Third Party Liability Cover for Pets

We all want to protect our pets but every animal owner in the country also has a wider remit of responsibility. Under law, the owner is always responsible for the actions of their pet; therefore it is wise to consider getting third party liability cover on your animal (particularly if you have a dog) incase there should be an unfortunate incident in which your pet injures another pet or another person.

It doesn’t have to be the most obvious scenario either, if you’re pet runs out into the road and causes an accident or causes someone to fall and injure themselves; you could still be liable to pay compensation and damages.

With all these dangers in mind it seems wise that any pet owner should seek to protect themselves against the worst case scenario. To protect yourself against lawsuits and claims for compensation, you should ensure that any pet insurance policy that you take out (for an appropriate animal) includes third-party liability cover. We say “appropriate animal” because, if you are insuring a tank of tropical fish, it’s not really necessary to take out this type of insurance. As a rule of thumb, if your pet interacts with people outside your house on a regular basis then third party liability cover is probably a good idea.

The 1971 Animals Act makes taking out this type of insurance all but vital. If your animal damages someone else’s property, person or vehicle then you, as the licensed owner of that pet, are financially liable for any damage which they may cause.

Some accidents involving pets, especially dogs, can be very serious and sometimes fatal leaving the owner with a substantial financial burden, especially if vet bills need to be paid as well. Many owners are left rueing the fact that they didn’t take out this insurance in the first place. When taking out pet insurance, you should check to see if and how much your policy actually covers you for third party liability (most are around the £1million to £2million mark, but this is obviously dependent on any premiums you pay).

The rise of the “where there’s blame there’s a claim” culture means that you really can’t be too careful; people will now sue over the smallest of incidents, particularly with the economic situation the way it is at the moment. Some claims have been known to run into six figures and unless you’re sitting on a small fortune, this isn’t going to be an amount you can afford to pay out straight away.

Thankfully, many pet insurance policies come with third party liability cover as standard with dogs being the most common pet insured on this type of policy but if you think you might require insurance for another pet, just talk to your provider and they should be able to advise you further.