Having a pet is one of the best things in the world, they are our companions and give us their unconditional love however if anything should happen to them, if they fall ill or suffer an accident the vets fees can climb up to thousands and not everyone is in a position to be able to pay for that. This is why taking out a pet insurance is a very useful thing to do.
There are loads of companies offering pet insurance, but before you start looking at prices and researching which company you want to chose, you should give a thought to the type of insurance you want to take out for your pet. As with everything, the cheapest is not always the best. Saving a small amount on your premium can sometimes prove very costly.
There are several different types, you can take out. Usually the cheapest is the Monetary/time limit cover.
This cover has a cap on the amount you can claim and also a limit on how long you can claim for - this is usually for 12 months following the onset of the condition. Your claim will cease whichever limit is reached first. This restriction makes the policy cheaper. On renewal of your insurance, the condition you have already claimed for will be excluded as it will be listed as a “Pre-existing” condition.
Condition limit cover
This sort of cover does not have an annual limit on the amount that can be claimed for vet fees. Instead, a limit is set on the amount that can be claimed per condition suffered by your pet. You then claim for as long as your pet requires treatment until the limit is reached. This cover is much better as it will not exclude the any condition you have already claimed for on renewal, but for this reason the cover can be more costly.
Reinstatement cover – also often referred to as Life cover.
This is the most flexible and extensive type of cover, and therefore the most expensive. The policy has a cap on the amount it will pay each year towards vet fees - but when the policy is renewed after 12 months, the counter goes back to zero, meaning you can claim that same amount in full again over the course of the next 12 months.
The prices will also depends on where you live, in urban areas where there is more traffic and more chances of accidents and the vets fees are higher, the insurance prices will be higher than if you live in the country.
The prices then can also go up or kept down depending on how much “Excess” you are willing to cover (excess is the initial amount you pay before your insurance takes over) and what “extras” you chose to add, like third party liability, holiday cancelation, kennelling in case you yourself need hospital treatment and so on.
Remember, no new policy will cover pre-existing conditions - ailments your pet already has, so it is best to insure your dog as soon as you get it.
Once you made a decision about the type of insurance you want to get, start looking into companies and prices, but be careful...... if the price is too low, if it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is too good to be true!! Make sure the company you chose is a reputable and has a long established history in the pet insurance market.
I remember the first insurance I took out for my dog about 13 years ago was one that cost me £50 per year........ obviously, a year after I took it out they went bankrupt, now I was lucky that it happened when it happened for several reasons , when it went down, my dog was still young and healthy, so it was easy to insure him with anyone at that time, he also did not develop any conditions that would require lengthy treatment and which would definitely be excluded from any policy I would find.... it was then and there that I have decided to take out a lifelong policy with a reputable company – even if not the cheapest, it was still the best deal for me.
Another example of “too good to be true” is the recent scandal of Halifax and Lloyds TSB who stopped selling pet insurances and left many of their customers in the lurch. Many people have took out the life time cover they offered which was cheap – much cheaper than other companies offered it for. Over time this became unprofitable so they decided to just stop selling it. Obviously the people and pets that needed it most because they were claiming were left devastated as no other insurer would take on their often elderly and ill pets.
If they could not afford to cover vets fees themselves their only other option was to put their beloved pets down. Many many pets died needlessly as a result of this betrayal.
I’d rather pay a little more and have the peace of mind that when I actually need to use it, it WILL be there. The best in the market are Petplan and Direct line.
I myself have Direct Line, and while the premium now that my dog is getting old is getting higher, I have never had problems with claims, I always got paid within a few weeks.
The way it usually works, is you pay the vet, fill in a form and then send in a claim, in a few weeks a check from the insurance will arrive. Petplan will also pay directly to the vet which is helpful if you do not have the money to cover the amount until the claim comes through.
