Umbrella & Excess Liability
Additional limits stacked above your primary liability policies.
Questions
- Does personal umbrella insurance cover business?
Generally no. A personal umbrella extends the liability limits of your personal policies — home, auto, boat — and carriers exclude business exposure: Progressive states plainly that a business owner seeking professional or general liability coverage "won't be covered" by a personal umbrella. Business liability needs its own primary policies, topped by a commercial umbrella when contracts demand higher limits.
- Is a minimum of $5 million umbrella liability over a $2 million general liability normal for a vendor contract?
Such demands are real and enforceable — venues and corporate clients set vendor insurance requirements through their risk departments, and $5M-over-$2M language does appear in event contracts — but there is no published market standard, and a requirement that size sits at the top of the range for a solo photographer. It is frequently negotiable.