In Great Britan one in two of every house owns a pet but fewer than one in five have taken out pet insurance to cover the vets costs.If you are an uninsured pet owner, mull over this: you can purchase cover with Pet Protect. But if you have that out of the ordinary kind of pet, Exotic Direct offers individually-priced insurance for animals ranging from spiders, snakes to vultures and Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs. Almost anything!Almost anything could be insured.
When taking out insurance for your pet, the cost will determined by the type of pet, its age and pedigree, the level of cover, your address and the insurer. As a guide, pedigree breeds are usually more pricey to insure than ordinary or cross bred animals. This is because predigrees are prone to illhealth and generally live shorter lives.
You will probably have to pay more if you reside in a town or city. Cover costs more in London and the south-east, where vets’ fees are above the national average Nevertheless. premiums can still be quite good, starting at around £6.50p a month for a dog and 4 pounds thirty five pence a month for a cat.
But be careful of incredibly cheap premiums. The amount of cover varies extensively between policies and basically you pay for what you get. So search around and carefully study the levels of cover given before you buy.
Veterinary costs are a significant part of the cover. So if possible you should purchase a policy that covers you for severalquite a few thousand pounds worth of vets’ fees each year. The policy should include hospitalisation, surgery and treatment following illness or accident.
If you own a dog also look for plans which offer third-party liability cover. Some policies provide one million pounds cover and some can go as high as 2 million. This covers injury or damage or harm your dog may inflict onpeople or property. Remember,you are legally liable if, say, your dog nips the postman. As a cat owner you can rest easy, since you do not need third-party liability because you cannot be held responsible for your cats actions.
Insurance policies will not normally cover puppies under eight weeks old or very elderly pets. Most, but not all, plans refuse to accept dogs older than 8 or 9 years and cats older than ten. But if you are already covered when your pet reaches that age, your insurer should continue to offer protection, but you can expect your premiums to increase significantly.
With most insurers, you will have to pay an excess of up to 50 pounds per claim. But with most plans this goes up for elderley pets.
All pet plans will exclude any medical problem that already exists when you first take a policy out. But a few may also restrict the payment of a ongoing claim to one year. Therefore, if your pet requires a long treatment for arthritis, eczema or diabetes, for example, after the first year you will have to foot the bill fully yourself. There are some insurance policies that will meet ongoing claims, so keep an eye out for those but their premiums will be more costly
Be sure to remember that it is important to keep your pets jabs up to date. Your insurance will not reimburse for an illness that could have been prevented by vaccination.
Well then is pet insurance worth it? Yes we think it is.You may be lucky and have a pet that stays fit and healthy up and till the last, but this is very unlikely. On a third of all plans the average is a claim each year. And the vets costs can run up thousands of pounds. You pay your money and you avoid the risk!|
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