Differential Dog Insurance
Because of concerns expressed by many dog owners across Georgia and across the nation, the Coalition began a project to discover the truth about whether insurance companies are treating dog owners and owners of different breeds of dogs differently than they are treating their other customers. This page contains what we have learned. If new additional information is received, it will be posted here.
Dog owners who believe their homeowners/renters liability insurance company is not acting in accordance with the policies of the Georgia Insurance Commissioner's Office should assemble all documents relative to their case (including their policy, any correspondence to and from the insurance company, and the name, address and telephone number of the insurance agent handling the policy). When all information is in hand, the dog owner should contact the Insurance Commissioner's Office about filing a complaint. The Commissioner's Office has a website at: http://www.gainsurance.org/. Contact information is available from that website. Experience has shown that the Commissioner's Office is reasonably good about returning emails but if an immediate response is needed, a telephone call is probably a better choice for the initial contact.
The Coalition wrote to all insurance companies presently writing homeowners or renters insurance in Georgia, requesting responses to the following questions (the name of the respective insurance company was inserted where "<<Company>>" is found.):
The Georgia Insurance Commissioner's Office has advised the Coalition that the answer to all of the above questions except #5 is "This practice is not acceptable to the Department." (emphasis added) Regarding question #5, the Commissioner's Office does allow companies to deny coverage or charge higher rates to homes in which there is "a dog that has a history of biting."
The following table contains the results received from the insurance companies. Companies were told in the letter that: "If we do not receive a response, we must assume that State Farm Fire and Casualty Company has elected not to release the requested information." Although companies were contacted individually, they responded by groups. For example, there are six companies in the Travelers group. A single response was received for all companies in the group. Companies not responding are indicated by "DNR". Some companies responded by stating that they would not release the requested information. These companies are indicated by "RTR" under question #1. Some companies do not or no longer write Homeowners Insurance in Georgia. These are indicated by "NLW" under question #1. There are a large number of companies that did not respond. If your company is among these, the GCC invites you to submit the same questions to your company. If choose to do so through your agent, we recommend that you insist that the inquiry be submitted to the company and not be answered by the agent. Experience from other studies indicates that input from insurance agents may not accurately reflect the underwriting practices of the respective companies.
All responses received or returned as undeliverable are shown in the table below. The complete list of companies that survey letters were sent to follows the results table.
| Company | # 1 | # 2 | # 3 | # 4 | # 5 | # 6 | # 7 |
| Amica Mutual Insurance Co. | No | No | No, depending on breed and experience | No, depending on breed and experience | N/A | No | No |
| Church Insurance Corp. | NLW | ||||||
| Factory Mutual Insurance Co. | NLW | ||||||
| Farm Bureau | RTR | ||||||
| MIC General Insurance Corp. | NLW | ||||||
| Middle Georgia Mutual Insurance Co. | No | No | Yes | Yes | Dogs that fall in vicious dog category | No | No |
| Selective Insurance Companies | NLW | ||||||
| State Farm Insurance Companies | No, but does not insure commercial kennel operations | No | No, unless a breed has been declared dangerous by law | No, unless a breed has been declared dangerous by law | N/A | No | No |
| Stonington Insurance Co. | NLW | ||||||
| Travelers Insurance Co. | Certain breeds or a history of biting or causing injury may cause non eligibility for homeowner's policy. | Certain breeds or a history of biting or causing injury may cause non eligibility for homeowner's policy. | Certain breeds or a history of biting or causing injury may cause non eligibility for homeowner's policy. | Certain breeds or a history of biting or causing injury may cause non eligibility for homeowner's policy. | |||
| Voyager Indemnity Insurance Company | Address on file at Insurance Comm. Office is incorrect |
Complete list of companies sent the differential dog insurance survey: