When it comes to pet insurance there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Unfortunately there’s no simple ‘best buy’ as the premiums depend on a raft of variables; such as your location, pet species and age. Yet this is my speedy four step pet insurance cost cutting plan.

First question, whether it’s necessary. Think about how much your pets will cost you, the likely impact of vet fees and how you’d react if they got ill (let’s be clinical, this means will you pay medical fees or have them put down).

It’s worth noting though, vets’ fees are rising at the moment, so be aware of the real potential costs. Fixing a cat’s broken leg, for example, can cost £825. Surgery for a dog that has eaten something dangerous can cost £1,500.

As well as vet bills, pet insurance covers all sorts of weird and wonderful eventualities; for instance, if your cat is stolen, some providers stump up the cost of advertising and a reward, or even cover the cost of your holiday if you can’t go because your pet’s crook. Yet often these are added as hype to sell a policy and rarely claimed.

No going back

A dog is for life, not just for Christmas; and unfortunately this is often the case with pet insurance too. The reason? Most providers exclude pre-existing conditions, so if your pet develops a condition, you’re stuck with that policy, as other plans won’t cover it – not without a huge rise in cost anyway. So ensure you’re happy at the start.

Premiums vary according to a range of variables including pet's age, pedigree and location (vet's bills are higher in London and the South East). Policies vary in a number of ways so first consider what you want.

 This is one product where the old adage ‘read the small print’ really works. Buy the wrong policy and you could be faced with having to put your pet down, simple as that. Things to watch out for include pay-out limits (those with a per year, rather than per condition limit are a safer bet) and excess levels. Also consider whether you need cover for hereditary conditions, death or dental costs.

 Once you’ve decided which cover suits you, price comparison site moneysupermarket.com has a pet insurance comparison service detailing different cover levels for cats* and dogs*. This far from covers all the providers on the market, but it’s a very good start point as it provides a good cheap benchmark price for your insurance.  

 After that, armed with the right information, you are now in a position to ring up and haggle. Take the best quote to other insurers and brokers and haggle to see if a better price is available.  You’d be surprised how often they’ll reduce the price if they’re about to lose a customer.

 As an example, for a six-year-old Labrador in Essex, annual pet insurance is £480 with Halifax eXtra. Using this four step method I quickly found that with Marks & Spencer the price is reduced to just £220.

 The policies have similar excesses and both limit pay-outs per year rather than per condition; in fact M&S covers vets fees up to £7,000 compared with Halifax’s £6,000. Yet the saving is a whopping £260 per year, even before haggling.