About 47% of the US households have a dog, and these households are a cause of headache for the insurance companies. According to data, in 2013, homeowners insurance policies had to pay around $483 million for dog bite liability claims.
Obviously, insurance companies wouldn’t like to shell out millions of dollars over dog bite each year. But what are they going to do to cut costs and how is this going to affect dog owners?
A homeowners insurance protects the homeowners from any kind of liability claims. If you have a dog and it harms someone, the policy would cover the costs.
How big is the problem?
Each year, dogs bite around 4.5 million people in America and 885,000 of those need medical attention. About half are kids.
According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), in 2013, dog bite claims accounted for ? of all homeowners insurance liability claims. The costs associated with dog bite can be vast. It can even lead to massive surgery and emotional therapy. In 2013, the average cost against each claim was $27,862 - an amount that has escalated considerably over the last 10 years.
Are your pet is of a restricted breed?
Insurance companies mitigate their risks or costs by two ways - either by raising premium costs or by denying coverage altogether. In order to implement this largely, they have started offering breed specific policies for breeds like pit bulls, dobermans, rottweilers and you need to bear huge in monthly premiums for these aggressive breeds.
What do you need to know?
You might have full faith upon your pet, but it’s very tough to make your insurance company believe that. Below are things that you should know as a homeowner insurance and dog owner.
1) It’s difficult to find insurance as a dog owner: With breed-specific policies all around, you might find it difficult to get a coverage for your home. These breed-specific policies also create troubles for renters. All these just because of a dog, which perhaps has no history of biting.
2) You should never lie to your insurance company about your dog: Any insurance company will ask you lots of questions about your pet in order to determine the risk associated. There will be several question in the application form like the kind of dog, if any claims has been filed previously.
While you face such a scenario, keep in mind that honesty is the best policy. The outcome of lying can be dangerous. The application might get rejected based on your answer. Still it’d be better than lying.
3) Understand how dogs affect your policy: Are you sure that your policy would come to your rescue in case your dog attacks someone? Confirm if your policy would cover injuries arising from any dog-bite that your guests suffer. Read your policy and check with your insurance agent if you are not sure.Blog Category