It's hard to quantify what our increase was due to the pool because we increased our coverages and converted to an umbrella policy. We had to increase our auto coverage as well (because of the umbrella) and all-in-all the total bill went up around 60 bucks a month. We don't have a diving board, but I have heard from several other pool owners that their insurance companies won't cover a pool with a board at all, so I don't think it's that unusual (unfortunately).

Our HOI provides coverage to "other dwellings" (e.g. pool, fence, storage buildings, etc.) in the amount of 10% of our primary dwelling coverage. So, if you have your home covered for $200,000, you'd have coverage of $20,000 available to cover your "other dwellings."

In our situation, the 10% was not quite enough to adequately cover all our "other dwellings" so we added coverage to the tune of about $100/year.

Another thought on HOI...be sure to ask your insurance company about the type of fencing or alarms they require. We didn't ask about diving boards because we weren't having one.

Thanks for the replies. Anyone else willing to share their case? It would be great to hear about specific companies and how they deal with pools.

North Los Angeles County.

Auto Club.

No diving board.

No increase.

Matt

Ha! My wife told me that part of our increase (mentioned above) was because she doubled my life insurance policy. I think I better sleep with one eye open :-)

Just called my insurance company today Prudential (Liberty Mutual) and all she state was to increase my liability insurance and that my pool be fenced in.

We have American Family as our HOI. They covered us, with a diving board and no increase in rates. We also have an umbrella policy which really makes sense at roughly $220.00 per year for a million in coverage.

In S.Florida the big thing is the cage.They don`t like
screened in pools.
JR....

Our pool was just finished in Indiana last week. We did not have an increase to our homeowners insurance (Sate Farm). But, we added an umbrella policy for $137 year ($1 million in coverage).

After the hurricanes of 2004, many Florida homewoners had to find new companies for coverage. We had to remove our diving board to be insurable.

flowineddy: Your HOI is $220/yr total @$1M, including pool coverage? OMG

Thanks for the informative info everyone. Really appreciate it...and anyone else who chimes in.

Our HOI company said they would not insure us at all if we put in a diving board. There was not an increase in premium if we also had locking gates. Our fence is also 8 foot so that may have also helped.

We have state farm and I guess I need to call my agent again to see exactly whats happening. When I reported my pool, I was there to actually insure a new piece of jewelry and told them by the way "we put in a pool this past winter". I was speaking with an inexperienced new girl that day because my agent was not in the office. She took all of my info. She called me back a couple of days later and told me that I was covered and that state farm would cover any damages to my pool equimpment up to $20k, I think. She didn't say anything about liability though. That was the only thing that I was concerned about. I never thought about any kind of comprehensive damages to my pool. We do have an umbrella policy already though. Maybe thats why it was no big deal to add coverage for my pool. I really do need to call.

I was told by my insurance to add it as soon as they started construction. I called them and added the pool along with upgrading my liability to the max. For my insurance company, it was $500,000. Total yearly cost to add the pool and up coverage from $200,000 to $500,000 was $118.00 per year. Hope it helps. I am in California by the way.

busyredhed...thanks. That $118 figure is something I can really use.

i too took out an umbrella policy.with the original policy i had before the pool,i thought that with the pool it wouldn't cover squat god forbid should something happen.looking at the umbrella policy and what the extra cost per year was,to me was a no brainer.

Huge pool, 8' diving board - no increase in premium. We're in VA, so there are codes already in place for the locking gates and fences. However, I am considering adding an umbrella policy just in case!

Enjoy your pool!
-Renee

All we did was make sure we had a $1mil liability policy - upped our rates by about $200/year I think. Local codes already require self closing gates and a fence.