Suburban Insurance
PIA IIA
Insurance Agency and Brokerage
Serving Pennsylvania & New Jersey

Insurance Glossary

Insurance Glossary

NOTE:
This glossary provides a comprehensive list of the most commonly used terms in property/casualty insurance.
Some life and health insurance terms are included. This is not an all-conclusive glossary of terms.

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U

Umbrella Liability Policy:
A form of insurance protection against losses in excess of amounts covered by other liability insurance policies; also protects the insured in many situations not covered by the usual liability policies. This policy is available for both personal and commercial lines coverage.

Unbundled Contracts:
A form of annuity contract that gives purchasers the freedom to choose among certain optional features in their contract.

Underinsurance:
The result of the policyholder’s failure to buy sufficient insurance. An underinsured policyholder may only receive part of the cost of replacing or repairing damaged items covered in the policy.

Underinsured Motorists Coverage (UIM):
Coverage is intended to cover you and passengers in your car for losses unpaid because sufficient bodily injury liability limits are not available from the policy of an at-fault driver. How and under what circumstances the coverage becomes operative varies in different states.

Underwriter:
An employee of an insurance company who is a selector of risks. The underwriter is expected to select business that will produce an average risk of loss no greater than anticipated for the class of business. In the life insurance industry, “underwriter” may also mean an agent or other field representative who is referred to as a “field underwriter.”

Underwriting:
The process of selecting risks for insurance and determining in what amounts and on what terms the insurance company accepts the risk.

Underwriting Profit or Loss:
The profit or loss experienced by a property/casualty insurance company after deducting from earned premiums the incurred losses and expenses of doing business, but before provision of federal income tax. It excludes investment income.

Unearned Premium:
The portion of a property/casualty insurance premium that applies to the unexpired portion of the policy period.

Uninsurable Risk:
Risks for which it is difficult for someone to get insurance. (See Insurable Risk.)

Uninsured Motorists Coverage:
Pays the policyholder and passengers in his/her car for losses sustained by reason of bodily injury, sickness, disease or death caused by the owner or operator of an uninsured automobile or a "hit-and-run" driver.

Uninsured Motorists Property Damage Coverage (UMPD):
Provides coverage to a vehicle involved in an accident with an uninsured motorist. UMPD is similar to “collision coverage,” and is not available to those who purchase collision coverage.