Your pet insurance excess shapes what you pay monthly and at claim time. Here's how it works, and how to choose the right one for your pet.
The short answer: it's what you pay towards a claim before your cover kicks in.
When you take out pet insurance, most of the conversation is about what's covered. But there's another number that quietly shapes how useful your cover actually is in practice: your excess.
Understanding how your excess works will help you choose the right level of cover, avoid surprises when you claim, and make a smarter call on what to pay each month.
Here's everything you need to know.
What we will cover
What is an excess in pet insurance?
Your excess is the portion of a vet bill that you pay yourself when you make a claim. Your insurer covers the rest, up to your policy limits.
So if your dog needs emergency surgery and the bill comes to R15,000, and your excess is R1,500, you pay R1,500 and your insurer covers R13,500. Simple enough.
The excess exists for two reasons. First, it keeps premiums lower. When you carry some of the risk, your insurer takes on less, and that gets passed on to you in the form of a cheaper monthly premium. Second, it discourages very small claims that cost more to process than they're worth.
It's a trade-off: you agree to cover a slice of each claim yourself, and in return, you pay less every month.
How do pet insurance excesses work?
Different insurers structure pet insurance excesses in different ways. The most common types are:
Flat excess
A fixed rand amount per claim. If your excess is R750, you pay R750 every time you claim, no matter the size of the bill. Predictable and easy to budget for.
Percentage excess
A percentage of the total claim amount. If your excess is 10% and your vet bill is R8,000, you pay R800. This one scales with the size of the claim, so it's lower on smaller bills and higher on bigger ones.
Percentage excess with a minimum
A combination of both. You pay a percentage of the claim, but there's a floor: a minimum rand amount you'll always pay, regardless of how small the bill is.
How your excess works at Naked
At Naked Insurance, your excess is made up of two parts: a percentage and a minimum. When you claim, both are calculated and you pay whichever is higher.
You choose both figures when you get a quote. That choice affects two things directly: how much you'll pay out of pocket when you claim, and what your monthly premium is.
Here's how to think about it:
Let's look at two examples where you have a 10% excess with a minimum of R500.
Example 1: A big bill
Your dog needs surgery that costs R10,000. Ten percent of R10,000 is R1,000. Your minimum is R500. Because R1,000 is higher than R500, you pay R1,000 and Naked covers R9,000.
Example 2: A smaller bill
Your dog visits the vet for medication and the bill is R2,000. Ten percent of R2,000 is R200. Your minimum is R500. Because R500 is higher than R200, you pay R500 and Naked covers R1,500.
Why do you have a minimum excess? The minimum excess exists to make sure that very small claims are still shared between you and your insurer. It also helps keep your premium lower than it would be with a flat excess structure.
How excess affects your premium
The relationship between excess and premium is straightforward: the higher your excess, the lower your monthly premium. The lower your excess, the more you pay each month, but the less you pay when something goes wrong.
Neither is better in the abstract. It depends on what you're trying to protect against.
How to choose the right excess
Think about the kind of cover you actually want.
If you want cover for both small and big vet bills, choose a lower excess. You'll pay more monthly, but your out-of-pocket costs on each claim will be lower. This is a good fit if you have a breed that's prone to health issues, an older pet, or you'd rather pay consistently than face a large surprise bill.
If you mainly want protection against the big, unexpected stuff, a higher excess makes sense. If you're comfortable handling smaller vet visits yourself, and you want your insurance to be a real safety net for serious emergencies.
A few practical questions to ask yourself:
- What vet bill amount would genuinely stretch my budget?
- Is my pet young and healthy, or are regular vet trips already part of life?
- Could I comfortably cover a R1,000 to R2,000 vet bill without insurance?
Your answers will point you in the right direction. And if you're not sure, you can always play with the options when you get a quote and see how your premium changes.
Your excess is one of the most important levers in your pet insurance policy. It shapes what you pay monthly and what you pay when your pet actually needs care. Understanding how yours works means you can make a deliberate choice about the kind of cover you want, rather than just picking the cheapest option and hoping for the best.
Your pet deserves cover that actually works when it matters. So does your bank account.
