The future of pet insurance

In the UK, there is no legal requirement to have pet insurance. So why do 6.6m pet owners choose to buy it?

What does pet insurance cover?

Most people who decide to get pet insurance do it to get help with unexpected vet bills. By paying a pet insurance company a set amount monthly or yearly, you don’t have to worry about covering the costs of vet treatment yourself if your pet becomes unwell or is in an accident.

Dog Insurance vs Cat Insurance

But there is another important reason to consider pet insurance if you have a dog. As a dog owner, you are legally responsible for anything that your dog does. So if your dog bites someone, harms livestock, damages property, or runs out into the road and causes a traffic accident, you are liable for all the costs and will need to find a way of paying for them. Remember Fenton?

Pet insurance helps with this by providing a type of insurance called public liability insurance, which pays out if these sorts of incidents occur. In the most extreme cases, these costs could run to millions of pounds. (This isn’t a factor for cats, as the law sees them as free spirits and doesn’t hold owners responsible for their behaviour.)

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