How Do Pets Affect Your Home Insurance?

Pets can be like family. However, depending on the kind of home insurance policy you choose, pets can affect your insurance in various ways. Let Guy Hurley McNeil in Rochester Hills, MI help you learn more about how a pet and your home insurance work together.

Pets and Home Insurance

Home insurance is known for protecting your property from damage and all the belonging that you may have in it. It can also protect you from liabilities in case someone is injured in your home. You may be wondering, what happens if your dog bites a guest or your pet damages your neighbors’ property?

Having a liability policy is essential in this situation, as it caters for the cost of replacement of the damaged property. It also helps to pay the medical bills if your pet were to cause injuries to a person. Moreover, it may help you pay the legal fee if the victim decides to sue you for the damages.

However, owning a pet affects your premiums. When purchasing home insurance, you should evaluate the policy and check if your pet is listed. If you want a pet, you should know that your premiums may increase. This is because if you have not added your pet to your home insurance coverage, the insurance policy could be declared void and this may cost you thousands of dollars to pay for the legal and medical expenses where a liability policy is not applicable. This is the major reason why you should consider adding your pet to your policy.

Dangerous and Exotic Pets

If you own a dangerous or exotic pet like a snake, you will need to add an extra rider for additional protection. A dog or cat may not increase your policy, although, in some circumstance, it may. The increase depends on the breed, size and history of pet you are keeping. Some kinds of dogs such as the German Shepherds and wolf-dog hybrids are associated with higher premiums. This is because, although they can be trained to be excellent pets, they are associated with aggression thus requiring extra care and protection.

Adding your family pet to your homeowner’s insurance policy in is crucial. Reach out to the agents of Guy Hurley McNeil in Rochester Hills, MI to learn more about how a pet can affect your home insurance policy.