Pet insurance in the GB market is growing during the last ten years due to the arrival and mass uptake of price comparison websites and high visibility television and other media advertising. Another factor that has caused the market to develop and expand is the advances in veterinary treatment for pets recently. Owners are far more reticent to put animals, especially pets, to sleep and increasingly costly and sophisticated treatments have been used to increase the quality of life for our pets. The market is to a large extent centred around dogs and cats and dogs constitute the largest market share although there are a larger portion of cat owners in the UK. Pet insurance simply pays out when your pet becomes ill, requires injections or other treatment. more often than not this includes ongoing treatment such as worms and fleas in the case of dogs and cats. Some policies pay when a pet dies and others may provide for when a pet goes missing or otherwise disappears. In addition, passport and quarantine fees, accident cover and even assistance locating a lost pet are also often included.

There also exist highly specialized policies for the growing number of exotic pets being brought into the UK in greater numbers each year, some of which can be highly valuable. Contrary to what many people think, pet insurance is more similar to property insurance than life insurance in humans. The policies usually pay out 100% of vet fees or a significant proportion on payment of an excess. The excess, as with all insurance, is set by the insurer and it is a valuable indicator of the health of the market and can often drive down policy costs due to competition. It is only more recently that policies have begun to cover preventative care or ‘routine care’ coverage. This could include dental, tick removal, prescription drugs and vaccinations. In addition, elective procedures such as neutering are often covered by some comprehensive providers.

Obviously the depth of the plan will be reflected in the pricing and excess. In addition, as with every insurance policy, the value of the plan will be highly linked to the age, condition and breed of the pet and various other risks that any insurer must be privy to before proceeding to offer insurance. An example of this is pre-existing conditions. This is a measure to deter fraudsters by which customers are well aware that the animal is already ill and take out insurance in the knowledge that they will be making significant claims on the policy. This also encourages owners to insure young pets while the premium is low and the animal is healthy. A new development in the industry has been the the availability of third party liability for owners. This is where an insurer will agree to pay out for loss caused by an animal owned by them to another’s property as in when a dog or cat might stray onto the road causing a car accident.