Pet Insurance guide discussion area

Stevenn

Have a look at Bought By Many. Have insured my pets with them and their Feefo ratings are amazing! 4.8 stars out of 5 and that includes people who have made a claim

JeannieP

My dogs have always been insured - until recently! I have now cancelled my Pet Insurance as it does not appear to be worth the premiums. The insurance companies will wriggle out of paying up in whatever way they can. I had been insured for 2 years through Sainsburys Pet Ins. when my dog became ill. After tests it was discovered he had Campylobacter, a virus that even we humans can get from contanimated meat or water etc. The bill came to over £300 for the tests, treatment and special food but he was fine within a week or so and free from the virus after the course of Antibiotics. The claim was rejected by the insurance company because I had taken the dog to the vets in 2012 with a bout of diarhea, cause unknown but the vet had written in the notes that he/she suspected an intolerance to chews. I have no idea why as my dog had eaten chews previously and has had many in the 5 years or so since then. The Insurance company placed an exclusion on the insurance for "all intestinal and degestive disorders" because they said my dog had "an intolerance to food" . They refused point blank to reconsider even though the Insurance Ombudsman and our vets pointed out that this was a virus not an intolerance to food which my dog had never had any way. My story is a warning to everyone who changes from one insurer to another that every little thing that your dog has suffered in its lifetime MUST be declared and they will place ridiculous exclusions on your pets health care. All the money I have paid out over the last 8 years of my dogs lifetime has all been for nothing.

PhiltheBear

Unfortunately your dog didn't have a 'lifetime' policy. If he had then your claim would have been met. To be fair Sainsburys used to advertise their policies as 'lifetime' when, in fact, they were no such thing.

sheramber

My story is a warning to everyone who changes from one insurer to another that every little thing that your dog has suffered in its lifetime MUST be declared and they will place ridiculous exclusions on your pets health care. All the money I have paid out over the last 8 years of my dogs lifetime has all been for nothing.

If you change policies then any pre existing condition that can be linked in any way to a current condition is excluded. These exclusions can be widespread..

This is a standard policy condition to avoid people taking out insurance after a condition has been diagnosed.

There are some policies that will cover pre existing conditions subject to certain restrictions such as age of pet when taking out the policy or after a certain time of no recurrence or treatment.

My friend's GSD had a bout of diarrhoea. When she took insurance afterwards all gastro intestinal conditions arising in the future were excluded.

My dog had an skin allergy from eating lamb. As ling he didn't at lamb he was okay. A new insurance excluded all further skin conditions. So if he had developed eczema or skin cancer they would not have been covered although they had nothing to do with his allergy.

These exclusions were known when the insurance was taken out but ti was still considered worth it for the cover for any other condition.

The policies still paid out for any other conditions, as your policy would. If your dog developed arthritis or diabetes or cancer or broke a leg you would have been covered. Only one type of condition was not covered.
You were obviously happy to pay for 8 years without any claim and didn't think it was for nothing

This is why you need to read the policy document- not the summary- very carefully so that you know exactly what you are covered for.

Deewelch

I have 2 Golden retrievers and I think I need to get them an insurance. One of my dogs got an accident and I need to pay $2,000 for all the medical bills. This insurance for pets is very important to all pet owners.

PhiltheBear

You need to be aware that the sort of policy Sainsburys sold isn't really an annual renewal of your existing policy. It's a new policy every year. That's why the sort of exclusion that sheramber wrote about applies.

Although it's more expensive the only 'safe' policy is a 'lifetime' policy.


There's a write up on types of policies etc at http://petinsurancecompare.co.uk/download.html
which is worth a look.

sheramber

Sainsbury's Premier and Premier Plus policies do cover for life but there is a limit to the amount paid out for each condition.

So cover will continue for as many months or years it takes to reach that figure, as long as the premiums are paid each year.

The OP SAYS

My story is a warning to everyone who changes from one insurer to another that every little thing that your dog has suffered in its lifetime MUST be declared and they will place ridiculous exclusions on your pets health care

That would indicate that she changed companies after the first episode so it was considered a pre exisitng condition by the second company ie Sainsburys

The claim was not rejected because it was a 12 month policy.

PhiltheBear

Sainsburys has an annual policy as well - called the Standard policy. Their policies are underwritten by Allianz (Pet Plan by another name) and when first sold were 'per condition' polices advertised as 'lifetime'. However, if the OP has such a policy and no claims had been made for a particular condition whilst the policy was in force then a backdated exclusion should not be allowed. In any case such an exclusion should be written into the policy at an annual renewal stage. If, on the other hand, the OP changed insurers it is up to her to declare any previous illnesses/accidents and the 'new' insurers will normally exclude any related conditions. This is yet another reason to take out a lifetime policy and stick with it.

It's also why picking policies based solely on price of premium is a really bad idea. You should ALWAYS pick the cover you want and ALWAYS read the policy before buying. The policy - and only the policy - governs what will or will not be paid out.

adamsarath

Hi, I've recently adopted a rescue Presa Canario (8 months old) and have been unable to find an insurer that doesn't exclude his breed. Just wondering whether anyone knows of any? It seems rather like being penalised for doing the right thing - irresponsible owners tend not to insure their pets after all...

JeffC

I received a renewal notification from my existing supplier and decided to look for an alternate quote.
I entered all the requested information about my dog and myself on the Go Compare website and reviewed the returned quotes.
I selected a quote from 4PAWS for 207.07pnds which I decided to go with.
I was redirected to the 4PAWS site to complete my purchase and was absolutely astounded after resupplying some of the details and providing my dog’s weight that a premium of 381.21pnds was requested – an 84% increase from that quoted on the Go Compare site.
I phoned Go Compare and a very polite and helpful young lady entered the same details as I had, for a ficticious dog, and came up with the same quote. She offered to follow this up with 4PAWS and would ask them to contact me.
I received a call from 4PAWS who confirmed the higher premium but admitted he was aware of the issues re the much lower quotes on the Go Compare site.
He explained the increase was due to the large size of my dog….... a 21kilo crossbreed with a Miniture Poodle father – not the largest of dogs!!!
He did offer to honour the premium quoted on the Go Compare website if I could send him a screen print as proof.

I sent proof to the Sales person at 4PAWS who said that unfortunately after referring to his management he was unable to honour the lower price but he would liaise, again, with his IT staff to see if they could overcome the problems.

Surely customers should be warned that the premiums quoted on the Go Compare website might bear no relationship to those quote by the actual Insurers….. and not just that premiums may fluctuate from day to day.

Any suggestions on a company to contact to insure my 5 year old Doodle