People often have to entrust their pets to various animal services, such as vet clinics, pet grooming services, and pet daycares. It puts the owners of these services in a place of responsibility, as they are liable for the pets' safety. So, suppose the animals entrusted to you are harmed, for example, by a car accident. In that case, your business will suffer financial harm. The owner will have the right to ask for any medical procedures to be done on the animal to save its life or ask for animal replacements in the case of death. Hence, you will have to pay for all expenses while also harming your trustworthy image as a business. So, getting animal bailee insurance is essential for every pet business. It will protect your business and the pets you take care of, preventing any financial losses. Here are a few necessary things you should know about animal bailee insurance before getting it.

What Does It Cover

When it comes to insurance, it's essential to know what the insurance covers for you. In animal bailee insurance, there are a few coverage areas that you should look for in such services. All animal bailee insurances should be able to pay for any medical expenses that result from accidental injuries. However, in many tragic cases, animals die and cannot be recovered from medical procedures. In such cases, many insurance services provide animal replacements, which are usually young pets. But you should make sure that the insurance also covers the cost of a new animal, including vaccines, deworming, and behavioral expenses.

In other cases, animals often escape from many areas and are lost. The animal bailee insurance should take care of animal searching costs. These costs include advertisement expenses and even cash rewards that motivate people to look for lost animals. Many insurance policies also pay for the transportation costs of animals, if it's for their safety.

Unfortunately, not all animal bailee insurance services cover the costs mentioned above. You'll still have to suffer financial and legal issues in many cases, as the insurance won't have your back. Hence, there's no reason for getting an unreliable insurance policy that can't protect you and your business. Get an animal bailee insurance that is reliable and takes care of many types of animal businesses.

What's Not Covered

It's important to note that animal bailee insurance policies are not responsible for every type of harm to an animal in your safekeeping. In some cases, you are entirely responsible for anything that happens to the animal. You will have to pay expenses by yourself. Any animal for sale at your business will not be included in an animal bailee insurance, as there is no bailment relationship. Furthermore, animals used as samples are also not included in the insurance policy. Moreover, if the animals are not under your care directly, then the insurance will not cover their costs.

Most importantly, if the animals entrusted to you suffer harm due to your or your employees' recklessness, the insurance policy will not cover the cost of their recovery. For example, if the animal is not given proper care or suffers deliberate harm. However, natural causes of illness and death are also not a part of the insurance policy. Furthermore, you should also be aware that animal bailee insurance does not cover stolen animals' costs.

How Much Does It Cost

The cost for animal bailee insurances varies according to the policy you take. Many insurance policies often start as low as $16 per year while offering a total coverage limit of $25,000. However, there are also many expensive programs. Some policies cost around $4,600 per year, to offer a total coverage limit of $3,000,000. Depending on the type and number of pets you have, you can select a suitable policy. The expenses of certain animals are often more significant than other types. Nonetheless, an acceptable animal bailee insurance policy will ensure your business doesn't suffer any financial losses.

Total Coverage Limits

Total coverage limits refer to the total amount of money the insurance policy will cover in the case of a certain loss. When it comes to animal bailee insurance policies, you should make sure that the total coverage limit is sufficient to take care of costs from harm to pets. You should prepare yourself for all types of harmful events that can take place, even if they are not very likely. For example, even at renowned grooming services like PetSmart, 47 dogs have died, which is a catastrophic event. Without having a sufficient total coverage limit, you will suffer heavy financial loss.

Per-animal Sub-limits

Sub-limits are an area that you should especially pay attention to when getting animal bailee insurance. The insurance policies may often sound good enough due to the high level of total coverage limits. However, many insurance companies reduce the per-animal sub-limits to an insufficient level. For example, with a $25,000 total coverage limit, the one animal limit maybe even less than $1,000. So, there will be an insufficient amount of money available to deal with all the issues with an animal, leading to a financial loss for you. Surgeries can often take up to $20,000 per animal. Hence, it would be best to avoid policies with per-animal sub-limits and get policies that offer a good amount of total coverage limits.

Conclusion

Suppose you have an animal care business, and people frequently entrust their pets to you. In that case, it's essential to have animal bailee insurance. Even if you are highly professional in your work and take good care of animals, a dangerous event can still occur. If an animal bailee insurance policy unprotects your business, you can be in serious trouble. So, take the things mentioned above about this insurance policy, and get a suitable policy as soon as you can.