Special Policies

By: AARP Education & Outreach | Source: AARP.org | December 6, 2005

Umbrella Liability Insurance
Even if you have insurance that covers your home, auto, and other property, you may still want or need an umbrella policy. This type policy works the way it's named; it spans over all your other property-related policies, providing excess coverage once coverage under one of those policies is used up. Because it's possible to suffer huge financial losses in liability lawsuits and other related situations, more and more people are taking advantage of umbrella policies.

Umbrella policies offer two valuable benefits:

1. They tend to cover a wider range of insurable situations (called "perils" ) than primary insurance policies, and
2. They provide additional coverage once your primary policy's coverage runs out.

The more property and money you have to protect, the more likely that an umbrella policy is right for you. In any case, however, it's wise to speak to an insurance specialist to see whether umbrella insurance is right for you.

Floater Policies
Floater policies cover personal property even if it's moved from its main location. So if you own something particularly valuable that you take with you on occasion, you might consider a floater policy. This might be jewelry, camera, or electronics. There are two types: scheduled policies name the actual items; unscheduled policies cover certain types of items, or possibly all your moveable items.