Umbrella — coverage above your coverage.
Your home and auto policies have liability limits. A serious lawsuit doesn't. Personal umbrella insurance adds a layer of liability — $1 million to $10 million — on top of everything you already carry, and it covers claims your standard policies exclude, like being sued over a social-media post. Written by Foremost Signature and Foremost360, it's the inexpensive layer between one bad moment and your savings. Here's how it works, what it takes to qualify, and who should have it. From an independent agency that places it every day.
The short answer
Personal umbrella is written by Foremost Signature and Foremost360 — the standard-lines families — while Foremost Choice sits this one out, because umbrella stacks on top of standard auto and home. It adds $1 million to $10 million of liability above your existing limits, pays the excess when your home or auto liability is exhausted, and covers claims those policies exclude — libel, slander, defamation, and more. To carry it you need qualifying underlying limits first. In Arkansas, where the auto minimum is just 25/50/25, that requirement is a feature, not a hurdle. Backed by an A (Excellent) carrier group — and quoted against 40+ others.
The families that write your base policies.
Umbrella is the one line where Choice steps aside — because it sits over the standard auto and home coverage the other two families write.
- The former MetLife Auto & Home book
- Umbrella over your Signature auto & home
- $1M–$10M excess liability
- Part of the same package
- The combined MetLife + Foremost platform
- Umbrella over your 360 auto & home
- Clean, modern single-account setup
- Often the fit for standard households
- The specialty book (mobile homes, toys)
- No standard auto/home to build over
- Your umbrella goes to Signature or 360
The one line where the specialist steps aside.
On motorcycles, boats, RVs, and mobile homes, Foremost Choice is the star. Umbrella flips it: because the policy is built on top of standard auto and home liability, it comes from the standard-lines families, Signature and Foremost360. That's exactly why an independent agency helps — we can place the umbrella where it belongs, keep your underlying auto and home wherever they're best priced across our 40+ carriers, and still make the tower fit together.
When the claim is bigger than your limits.
Umbrella is "excess" liability: it starts paying where your underlying policy stops. The clearest way to see it is a number.
An umbrella doesn't replace your home or auto liability — it extends it. When a covered judgment blows past your underlying limit, the umbrella picks up the rest, up to its own limit, plus legal defense costs.
An illustration, not a quote.
Say someone is seriously injured, and you're found responsible for $750,000 in damages. Your homeowners liability limit is $300,000. Here's how the two scenarios play out:
That $450,000 would otherwise come out of your savings, home equity, and future wages. Figures are illustrative only — not a quote, not a guarantee, and not a promise of coverage for any particular claim.
More limit — and coverage your policies skip.
Excess Bodily Injury & Property Damage
Extra liability that kicks in when the limits on your auto, home, landlord, or boat policy are used up — the coverage that stands between a large judgment and everything you own.
Legal Defense Costs
Attorney fees, court costs, and settlements — defending a serious liability suit is expensive on its own, and umbrella helps carry that weight, often on top of your limit.
Personal Injury Claims
Libel, slander, defamation, false arrest, and invasion of privacy — the kinds of claims a social-media post or a heated review can trigger, which standard policies often exclude entirely.
Rental-Property Liability
Umbrella can extend over the liability on your rental dwellings, so a tenant or guest injury that exceeds your landlord policy's limit doesn't land on you personally.
Follows You Worldwide
Umbrella coverage isn't tied to your house or your car — it follows you, at home and abroad, across the situations that create personal liability.
What It Doesn't Cover
Not your own injuries or property, not intentional or criminal acts, not contractual liability, and not business activities — those need their own coverage. Optional uninsured-motorist protection can be added.
You have to build the base first.
Because umbrella is excess coverage, carriers require qualifying underlying liability before it attaches — commonly around 250/500 bodily injury and $100,000 property damage on auto, and at least $300,000 personal liability on home or rental policies.
Why that's good news in Arkansas.
You need a qualifying auto policy and a qualifying personal liability policy (homeowners, renters, or condo) underneath the umbrella. A motorcycle policy alone doesn't satisfy the auto requirement.
