Additional limits above the policies you already carry — responding when a claim breaks through the primary layer.
Additional millions sitting above your scheduled underlying policies.
The most common tower — contract requirements of five million usually land here.
Vehicle claims are the ones that most often blow through primary limits.
Workplace injury claims beyond the underlying policy.
Some umbrellas pick up gaps the underlying policies leave, subject to a retention.
Where the underlying limit is exhausted, defence obligations can continue under the umbrella.
Anywhere severity can exceed a primary limit — or a contract simply demands a bigger number.
Five and ten million requirements are now routine in commercial contracts.
One serious vehicle claim can exhaust a primary auto limit alone.
Severity risk scales with footfall.
Product claims aggregate across everything shipped.
More people, more sites, more ways for one bad day to exceed a limit.
The umbrella is usually the cheapest way to satisfy the number in the contract.
The most common umbrella failure is a gap between the underlying limit and the umbrella attachment point — the layers must match exactly, which is a placement discipline, not a pricing one.
Excess follows the underlying policy exactly. An umbrella can also be broader in places. The terms get used loosely — what matters is the wording, which we read before you buy.
Carriers set the premium, not us — but per million of cover, umbrella is typically the cheapest liability protection available, because it sits above your primary policies. We shop A-rated markets and show you the options.
General liability, commercial auto and employers liability are the standard schedule — the umbrella only responds above policies listed on it.
The dollar level where umbrella cover begins — it must match your underlying limit exactly or a gap opens between the policies.
Usually not — E&O generally needs its own excess tower. If a contract demands higher professional limits, that is a different placement.
Five million is the common ask on larger commercial work, ten on major projects — send us the requirement and we will price the tower.
Only where the umbrella is written broader, and then subject to a self-insured retention — never assume it, read it.
Umbrellas require minimum underlying limits — if yours sit below the required attachment, we adjust the primary policies as part of the same placement.
