Our Insurance Explained
Many dog walkers make a big thing of advertising that they are fully insured. They have third party liability insurance and care, custody and control insurance. I have both of these as well but what does this actually mean?
Third party liability
This covers us against being sued by a member of the public for injury or damage to property.
It does not apply to the animal in our care or to our customer.
Care, custody and control
This covers us against being sued by you (the owner), it does not cover the animal at all.
This insurance will pay our legal fees and if a case is proven against us will pay a settlement to a maximum of £5000.
House sitting
You should inform your home insurance company that you are employing a house sitting service and add cover for them to your policy. Our care, custody and control policy is also applicable here but only if damage is caused through negligence.
Care, Custody and Control examples
1. The dog walker and your dog are walking through the park and the dog steps on some broken glass. This is not covered as it is 'accidental'.
2. The dog walker and your dog are walking through the park and the dog walker trips and falls on your dog causing injury. This is not covered as it is 'accidental'.
3. The dog slips it's lead and gets knocked down by a car. This is not covered as it is 'accidental'.
Any veterniary care needed for the above would be your responsibility. Care, custody and control compensation is only applicable where there is evidence that the dog walker was negligent with their care.
4. The dog gets injured because our lead snaps. This could be covered because our lead is faulty.
5. Your house sitter knocks over a vase when walking through the hallway.
This is not covered as it is 'accidental'.
Only acts which are perceived as negligent would be covered by the care, custody and control insurance. Which is why it is important to inform your home insurance of your house sitters presence.
Your own pet insurance
You should insure your pet for any medical problems or injuries that may arise. We recommend that you have your pet fully insured before you use our service and wish to state up front that we could not pay vet bills for you in the event of injury due to exclusions in our pet insurance policy. These exclusion are standard in almost all general liability and care, custody and control policies so it is unlikely that other dog walkers have a policy that covers this. If they say that they do you should ask to see the policy document and search under the care, custody and control exclusions sections.
Why are we pointing this out to you?
We believe that you should have a full undestanding of what is and what is not covered by our insurance before any work is undertaken. We will explain this to you again during the initial consultation so that you may ask any further questions. This eliminates any confusion that may arise during the stressful moment if something should happen to your pet or home.
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