Pet insurance policies can leave you liable for a large portion of the costs should your pet suffer a lengthy injury or illness.
This is because many pet insurance policies only cover your pet for a set amount of time on any one claim - usually 12 months – meaning you’ll have to foot any subsequent bills.
Dog owners should also check their pet insurance policy covers them for their pet’s actions, such as damaging property or injuring another person.
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Get the pet insurance you pay for
As a general rule of thumb, the cheaper your premiums, the more exclusions you’re likely to find hidden in your policy. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for with insurance.
Nonetheless, don’t simply assume you are protected against every eventuality purely because you paid top dollar for your pet insurance. Check the fine print thoroughly before signing up.
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Importance of shopping around
Those headline rates you see on insurer’s adverts are largely meaningless, as each policy depends greatly on you/your pet’s individual circumstances and the type of cover you’re after.
Similarly, just because someone you know received a cheap quote from a certain insurer, it does not mean you’ll get a good deal there too.
So if you are in the market for pet insurance, make sure you take a few minutes to compare policies online.
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No insurer is cheapest for everyone
As a practical illustration of the importance of shopping around, we got quotes from three of the main pet insurers for a two year old border collie.
We started by applying for each insurer’s basic policy, which only covers the pet for a maximum of 12 months per claim. As the table below shows, LV= pet insurance offered the highest level of cover yet had the lowest premium, so it was definitely the one to go for.
By contrast, Virgin pet insurance offered the least cover and the most expensive premiums.
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But change the circumstances, and…
Next, we applied for each insurer’s top policy, which will cover our pet for the duration of any illness. In this instance, it is Virgin that offers both the highest level of cover and the lowest monthly premium, while LV= is now the worst.
So as you can see, shopping around is the best way to ensure you get the right policy at the lowest possible price. And thanks to the proliferation of online shopping, you can now get quotes from all insurers in a matter of minutes - and without leaving the house.
| Insurer | Level of Cover | Monthly Premium |
| Virgin Money | £6,000 | £16.94 |
| Direct Line | £6,000 | £19,14 |
| LV= | £5,000 | £19.77 |
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