Benzinga's Pet Insurance Methodology
We aim to provide comprehensive and unbiased reviews on Benzinga to help users understand and learn about pet insurance carriers Our goal is to help lead you to the best insurance provider for your pet. We breakdown the criteria and scores below.
Meet the Reviewers
Sarah Horvath is a financial writer located in New York City, New York. She focuses on the topics of insurance and investing for retirement. Horvath has written for numerous websites and publications, and her work regularly appears on websites like Robinhood’s news feed and Benzinga.
Our Methodology Scores
| Data | Weight |
| All-online application | 5% |
| # of plans | 10% |
| Trustpilot stars | 10% |
| Wellness plan or insurance | 5% |
| Preventative care coverage | 2% |
| # of vets in network | 5% |
| Customer service rating | 5% |
| Number of states where coverage offered | 5% |
| Covers prescription meds | 1% |
| Age of pets covered | 5% |
| Covers horses | 2% |
| Waiting period | 1% |
| Offers expense reimbursement | 1% |
| Covers prescription food | 5% |
| Covers euthanasia | 1% |
| Covers spaying/neutering | 5% |
| Covers teeth cleaning | 3% |
| Age of company | 5% |
| Can add multiple pets | 1% |
| Covers boarding | 5% |
| Minimum premium | 10% |
| Covers pre-existing conditions | 3% |
| Offers multi-pet policy discount | 1% |
| Covers surgery | 2% |
| Free look period | 2% |
| Score Totals | 100% |
Review Process
For pet insurance carriers, Benzinga created a weighted scale based on 25 different data points. Reviewers meticulously researched each point and applied the score according to these criteria to arrive at an overall rating. From there, the team scored 4 different categories:
Coverage Options
Most pet insurance plans can be customized to the needs of your pet. Coverage options for each carrier weigh heavily into each score because, as a pet owner, you want to know that your pet is protected and you can derive value from the policy. Remember, pet insurance policies often cover accidents and illnesses with wellness options or riders. In some cases, those are are not available at all. Therefore, policies with wellness or preventative options are graded higher than those without.
Each review considered which options are available based on the following score:
| Criteria | Score |
| Wellness plan or insurance | W = 0, I = 1, Both=2 |
| Preventative care coverage | Y/N Y=1 N=0 |
| Covers prescription meds | Y/N Y=1 N=0 |
| Covers prescription food | Y/N Y=1 N=0 |
| Covers euthanasia | Y/N Y=1 N=0 |
| Covers spaying/neutering | Y/N Y=1 N=0 |
| Covers teeth cleaning | Y/N Y=1 N=0 |
| Can add multiple pets | Y/N Y=1 N=0 |
| Covers boarding | Y/N Y=1 N=0 |
| Covers pre-existing conditions | Y/N Y=1 N=0 |
| Covers surgery | Y/N Y=1 N=0 |
Pet Insurance Rates
Pet insurance rates are calculated by a number of different factors including the age of the pet, if there are any pre-existing conditions, breed and what plan you choose. You'll pay a higher premium depending on the annual limit, deductible and reimbursement options.
As with any other financial product, you want to pay as little as possible while still deriving optimum value from the policy. This section represents 10% of our overall rating.
We rated each carrier based on starting price as follows:
| Score | Criteria |
| 5 | $1 - 10 per month |
| 3 | $11 - $25 per month |
| 1 | $26+ per month |
Customer Service
We used a secret shopper to contact each pet insurance carrier and rated them based on responsiveness. 5 is the highest score and 1 is the lowest. Secret shoppers are listening for friendly and knowledgable customer service associates who can answer questions about available policies and reseaarch the answers to most—if not all—questions.
The secret shopper also took into consideration which methods are available for contacting the company: phone, email, online chat and more. The category represents 5% of the overall rating.
| Score | Criteria |
| 5 | Replied or answered the phone in under 2 minutes |
| 4 | Replied or answered the phone in 3-5 minutes |
| 3 | Replied or answered the phone in 6-10 minutes |
| 2 | Did not answer but responded back within 24 hours |
| 1 | Did not answer or respond back within 24 hours |
Claims
We considered the claims process in the overall rating for each pet insurance provider. We looked at response time, average claims processing time and reimbursement model. Moreover, it is important to know that the claims process should be as simple as possible because almost all of these policies require you—to pet owner—to file claims.