What is dog walking insurance?
While dog walking is an easy business to start if you don’t have much money, you nevertheless might want to consider allocating funds for dog walking insurance.
There is always going to be an element of unpredictability when it comes to looking after a four-legged friend. Even the best-behaved dog can cause a bit of trouble. And even the most responsible dog walker can find themselves in a spot of bother. A good dog walking insurance policy can help cover the financial costs of anything going wrong.
Dog walking insurance isn’t one type of business insurance, but rather a term to describe a collection of individual policies that may be applicable to scenarios you could encounter while on the job.
At the heart of your policy will be public liability insurance for dog walking. This is designed to cover the legal fees and compensation costs if you or the dog in your care causes injury to a member of the public, or damages their property, during your business activities.
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Alongside this will usually come care, custody and control insurance. This is in case the dog in your care suffers an injury or illness, runs away and is lost, or were to die, and you were reasonably found at fault.
Non-negligence insurance, meanwhile, covers the same situations as care, custody and control insurance. The difference is that non-negligence cover applies if the injury or illness arose through no fault of your own or your business.
Some providers may label care, custody and control and non-negligence insurance as ‘accident and injury’ cover.
If there is any specialist equipment you use as a dog walker, equipment insurance can help replace anything that is lost, stolen or accidentally damaged.
If you are frequently letting yourself into your clients’ homes with their keys, you may want to consider loss of keys insurance. This will cover the cost of replacing locks if you were to lose your client’s key.
And if you run your dog walking company from a business premise, you might want business buildings and contents insurance.
You will also need employers’ liability insurance if you employ anyone who isn’t a family member and who isn’t based abroad.
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