Hopefully, by now, you have a better understanding of how pet sitting insurance works and why it’s important to a bonded pet sitting business. Now, it’s time to get into the specifics and show you the different types of insurance coverage offered by most insurance providers.
When you get in touch with business insurance companies, your agent, the company, or the online portal, will typically give you a list of common business insurance coverage types to choose from. It’s important to know the difference between the various coverage types to ensure that your pet sitting business really is protected if you face some kind of unexpected financial expense in the future that is related to the business.
Liability Insurance for Pet Sitters
The most common type of insurance for pet sitters is liability insurance. As the name implies, liability insurance is designed to keep you from being financially “liable” for a claim. As we discussed earlier, you (as an individual) are responsible for paying claims out of your own pocket without insurance.
Liability insurance for pet sitters will cover associated legal fees and payout claims as long as the incident is covered within your insurance policy. There are generally two types of liability insurance when it comes to pet sitting. You’ll need to look at general liability and public liability insurance. Let’s take a brief look at the difference between the two.
General Liability Insurance for Dog Walkers and Pet Sitters
General liability insurance is the most common type of coverage for pet sitters (and also dog walkers, if you do that as well). General liability insurance covers a wide range of “generalized” incidents that could occur while pet sitting. These may include:
Property damage to a client’s home.
A pet getting sick or injured under your watch (and associated veterinary fees).
A pet escaping and hurting somebody else or another dog while under your watch.
Overall, a general liability policy is the most comprehensive policy available for pet sitting businesses. It can cover a wide range of claims stemming from public claims, employee-related claims, and also claims coming from your clients.
Public Liability Insurance for Pet Sitters
Public liability insurance is typically more economical than general liability coverage. As discussed above, general liability policies cover a wide range of claims, including public claims, employee claims, and client/vendor claims.
In contrast, a public liability policy only covers you against claims coming from the public. In terms of pet sitting, these types of claims would usually be related to a pet you’re watching escaping and causing damage or injury to a third party. However, it won’t cover any claims stemming from your client, which means that you won’t be covered should you accidentally damage anything while pet sitting at the client’s home or their pet is injured.
That being said, we tend to recommend general liability insurance policies to most pet sitting businesses. Generally speaking, it only costs a little bit more than PLI and is well worth the extra coverage you’ll receive.
Is Cat Sitting Insurance Covered Under Pet Sitting Insurance?
When most people think of pet sitting, they typically think of dog sitting. However, your pet sitting insurance policy should cover taking care of just about any animal, including cats. Your insurance price shouldn’t be any different for dog sitting versus cat sitting.
How Much Does Dog Walking Insurance Cost?
Some pet sitters also offer dog walking services to their clients. In this case, you may need to inform your agent that you need insurance for dog walkers and pet sitters. In most cases, this will only make your insurance rates increase incrementally.
By itself, the average dog walking insurance cost is $33 per month or $396 per year for general liability coverage. To see a full breakdown of the pet walking insurance cost, keep reading!
Read more about dog walking insurance
Pet Sitting Insurance Comparison: Average Cost
Pet sitter insurance is usually quite affordable. Overall, the risks associated with the business are quite low, which means that the average pet sitting business insurance cost is $26 per month or $310 per year for a general liability insurance policy.
To give you an average idea of how much to budget, we’ve included a handy table below, outlining the average general liability rates covered by top pet sitting insurance providers. Check it out!
| Insurance Provider | Average Monthly Rate | Average Annual Rate |
|---|
| Geico | $28 | $338 |
| State Farm | $26.50 | $317 |
| Pet Sitters International Insurance | $20.50 | $245 |
| Pet Sitter Associates Insurance | $18 | $210 |
| Pet Care Insurance | $16.50 | $197 |
Keep in mind that these are just the average rates obtained from comparing consumer policyholder data across the country. Your actual pet insurance quote may be cheaper or slightly more expensive, depending on where you do business, whether or not you have employees or partners working with you, and your annual revenue.
However, this list should give you a good idea of what to set aside for your monthly budget while creating your business plan.
Comparing quotes from different insurers is the best way to get a great deal on insurance. When you shop around, insurance companies are more likely to give you a better deal on your quote as they’re all competing for your business!
To get your personalized pet sitting insurance quote, simply click the ‘Get Quotes’ button below, follow the simple process and you’ll receive online pet sitting insurance quotes and coverage options from some of the best pet sitting insurance companies in America.
