This is a scenario right out of a pet lover’s worst nightmare. A woman’s dog was hit by a van. The dog survived the impact, but needed medical care. The insurance of the driver limited the amount of medical care that they would cover for the dog. They actually told the owner her dog would be considered “totaled” after a few visits to the vet.
A woman in Colorado named Marcia Pinkstaff was walking her dog, Sasha, in a crosswalk. Sasha is a lab mix, and was nine years old. Tragedy struck when a van made a left turn and failed to see Ms. Pinkstaff or her dog. The van struck Sasha, who sustained several injuries. Sasha had tears in her lungs, a tear in her diaphragm, and liver damage. Marcia Pinkstaff, fortunately, was physically unharmed.
The driver of the van had auto insurance. A typical auto insurance policy is designed to cover bills that are accrued as the result of an accident. Usually, these types of policies will cover the damage a driver causes to the vehicle they hit, and the medical bills of the people who were in that vehicle at the time. It can also cover property damage if, for example, a driver hits someone’s mailbox. A car insurance policy also includes liability, in case a person causes an accident and then gets sued.
One would expect that if the van driver hit Marcia Pinkstaff that the drivers insurance would cover any hospital or medical bills that she would have needed. But, in this case, the van driver hit a dog. Some auto insurance policies will cover the cost of medical care for dogs who were inside a vehicle when the vehicle was hit. In this situation, the dog was not inside a vehicle at the time of the accident.
The van driver was covered by Farmers’ Insurance. The insurer contacted Marcia Pinkstaff, and told her that they would reimburse her for the cost of Sasha’s initial trip to see a veterinarian after the accident occurred. The insurance representative also said that Farmers’ Insurance would, maybe, consider paying for one follow up exam.
After that, Marcia would be on her own paying for Sasha’s medical bills. Farmers’ Insurance informed Ms. Pinkstaff that the insurer would consider her dog to be “totaled out”. What does the phrase “totaled out” mean, in terms of insurance? It means that the insurance company calculated what it considered to be the total financial value of a piece of property. Once the insurer has paid out that dollar amount on the specific piece of property, it stops paying. To pay out any more would exceed the financial value of the item in question.
Usually, the phrase “totaled out”, or “totaled” refers to cars, vans, trucks, or motorcycles. This is the first time that I’ve heard of an insurance company assigning a financial value to a living, breathing, creature.
Most people consider their pets to be as much a part of their family as the humans in it are. There are people who will spend thousands of dollars in the attempt to save a sick pet. I think it is sad that Farmers’ Insurance thinks that dogs are “property” that can be assigned a financial value.
Image by Chris McClanahan on Flickr