Originally Posted by
himespau
So is the umbrella an addition to your homeowners, or is it a separate thing? I've been just buying the most cost-efficient car/homeowners combo once a year off the internet, so I don't have an agent advising me.
It's a separate thing, but for USAA at least, it requires that you have your auto and homeowners insurance at certain levels. In my case, they are already at those levels -- the auto liability has to be at $500k per incident, and the homeowners personal injury at $300k.
Then you can add the umbrella insurance which covers up to $1-5 million (you choose the limit) for claims that those other policies would cover. So it's just a way to tie the policies together with an increased total liability limit.
I am not 100% certain I have all of those details correct, but that's how I understood it.