Here's the Arkansas angle: the state's minimum auto liability is only 25/50/25, and a lot of drivers never move off it. That leaves them badly exposed — a serious at-fault accident can blow through $25,000 in an instant. Adding an umbrella forces the base-limits conversation: we raise your auto and home liability to qualifying levels, then layer the umbrella on top. You end up better protected at every level, not just the top.
More people than think they need it.
The rule of thumb, then the list.
The simplest guideline: carry umbrella limits at least equal to your net worth — the assets and future income a lawsuit could reach. Beyond that, certain situations raise your exposure enough that umbrella is worth a serious look:
Homeowners and landlords; anyone with meaningful savings, investments, or home equity to protect; families with teen drivers; owners of a pool, trampoline, or dog; boat and recreational-vehicle owners; people active on social media; and youth-sports coaches and volunteers. If a single bad moment could cost you more than your home and auto limits, umbrella is the layer that keeps it from reaching your savings.
Backed by an A (Excellent) group.
On August 1, 2025, AM Best affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent), stable outlook, for the members of the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies — the group behind the Foremost companies that write this coverage in Arkansas. A financial strength rating is an opinion about an insurer's ability to pay claims; it doesn't grade how a specific claim is handled, and it isn't a recommendation to buy or keep a policy. Different question, different source — the current rating is at ambest.com.
Where we earn it on an umbrella.
The umbrella mistakes are quiet ones: no umbrella at all for a household with real assets, an umbrella sitting over underlying limits that don't qualify, a gap where a boat or rental isn't scheduled underneath, and a limit smaller than net worth. We build the whole tower on purpose — base limits first, umbrella on top, no gaps. We don't adjust your claim and can't overrule an adjuster — but we'll tell you what limit actually fits your exposure, make sure the underlying policies qualify, and move any piece of it among our 40-plus markets if the fit changes.
A lot of protection for a little.
Umbrella is widely considered one of the best values in insurance — a large limit for a relatively small premium — but the actual number turns on your limit ($1M to $10M), how many vehicles and drivers and properties sit underneath, your underlying limits, and your history. Because those vary, we won't post a figure. This isn't a quote or a guarantee. Two things move the price the right way: raising your underlying limits (which often lowers the umbrella cost while improving your base protection) and keeping your policies together. Send the declarations pages for your auto and home and we'll build the number with you.
The policies underneath this one.
Foremost umbrella questions.
Which Foremost writes personal umbrella insurance?
Umbrella is written by Foremost Signature and the combined Foremost360 platform — the standard-lines families. Foremost Choice, the specialty book behind mobile homes and the recreational toys, does not write umbrella.
That's by design: an umbrella policy sits on top of your standard auto and home liability, so it comes from the families that write those, not the specialty book. It's the opposite of a page like motorcycle, where Choice leads and 360 sits out — here Choice is the one that steps aside. We place both umbrella programs and build it over your existing coverage.
What does umbrella insurance actually do?
It adds a layer of liability coverage above the limits of your other policies. Picture a real example: someone is seriously injured and you're found responsible for $750,000 in damages, but your home policy's liability limit is $300,000. Without an umbrella, you'd owe the remaining $450,000 out of your own pocket — savings, home equity, future wages. With a $1 million umbrella, that gap is covered.
Umbrella pays excess bodily injury and property damage once your underlying auto or home liability is exhausted, and it also covers some claims those policies exclude. Limits typically run from $1 million to $10 million.
What do I need to qualify for an umbrella policy?
Because umbrella is excess coverage, you first need solid underlying liability. That generally means a qualifying auto policy and a qualifying personal liability policy such as homeowners, renters, or condo, each carried at minimum limits the umbrella carrier requires — commonly around 250/500 bodily injury and $100,000 property damage on auto, and at least $300,000 personal liability on home or rental policies.
A motorcycle policy on its own doesn't satisfy the auto requirement. In practice, adding an umbrella often means raising your base limits first, which is a good thing — it means the whole tower of coverage is built right.
What does umbrella cover that my home or auto doesn't?
Two things stand out. First, it covers claims above your underlying limits — the large judgment that would otherwise wipe out your assets. Second, it can cover types of liability your standard policies exclude, most notably personal injury offenses like libel, slander, defamation, false arrest, and invasion of privacy — think being sued over a social-media post or a negative review.
