Homeowners' Insurance and the Trampoline Pitfall

Many homeowners' insurance policies will not cover a trampoline, any incidents surrounding a trampoline, or any one using the trampoline who gets hurt even if they are just watching the jumping happening on the trampoline. The trampoline, in the eyes of the homeowners' insurance company, is bad, bad ticket item that you may find has more consequences than you initially realized.

There are some homeowners' insurance companies that will drop your homeowners' insurance policy if you purchase a trampoline. Other companies just write in exclusions, and therefore will not be liable for any injury caused by the use of (or near) the trampoline. The use of a trampoline can cause serious injury, and in the event of serious injury to a third party can be the end of your home ownership days.

Homeowners' insurance policies do not generally cover the use of a trampoline simply because the trampoline incident rate is very high for a piece of home equipment and the jury awards in cases that have gone to court are exceedingly high, especially in cases of back or neck injuries as semi—paralysis or paralysis can occur. Additionally, the trampoline is the Achilles heel of homeowners' insurance as an attractive nuisance hazard for home owners. This means that the homeowners' insurance company believes that it provides a perpetual nuisance since it can invite individuals to play and bounce while you are away at work or doing things that take your attention away from home. It is not uncommon for juries to award ridiculously large settlements to those who have trespassed without your consent and then proceeded to hurt themselves on your trampoline. Is this fair? Not even close. But the fact remains that these actions have occurred and play a significant role in preventing homeowners' insurance policies from protecting your trampoline and your family, not to mention everything you have and even will have, from the unwanted trampoline bouncer.

Perhaps the judicial system has a few flaws that contribute directly to the homeowners' insurance companies' refusal to renew policies for homes with trampolines. Many homeowners' insurance policies used to simply exclude any injury sustained on the trampoline or any injury that was suspected to have been sustained while on the trampoline. However, this exclusion factor wasn't satisfactory as there have been countless fraudulent homeowners' insurance claims that forced the insurance companies to provide insurance coverage for injury that was sustained on a trampoline but reported to have been sustained elsewhere.

The very simple fact of the matter is that if you own a trampoline, homeowners' insurance companies are not likely to pick you up. It is fraudulent to not report your trampoline and you will find that you are in a world of hot water should anyone sustain an injury while using an unreported trampoline.