Insurance for a unique venture

JudyN

I'm thinking of setting up an activity toy library for dogs. The idea is to hire out interactive dog toys, that work the mind rather than the body, to owners of dogs on crate rest or restricted exercise (some dogs go fruity-loops if they don't get the exercise they need), as these toys can cost £20 upwards (Google 'Nina Ottoson' if you'd like to see the type of toy I mean). I am not looking to make money - money raised will go towards replacing chewed toys (though I'll be asking for a deposit in case a toy gets completely destroyed) and any extra will go to charity. I'm expecting a very low turnover. I will start off with the toys I already own so won't need to invest money buying the toys.

My vets are happy to recommend me to their clients and I've discussed disinfecting the toys with them. But they said I should look into getting insurance for the eventuality that a dog injures itself on a toy, reacts to a cleaning product, or falls ill and the owner believes that the toy had carried some germs.

I approached a company that insures child toy libraries, and they have quoted £120 a year, which would give me 1 million public liability insurance. I was hoping for a lower quote, as their child toy libraries can be insured for around £50 per annum, I'm expecting a very low turnover (we decided on £500 a year but it may be considerably less, quite possibly less than the insurance quote), and presumably compensation for an injured dog would be a lot less than for a child. But they charge more because this is a unique (as far as I know) venture and not their daily bread & butter.

Do I really need this level of cover, and am I likely to get it much cheaper if I shop around? I don't really mind if I go for it and it flops because it's more about helping the owners than raising money :A and I'm curious to see if the idea can actually work. But I don't want to pay out a relatively large sum of money unnecessarily.

Sorry for the long post, and thank you for reading and any advice you can offer:)

agrinnall

You probably need to speak to a good independent broker who can approach a range of insurers - although I wouldn't expect either the broker or many of the insurers to have much knowledge of this market, which may well be unique, so premiums could either all be high or there could be a wide range.

JudyN

Thank you for your reply - I hadn't thought of going through a broker, but it makes sense. I also thought I should try a company that insures dog sitters/boarders as the risks I need to insure against are ones that they'll also face.