How does having a pool affect my home insurance rates?

Having a pool can affect your home insurance rates in a significant way. Your homeowners insurance is all about providing coverage against financial loss from listed perils including liability, as well as things such as fire, theft, storm damage and more.

The premium you pay the insurer is based on how much of a risk you and your home present. Those with a swimming pool have a greatly increased risk of a potentially costly liability claim. Therefore you should expect to pay higher home insurance rates than those with no pool.

Read on to learn all of the details about homeowners insurance and swimming pools and then to find the very best home insurance rates just enter your zip above to start finding the best insurance!

What’s The Big Deal About Pools?
Having a swimming pool means that you have added yet one more way a person can get hurt or injured to your home. According to the Center for Disease Control, 3200 people drown yearly. Over 300 children under the age of 5 die from drowning in home spas and pools yearly. Over 50% of childhood drownings take place in a pool at the child’s home. 33% take place in a pool owned by a relative, friend or neighbor. Even those rescued from pools often die later in hospital. Amongst those who survive, 1 in 5 suffers serious, permanent brain damage. Medical costs from near-drownings can be very high, because often they are lifelong.

Apart from the obvious drowning risk, having a pool is considered to be an attractive nuisance. What that means is that even if you are not in your pool or watching your pool, others who know that you have a pool may come and use it for their own pleasure. It could result in a serious accident occurring at your pool by people you have not authorized to use it. Despite the fact that they are unwanted guests, you can still be held liable for their injuries on your property, especially in light of having an attractive nuisance.

What You Can Do To Reduce The Effect Of A Pool On Your Insurance
Having a pool means that your homeowner’s insurance will cost more because of the increased risk of personal injury. In addition, most insurers will suggest that you carry higher than typical liability coverage. The claims involved with pool injuries and death tend to be very costly, necessitating the extra coverage.

If you have a swimming pool, you should know that there are things you can do to minimize the impact of it on your homeowners insurance premium. You should make sure it is not visible from the front of your home. Install safety features such as a fence or locked gate around it. Things like slides and diving boards increase your liability risk and should be avoided also. You should also implement rules concerning the safe use of your pool to minimize the risk of injury.

Covering the Pool Itself
The physical swimming pool is covered under your homeowners insurance as an “other structure.” Therefore typically it will be covered up to 10% of the value of your home coverage for losses that incur through one of the covered perils. Therefore if your home is covered for $200,000, your pool will have $20,000 coverage. However, if you live in a cold climate, make sure you properly winterize your pool, because damage from freezing and thawing is not covered by your homeowners insurance.

To best protect yourself, all pool owners should carry higher levels of personal liability on their homeowners insurance than the $100,000 liability limit that is standard for many policies. If you have significant assets you are at even greater risk for liability and should raise your coverage accordingly in order to provide good financial protection. You may also want to consider taking out an umbrella liability policy in addition to your homeowners policy for added protection.

When you are in the market for a good homeowners insurance policy to protect your home, its contents, your pool and yourself from potential losses from liability, be sure to shop around. Different insurance companies have differing policies concerning pools. Some will require you to put certain safety features in place. Others will require raised liability limits. You may also find a big difference in premiums because of your pool. Therefore it pays to shop around for the best coverage and the best price.

Compare Pool Insurance Quotes
To quickly and easily get the quotes you need, click here. All you have to do is enter your zip code and answer questions about your home and your insurance needs, and your information will be submitted to a variety of insurers offering coverage in your area. In no time, you will have all the quotes you need to compare and choose from. Get started now with our online quote finder for quick, easy home insurance shopping.