Why Buy Pet Insurance

It’s easy to assume that you’ll never make good use of pet insurance but with the ‘blame’ culture  becoming increasingly evident over recent years its sheer folly to even consider having a pet without taking out pet insurance. Just imagine if your pet caused an accident, damaged someone else’s property or attacked someone. We all think it will never happen to us but it does happen.

Another good reason for having pet insurance is the soaring costs of veterinary care. Like most things in life veterinary science is moving on in leaps and bounds but with the new found technology there is one hell of a price tag. We all know insurance companies are out to make money and pet insurance is no different but what you need to ask yourself is if you have to come up with a few thousand pounds at short notice could you do it.

Having pet insurance is like every other insurance policy we take out. It appears on the surface to be an absolute waste of money that is until the major catastrophe occurs. Could you really handle loosing your home over a third party claim or would you be able to find the cash for major veterinary work?

I’m not saying that having pet insurance will get you out of every hole. There’s always the little question of deductibles, the small print that acts as a get out clause, the annual caps, the exclusions for pre-existing conditions and the insurance premium hike for older pets but if you do your homework, before taking out your pet insurance, the funds will be there when it really matters.

You might believe now that if veterinary treatment is too expensive you’d rather have your pet put down instead of taking out pet insurance but will you feel the same way once you’ve become attached? Also you still leave yourself wide open to that little matter of third party liability claims which is where the unexpected accident would really hurt. Isn’t it better to just opt for a really high deductible to keep the cost down rather than risk all you own?

Besides selecting the maximum level of deductibles another way of reducing the cost of pet insurance is to avoid pure bred pets. Pure bred pet insurance premiums are significantly higher than those of the basic mutt.

Also, make sure you shop around, there are loads of different pet insurance policies available and you can half the cost if you do your homework.

Author: Terry Ross