Business Insurance
Excess Liability Insurance for Arizona Businesses
What is excess liability?
Excess liability (often called a commercial umbrella) adds limits above your primary policies, typically general liability, commercial auto, and employer's liability. When a claim exceeds the primary limit, the excess layer responds.
Most businesses buy it for one of two reasons: a contract demands higher limits, or the business has grown to where $1 million no longer matches what is at stake.
Who needs it
Excess liability usually enters the picture for:
- Contractors whose GC agreements require $2 million to $5 million total limits
- Businesses signing leases or vendor agreements with high limit requirements
- Companies with fleets, where auto claims drive the biggest verdicts
- Property owners with multiple locations
- Any business whose assets and revenue have outgrown primary limits
What it commonly covers
An excess or umbrella policy typically provides:
- Additional limits above scheduled underlying policies
- Coverage that follows the underlying forms (excess) or sometimes broader terms (umbrella)
- Defense costs above exhausted underlying limits, depending on the form
What it may not cover
Important limitations:
- Claims excluded by the underlying policies are usually excluded above as well
- Professional liability and cyber typically need their own excess, not a general umbrella
- Coverage depends on maintaining the required underlying limits; letting a primary policy lapse creates a gap
Coverage varies by policy. The details above are general; your policy's terms control.
When it's commonly required
- Contracts require total limits above your primary policy, very common in construction
- Landlords with larger buildings require higher liability limits in leases
- Municipal and enterprise work frequently requires $5 million or more
How BrokerPro approaches it
Excess pricing depends heavily on what sits underneath it, so we quote the primary and excess together when we can. If a contract requirement is driving this, send us the contract language; 'per occurrence' versus 'aggregate' wording changes what you actually need to buy.
For tougher classes, building a tower of excess layers from multiple carriers is sometimes the way to reach the required limit at a workable price.
Common questions
What's the difference between excess and umbrella coverage?
An excess policy follows the terms of the underlying policy and just adds limit. An umbrella can be slightly broader, occasionally covering things the primary does not. In practice, the labels blur and the policy form is what matters. We read the form.
A contract requires $2 million aggregate. My GL is $1M/$2M. Am I covered?
Maybe, depending on whether the requirement means per occurrence or aggregate, and whether your aggregate is shared across claims. This exact confusion is common. Send us the contract and your policy and we will give you a straight answer.
How much does $1 million of excess cost?
For many small businesses, an additional $1 million runs a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars per year depending on the operations underneath it. Auto-heavy and construction risks price higher.
Ready to look at excess liability options?
Send us the basics and we'll come back with practical choices and plain-English explanations. No runaround.