Dogs and Insurance

[mickeyd]

With all of the publicized Pit Bull attacks lately, I am not surprised that insurance companies are looking at this hazard in a different way. If you have a certain kind of mutt, you may see your premium increase.

As it turns out, there's no standard list insurance companies follow, but dogs can factor in when an insurer is reviewing your new customer application. And it's not just the breeds typically thought of as aggressive, such as pit bulls, Rottweilers, chow chows, Doberman pinschers and German shepherds.


"Insurance companies go by the average number of bites reported by a certain breed," says Ashley Hunter, owner and president of HM Risk Group, an insurance and risk management brokerage in Austin, Texas.

Insurance bites dog (Page 1 of 2)

 

[ziggy29]

Not surprising. For what it's worth (and this was about three years ago), I asked USAA about this after we adopted our dog, and they said it doesn't change our homeowners insurance or umbrella rates regardless of breed. Again, this was a few years ago but to my knowledge it hasn't changed.

The sad thing is that I've known pits which were some of the sweetest dogs I've ever seen. The problem is that the breed can be vicious if trained to be, which is why they are a favorite for people who want a little Cujo.

 

[Da Nag]

With our pack being an integral and non-negotiable part of our household, I've watched with interest over the past few years as such reports have surfaced. I shop around every year at premium renewal time, and the "dog question" is the first thing I inquire about. In fact, I'm doing it right now.

In years past, it's been pretty much the same response for the companies I've contacted that write policies in CA. Most companies don't care - as long as you have no aggression/bite history.

For those that do care, they typically ask two questions - breed, and whether any of them have been trained for protection. For those companies that care about breed, the following "undesirables" have been mentioned to me by name: Pit Bull, German Shepherd, Dobermans, Rotties, Akitas, Bulldogs, and Mastiffs.

Yesterday, I had an unexpected response - we were denied coverage from Western Mutual. The reason: We have three "large" dogs. Didn't matter the breed. Didn't matter the history, either of our existing dogs or our past claims (perfectly clean on both counts.) Just size and quantity.

If we had two large dogs, no problem. It was even stated, that if one of our three dogs was a "lap dog", no problem.

Crazy stuff...

 

[RustyShackleford]

If we had two large dogs, no problem. It was even stated, that if one of our three dogs was a "lap dog", no problem.

Crazy stuff...

Dogs can take on a completely different personality when they are
in a pack ... it is in their DNA. So it kinda makes sense, I'm afraid.

 

[cantlogin]

They look like lap dogs to me.

 

[Da Nag]

They look like lap dogs to me.

How true.

As of Monday, they'll also be Amica dogs...