Where to Get Pet Insurance

Before we talk about where to get pet insurance lets first discuss what pet insurance is & why you should have it.

Pet insurance is just like any other insurance in that it protects you, as the pet owner, from any unforeseen circumstances whereby you might have to pay out a lot of money that you didn't expect. Whilst you may think it's obvious that you should have medical insurance for your pet to cover any vets bills what about other circumstances that you should insure for?

Well, have you thought about what would happen to your pet if you were taken ill & had to be hospitalised? Who would look after your pet or pets? What about if you were about to take a holiday but your pet became ill & needed urgent medical care? What if your pet caused damage to another person's property? What if your pet was stolen? Or strayed & didn't return? All of the proceeding scenarios, whilst not immediately obvious, are situations that you should have insurance for.

There are other not so obvious eventualities that you should insure against, the best way to ensure you cover as many situations as possible is to pick out a few insurance companies & read their policy benefits, by doing this you should be able to make a comprehensive list of what you should have cover for. The reason for picking more than one company is that different companies will offer cover for different situations, you want to make sure that you have all areas covered that apply to you & your pets unique situation, after all we & our pets are all different.

So when you have a comprehensive list of the cover you would like then it's time to think about where to get pet insurance. Maybe in searching for policy benefits you have already found some places to get quotes, great, what should you do next? Simply really, just treat your pet insurance search like you would any other insurance search. Go to 2 or 3 price comparison sites, don't forget to look out for polices that fit your individual circumstances as well as looking for a competitive policy. Then go to at least 2 direct insurance companies to check out their cover as well.

When thinking about where to get pet insurance bear in mind a few things; cheap is not always best & make sure you have enough, but not too much cover. Also remember that comparison sites are not independent, they will feature companies that give them good commissions which may not be the best companies for you. Narrow your preferred list down to 2 or 3 companies based on price & cover that fits your needs, then research the actual companies to see what other customers are saying about them;

• Is it easy to contact the company when you need to? • Is the claims procedure easy to understand? • Does the company have a dedicated claims manager to help you? • What is the company's record for paying out claims? • Will you get NCB ( No Claims Bonus ) if you don't make a claim? • Will your pet continue to be covered in "old age"?

You can do all this research yourself online, or you could use a broker who will do all the work for you, you should still know exactly what you want to be covered for, or you could ask around your friends, family & work colleagues for recommendations based on their experiences.