Many pet insurance companies now offer third party liability within their dog insurance policies.
What is it?
Third party liability for pet insurance means that dog owners are financially protected if their dog damages someone else's property, if someone dies as a result of their dog and it's actions, if they are injured or become ill as a result of an incident involving their dog.
Dogs can be unpredictable and accidents do sometimes happen, so it's important to protect yourself against today's 'blame and claim' society (we've all seen the adverts from the endless compensation companies).
Petplan (a leading pet insurance company) recently reported that since the Government’s consultation on dangerous dogs announcement, they had seen a rise in the number of third party claims received over recent years. More people than ever are seeking legal help to obtain financial compensation when problems arise – leaving dog owners that don’t have third party liability insurance with a huge financial risk.
When would third party insurance be needed?
Some examples of cases where third party insurance has successfully covered the financial claims (provided by Petplan insurance);
An over protective border-collie chased a postman from his garden. Although the dog did not cause any actual injury, in his rush to escape from the garden the postman fell over a low wall, injuring his back. Damages for personal injury, loss of earnings and the legal fees of both the third party and the client amounted to £60,000.
This is something that could happen to many of dog owners, right in our own homes.
An owner was walking his Rhodesian Ridgeback insured by Petplan. On excitement at seeing someone coming the other way the dog jumped up at an old lady, knocking her to the ground and causing her to break her wrist and her hip. Damages for that claim amounted to nearly £40,000.
A high price to pay if you do not have any third party insurance.
