Smart Auto Insurance Blog

American Commerce Insurance offers a wide variety of insurance products including motorcycle, home, renters and auto insurance.  Most people carry different types of insurance policies to protect them in the case of different kinds of accidents.  But there isn’t really an insurance product for everything that can go wrong and that’s where umbrella insurance comes in handy.  American Commerce offers umbrella insurance and does a great job of explaining how it works on their website.

Basically umbrella insurance is a catch-all insurance product.  It takes care of larger incidents that are highly unlikely, but still can devastate you.  Some examples of these incidents are your dog biting a neighbor, your child accidentally causing a fire, or a guest trips on your steps and goes on permanent disability.  All of these scenarios are relatively rare, but they do happen regularly across the nation.  Some of these incidences can cause million dollar lawsuits which most consumers are not prepared for emotionally or mentally.

Umbrella insurance can help reduce some of this stress.  It provides an extra layer of protection that can put your mind at ease.  You can add up to $5 million in extra liability protection for your homeowners, watercraft or auto insurance policies.  It’s generally a very low annual cost at just a few hundred dollars per year.  It’s a great protection to ensure you are protected in the case of lawsuits, attorney fees or garnishment of wages.

Many drivers think the items in their car are covered in their auto insurance policy, but this is often not the case.  Homeowners insurance policies and renters insurance policies often cover these items, but you will have to check with your insurer to be sure.

If you think renters insurance isn’t necessary you should think again if you are renting a property.  Unlike auto insurance, renters insurance is not required by law, but it offers almost as much value.  Many renters think they don’t have much to replace but they may not realize how quickly items such as clothes, furniture, dishes, and toiletries can add up.  Not to mention renters insurance policies can cover liability if someone is injured within the rental property.

More and more landlords are actually making renters insurance a requirement as part of the lease agreement to ensure no liability issues arise.  Fire, theft, and water damage can happen to anyone so making sure you are protected is very important.

According to an editorial on Ocala.com, Governor Charlie Crist is considering a ban on State Farm selling Florida auto insurance. State Farm will lose almost 3 million auto insurance policyholders in Florida if that provision goes ahead.

Crist, along with state Senator Mike Fasano, is retaliating against the insurer’s announcement that it will phase out its homeowners’ property insurance in the state. State Farm is leaving the market because they were not allowed to increase rates by enough to make it profitable to insure the hurricane-prone region. They are probably hoping State Farm won’t go ahead with their market exit if it means forgoing the auto insurance profits in the state.

Get State Farm quotes here.