Many pet owners take caring for their animals as seriously as they would for a child. They bring them everywhere they go and become emotionally attached to them. While traveling around with a pet may not seem harmful on the surface, a car accident could cause devastating results. Not only could pets be seriously injured in the crash, but the coinciding veterinary bills could cause a tremendous financial burden on the owner.
Pet coverage can be added on to auto insurance
Recognizing this growing problem, Progressive Insurance has opted to include pet injury insurance into their collision car insurance coverage. This insurance add-on can provide policyholders up to $1,000 worth of reimbursements toward veterinary bills.
Some people may think that if they have traditional pet insurance their animal would be covered in the event of a car accident. However they may be wrong. This type of insurance typically covers illness or injury that happens in the home or in the normal course of a pet’s life, which companies may not consider driving in the car to be a part of, according to the website Dapper Dog.
Pet insurance may also come with deductibles, maximums and coinsurance. With pet injury insurance through Progressive pets are covered up to $1,000 without worrying about any of those issues.
What pet car insurance covers
However, this policy does not cover pets that hurt themselves by falling out of or within a vehicle that has not been involved in an accident. In some cases the vehicle must be damaged in the accident and require repairs in order to invoke this policy. Under some policies, if there is a deductible it will be assessed to the automobile repair, not the vet bills, according to Dapper Dog.
Since this policy is built right into collision coverage drivers may only need to get one car insurance quote with this added benefit tacked on.
If there is more than one pet involved in the accident, the insurance company may cover up to $1,000 per incident, not per pet. If an animal is stolen from a car and then injured, the comprehensive portion of the coverage may pay for those expenses as well. Also, if the animal were to die from either a car accident or an ensuing car fire some policies will pay out a death benefit to the owner.