An Overview of Homeowner’s Insurance and Dog Bites
If you own a dog it is important that you have homeowner insurance or renters insurance that provides coverage for animal attacks and gives you the highest personal liability coverage you can get. I recommend at least $100,000 in personal liability coverage, but I highly recommend you get the most possible. The reason for this is that your dog is more likely to bite someone you know and love than anybody else.
For that reason, you need to make sure you have enough coverage in case of some horrible incident where your child or friend is badly bitten by your dog. It is usually very inexpensive to get higher coverages and it might make a big difference some day.
Dogs bite around 5 million Americans a year and children are often victims of the most serious incidents.
About one third of all homeowner claims involve dog bites. This has led to a new trend among insurance companies is they are starting to raise rates or refuse coverage for households that own breeds that have a reputation for biting. Some insurers are refusing to sell to any house that has any sort of dog.
They are also revising dog-owners policies to eliminate coverage for dog attacks. It is important that you read all the notices sent from your insurance company to make sure they don’t try to sneak out of covering you for dog bite.
It is important that you make sure you have dog bite coverage in your homeowners policy because if your dog attacks someone and you don’t have insurance then a lawsuit could lead to the loss of your home.
Another possibility, if you can’t get your homeowner insurance to cover dog bites, is to get a personal umbrella liability policy. You will need to talk to your agent about the details of this type of policy because they vary and there is no standard type of this kind of policy.
Finally if you or your child have been the victim of a dog bite in Virginia you need a good Virginia dog bite lawyer. Dog bite attorney Wayne O’Bryan can help you get what you are entitled to recover for your injuries and deal with the insurance adjuster who keeps bothering you. Call us today for a free consultation at (800) 222-4189. We help people all over the state of Virginia.