When you’re looking for the best Greensboro home insurance policy for your specific needs, it’s important to realize that each company’s homeowner’s insurance may be slightly different than the next company’s. That’s one reason experts agree that you should definitely shop around and, when looking at the features/benefits of one policy next to another that you’re comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges.
One place policies will often differ is in their list of exclusions. These are the things a policy doesn’t cover. Having a trampoline on your property is something your insurance provider will definitely want to know about when writing your coverage as trampolines are known to be high-risk items. In fact, recent statistics show that there are about 100,000 trampoline-related injuries per year that cause emergency-room visits and that about one-in-200 of these injuries is responsible for permanent neurological damage. The problem is so severe that many medical authorities and health experts advise against any home trampoline use.
But The Kids are Begging For a Trampoline!
Whether you choose to take the risk of having a backyard trampoline is up to you, but your insurance company needs to know you have one so they can appropriately access the risk. Insurers will deal with your trampoline in one of three ways:
- No Exclusion – no restrictions are placed on owning or using a trampoline. It’s estimated that about one in twenty homeowner’s insurance companies allow trampoline use with no restrictions.
- Coverage with Precautions – some companies may allow backyard trampolines as long as certain precautions are put in place. These may include a fenced yard (with locked gate) or having netting or padding around the trampoline. Insurers aren’t so much worried about your kids using the trampoline but more about the liability risks of neighborhood kids using it and being injured.
- Total exclusion prohibition – most insurers fall into this category, which totally excludes trampoline use and will not pay claims resulting from injuries sustained by their use. Or the company is simply unwilling to write the policy if a trampoline is present.
Become Informed
Read your policy carefully or consult your Greensboro home insurance broker to determine if your coverage allows trampoline use. If you’re not covered but still dead-set on getting a backyard trampoline you may have to get a new insurer. And even if you are covered, your policy liability limits may be insufficient to handle medical costs for a serious injury.