Are you feeling helpless, confused, and angry because of expensive dog bite liability claims? If yes, you're not alone.
When I was a teen, dog bite incidents caused so much turmoil that made me regret dog raising.
I was so naive at that time about dog bite laws. I neither followed the unspoken rules nor adhered to strict liability laws governing dog ownership in my jurisdiction. Fortunately, close family members were always the victim of my own dog.
Yes, my first dog had penchant for biting my immediate family members including myself.
My negligence led to some of the biting incidents and I would have paid expensive dog bite liability claims if the victims weren't so close.
I don't know about you, but when I was just starting out, the very first thing I did was learn my dog's body language, and socialized him as much as I could. But I still failed to raise him properly.
You may be a good dog owner by socialising your dog, educating family members, and avoiding risky situations but sometimes, your dog will still bite.
So, why do dogs bite even when we try our best to prevent them?
Well, even though the above question feels fascinating to ask, it's usually too late to ask when your dog has already bitten someone.
The best question to ask in this type of situation is, “how can I address dog bite liability claims in future?”
Even though my answer will surprise you, the most unexpected answer to the question boils down to umbrella insurance policy.
Have you ever thought of having an insurance policy that can pay for any damages your dog may cause to people?
As a responsible dog owner, you should.
Since I knew that responsible dog ownership comes with lots of responsibilities, my dog is always on leash whenever we visit public property. She is also well trained, but above all, I have an umbrella insurance policy in case she bites someone.
So, what is umbrella insurance and how can it help you in tackling expensive dog bite liability claims in future? This post will throw more light on this policy, but let's start with the basics.
Umbrella Insurance Explained
The world of insurance has thrown up all sorts of new products which you may find confusing. Here, I'll focus on umbrella insurance policy and how it can help you avoid expensive dog bite liability.
Umbrella insurance is a personal liability insurance.
What I mean by liability insurance is the insurance product that gives you protection against claims arising from damages and injuries to other people or their property. It covers any legal payouts and costs you may be responsible for, if you're found liable. Any type of liability insurance will only pay third party, but will not pay the policy holder.
A typical example of liability insurance include your homeowners insurance, auto insurance, watercraft insurance, etc.
Let's assume that you hold a homeowners insurance policy; if your dog bites someone, your homeowners liability insurance will pay for the medical expenses up to the amount it covers and nothing more.
But if you have an umbrella insurance, it can help in covering excess liability that the victim of your dog can come up with.
So, an umbrella insurance is a higher level of liability insurance policy designed to help you avoid financial ruin from a disastrous event which you're liable for.
Umbrella Insurance gives you additional coverage beyond the liability insurance already in your homeowners, auto, and/or watercraft insurance policies.
It’s for expensive situations where medical bills arising from dog bite exceed your “base” homeowners policy.
As a dog owner or someone with significant assets that can be lost in a lawsuit, you need this higher levels of liability insurance in the form of umbrella insurance policy.
Why Umbrella Insurance Is The Best Policy For Dog Owners
The following are the reasons why umbrella insurance is the best policy for dog owners:
1. Provide Safe Haven for Dog Owners
If you have a dog, umbrella insurance should form an important part of any insurance coverage you have. This is because it will provide safe haven for you whenever you're confronted with expensive liability claims that may arise as a result of dog bite.
2. Umbrella Insurance Provides Broad Coverage for Dog Owners
Apart from acting as a safe haven, umbrella insurance provides broad coverage for dog owners. This is because it covers any incident that the policy does not specifically exclude, unlike some insurance policies, which only cover specifically named incidents. Since there's no insurance policy that covers everything, I'll only dwell on the benefits it gives to you as a dog owner and why you should purchase the policy.
Benefits Of Umbrella Insurance To Dog Owners
Every dog owner needs an umbrella insurance because victims of dog bites can demand for unspecified amount of monetary damages. They can ask you to pay for the loss of wages since they've been unable to work after being bitten by your dog. In addition to that, your dog bite victim can ask you to pay for the medical bills, emotional distress, pain and suffering. This can run into millions of dollars and your homeowners insurance might not be able to cover this expensive dog bite liability claim. In this situation, your umbrella insurance will kick in and start paying. The benefits of umbrella insurance policy are listed below:
1. Umbrella Insurance Is Cheaper
Umbrella insurance is a good policy for dog owners because it is cheaper. A typical $1 million umbrella insurance policy costs about $150-300 per annum. However, you'll only pay around $50-75 more per annum for every million in coverage after that.
2. Umbrella Insurance Provides Worldwide Coverage
Another great reason why umbrella insurance policy is good for dog owners is that it provides worldwide coverage.
Assuming that your dog bites someone in another country while you're on vacation with him, your umbrella policy can give you protection against expensive dog bite liability claims that may arise from that incident.
How To Get Umbrella Insurance
Although getting umbrella insurance is a great idea, there are some requirements before you can get one.
One of the best ways to get an umbrella insurance is having homeowners or auto's insurance with the same company that issues your umbrella policy. However, if the umbrella insurer you choose does not require you to have your homeowners and auto's insurance policies with them as a condition for getting umbrella insurance, it might be cheaper this way to get the insurer’s bundling discount. It will also be easier to have all your policies with the same company for administrative reasons.
3 Umbrella Insurance Mistakes Dog Owners Make And How To Avoid Them
Like it or not, dog ownership is a risk. So whether you are negligent or not, chances are you can still be held liable for harm caused by your dog.
Umbrella insurance can be your saviour when tackling expensive dog bite liability claims, but before you go out and purchase 10 million dollars worth of extra coverage, you really need to step back and think about what you need as a dog owner.
Here are the common umbrella insurance mistakes dog owners make, and how you can avoid them:
1. Overlooking Lists Of Restricted Dog Breeds
Most dog owners know they should protect their assets from liability claims arising from dog bites, but so many overlook the lists of restricted or banned dog breeds. Some insurance companies do not cover the following
types of dogs—Doberman Pinscher, Pit bull, Rottweiler, Chow Chow, Wolf dogs and wolf hybrids, Presa Canario (Canary dog), Akita, etc.
So, if you want to buy an umbrella insurance policy, first of all ask the insurance company for the lists of restricted breeds. If they have none, disclose the breed of your dog to them.
However, if your dog breed is on the restricted list, disclose it to them. Many insurance companies will decide on whether to cover that breed on a case-by-case basis.
2. Buying Little Coverage
If you buy far too little coverage that cannot pay for expensive dog bite liability claims, you can still lose your assets. This doesn't make sense because you can lose a home if your coverage is only 1 million and your liability 3 million. Once you have a home insurance, umbrella insurance isn't expensive. So, purchase a coverage that can take care of expensive dog bite liability claims.
3. Buying Too Much Coverage
Your dog bite victim can't take away what you don't have in assets. So, even if you're found liable for $2000000 in damages, you really aren’t going to lose much if you don’t own anything of value.
If you're the owner of the house where your dog lives, try to get extra umbrella insurance, since you have an asset than could be seized.
If you have nice asset, you can easily become a target for lawsuit. So, get a coverage that will be able to secure your property if expensive dog bite liability claims arise.
Conclusion
As a dog owner, you should protect what matters most to you and enjoy peace of mind with your pet by buying an umbrella insurance policy.
Your umbrella insurance policy will not only act as a safe haven, but will help in giving broad coverage to some situations that aren’t covered by your primary policies.
Just like an umbrella, this policy is the best shield against expensive dog bite liability claims. So, get it today.
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