How swimming pools affect your home insurance.

If you are thinking about building a pool in your yard, then you have a lot to consider.  One of the things that you should consider is how having a pool will affect your homeowners insurance.  As a pool will increase your personal liability and property damage risks, it will also have an impact on your insurance costs.  Here's what you need to know. Personal Liability Risks If you have a pool on your property, you will automatically be responsible for the wellbeing of anybody who uses it, regardless of whether you have given them permission or not.  As thousands of pool-related injuries and death occur every year, it's important to understand that having a pool on your property increases your personal liability risk significantly.  Because swimming pools increase the homeowners personal liability risks, standard coverage limits might not be adequate.  While a standard home insurance policy might offer $100,000 in personal liability coverage, a homeowner with a pool is recommended to purchase up to $500,000 in coverage.  In some cases, homeowners will need to secure an umbrella policy to get even more coverage.  Because higher coverage limits translate into higher insurance costs, it's important to speak to your insurer to see how installing a pool will increase your premiums. Property Damage Risks When you have a pool on your property, your home policy will cover the damages that it sustains.  However, your coverage will differ depending on what your insurer classifies your pool as.  For instance, your insurer might include your pool in the replacement cost value of your policy.  As the average in-ground pool costs $20,000 or more to install, it will increase the value of your home.  This means that you will have to increase your replacement cost value, leading to an increase in your home insurance costs.  Your insurer might also consider your pool as an external structure.  In this case, your pool would have to be declared and listed in your policy.  Most home policies cover external structures up to 10% of the overall policy replacement cost value.  This means that, if the replacement cost of your home is $100,000, then your policy would cover up to $10,000 of damage to external structures such as your pool.  As this will not be enough to cover the full value of your home's pool, you may need to purchase additional external structures coverage. This is how pools affect your homeowners insurance.  Need help with your home coverage needs?  Then contact the professionals at Weeks & Associates Insurance Services in Thousand Oaks, California.  We are ready to assist you with all your home insurance needs today.