I decided to take out pet insurance for my 2 border collies. I browsed a few websites and finally decided on Direct Line, partly because I already have car insurance with them and party because their deal seemed quite good.

I ordered my pet insurance online and this was very easy to do. I found their website very easy to navigate, and it has a nice simple layout. The policy could not be used until 14 days after I had applied for it (I assume this is to save Direct Line having customers signing up at the last minute when they know they are going to have an expensive vet bill. The online process was very quick and simple, they asked for various details about my dogs such as age, breed, cost of pet etc and literally a few minutes later they were both covered for all manner of illness / accidents.

Each month I pay only £15.95 for both my Border Collie dogs to be covered. The policy I chose (Essential Policy Cover) covers my dogs for claims of up to £4,000 for each condition or up to a 12-month period. For example, if one of my dogs was attacked by another dog, they would be covered up to £4,000 in medical costs e.g., medicines, operations, injections etc, then if something else were to happen to the same dog totally unrelated to the 1st claim then I would be allowed to claim up to another £4,000. The excess on my policy is £65 and any amount over that I can start claiming for.