What a year of pet insurance costs
The real cost is the twelve premiums plus whatever you still pay on each claim. With a £30 monthly premium, a £100 excess and no co-payment, one claim of £685 (the ABI average for 2024) costs you £460 for the year, against £685 without cover. In a year with no claims you pay £360 and get nothing back.
How this is calculated
- Premiums for the year = monthly premium × 12.
- For each claim, you pay the excess (or the whole bill if it's smaller than the excess), plus the co-payment percentage of what's left.
- Cost with cover = premiums + what you pay on claims. Cost without cover = all the vet bills.
- Break-even is the size of a single bill where both come out the same.
It assumes every claim is accepted and that each bill is within your policy's limits. It doesn't model annual or per-condition limits, which can matter for long-term illnesses, or price rises at renewal.
Worked example
Lottie pays £30 a month to insure her dog, with a £100 excess and a 20% co-payment. Her dog needs one course of treatment costing £685.
Premiums: £30 × 12 = £360. On the claim she pays the £100 excess, then 20% of the remaining £585, which is £117. Her total for the year is £360 + £100 + £117 = £577. Without cover she would have paid £685, so the policy saved her £108 that year. With no claims, it would have cost her £360.
Before you buy
Pet insurance is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Compare the policy documents rather than the price alone: what counts as a pre-existing condition, whether cover for an illness carries on into later years, the vet fee limit, and whether there is a co-payment. The ABI suggests reading the Insurance Product Information Document for each policy.