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Some would consider pet insurance an absolute must have. Other pet owners think it’s a waste of money. Here we look at the case for pet insurance in the UK: Is it worth it?
The key benefit of pet insurance is peace of mind. If your dog should fall ill or have an injury, then pet insurance should deal with the financial implications. As any pet owner will know, a visit to the vet for something small can be expensive. So if your dog has a serious medical issue then you can imagine the bill is going to be big. Pet insurance removes the stress of having to find thousands of pounds for treatment.
However, not everyone thinks that paying a monthly fee for years on end is money well spent. If you pay out on pet insurance and never make a claim over the lifetime of your dog, would you have been better keeping that money in a savings account? This is the option some people choose.
If you have experienced a poorly puppy, or a young dog developing a health condition, you probably would want the reassurance of having a policy in place. If your dogs have always been in good health, you may be more inclined to put money aside monthly, just in case.
You will find that as your dog ages, your pet insurance premiums also increase. Which is understandable. As your dog ages, the chances of them developing a health condition also increase.
Some policies offer lifetime condition protection. Others only offer cover for one year. This is an important differentiator in policies and also has a big impact on price difference.
Most policies will expect you to pay an excess when making a claim. Check out what the excess is on your policy. This will also affect your monthly payment.
Some policies will cover existing conditions, some will not. Another point to check.
Typically, most dog owners start their policy when the puppy arrives. And depending on the policy type, you may start off paying a relatively small amount. As your dog ages, this monthly payment will slowly creep up each year. Our Petplan policy for Oscar and Hooch started at £20 each (this was nearly 20 years ago!) with our final payments being close to £80 each when they were elderly. Oscar was always a healthy dog and I don’t think we made any claims for him. Hooch, on the other hand, had a different constitution and needed stomach investigations and medication later in life. His lifetime cover plan with Petplan really came into its own. If you go for a “covers all bases” plan, expect to pay more.
All pet insurance is not equal.
Cheap doesn’t mean bad, but read the small print.
Depending on your personal experience, you may have very different views to your friends about the need for pet insurance.
Nowadays your vet does all the hard work of the form filling and claiming, so your vet will be able to give some advice on pet insurance.
There is no definitive answer to this question. If it ends up saving you thousands of pounds you don’t have or would struggle to find, then yes, it’s worth it. If it means you can budget properly and have peace of mind, then yes, it’s worth it. If your dog lives to 15 and you paid £8,000 over their lifetime for insurance but never needed to claim for anything like that, was it worth it? Personally we think it is, but that’s just us.
Do your research!
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