September 2026 · 4 min read
A 2025 survey commissioned by The Hanover Insurance Group and conducted by The Harris Poll found that only 23% of homeowners have an umbrella policy. The same survey found 83% of homeowners are aware of umbrella insurance, but only 39% have talked with their insurance company or agent about it.
It isn't only a question of income. The J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Homeowners Insurance Study found only 38% of customers earning over $200,000 a year have an umbrella policy, and only 25% of those earning $100,000 to $200,000.
The most telling number is this one: 66% of homeowners in the Hanover survey said they would be interested in adding an umbrella once someone described what it protects. Most people aren't turning it down. Nobody explained it to them.
An umbrella policy adds liability coverage above the limits on your home and auto policies. It is meant to protect your savings, investments and future income if you are held responsible for a large claim or judgment.
Here is how it works. If someone is hurt on your property and you are found liable for $500,000, a homeowners policy with a $300,000 liability limit pays up to $300,000. An umbrella would typically cover the remaining $200,000, up to its own limit. Without one, that $200,000 is yours to pay. Umbrella policies are usually sold in million-dollar increments, commonly $1 million to $5 million, with higher limits available.
Buying an umbrella isn't the end of it. Every umbrella policy requires your home and auto policies to carry certain minimum liability limits underneath it, and the amounts vary by insurer. If your auto policy carries less than the umbrella requires, there can be a gap between where your auto coverage stops and where the umbrella starts. In some cases, you pay that gap yourself.
This happens more often than you'd think. The umbrella is bought at one time, the auto policy is changed at another, maybe with a different company or a lower limit to save money, and nobody compares the two. Each policy looks fine on its own. The problem only shows up when they are read side by side. It is one of the first things our review checks.
Whether you have an umbrella at all, and whether your savings, home equity and future income are more than your home and auto liability limits would cover.
What your umbrella requires underneath it. The required auto and home liability limits are listed in the umbrella policy.
Whether your home and auto policies actually meet those requirements today, not just when the umbrella was bought.
Whether everything is listed. Every driver in the household, every vehicle, and any rental property, boat or other exposure the umbrella is meant to sit over.
Whether the limit still fits. If your assets or income have grown, $1 million may no longer be enough.
At The AI Insurance Group, the first review is free. Send us your home, auto and umbrella policies together. Our AI reads every page of all three and flags anything that doesn't line up, like an auto limit below what your umbrella requires. Then a licensed agent checks every finding. You get a plain-English summary of what is covered, what isn't, and whether the price still matches, and you decide what to do.
Insurance should be reviewed, not simply renewed.
The Hanover Insurance Group, 2025 Homeowners Coverage Awareness Report, conducted by The Harris Poll (October 2025). J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Homeowners Insurance Study, as reported by Yahoo Finance.
Sal Martorano is the founder of The AI Insurance Group, a licensed independent insurance agency in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida. NJ Producer License No. 3004245927.