Will homeowner's insurance go up if you buy a pit bull?

Answer 1

Home Insurance and Pit Bulls

The question should not be - will it go up? The question should be, will they insure you "AT ALL" any more? Most insurers these day avoid providing all risk home insurance coverage for owners of certain dog breed types.

Many Home Insurance Companies nowadays automatically exclude coverage for injuries or damages related to pets, especially certain Dog Breeds.

There are many pet owners out there who are confident that their pit bull would never injure a person. However, the statistics prove that they will. It's not the dogs fault, it was bred in and is simply endemic to the breed.

From an insurance companies point of view, it could be a pretty big liability to them and that is understandable, BUT I think they should at least do some sort of checking into it, like weather the dog has bitten anyone in the past or things like that, instead of just dropping it like a hot brick!

However, to clarify, almost all major insurance carriers reserve the right to withhold payment on any animal attack claim for the insured homeowner if the animal involved was either a pit-bull or one of the other 9 dog breeds on the standard list of breeds listed because of number of attacks on humans or other animals. This said, the owner will still be held liable and civil action in such suits can incur the sale of property to satisfy the claim awarded by the court. This is something to consider since many claims against pet owners after an attack may reach a sum of tens of thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars. Or more.

Most insurance companies will ask, but never actually check.

Nationwide will insure your home if your pit-bull has passed the Canine Good Citizen program.

However, a standard waiver form may still be required which will release the insurance company from claims concerning animal or human attacks. In addition, since you have indicated to the agent that you do own such an animal, the insurance company can use that to cancel you at any time and to withhold claim payment for any animal attack issue.

Actually insurance companies always inspect a dwelling upon a new policy being written. You may not be aware of the inspection. Nationwide contracts out inspectors to inspect new insured dwellings and most times will preform inspections prior to renewal.

Note: You should always be up front and NEVER knowingly provide false or misleading information when it comes to an insurance contract. You are paying premiums for protection in the event of a loss. You don't want to jeopardize a claim with a misrepresentation. And no, Nationwide will not write a homeowners policy if you have a pit bull.