Pet Insurance and Pet Restraints
Posted by Brad Butler, CIC, CPIA, CRIS, HIA on Tue, Feb 14, 2012 @ 06:30 AM
I love dogs! Man’s best friend, right? Small, medium, large; they are all cool to me. Although using them as an accessory is a bit much.
Currently the fifth member of our family is an English Mastiff named Katana. Yes, she is big (180 lbs.). Yes, she eats a lot. No, she is not a horse. No, she does not bite. Yes, she drools. No, she does not have a saddle. Yes, she snores. Mastiffs are big sweet lap dogs. They are protective of their families, but they are not mean. It is their size that intimidates most people.
Katana likes to ride in the car to go pick up the kids from school. She hangs her head out of the window like most dogs, enjoying the wind and smells. For safety, the children have to sit in the backseat. Therefore, Katana rides in the front. When she puts her head out the window and sits up straight, her head is above the roof.
One afternoon, after picking up the kids, we headed to the drycleaners before going home. Unfortunately, someone pulled out in front of me and I had to hit the brakes. Katana’s head, which is the size of a small bear’s head, hit the dashboard with a “thump”.
After making sure everyone was OK, being the insurance person I am, I thought about a recent insurance company commercial advertising pet insurance in their auto policies. This is a relatively new product in the insurance industry. Therefore, I made a mental note to find out a little more about it.
Most automobile policies with pet coverage will pay if the pet in injured in an accident. Some policies also pay if your car is stolen with your pet inside it. Nevertheless, common sense rules still apply when leaving a pet in a vehicle. In addition, policies usually pay if the pet is killed in a collision. But beware! Even with all these coverages, there is usually a limit of $1,500 to $2,000. Simply taking your pet in for a check-up will cost you, on average, $200. Therefore, in totality, $1,500 to $2,000 is not that much for veterinarian charges for an injured pet. If you have a purebred, the cost is easily $1,000 to replace the one you had.
Some auto insurance with pet coverage is great, but there are other measures to keep your pet and your passengers safe. Pet restraints are a good method. There are many manufacturers, easily found with an internet search, that sell “pet seatbelts”. I found one that is actually a car seat for dogs, much like an infant seat. Personally, that was a bit much for me but some form of restraint is a good idea. We have all seen dogs in the back of pick-up trucks doing the “Toolbox Two-Step” behind the rear window.
Seriously, just like any loose object in a vehicle, a pet can be a missile bouncing around the passenger compartment. It will not only injure your pet but anyone else it happens to collide. Pet insurance is a nice to have, but it will not keep you, your pet, or your passengers, safe in an accident. In addition, considering the limited amount of coverage, I am not sure it should enter into the decision making process when choosing auto insurance.