PRODUCT: Mercury Personal Umbrella Insurance.

COMPANIES: Mercury Insurance; Mercury Casualty Company.

BEST RATING: A

AVAILABILITY: Appointed agents and brokers only.

FOCUS: Mercury offers personal auto, mechanical protection, ride-hailing, condo, homeowners, home cyber protection, home systems protection, identity management services, landlord, renters, service line protection, business auto and personal umbrella insurance in California.

Multi-vehicle crashes, dog bites or a delivery person being injured on someone's property are a few of the unexpected events that are putting Californians' personal financial health at risk. In fact, bodily injury payouts continue to climb year over year since the coronavirus pandemic started, with the average amount for a liability claim increasing by 66%, according to Mercury Insurance. The recent trend of rising liability injury claims for home and auto owners that exceed traditional policy limits has moved Mercury to unveil an all-new personal umbrella insurance policy.

“Unexpected accidents are becoming more costly for Californians, which puts them at risk of having to pay out of pocket," says Jeff Schroeder, vice president and chief product officer at Mercury Insurance. “Mercury has redesigned its umbrella insurance to give Californians an extra layer of protection beyond a traditional auto or home policy."

COVERAGE DETAILS: Key features of Mercury's updated umbrella product include:

• Multi-policy discounts: Mercury policyholders can save big with their auto, homeowners and umbrella policies.
• Three-year accident and violation-free discount: A 5% discount is given to all drivers on the Mercury policy with no losses or accidents during the last three years.
• Uninsured motorist coverage: Uninsured motorist coverage up to $1 million in the event of an accident caused by a driver who does not have insurance.
• Increased liability: Policyholders can increase their liability coverage from $1 million to $5 million, depending upon policyholders' coverage needs.

UNDERWRITING: The underlying personal automobile insurance is required to be with Mercury. Underlying home insurance is not required to be with Mercury but a discount is provided if it is. $250,000/500,000 personal property limits and $300,000 home liability limits are required on the underlying policies.

TARGET: Customers who are looking for additional liability protection beyond the limits of their auto and home policies.

COVERAGE AVAILABILITY: California, with expansion into Georgia, Texas, Illinois and Oklahoma planned.

CONTACT: Justin Yoshizawa, director, product management state, Mercury Insurance.

Will Jones is IA editor-in-chief.