We always used to use Pet Insurance for our cats and were loyal to Pet Plan, one of the leading Pet Insurance providers for many years. However following the death of our cat (at the time) and a visit to the vets with our dog, we decided to take out a pet insurance policy on our dog. Doing price and quality comparisons between Pet Plan and other Pet Insurance providers, soon made us realise we were paying well over the odds with Pet Plan, despite their excellent services.

Getting started was easy as we already had a motor insurance with Direct Line and therefore knew the website address and logging on there it gives you all the information you could possibly need. I actually phoned through my application, as I do prefer to speak to a human on things like this in case I missed anything online. Various details were taken about our dog and us and literally a few minutes later Chloe was covered for all manner of illness/accidents and their comprehensive cover doesn't stop there.

Whilst we have opted for the Essential Policy, they also offer an Advanced Policy which comes in at £15.49 per month for a Border Collie, and while the excess is still the same the amount you are covered for jumps up to £6,000 and there is no time limit, so if you pet is suffering an illness that is taking two years or more to get better, you will be covered the whole time as long the bills don't go above £6,000.

Direct Line will pay in the event of your pet dying in accidental conditions, for example if they are run over (could be very useful for cats!). You are asked to provide proof of the purchase cost though and for us this would not be relevant as she was dumped in a box by our car as a pup and cost us nothing. However this could prove useful if you had a very expensive pedigree dog or cat that you paid a fortune for. The same applies to if your animal has been lost, stolen or strayed. Relevant proof is again required in terms of either a crime number from the police if stolen, or receipts for advertising costs if they are lost. Again we have never used this service thankfully, as Chloe is very good when we are out and even if she could get out the garden on her own, she'd be back by dinnertime!

Direct Line also has a third party liability cover of up to £1million, in case you are sued over something your dog has done. Could be useful in conjunction with the Legal Advice line they offer, which promises to speak in plain English!

It may be beneficial to you to know that the policy you take out will not cover any pre-existing conditions so check things out with them first if your animal is already ill or has suffered an accident in the past which may affect them in the future - for instance arthritis following a broken bone. It is always best to check you will get cover or not in those cases as it would a huge waste of money if you took out the policy and then could not claim a few years down the line.

We have only had cause to use the service for a claim once, and this process was extremely easy and straightforward. As the procedure we needed the vet to do was sort of an emergency (Chloe cut her ear open on some barbed wire) we made an appointment with the vet and told them she was covered on insurance and they could do whatever was needed to get her better. She ended up having anaesthetic, shaving, stitches and medication and the bill soon mounted up to well over the £65 excess fee. In this instance we settled the bill ourselves direct with the vet and then made a claim through Direct Line for the refund of monies due. It was really simple and we actually completed most of it over the phone with the claims girl who was friendly and efficient. Once the forms came through we signed it and dropped it off with the vet as he needed to complete his side of the details and then he returned it to Direct Line for us. We had a refund cheque in a matter of days and the whole incident was tied up nicely. If you were having a planned operation for your pet you could make the arrangements directly between your vet and Direct Line to avoid any unnecessary lay out on your part, except the excess of course.