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Pet Insurance

Pet insurance provides cover against unplanned, unexpected expenses incurred by injury or illness to your pet. Many vets bills can run into hundreds of pounds to repair damage caused by sometimes fairly innocuous injuries. Most insurance companies will also provide cover or compensation for loss of a pet, kenneling or cattery fees if you suffer injury and are temporarily unable to care for your pet, advertising and rewards should your pet go missing, and even for alternative medicines such as homeopathy if your vet considers it appropriate.

What pet insurance does not cover are medical conditions already present when the policy is taken out, routine costs such as vaccination, neutering and worm and flea control.

There are a wide range of insurance companies offering what appear to be similar policies. It is important to be careful to avoid certain pitfalls. Points to check include the following:

  • How often is the excess payable-once yearly, per claim or per condition?

  • Is the maximum payout annual or per condition?

  • If my pet gets ill and I claim, will the premium and excess increase at renewal?

  • At annual policy renewal does the insurer exclude conditions I've claimed for in the last year?

  • Will the premium increase as my pet gets older?

Some insurance companies will reduce premiums by limiting the claimable amount on for injury or illness to a set maximum value, or restricting length of cover to 1 year. Ideally you should select a company that will provide lifetime cover with a relatively high value maximum annual cover.

Most companies will set an excess value that is payable by yourselves (normally in the value of £35-£55) for each separate condition. Thereafter the policy should cover any subsequent cost for treatment involved for that particular condition.

A selection of companies providing pet insurance is listed below, please assess carefully the suitability of the policies for your individual situation. We are happy to advise our own clients in this regard.

www.petplan.co.uk    www.petprotect.co.uk    www.directline.com    www.rspca.org.uk

 

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