It also covers legal defense costs, can extend to rental-property (landlord) liability, and follows you anywhere in the world. It does not cover your own injuries or property, intentional or criminal acts, or business activities, which need their own coverage.
How much umbrella coverage do I need, and who should have it?
A useful rule of thumb is to carry umbrella limits at least equal to your net worth — the assets and future income a lawsuit could reach. Coverage runs from $1 million to $10 million.
As for who should consider it: homeowners and landlords, anyone with meaningful savings or investments, families with teen drivers, owners of pools, trampolines, or dogs, boat and recreational-vehicle owners, people active on social media, and youth-sports coaches all carry above-average liability exposure. If a single bad moment could cost you more than your home and auto limits, umbrella is the inexpensive layer that stands between that and your savings.
How do I get a Foremost umbrella quote in Arkansas?
Foremost is agent-only, so an appointed agency like ours is how the coverage is bought. Start at our personal lines quote form or call (479) 286-1066. Because umbrella sits over your other policies, the fastest path is to send the declarations pages for your auto, home, and any rental or boat policies.
That lets us confirm your underlying limits qualify, raise them where they fall short, and price the umbrella over the top. If your base limits need to come up first, we'll tell you exactly what to change and why.
If our coverage explainers are useful, mark Cribb Insurance as a preferred source so more Northwest Arkansas families can find our local, plain-English guides.
Foremost is one of 40+ carriers we represent.
Which means we can place your umbrella through Foremost Signature or Foremost360, keep your auto and home wherever they're best priced, and make the whole tower fit together with no gaps. Send the declarations pages for your auto and home and we'll read them back in plain English: whether your underlying limits qualify, where Arkansas's minimums leave you exposed, and what umbrella limit actually fits your net worth. If what you have is already right, we'll say so.
Cribb Insurance Group Inc. is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas. We are not Foremost, and this page is not endorsed, sponsored, reviewed, or approved by Foremost. "Foremost," "Foremost Choice," "Foremost Signature," "Foremost360," and "Farmers" are service marks or trademarks of the Foremost Insurance Group, the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies, and their affiliates, used here nominatively to identify products we are appointed to place. Foremost Signature is the property-casualty business formerly known as MetLife Auto & Home, acquired by Farmers in 2021. Foremost's Arkansas personal umbrella policies are issued by Foremost- and Farmers-affiliated underwriting companies through the Foremost Signature and Foremost360 programs; the Foremost Choice specialty program does not write personal umbrella coverage.
This page describes coverage in general terms for informational purposes only. It is not a policy, not an offer of insurance, and not a guarantee of coverage, availability, eligibility, or price. The illustration showing a $750,000 judgment, a $300,000 home limit, and a $1,000,000 umbrella is a simplified hypothetical for explanation only; it is not a quote, not a guarantee, and not a representation that any particular claim would be covered or paid in that manner. Actual coverage depends on the facts of the claim and the terms of the policies involved. Umbrella limits ($1 million to $10 million), coverages, extensions (including rental-property liability and optional uninsured/underinsured motorist), underlying-limit requirements, self-insured retention, exclusions, and eligibility vary by Foremost family, by program, by policy, by state, and over time, are set by the carrier, and are subject to underwriting approval and to the terms, conditions, limits, and exclusions of the policy actually issued. Umbrella does not cover your own injuries or property, intentional or criminal acts, contractual liability, or business activities. If anything on this page conflicts with the issued policy, the policy controls.
Statements about Arkansas's minimum auto liability limits and about typical underlying-limit requirements are general information, not legal advice, are subject to change, and are governed by current Arkansas law and the umbrella program's own rules. Financial strength ratings are opinions of an insurer's ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations, are subject to change, are not recommendations to purchase, hold or terminate any policy, and do not address an insurer's claims-handling practices; current ratings are at ambest.com. The A (Excellent) rating referenced was affirmed by AM Best on August 1, 2025 for the members of the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies, which include the Foremost underwriting companies. No premium figures are represented or guaranteed on this page; any premium is determined by the carrier at quote based on your specific coverage, underlying policies, and risk.
Last reviewed July 2026.