DEAR BRUCE: I recently turned in my plates on my car and will have no insurance. My daughter, who lives with me, will add me to her policy for my use of one of her two cars. Her policy coverage is as follows, $100,000 insurance liability, each person $300,000 each occurrence. Which would be the best cost effective method to protect assets? Increase her liability to $1 million get a non-owners policy, or perhaps get an umbrella insurance starting at the amount her liability ends? Or must an umbrella policy be based on a basic car insurance policy in my name? -- M.G., via e-mail
DEAR M.G.: You mentioned you turned your plates in and will have no insurance. Did you dispose of the automobile? You should have insurance on that car as long as it's in your name even though no one is operating it. Your daughter lives with you, which could be troublesome because oftentimes umbrella policies are issued only to homeowners, although your daughter could carry a renter's policy. Check this out with your insurance agent. One-hundred-thousand dollars to $300,000 is almost like no insurance at all. You want at least a couple of million under an umbrella policy that dovetails with the primary policy. You mention a nonowners policy. You need to go to your agent or broker and explain what you're trying to accomplish, at least several million on any automobile you operate, and find the least expensive way to accomplish this. You might also counsel your daughter that she is putting herself in jeopardy with such a tiny amount of insurance.