Insurance

[drewlowe]

I just got my issue of Reptiles in yesturday. They had published a great article covering insurance. I highly recomend that most people with large collections should read this article. It covers homeowners, renters and pet insurance. It deffanitly struck an intrest with me. I'm going to be calling my insurance company to see if my herps qualify under my homeowners or if i will have to get an additional admendment.

I was just wondering if anyone else knows if their herps are covered under their insurance or if your insurance company has dropped you for keeping reptiles???

The also brought up that if you are not coverd by insurance and someone broke into your home and you snake, lizard, or another animal hurt the person you would be liable.

any and all opinions welcome as this affects all of us...

[marisa]

I think you should be very careful letting your insurance company know you have reptiles. I have heard countless stories of insurance companies dropping peoples home & car insurance once they hear they have reptiles.

Personally I would say I am THINKING of getting Reptiles to feel them out first.

Marisa

[drewlowe]

I agree marissa, When i do talk to them i plan on being very cautious with my wording. In the article it talks about dogs and cats being claimed if they were lossed in an accident (say fire) and there were able to be claimed under property damage. I'm going to see if that is the case with my insurance. I will in no way tell them i keep reptiles. I don't want to be dropped because of my hobby.

[daver676]

We've got renters insurance, but I'm not sure if that covers the snake. In any case, they don't know I have a reptile. I think the policy pretty much says that anything in the apartment is covered. I'm not sure about the snake though....

Dave

[Lisa]

We don't have insurance yet, but will when we are buy a house.

[Colonel SB]

MY collection is not big enough, plus when I start a busniess I can get coverage then so no biggie.

[Tim_Cranwill]

The other issue I wonder about is coverage with heat tape. I've heard that if there IS a fire and you are using heat tape, you're pretty much screwed. I really hope that's not the case. Any one know?

[MouseKilla]

I know I have insurance that covers the contents of the house up to a certain amount. I don't see why animals wouldn't be included in that. I have receipts for most of them and some accessories so I would expect that the insurance would cover that stuff at least.

[Linds]

Most insurance companies will not provide coverage if they so much as find out you have but one herp, let alone a collection. They consider them to be a fire hazard due to heating and lighting needs.
Marisa is correct in that people have indeed lost coverage on their homes due to this. I've spoken with someone in the past that had this unfortunate incident.
I don't own a house, but when I do I will be looking long and hard to track down one of these places you are talking about! I was unaware they existed. I thought only businesses could be covered for these sort of things.

Originally posted by drewlowe

The also brought up that if you are not coverd by insurance and someone broke into your home and you snake, lizard, or another animal hurt the person you would be liable.

Ugh! This is one law that has never even made the slightest inkling of sense to me. How if someone breaks in to your house, whether it was your dog, you herp, or even you defending yourself, YOU get held responsible! Am I just supposed to just sit there while I get beaten, killed, robbed blind? "Excuse me burglar, would just put your plan on hold and just let me call the cops. Please have a seat until they arrive." Bah!! I don't know how many times I have heard of the person that broke in to the place counter-suing the person for hitting them with a bat or whatnot. Freakin ridiculous!

[BWSmith]

Call to inquire with a company that you have affiliation with. Your company won't even know.

[gauts28]

I’m fully insured. I pay a little bit more than what I’m suppose to but it was either that or my insurances company would put a statement in my insurance that they wont pay if any thing even remotely appends ‘cause of my herp. But I rather pay extra because if something appends (exp: fire) and you didn’t tell your insurance company and they found out that you ad reptiles they might not pay even if the reptiles were not the cause of the accident. And here in Quebec (I don’t know for the rest of the country or the us) They have to give you insurances if they don’t you just have to go to the insurance consumer protection (don’t remember the name of the place) but they give a order to the company to give you insurances. Or course they going to put something like “reptiles not covered” but it’s better than nothing.

[reptilez]

I dont think i have enough reptiles to be insured

[Wrath]

Oooh THAT kind of insurance. Here I was thinking along the lines of medical insurance. I am going to try to get some for my dog because I know that one day she's going to bust or break something and I wont be able to afford getting her properly fixed.

[Invictus]

Originally posted by cranwill
The other issue I wonder about is coverage with heat tape. I've heard that if there IS a fire and you are using heat tape, you're pretty much screwed. I really hope that's not the case. Any one know?

This is absolutely true. If an electrical or heat-related fire is caused by ANYTHING that is not CSA-Approved (and this includes if you do your own wiring for say, a lamp, and you are not a CSA Certified electrician), you void your insurance. Flexwatt Heat Tape is NOT CSA approved, so if the cause of the fire is determined to be the heat tape, you're up s**t creek without a paddle.

[marisa]

But you are also up a creek with no paddle if you are using the best CSA approved heating elements in all of canada, yet do not have insurance company that knows you have reptiles.

Marisa