Compare Pet Insurance

Looking at pet Insurance

We understand how important your pet is, they are your friend, your family even and family is important. None of us want to think of our cat or dog needing to go to the vets. There is the worry, the time and even the concern of the vet bills, it’s just not the greatest of times but unfortunately, it’s something that could happen.

That's why pet insurance exists. To give pet owners the peace of mind that vet fees will be covered in the event of either injury or illness and that insurers will help cover veterinary care and costs.

What types of insurance are available?

With four main types of pet insurance to choose from, it’s worth understanding the reasoning for each before choosing your ideal pet cover. The below are the main options:

1. Accident only - this is the most limited of the options. Your pet is insured in the event of an accident but excludes any medical cover for illnesses.
2. Time limited - includes cover for illnesses as well as accidents and injury. Cover for these new conditions is provided up to a specific time limit or claim amount on the policy (typically 12 months). After this limit is reached conditions claimed for will not be covered again.
3. Maximum benefit - works in a similar way to time limited except the time limited aspect is removed leaving just the maximum claim amount.
4. Lifetime pet insurance - the most complete of the insurance types, it covers accidents, illnesses, and injuries as long as the policy is renewed at expiry time. Aspects of the policy will have maximum claim amounts, but these are reset each year with the policy being renewed and insurance continuing. If you move to another insurer, they will take any existing medical conditions as per-existing and they are, in most cases excluded from cover.

No matter which of the options you chose, policies last for 12 months, and the cover needs to continue year after yea. There are additional benefits to the lifetime policy type when this renewal happens in that the claim limits reset.

In most cases, pet insurers don't cover pre-existing medical conditions. That doesn't mean your pet can't be insured. Just that any policies taken out starting from after your pet was diagnosed with that condition or first encountered symptoms, it will be excluded from cover.

What does pet insurance cover?

There are lots of different pet insurance policies available just like there are with most forms of insurance products. They all come with different terms and conditions, different cover levels so its important you check what is and isn't covered before taking out any pet cover.

So, should I be insuring my pet?

Ultimately the answer is down to you and your individual circumstances.

One way of looking at pet insurance is splitting the cost of would-be vet bills into a monthly cost. Should your furry friend get an injury or illness and require veterinary surgery for instance, would you be in a position to cover this, and the costs involved as a one-off fee.

It’s not like for us humans, there is no free medical care for our animals and vet bills can be expensive. Its down to the pet owner having to cover these costs.