MyInsuranceQuotes.net | Copyright 2007, All rights reserved
MyInsuranceQuotes.net
How Your Dog Affects Your Home Insurance Premium
If you have ever shopped for a home insurance policy, you may have had to disclose if you owned a Chow, Doberman, Rottweiler, Pit Bull, or a German Shepard.
If you own one of the breeds listed above, chances are you are paying a higher premium than your Shih Tzu-owning neighbor.
You aren't the only one who may think this is unfair. Dog lovers label this as “breed discrimination” and they are lobbying many state legislatures in hopes of putting an end to it. Breeds should determine home insurance rates, they say.
But insurance companies have good reason to be cautious about dogs. The Insurance Information Institute states that insurers paid over $317,000,000 in dog related claims in the year of 2005. The Insurance Information Institute says that dog bites totaled about 10% of all home related liability claims that year.
Advocacy groups can sympathize with insurers, but while they do, the Humane Society and the AKC (American Kennel Club) believe that breed-specific rating is an ineffective and misguided attempt to control the costs of aggressive dogs. All breeds bite, they say. The most effective way to reduce dog related liability claims is to reward and encourage responsible dog ownership.
These groups have persuaded some state legislatures with this argument. Some states have banned breed-specific rating, and others are creating bans right now. Legislatures are putting more emphasis on dog owner responsibility.
The AKC (American Kennel Club) thinks that dogs can be an asset to insurance companies, not only a liability. The group says that a dog may act as “a natural alarm system" and it's bark may prevent a potential theft.
The good news is that if your dog takes a bite out of a home burglar, you aren't liable for injuries. Just make sure that your dog can distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys.
Click a type of insurance: Auto | Home | Health | Life | Long Term Care
