Originally Posted by MV:
I have State Farm homeowner's insurance and was able to get a liability rider from them to cover my DC for much less than I was quotes from DCI ... however I know that DCI covers more than my rider does. For example DCI will cover child abuse allegations and my liability insurance with State Farm will not. I have contemplated getting DCI in addition to my rider just to be well protected but with my new focus being on infants/toddlers and preschoolers and having 3 children of my own that now only leaves me with 3 spots so I'll wait until I have more income coming in before doing that.
If you are just looking to get the liability insurance to meet your homeowner's insurance's needs then I'd go with DCI. Otherwise I'd shop around to other homeowner's insurances and get quotes to see if you can find other homeowner's insurance that offers liability insurance for less. I get a great rate from State Farm but I get a multi policy discount which I'm sure helps (homeowner's, life insurance policies on all family members, 3 vehicles, off road vehicles etc).
Another thing you will not get with a homeowners rider is a accident medical policy. This is a pay first coverage that will pay medical bills if a child is hurt in your care. This is important because if a child breaks his or her arm for example, the medical bills are paid, the parents do not have to sue you in order to get paid for this type of injury.
Another thing to consider is legal defense. In the event you are sued, you want there to be legal defense coverage. If your home owners policy provides legal defense coverage in the event of a liability claim, you want to make sure it doesnt reduce the amount of your coverage. Legal fees can be expensive, and if it reduces the amount of your coverage then you may exhaust most of your liability limit with legal fees.
If you would like to get more information regarding some of the other things you should ask when looking for coverage for your business, just let us know. We offer a generic insurance coverage checklist which gives you a number of questions to ask, and it allows you to compare different companies as well.