Animal Rescue Insurance – What Kind and at What Cost

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, animal rescue insurance must be near the top of the list because you can’t always know exactly what could happen in the future.

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With the protection provided by general insurance and all the other sorts of insurance we will tell you about, you can protect your business and yourself in case something unforeseen happens.

Like any business owner, for your animal rescue enterprise, you must consider how much financial liability you are taking on.

Business Insurance for animal rescue

If your animal rescue business runs without proper insurance, you are taking a giant chance not just of losing some money but of a total wipe-out.

This is because the laws in every state are very strict in enforcing liability on the owners of businesses for the consequences of their actions. 

In this article, we are giving very general guidelines for growing businesses to highlight what the main kinds of insurance that you need are, and where we can, a rough guide to how much you can expect to pay.

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your animal rescue business?

What this means, for any animal rescue business owner, is that if some customer claims that your work caused them some physical or economic damage, a court can award damages far beyond the total size of your business.

Your animal rescue business is not harbored by laws in the same way as states are, where laws can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

In some states, like Montana, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount a judge can award in any case against the state.

In a court case, it’s purely the right of the jury to award whatever amount they deem appropriate, even sometimes giving a claimant more than they have sort.

When you are running your animal rescue operations, you can’t deny responsibility for the results of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent up-front the money necessary to have your business running as a corporation, all of that liability belongs to you as a person.

What does animal rescue insurance protect you from?

For your animal rescue business, the most important sorts of insurance are intended to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

As well there are some legal kinds of insurance that various states require.

In the next few paragraphs, we will describe the most important points any animal rescue business owner should consider when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main headings of insurance for your animal rescue businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any animal rescue business is dealing directly with members of the public, and that means you generally have the danger that some accident can happen to them themselves or else something of theirs can be ruined.

In such a case, they can require compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your animal rescue business protects you against claims coming from injury to clients or damage to their property.

It protects your animal rescue business from the claims themselves and also to any resulting court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

In many cases, it can also help you to qualify for extra business from city and state organizations, where contracts insist on proper liability insurance.

The usual level of general liability insurance for your animal rescue business would be with a cap of $1 million for a single submission and a total of $2 million for the whole year.

See the table in the costing section below for average prices of general liability insurance for your animal rescue insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your animal rescue business

In the event where a customer alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your animal rescue business for them, you can quickly face a court case.

Even if the matter against you is decided in your favor, the cost of defense can be large, and the impact on your reputation can be damaging.

Most small animal rescue business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover a once-off claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

See the table in the cost of animal rescue insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your animal rescue operations.

Product liability insurance

Whatever goods you sell or advice you give about the goods, you are running a risk that buyers may claim that what they received didn’t meet your description of function, or that your advice was basically incorrect.

You need to know the particular laws of product liability in your own state.

For example, in California, all businesses in the supply chain can be held responsible for injuries caused by products claimed to be defective.

To cover yourself against any possible lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for animal rescue

Only you can determine exactly how much insurance you should get.

Best advice is to consult with experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for guidance.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your animal rescue business

Take care! – most policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any event like theft or accidental damage when the van is being used for business purposes.

The best way to make sure that your vehicle is insured for both its own value, and the valuable contents, is by taking out a direct commercial vehicle insurance package.

Commercial van policies cover the value of any vehicle in case of accident, malicious damage, fire, or theft.

In addition, in case of any accident, the van itself, the content and any legal bills, medical expenses, and property damage is guaranteed if your van is involved in an accident.

Most states, other than Virginia and New Hampshire, require this type of insurance.

The required value of the insurance depends on the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your requested level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your animal rescue business needs unique and costly equipment, you can appreciate how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

The equipment may be subject to malicious damage, deliberate fire, theft, other such unforeseen acts.

In addition, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can eliminate your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such unique gear quickly out of your own pocket, you need full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy any equipment needed to keep your animal rescue business running.

It is hard to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s essentially dependent on how much you have invested in your animal rescue business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any animal rescue business that owns or rents space in a building needs a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the space, you may already have a substantial capital investment, in addition to a big liability if there’s a mortgage.

