Herp Friendly Insurance?

[Cruciform]

Hey all,

I've noticed posts here and there about insurances companies screwing Herp owners, so I was wondering if there's any herp-friendly companies that don't take issue with breeding in the home, etc.

Since a Dalmation is a greater threat to visitors than any non-venomous reptiles, I find it odd (but not surprising) that they'd discriminate in this way.

It's getting near the time when I can finally afford that house downpayment, and with it the reptile room I've wanted since I was a kid. I'm leery of talking to my current insurance company in case they cut me off out of hand.

Anyone have any dealings with companies that have no problems with Herps or various exotics?

[DragnDrop]

Supposedly there are some insurance companies that are herp friendly, but not many. I ran into a problem with my house insurance over 2 corn snakes. They consider any snake over 3 feet to be a potentially hazardous animal. So now I'll stick to 'short snakes' like kings and milks.

What gets me is that they weren't worried about me owning a Rhac leachianus who could easily bite off a chunk of flesh.

[Nicky]

are u serious they charge u extra on reptile rooms.

[marisa]

HAHA charge you extra? It's far worse than that! Some people have lost not only their home insurance but their car insurance as well as soon as the insurance company heard they keep reptiles.

Stupid insurance. I also love how when someone hits you, your bill goes up. Makes tons of sense. lol

Marisa

[Lisa]

RBC insurance was hesitant about insuring us when i told them about our snakes (i only mentioned the corns) until i said they were like garter snakes and you were in more danger from a cat then the snake. I unfortunetly have a habbit of being too honest.

[Tortoise man]

Thats Weird my wife is an insurance Broker and she's never heard of that? Where is this happening in the States or in Canada?- Why give us some more info on what they may have said .

[Lisa]

tortoise man: i'm in ontario

also they are over insuring our building - our house is insured for over double what it's assessed at (and the assessment includes almost an acre of land) and our out building (which is practicly falling down is insured for about 62k (it might be worth 2k) and it's basicly the size of a two car garrage and consists of a couple beams and a a few sheets of tin, has a dirt floor and no electricity. we took it because we needed to get insurance for our morgage. If your wife can give a better rate then $75 a month on a 100+ year old 2400 sqft house with 5 year old electrical 6km from the fire station let me know.

[Cruciform]

I emailed Stevenson and Hunt Insurance Brokers today to see if anything like that has come up or if there are companies that are/aren't herp friendly.

I want to have a kick *** herp room, so I don't want to have to wade through any surprising insurance crap after the fact.

[Jeff Hathaway]

While in Toronto, we were with Wawanesa, through a broker. We were quite upfront about our reptiles, and they had no problem with it. Their one question- whether we had kids. I suspect if we had had kids + reptiles they may have had a concern, but we don't, and there were no problems.

Jeff Hathaway
Sciensational Sssnakes!!

[Bartman]

Do you have to tell them you have reptlies??
I know my parents havnt told me anything about there insurance going up beacuse i recently starting getting reptlies...

[mykee]

I'm also looking for a house west of Toronto, and have no intentions on letting any insurance company that we have reptiles at all. Unfortunately, ignorance doesn't stop when dealing with insurance companies. It seems to be a catch 22 in the sense that if you let them know, they may not insure you at all, but with no insurance, any losses are your own problem. What they don't know, can't hurt you.

[Jeff Hathaway]

Actually, it can. If your insurer doesn't insure reptiles, and you have a fire that is caused by a reptile heat lamp, they likely will not cover your claim.

If they don't ask, you may be safe not telling them, but be sure to read the fine print of your policy. If they ask about pets, and you lie to them, you'll be in trouble if you have to make a claim.

Jeff Hathaway
Sciensational Sssnakes!!

[Cruciform]

FlexWatt makes me nervous for that exact reason. If I burned down half the house from a bad wiring job I could see the insurance company shrugging and tearing up my policy.

[Lisa]

Also if you're a business you need to declare that to the insurance company.

[mykee]

One of the many risks of both reptile and home ownership...