Pet Insurance

Unlike many other forms of insurance, pet insurance is not a legal responsibility for you to have and thus, for many people, it can get pushed down to the bottom of the pile of things to do.

With the economic situation as it is, we are all trying to cut corners wherever possible and thus, if something doesn’t have to be paid for, then generally it isn’t. However, because vet bills can be so incredibly high it does make sense to consider pet insurance. Pet insurance can help spread the cost of necessary treatments and injections and also the incidents which we can’t plan for.

Compare Pet Insurance

InsurerProduct NameMax Vet FeesClaim BasisLife Time Per ConditionAnnual PolicyOnline DiscountMulti PetMore Info
Mark and Spencer Pet InsurancePremier£7000Per Year15%5%Mark and Spencer Pet Insurance
Mark and Spencer Pet InsuranceStandard£4000Per Year15%5%Mark and Spencer Pet Insurance
Morethan Pet InsuranceNA£7000Per Condition30%30%Morethan Pet Insurance
Direct Line Pet InsuranceAdvanced£6000Per Condition20%15%Direct Line Pet Insurance
Sainsburys Finance Pet InsuranceOption2£7500Per Condition12 months for 95%Sainsburys Finance Pet Insurance
Virgin Pet Insuranceillness extra £6000Per Condition10%5%Virgin Pet Insurance
Direct Line Pet InsuranceEssential£4000Per Condition20%15%Direct Line Pet Insurance
Sainsburys Finance Pet InsuranceOption1£3000Per Condition12 months for 95%Sainsburys Finance Pet Insurance
Virgin Pet InsuranceAccident & illness £3000Per Condition10%5%Virgin Pet Insurance

Nobody wants to consider having to have a beloved family pet put down simply because the vet fees cannot be paid. Paying a little bit each month into a pet insurance plan means that you can spread the cost and be covered if the worst were to happen.

There are obviously as many different types of pet insurance as there are different types of pets but the basics work in much the same way as they do for regular human health insurance. You will be asked to fill in a detailed history and background for any pet which you wish to insure. It is very important, however tempting it may well be, that you do not twist the truth in any way when you are working on these documents. If it turns out that you have given some wrong information then, at best your payments will increase and, at worst, your plan will be completely cancelled altogether.  The age of your pet as well as its medical history will impact on how much you are asked to pay for your pet, just as it would do in the case of human health insurance. There are also different degrees to which you can have your pet covered- do you want to be insured just for vets bills or major operations? Or do you want help funding posters for if your cat goes missing? This might sound a bit farfetched but there are policies out there which offer such perks- as long as you are willing to pay for them. Take your time and shop around different providers- see what sort of offers they have and what kind of cover they are offering you for your money.

Pet Insurance has become a huge market in the last few years; vets bills have been getting more and more expensive over the last decade and, as many people seek to tighten their purse strings, companies which offer a way to spread the costs of treatment have become widely popular.  Some policies will offer you more than others, but you shouldn’t be lured in by some of the gimmicks which are currently out there on the market as well; get the policy which you think is going to suit your pet and your family the best. It’s O.K getting a policy which is heavily geared towards vet’s bills but, if you have a very healthy pet which is lucky enough to not have any sort of medical history, then this may well be something which you don’t need.

Also, what is the point in opting for a cover plan that charges you more to cover your pet going missing if you only have some tropical fish in your garden that are unlikely to go walkabout? Get a deal which is going to be right for your individual case; also, if your pet is unfortunate enough to develop a degenerative condition later in life then this may also affect how much you are paying on your insurance premiums each month. Older pets will obviously cost more to insure as there is more of a chance of something going wrong with them; it may seem harsh but that is how insurance works, for anything. The more likely it is that the insurance company is going to have to make some sort of a payout, the more they are going to charge you- they are running a business after all.

You should use a price comparison website to compare what different companies may well charge you and also to examine what the different policies of different companies include. This is not a situation where you want to sign up to the first policy which comes along; many people feel as though their pets are another member of the family and thus you need to give pet insurance the same care and consideration as you would any type of insurance. Make sure you know what you are signing up for; the last thing you want to do is pay out for a policy which doesn’t cover your pet when it is run-over (or in some other situation) and leaves you having to pay more further down the line.