Insurance - Home insurance dropped by MetLife.

Because of a incident with our old agent and the new one we got, our home owners insurance did not come up for renewal.
I'll try to make this short. We had a rottie, hes 11 now. No issues with the dog at all. We signed up with Metlife and told the agent from the beginning we had the dog. SHe was understanding and said no problem. 5 years go by and we are not happy with the service she's been giving us. so we drop her and go with another agent in town, Metlife also. Well the old agent got mad and told the underwriters about the dog and they won't renew our policy. She did a drive by our new house, dogs in the garage, no contact about drive by a MONTH after we sign the letter asking to change agents. The new agent kicks in at renewal time, Jan. 2005. And get this, the new agent used to work for our old agent. Hmmmm. very odd I thought. We found this out after we changed. This is a bad situation. All because of revenge. Be careful of your agent. You never know. I might persue some sort of legal action. We were honest, she was not.

More & more folks are reporting insurance difficulties due to owning dogs. You might find the following MetLife article helpful: http://www.unclematty.com/woofpub/articles/metlife.htm?#248


You can try to reverse a decision to cancel your policy. Ask if there's anything you can do to keep coverage, such as raising your deductible or fencing your property.

Of course, insurance companies have the final say about who they insure. The number of policies that insurance companies are dropping or refusing to renew is on the rise. If you have a mortgage on your house, you have no option but to have insurance on it, and if you are dropped you may have to pay triple what you now pay for coverage. Because they have the final say, you may not have any luck contacting your state insurance department or the consumer affairs department of your insurer if you have been dropped.

I work on a freelance basis as an insurance field inspector, and I'm actually surprised they insured you at all if you have a Rotweiller. They are a HUGE issue, and most companies won't touch you if you have one of those. I'm wondering if your previous agent even reported the fact that you have one to MetLife. I have a friend who has a Rotweiller, and her homeowner's would only cover her if she signed a waiver saying they were in no way responsible if the dog attacked anyone (ironically, the stupid thing tried to attack ME the last time I went over there, so I'm aware of what they're capable of). Rotweillers and Pit Bulls are notoriously vicious, and insurance companies know that. To your credit, you were at least honest about it.

There are no such thing as bad dogs, just bad owners.

If the dog is aggressive then the owner is the one to blame. The enviroment the dog lives in has a lot to do with the aggressiveness. Meaning it's locked up in a small pen, never being socialized with people and other dogs. It amazes me the reason people get these dogs. Then they don't spend any time with them.
The insurance companies have you by the throats. I have a poodle that lives across the street from me and it has bite 2 kids. Nothing was done by the insurance company.
My dog has never shown any aggression towards people or other dogs, but I am a proactive type of owner. I want my dog to fit in and function with us and others, not be a outcast just because he has black and brown hair.

I'll bet that most of the dogs that bite and hurt people are owned by people that don't have home owners insurance.

Suggestion, although it may not be legal.... if you are certain you'll never have to worry about a claim on it... it's a Rot/Boxer mix. They can't do anything. I have a couple who rents a home from me. They have 2 Pits. I know my insurance company wouldn't cover it. I've know these people for 10yrs and the dogs since they were purchased 5 yrs ago. No doubt in my mind they'd never go after anyone, let alone bite. I told the company they were pit/boxer mix and they accepted it.

I suggest you don't do that and put a sign that says "beware of dog" on the property. I argued that it was only a deterant of someone who might want to break into the house and the dogs are completely harmless (they'd pry lick the burgler to death if he got in) and the company said that while they understand... it implies that they are animals who'd cause bodily harm.

It would have to be your call since if your dog did harm someone you would get sued and then you'd have no coverage if they tested the animals.

Best of Luck.

Christina

I know this is a old thread but just read it, we going on our 5 house now and we have never been asked if we had dogs? We have used Allstate and StateFarm.