Image courtesy of Fox News.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/ohio-goat-break-in-home-napping-bathroom
First, check on the above story. Is that not awesomely hilarious and unfortunate at the same time? So, being an insurance guy, my first thought was: Do they have the coverage in place to handle this? Then, do they even know what coverage would help them!?
So how would Homeowners insurance react if “Big Boy” wrecked your hose? That depends! Not all policies are created equal. We’ll start with the simple answer. If you have a standard HO3 (the basic standard Homeowners policy), you would have coverage for any building damage but not for any personal property that was damaged. Whoops! That’s unfortunate.
Wait! Wouldn’t the owner of the goat be liable for my damages? Yes, they most likely would be regardless of what care they took to prevent the goat from getting out. If you have an animal and it causes damages, the vast majority of the time, you will be liable for any damages it causes. However, this is legal liability coming from their Homeowners or farm insurance (Personal Liability and Farm Liability respectively). This means they only owe you the Actual Cash Value of the damages and not Replacement Cost. If “Big Boy” peed on your 20-year-old carpet, the goat’s owner only owes you the depreciated value of that carpet which is…not much. The same goes for any property the goat damages.
Geez, does insurance do anything for me!? Yep, you just need to have the right coverage in place. If you have an HO5 or HO3 with Special Perils and Replacement Cost on contents, you’re good to go. All the damage that “Big Boy” caused would be covered up to the replacement cost of that property less your deductible. The goat’s owner would then pay your insurance company back who would then reimburse your deductible one’s funds are received from the other company.
In short, this is a great example of why the details can be very important on a homeowners insurance policy. Make sure your covered properly and contact the Frederick Agency today at 419-732-3171. Stay classy Big Boy.
By Brennan Madison