Effects of a Swimming Pool on Your Homeowner's Insurance
Making the decision to put a swimming pool in your backyard is a great idea if you and your family love swimming and spending time outdoors in the summer, but putting in a swimming pool will change your risk level when it comes to your homeowner's insurance policy. Before you put the pool in, you should make sure you fully understand this, and you should even call your insurance company to find out how this will affect your insurance needs, risk level, and premiums.
Why swimming pools affect insurance rates
While owning a swimming pool can offer hours of fun, exercise, and entertainment, it can also pose some serious risks too. For example, swimming pools can lead to drownings of kids, infants, strangers, and guests. Anyone could fall into a pool and end up drowning or getting injured, even people you do not invite over to your home. If anything like this happened in your pool, the family of the person who died or was injured could sue you, and it is your homeowner's insurance policy that would be responsible to pay the claim. A wrongful death lawsuit from a swimming pool accident could cost your insurance company thousands of dollars.
What your homeowner's insurance policy will cover
Your homeowner's insurance policy will cover accidents like this, but it may also cover damage to your pool. If a storm, for example, caused damage to your pool, you could file a claim on your policy, and the policy would offer compensation to you. Additionally, one of the main types of coverage your policy will offer is liability coverage, and this is designed to cover accidents that occur to people due to your swimming pool.
Ways you can protect your pool, your family, and others
If you want to get a pool but do not want any accidents to happen, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. The first step is putting up a fence around the pool. A fence can stop most people from entering your yard and accidentally falling into the pool. Secondly, you could install a pool alarm, which alerts you if there is any motion in the pool. You could also put a cover over the pool when it is not in use.
If you are putting a pool in, you can expect your homeowner's insurance rates to increase. To learn more about this, contact an insurance company today.