right? And if so, (2) are there any umbrella policies out there that will drop down and cover overseas rental car use outside the US without the need for underlying coverage?
