Trampolines are a type of device that characteristically features a piece of strong tight fabric stretched taut over a steel frame featuring several coiled springs.
This produces a device that’s bouncy enough to launch people in the air when they jump onto it. While the fabric mat that stretches over the frame isn’t entirely elastic, it’s the responsibility of the coiled springs that produce the elasticity causing the bouncy effect, since they store potential energy.
Trampolines are an object of affection for kids, though they’re also commonly used in sports and recreational contexts where the device may be needed to facilitate higher jumps and the like. People can even buy trampolines for use at their home. While it’s simple to buy a trampoline, there are potential issues with buying one. Those issues often involve safety issues.
The problem with trampolines
Trampolines can be a fun addition to the home, though they have a side that a lot of people don’t quite understand… until someone gets hurt.
If not tended to properly, a trampoline can hurt someone. And, when we say ‘tended to,’ we’re mainly talking about supervising or watching over the people that may choose to use your trampoline at any time. The thing about trampolines that they’re instant liabilities—even if you do watch the people that use your trampoline, there’s still a risk of someone becoming injured just by using it. That’s the main issue with having a trampoline at your home.
That’s another reason why kids shouldn’t be left alone with trampolines either. While you can do everything to make sure your kids’ trampoline is high quality and safe enough to use, the risk of injury is still there. Add in the possibility of someone else’s kids getting injured and you pretty much open up a new can of worms, as they say.
The innate possibility of risk is a big reason why many home insurance companies don’t cover trampolines at all.
The cost of trampolines and homeowners insurance
Yes, you’d be hard pressed to find any type of cheap Florida homeowners insurance for trampolines. Even if you call your local Florida home insurance company, you may get a conflicting answer. Some people get an immediate answer that pretty much points to no in all respects. So, if you do happen to have a trampoline in your Floridian home, what should you do?
To start, you should learn what a trampoline can do to your homeowner’s insurance. According to some people’s experiences with trampolines, having a trampoline can place a pretty large impact on your homeowner’s insurance policy.
When you think about it, there isn’t Florida homeowners insurance for trampolines. It’s because many home insurance companies in Florida, or in most places in the United States, consider trampolines too much of a risk to properly insure. Don’t believe it?
Although it was just a few years ago, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission actually reported that hospital emergency rooms treated over 80,000 injuries that were associated with trampolines.
That’s also not taking into account the warnings many health organizations have published about the likelihood of suffering injuries when using a trampoline, especially if you’re not careful. Information like the aforementioned more or less support homeowner insurance companies and their decision to not insure trampolines.
But, how much of a risk can a trampoline pose to a home insurance policy? To give you an idea, many homeowners insurance policies have something known as a ‘trampoline exclusion clause’ in place. That means that although your homeowners insurance company will cover liabilities against injuries that occur on your property, they won’t cover any liability expenses if those injuries are related to trampolines.
That’s the type of treatment that trampolines get from homeowners insurance companies. It might seem harsh, though a source that talked about the subject pretty much explained why that happens to be the case.
Many homeowners insurance companies consider trampolines an ‘attractive nuisance.’ Since they do attract kids and even older people, the possibility of someone using the trampoline and getting injured is too high.
And, according to that source, getting insurance is all about risk. So, if an insurance company considers something risky, in this case the trampoline, they’ll either raise the premium or even cancel the policy altogether. Getting a policy canceled due to the presence of a trampoline has happened to people in the past, after all.
So, that’s probably why you haven’t seen any type of Florida homeowners insurance for trampolines yet. They’re just too risky to insure. Though, you might still consider getting that trampoline anyway. If you do end up getting that trampoline, is there something that you can do to see if you can get some type of insurance coverage against it? You might be surprised.
Insurance coverage and trampolines
You might be able to insure a trampoline under your homeowners insurance policy or even a different policy altogether. Of course, you’ll have to face many restrictions that may put you off the policy in the first place.
Some insurance companies offer the option to insure a trampoline, as long as you take safety precautions first. That usually involves installing a safety net around the perimeter of the trampoline, helping prevent those who use the trampoline from falling off. If you get a net installed, you’ll also need a lock to close the net and to prevent other people (and kids) from getting onto the trampoline when it’s not in use.
You may also be advised to anchor your trampoline—not only to provide it some much needed stability, but to prevent it from eventually going ‘airborne’ during a storm… and landing on someone else’s property.
Even if you manage to do this, your insurance company may end up charging you an additional fee just to cover that newly outfitted trampoline. That applies to homeowners insurance companies that do insure trampolines in the first place.