NIP Programs Takes Advantage of Pet Boom With PetPro

As pets become increasingly more like members of the American family, NIP Programs, a division of NIP Group Inc., has created PetPro, a program that will take advantage of a burgeoning industry.

The pet care service industry is growing while other industries are stagnant or shrinking, David Springer, president of NIP Group's program division, said in an e-mail. "Because of the low barriers to entry, there are many new entrants into the smaller service businesses such as pet sitting, walking, waste management, training, and grooming. So the industry continues to enjoy steady growth, with no sign of significant weakening for the foreseeable future."

The PetPro program provides an insurance and risk management solution to protect pet care professionals and their businesses, NIP said. It serves veterinarians, animal hospitals, shelters, pet hotels and doggie day camps, pet rescue and adoption organizations, dog walkers, pet sitters, pet trainers, groomers, pet boutiques and other pet professionals. This ranges from one-person operations to multistate businesses and is underwritten in partnership with an A.M. Best Co. A-rated insurance carrier, NIP said.

Attachment to pets has upped the stakes for professionals like veterinarians, Springer said. Pet owners are "offended that the courts only recognize the property value of a pet, because they represent a far greater value to them," he noted. "When a professional, whether intentionally or unintentionally, causes injury or death to a companion pet, there is a trend to seek more than the property value: to seek compensation inclusive of mental anguish and pain and suffering."

Most courts have rendered decisions within the bounds of property value, but there is a growing movement to recognize the connection between pet and family, Springer said. "Veterinarians, being medical professionals for companion pets, are beginning to account for this trend in their business planning, and other pet care professionals will recognize it as well."

Spending on pets continues to rise despite the recession, with the total estimated at more than $46 billion last year, up from $17 billion 15 years ago, Kelly Spencer, the program manager at PetPro, said in an e-mail. Sixty-two percent of U.S. households own a pet, which equates to 71.4 millions homes, according to the 2009/2010 National Pet Owners Survey by the American Pet Products Association.

PetPro combines all lines of standard coverage with a menu of coverage enhancements.

The program offers coverage for all types of pet care businesses, including professionals who provide more than one service such as day care and grooming, and boarding and training. Dog sitter or day care exposures could include losing keys, leaving a house unsecured and a house getting robbed, a pet gets away and hit by car, a pet bites a passer-by on a walk or the sitter breaks valuables. For trainers, a dog could get injured or get into a fight with a dog under the trainer's control, Spencer explained.

Standard coverages include workers' compensation, general liability-premises & operations, professional liability up to $3 million with consent to settle, directors & officers liability, property, and automobile liability. It also includes inland marine, including specialized and mobile equipment.

Coverages for pet care professionals include veterinary expense, recovery and rewards, employment practices liability insurance, veterinary license defense, coverage for volunteers under their direction, coverage for companion pets in their care, and excess coverage up to $5 million.

PetPro is rescue-friendly and focuses on insuring rescue operations, shelters, and not-for-profit pet-related associations. The program has taken the stance not to insure any business that sells pets, Spencer said. "As advocates for animal welfare who strongly support pet rescues, fosters and adoptions, we felt that insuring businesses that sell pets simply wouldn't align with our goal," she said. "We are not only insurance specialists but also pet lovers, so we are passionate about pets and the pet care community."

That concern extends to the creation of a PetPro Charitable Fund. Through the fund, it supports programs that save the lives of homeless pets and raise awareness of pet welfare issues, she said.

(By Caroline Saucer, editor, BestWeek: [email protected])