Any physical building location must carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against natural occurrences like fire and storms, and against deliberate damages like theft and vandalism.

If your animal rescue business operates in areas of high risk, like Texas or Georgia, supplementary coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Rhode Island, where intense cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of animal rescue business premises, there is a need for more extra cover than in warmer climes.

Whereas the level of cover depends completely on the value of the property, it’s not possible to say what cover your need, but we have been able in the table in the cost of animal rescue insurance section below to give some indication of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your animal rescue business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your animal rescue business

Is your animal rescue business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business fluctuating?

Using short-term insurance makes excellent sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for animal rescue – are special policies where you can cover a nominated period when you want to be covered.

By only paying for that period of cover, you will save by having reduced premiums but still having the same risk cover.

The key feature of short-term insurance is that you purchase the cover for a defined period – a designated date, or a week or month starting on a specific date, for example for 30 days beginning on the specified date.

When you are expecting periods of better business activity, get the existing cover increased.

Talk to your insurance agent, broker or the company’s representatives to see what options you have.

Business Owners Policy BOP for your animal rescue business

You have the choice to combine several of the important kinds of small business insurance in one policy that is known as the business owner’s policy – BOP.

A BOP merges commercial property and public liability insurance by amalgamating these coverages into one insurance policy, which can save you money.

BOP insurance will cover you if any claims of injury or property damage are made.

It is often the right choice for small and medium-sized animal rescue businesses, such as yours.

There are a few limits that will dictate whether BOP is suitable for your own business.

BOPs do not cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle cover.

Also, the size of your business will dictate whether you are permitted to take out BOP cover.

The normal business that is allowed to take a BOP policy must have no more than one hundred employees, and maximum five million dollars in annual turnover.

Plus, you must separately take out the necessary worker’s compensation, health and disability insurance as determined for your state.

Workers Compensation insurance for your animal rescue business employees

In many states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your animal rescue business has one or more employees.

Workers compensation insurance covers the enterprise against any costs that arise if a worker experiences an injury or becomes sick as a result of work.

The benefits cover medical expenses, death benefits, lost wages, and vocational rehabilitation.

Failure to meet a state’s requirements in this regard can leave you as the employer obliged to pay penalties levied by the states.

Some states, such as North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming only authorize coverage from the government-run monopoly state funds.

In these states, you cannot obtain your workers compensation obligations from private insurance corporations.

Workers compensation premiums are worked out based on the employee’s pay, and usually come out at around $1.00 per $100 per month.

However, you must consult the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every animal rescue insurance need is unique, there are enough examples of usual quotes from insurance companies for us to give appropriate guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

Of course, you should always check with an agent what’s relevant for your business.

The list below is of annual premiums we have gathered for the main types of insurance your animal rescue businesses needs.

Types of insurance Price range
Public liability insurance $330 – $760
Equipment insurance $435 – $1455
General liability insurance $705 – $870
Commercial insurance $800 – $2475
Product liability insurance $205 – $820
Commercial vehicle insurance $1555 – $2855

Cost of insurance for your animal rescue operations depends on many different factors.

We have reckoned these figures for small self-employed animal rescue businesses.

In larger states like Texas, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, whereas in smaller states like Utah, they will be about 20%-30% cheaper.

The location and size and type of your animal rescue business can have a big effect on the cost of different policies.

You should talk to professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

As well you can let the internet do the work for you by looking for insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another good source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your town.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for animal rescue operations?

This is an umbrella term used to describe standard insurance policies designed to protect animal rescue business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my animal rescue business have to have insurance?

Some of the kinds of insurance are not mandatory for you to open your business, but they can protect you from risks in your business operations.

Several other forms are required by state law, such as workers compensation and vehicle insurance.

What does a small animal rescue business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides coverage against lawsuits or claims filed by a third-party for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The specific cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the most common policies for animal rescue insurance.

How much will animal rescue business insurance cost?

On top of the size of the business, certain other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should consult with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

You can search for more information insurance for animal rescue , in the search box below, and follow the relevant links.

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