Sum insured

The most an insurer will pay out for your pet in a single policy year, across every claim you make that year. Once you've claimed up to that limit, the policy stops paying until your next renewal. You would need to cover the rest yourself.

Some insurers offer one fixed limit; others let you pick from a few tiers when you buy the policy (e.g. $5,000 / $10,000 / $15,000) and charge more for a higher one. A higher limit matters most for a serious accident or long-running chronic illness, where treatment costs can run into the thousands.

Sum insured is one of the most important things to check in a policy, because it's the clearest test of whether a policy is actually useful in a real, expensive claim. A generous looking policy with a low annual limit can still leave you covering thousands of dollars yourself.