Buyer Beware: This is a hard one folks For a family in Deniliquin this week, the impossible, never-in-a-million-years-would-it-happen-to-my-kid scenario actually happened and they lost their little boy. When news like this hits our screens we all become a little more vigilant with family pets, but as time goes on we become more and more complacent and comfortable, believing our family pet would never do such a thing - that’s when the next story comes around and the cycle repeats. In 2010-2011 NSW had 5,140 reported dog attacks, when you break it down that’s 14 per day, the biggest culprit being the Staffordshire bull terrier but second in line is actually the Australian cattle dog. Last month a 6 year old was severely maimed by a prize winning Kelpie near Bacchus Marsh, a dog which had a perfect temperament until it didn’t. The poor girl needed hundreds of stiches, micro and plastic surgery and even had to have a root canal - $1,000s in medical bills. If there’s any conciliation for these families it’s that they should be able to lodge a liability claim against the dog owners knowing that they won’t be bankrupting a family member, because incidents like this are covered by most household insurance policies. Buyer Beware #1: Some policies exclude incidents by dogs which have been declared a dangerous breed by a relevant Australian authority. If you own one of these dogs you should definitely check your policy wording. Buyer Beware #2: Policy wordings which exclude death or injury to you or your family – period. Brokered policy wordings will not provide liability cover for death or injury to you (being the insured), your family who normally lives with you or any other person who normally lives with you. By having that clarification of only excluding people who live with you as opposed to all family members, it means your insurance policy will cover injuries when babysitting your grandchild whereas a direct insurance company may not. Plus the emotional freedom of having someone else to handle the paperwork for you. Don’t wait until the never-in-a-million-years-would-my-dog-do-that scenario happens to you, make sure you at least have insurance so it’s not financially bankrupting as well as emotionally. To get professional advice for your personal circumstances please find a broker at getinformedinsurance.au Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Deniliquin community.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 13:59:55 +0000
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