homeowners

Lose your dog or lose your homeowners insurance is not always the best option for your family

When you work the best insurance broker they are able to find an insurance company that will help you

You may have a dog that you believe “would never bite someone” but the facts show dog bite claims are very costly to the insurance industry

With medical costs on the rise and a growing litigious environment,

you are more than likely going to be sued if your pet bites someone or causes an injury because they chased or scared someone and an injury was sustained

Your dog doesn’t have to actually bite someone for a claim to be filed against you

Just an alleged incident can cost you

Not all New Orleans homeowners insurance policies cover dog bite liability

and if you have one of the breed of dogs on the prohibited list

more than likely you are on your own defending any alleged dog bite claim by a neighbor, friend or family member (not living in household) and paying out of your savings account

Here is a list of prohibited breed of dogs from one of our insurance companies we represent (list can vary with each company)

• Akitas
• American Bulldogs
• Beaucerons
• Caucasian Mountain Dogs
• Chow Chow
• Doberman Pinschers
• German Shepherds
• Great Danes
• Pit Bulls
• Rottweilers
• Staffordshire Terriers
• Wolf Hybrids

If your family pet is listed above, it does not indicate your dog is vicious and likely will attack someone but is more likely to be involved in an animal liability claim

What to do if you own a dog on the list above?

Well “get rid of it” is the simple answer,

but for most family pets,

a dog can be like another family member.

1. First thing to do is contact your insurance broker and ask if owning your breed of dog will exclude all coverage under you New Orleans homeowners insurance policy

It may have been an exclusion to coverage when you initiated the policy and either the agent didn’t ask or you didn’t disclose the breed of dog or you brought home your dog after the policy was sold and didn’t notify your agent.

Either way the entire policy may be voided so ask if there is an issue with policy coverage.

2. Find a homeowners policy that will allow your breed of dog

If you have a prohibited breed of dog, it is possible some insurance companies will allow you to keep your home insurance policy, but will not extend liability to any claim involving an alleged dog bite or attack.

A simple email to your agent and ask if there is a coverage issue only takes a few seconds

What if my homeowners insurance company is going to cancel my policy because of a dog bite claim?

It happens

An unexpected or alleged claim against your dog

There is nothing you could have done

Most homeowners companies will cancel you after a dog bite claim or surcharge your insurance rate at renewal

If you are being canceled, your options are limited

The liability claim is now on your record and most insurance companies pull a CLUE report

Insurance companies share your claim history and when you apply for a new homeowners policy,

the new home insurance company can view your claim history usually up to 7 years

So before you attempt to not disclose your dog bite liability claim to the new insurance company,

save yourself some time and just ask if the homeowners insurance company will accept the application with a dog bite claim.

What to do if every company has declined to write a new homeowners insurance policy because of your claims history?

Good News

We have an insurance company that will consider your application for dog bite insurance coverage with a dog bite claim on your record

All applications are subject to underwriting approval

The insurance company will write the policy but you will not get any animal or dog bite liability insurance coverage

But the insurance quote will be expensive and more than my current policy?

Not so

We are seeing on some insurance quote proposals a lower premium than your existing policy that is being canceled

What’s this all about?

After you received a notice of cancellation on your homeowners policy and you decided you don’t want to get rid of your dog,

you now have an option

Complete our quick form or contact us to discuss your claim history so we can determine if we can help you get dog bite insurance in New Orleans you need without having to get rid of your dog

If you own a home in Laplace and you are looking for ways to lower your expenses including your homeowners insurance rate here are a few ways to accomplish lower rates

I put together a few things you can do to save hundreds off of your quote.

RAISE YOUR DEDUCTIBLE

When you raise your deductible (the amount deducted from a claim check) your insurance rate goes down

You want to raise your deductible to a level of affordability

If you only have $1,000 in your checking account,

you don’t want to take a $5,000 deductible

Your next claim would be a financially devastating event.

But if you have never made any claims other than weather related,

you need to begin to consider transfer of risk

You want to transfer more of the risk to you and away from the insurance company by considering a higher All Other Perils deductible (not hurricane or named storm)

When you take a low deductible, you are telling the insurance company to take on more of the insurance responsibility if you make a claim

When you do that, the insurance company charges you more on your Laplace homeowners insurance

BUNDLE YOUR AUTO, HOME, UMBRELLA AND FLOOD WITH ONE INSURANCE BROKER

When you work with the best Laplace insurance broker you get access to more discounts and more A rated insurance companies so you can lower your insurance expenses

Bundle your auto, home, umbrella and flood with the same agency and you will get discounts on your

• auto policy
• homeowners policy
• umbrella policy
• flood insurance policy
• rental property insurance

The majority of homeowners insurance companies do not write all lines of insurance

but they will give discounts if all of the lines of business are with the same insurance broker

I talk to many customers who have their flood with one agent

Their auto insurance somewhere else

and their homeowners insurance with they purchased through some insurance broker their real estate agent recommended and they have no idea who their agent is or where they are located

IMPROVE YOUR HOME SECURITY

Two discounts available are monitored fire alarm and monitored burglar alarm.

There is a race to the bottom with pricing right now for security systems

The standard at one time was $40-$50/month for monitoring services

Today monitoring alarm companies are cutting prices against their competition and you are going to benefit

If you have not priced a new security system,

now is the time

No more landline needed

Some Laplace home insurance companies will offer large discounts for monitored security systems (up to $300 annually)

But don’t just do it for the discounts.

Protecting your family and your house with a monitored security system in Laplace is  just a responsible thing to do

ADJUST YOUR PERSONAL PROPERTY CONTENTS COVERAGE

For many years, homeowners insurance companies would provide you 50% of the home insured value for your personal property

It was packaged and there was nothing you could do

If you had a 400,000 house,

you would get $200,000 of contents coverage

Regardless if you could only prove you had $75,000 of property 

you had to take $200,000 of contents coverage,

but would only be paid for $75,000

Now you can adjust your contents coverage to the actual replacement value of your property

Determine the replacement cost of your property inside your house

Specialty items like jewelry, guns and collectibles have limitations so don’t include these items in the total value of your contents

You would need a personal articles scheduled stand alone policy

ADJUST THE INSURED VALUE TO THE REPLACEMENT COST

Due to the inflation guard endorsement on a homeowners policy,

the endorsement could make your insured value increase considerably if you have been with the same insurance company for a long time.

The inflation guard endorsement will automatically increase your insured value usually 1-3% every renewal in an attempt to keep up with the actual replacement cost to rebuild your house

A quick rule of thumb is to take $125-$165 x total square feet of your house to get an estimate of the cost to rebuild your house

$100 x 2465 square feet = $246,500 estimated replacement cost

This is just a quick guide to help you get an idea if your home is under or over insured.

A licensed home builder will give you a more accurate picture of the cost to rebuild your house.

What’s this all about?

Lowering your insured value on your home insurance policy to a point of under insuring your property is not a smart idea because you need enough money on the claim check to rebuild your house

When you are ready to work with Laplace homeowners insurance broker that can help you lower your insurance expenses and give you the protection you need complete the form below