Why Your Dog Needs Liability - Homeowners Insurance Even if He’s Perfect
Personal Liability, Massachusetts Home Insurance Umbrella and animal liability coverage can keep your finances safe if your dog hurts someone.
My Dog Bear is an angel. The most vicious he gets is when he decides it's time to attack his bacon ball. His greatest foe is the doorbell.
But just in case a human hand happens to get entangled with the bacon ball mid-chomp or his howls at the door scare someone off the steps and onto the pavement, I make sure to have Massachusetts Home Insurance, Condo Insurance and Renters Insurance. Quote Us at Savin Jones Insurance.
All joking aside, Massachusetts Home Insurance liability coverage is a must for any dog owner regardless of the pooch's temperament. If you or your dog is held responsible for injuries to someone else, you’ll have to pay the associated costs — and they can be significant.
Don't get a bite taken out of your wallet
State Farm paid 3,186 dog-related injury claims in 2020, at an average of just under $50,000 per claim, according to data provided by State Farm. In the event your Fido or Fifi causes one of these claims, your homeowners insurance coverage will likely be your first line of defense. Personal liability is part of a standard home insurance policy, but payout amounts have preset limits and may not be enough to cover what you owe for a claim against you. "You really should have a liability policy because [a large claim] can break you," "Everybody should be checking their Massachusetts Home Insurance, Condo Insurance and renters liability limit."
Umbrella insurance for dog owners
The typical Massachusetts Homeowners Insurance Policy includes between $100,000 and $500,000 of liability coverage — and renters insurance often has $100,000 — but you don't want to find out the hard way that this amount isn't enough. If you owe more than your home insurance covers, personal umbrella insurance can make up the difference and ensure you aren't on the hook for thousands of dollars. It costs about $200 to $350 per year for $1 million of coverage, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
A dog bite is far from the only kind of injury that can cost you a ton of money. To understand how an umbrella policy could make all the difference for a dog owner, consider this real-life scenario play out last year:
A woman took her son's 7-pound dog for a walk. They crossed paths with an older man walking a dog of his own. The man was startled by the woman’s dog coming toward him, losing his balance and falling backward off a curb. The man broke his hip, requiring hip replacement surgery and forcing him to live permanently in a long-term health care facility. The man sued the woman walking the dog and won. Because she didn’t have a personal umbrella policy, she had to pay out of pocket for all of the man's expenses that went beyond her homeowners policy's liability limits.
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