F.I.D.O. Brings Dog Bite Liability Coverage to Florida
When commercial lines agent and dog owner Debbie Turner began to look into help for her difficult dog back in 2000, she had no idea that her journey would end up leading to a new personal lines insurance option.
She believes her new Covered Canine policy could take a bite out of the dog liability insurance marketplace.
Turner, who is president of Dean Insurance Agency in Altamont Fla., says the story behind the coverage began about 12 years ago when her own dog’s behavior issues led to her becoming, as she describes it, “obsessed with dogs’ behavior and trying to fix them.”
It was through this process she realized there was a gap between the questions insurance companies ask when covering dogs on a homeowner’s or tenant’s liability policy and what they should really know about the actual dog that is being insured. She said there are also inconsistencies among carriers over what’s covered, or if any coverage is provided at all.
“My research showed that more and more homeowners policies have taken full animal liability out of homeowners or tenants policies, or they are excluding specific breeds,” Turner says. “It seems to be a trend that homeowners and tenant markets are really moving away from providing coverage for animal liability and dog bites are a huge part of that.”
Turner says a conversation with a colleague about a paper she wanted to write about this issue turned into her instead developing the Covered Canine insurance product and the Federation of Insurance Dog Owners, or F.I.D.O.
The organization provides dog bite liability insurance through the Covered Canine insurance policy to all breeds of dogs on Great American Insurance Co. paper.
The policy is currently available in Florida only, but Turner says as soon as she completes all the filing requirements for other states, she will make it available nationwide through multiple markets.
The available limits are $50,000, $75,000 or $100,000 and Turner hopes to make them higher once the program is up and running. There is also the option to insure the dog off-premises for situations where the dog is taken out on a leash and attacks someone. The policy does not, however, cover “dog to dog” damages.
Customers can rate the policy themselves online based on breed, weight and other factors, including whether there are children living in the house. Applicants are also required to upload a picture of the dog.
She says there have not been many owners denied coverage, but those rejections that occur have to do with whether a dog is not well-socialized or has been a police dog. The goal of the rating criteria, she says, is not to exclude any certain breed of dog, but to focus more on the circumstances of the dog’s living arrangements.