You are a pet owner and your broker says you can\’t get liability insurance because of your dog. You ask for the names of all the companies that won\’t write you.
You find out who is the \”top dog\” at each of those companies. Send that person a letter explaining your dilemna. Ask them to let you know when they will be picking up your beloved pet to take to the local animal shelter for you since you cannot keep the poor thing any longer due to insurance problems. Don\’t forget to include a photo of your pet at their very cutest.
I agree, in principle, with Bob\’s post. As an independent agent, we will undoubtedly be looking at a lawsuit if we place a policy with Company A who excludes dog bites, when we also represent Company B who does not. Waiver or no waiver, once litigation is presented, the dog owner will seek to recoup damages somewhere . . . from my office!
Why not develop exclusionary language? If the homeowner is so assured that the dog is safe, why worry about Trial Lawyers and third parties that might become injured. Medical payments should be minimal anyways.
Better yet have the dog owners association pool member funds and create a captive/cooperative/mutual insurance company to provide dog bite coverage at a minimal premium. They should be profitable in no time. Then those of us that don\’t have this exposure should see our premiums drop.
Jeff is on the right track. If a dog owners group is convinced that coverage should be available, it should seperated from the homeowners forms and insured seperately through a seperate insurer or pool facility.
I for one dont have any dogs of the UNAPROVED BREEDS. However I dont think it is right to discriminate against certain breeds of dogs. There are BAD MEAN dogs in every breed and to single a handfull out is just plain discrimination in my mind. I myself am the owner of three Basset Hounds and a Lab mix.
The thing to do is have a universal dog exclusion on the insurance policies. So, if your dog bites someone the Insurance Company doesn\’t have to pay. It would comes out of the individuals(owners) pocket and/or garnish their future wages if they can\’t pay. Why have we removed our own responsibilitys and try to place it on everyone else. Today people don\’t want to be responsible for anything. If you want a pet and no responsibility get a pet rock.
The bottom line is that dog bites are the number 1 liability claims that home insurance companies pay out for. The last year was ove 310 mil in liability claims from dog bites, which make up a 3rd of liabibity claims. There are certain dogs ( i.e. pit, rotweller, german shepard, chow) that are at the top of the list for biting people. This is the reason that companies do not want to write ownerw with these breeds of dogs.
It is not fair to broad stroke ANY BREED because they are not ALL THE SAME! Right now there is a list of a chosen few so what happens when one day the isurance company says ok we decided now that we will insure NO ONE THAT OWNS A DOG regardless of breed and that is where it is heading. How is that fair?! If the insurance company said we arent going to insure any black person that lives in a bad part of town because they have a higher incidence of crime in their area or some crap like that everyone would be screaming discrimination and this is essentially the same thing .It is bottom line descrimination .
Nikki, if you pay a higher auto insurance premium because you’ve had two accidents and a DWI in the past three years, would you consider that discrimination? Most likely you would recognize it as a fair business decision based on prior actions. The same logic applies to most personal insurances. If you own a dog with a breed that has shown a propensity for biting human beings then you should expect to pay higher insurance premiums. There is plenty of discrimination in the world; this simply is not an instance of it.
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You are a pet owner and your broker says you can\’t get liability insurance because of your dog. You ask for the names of all the companies that won\’t write you.
You find out who is the \”top dog\” at each of those companies. Send that person a letter explaining your dilemna. Ask them to let you know when they will be picking up your beloved pet to take to the local animal shelter for you since you cannot keep the poor thing any longer due to insurance problems. Don\’t forget to include a photo of your pet at their very cutest.
I agree, in principle, with Bob\’s post. As an independent agent, we will undoubtedly be looking at a lawsuit if we place a policy with Company A who excludes dog bites, when we also represent Company B who does not. Waiver or no waiver, once litigation is presented, the dog owner will seek to recoup damages somewhere . . . from my office!
Why not develop exclusionary language? If the homeowner is so assured that the dog is safe, why worry about Trial Lawyers and third parties that might become injured. Medical payments should be minimal anyways.
Better yet have the dog owners association pool member funds and create a captive/cooperative/mutual insurance company to provide dog bite coverage at a minimal premium. They should be profitable in no time. Then those of us that don\’t have this exposure should see our premiums drop.
Jeff is on the right track. If a dog owners group is convinced that coverage should be available, it should seperated from the homeowners forms and insured seperately through a seperate insurer or pool facility.
I for one dont have any dogs of the UNAPROVED BREEDS. However I dont think it is right to discriminate against certain breeds of dogs. There are BAD MEAN dogs in every breed and to single a handfull out is just plain discrimination in my mind. I myself am the owner of three Basset Hounds and a Lab mix.
I myself think I am paying through the nose for insurance and it should cover. Thatis what you pay those godawful premiums for!
The thing to do is have a universal dog exclusion on the insurance policies. So, if your dog bites someone the Insurance Company doesn\’t have to pay. It would comes out of the individuals(owners) pocket and/or garnish their future wages if they can\’t pay. Why have we removed our own responsibilitys and try to place it on everyone else. Today people don\’t want to be responsible for anything. If you want a pet and no responsibility get a pet rock.
The bottom line is that dog bites are the number 1 liability claims that home insurance companies pay out for. The last year was ove 310 mil in liability claims from dog bites, which make up a 3rd of liabibity claims. There are certain dogs ( i.e. pit, rotweller, german shepard, chow) that are at the top of the list for biting people. This is the reason that companies do not want to write ownerw with these breeds of dogs.
It is not fair to broad stroke ANY BREED because they are not ALL THE SAME! Right now there is a list of a chosen few so what happens when one day the isurance company says ok we decided now that we will insure NO ONE THAT OWNS A DOG regardless of breed and that is where it is heading. How is that fair?! If the insurance company said we arent going to insure any black person that lives in a bad part of town because they have a higher incidence of crime in their area or some crap like that everyone would be screaming discrimination and this is essentially the same thing .It is bottom line descrimination .
Nikki, if you pay a higher auto insurance premium because you’ve had two accidents and a DWI in the past three years, would you consider that discrimination? Most likely you would recognize it as a fair business decision based on prior actions. The same logic applies to most personal insurances. If you own a dog with a breed that has shown a propensity for biting human beings then you should expect to pay higher insurance premiums. There is plenty of discrimination in the world; this simply is not an instance of it.