[angusdavis]

This is a great example of a business where the revenue opportunity when sold as an insurance policy may be much higher than when sold as a per-incident/per-claim service.

Reposition as lost pet insurance, with differing rates based on type of pet, age of pet, whether or not pet has a homeagain RFID implant, etc. Perhaps also offer a standard response or a premium response, where the standard includes robocalls, craigslist posting, notification to local pet shelters/SPCA/dog catcher; premium level includes posting 'lost dog' flyers in local area using craigslist-recruited 'street teams.'

Sell it through vets, a PetCo partnership, dogster.com, etc. $29/year or something affordable like that. Get a special tag and everything "this pet protected by Pet Guardian" or whatever. See also AAA, TowBoat/US, Lifelock for insurance programs that target unlikely bad things like broken down car, grounded boat, or stolen identity.

"Do you care enough about your doggie to protect him with Pet Guardian?"

Market size is big: 60% of American households own pets. If just 0.50% of these pet-owning households bought lost pet insurance @ $29/year, that's an $8mm/yr business. If you got 3% of the market, it's $50 mm/yr.

[nopassrecover]

In principle you might be onto something but I think the pricing etc. and cost of running this service makes use it when you need it more appropriate.

At $29/year you'd have to hope that only 1 in 5 (perhaps even less) owners actually used your service in a year. What about that lady down the road who's dog gets out each week?

[sokoloff]

Take a page from AAA: 4 incidents a year are free, after that you pay.

I agree that "insurance" is the way to pitch this for maximum profit. People, including mostly rational people, will pay a [relative] lot to make themselves feel better about the chances of recovering their pet should it ever become lost.

[hughprime]

I don't think many people want to buy insurance whose maximum possible payout comes down to a couple of hundred bucks. People generally only insure against risks which they can't afford.

[patio11]

Except for health insurance, where people insure against the risk that they're going to go to the doctor for a routine annual checkup this year. (Other people have said it better than me: its like submitting a claim against your car insurance to pay for an oil change.)

[sokoloff]

AAA seems to be doing pretty well, and I can't think of too many people who drive a car, could afford the $39-59 for AAA, but not the <$100 to get towed 3 miles or <$350 to get towed 100 miles.

I've been a member for 17+ years, and the convenience way outweighs the price.