pet insurance excess question

cleofish

hi,
not sure if this is the right place, apologies if it isn't. I'm looking into quotes to insure my cat, i can see there are varying levels of excess charges and just had a question about those.

Does the insurance cover the whole cost, the final bill that you get from the vets or just for treatment? so for example if i get a final bill from the vet it includes other charges such as consultant charge for just seeing the vet and vat etc so if this came to £200 and the excess on the insurance was £99 thats all i would have to pay and hopefully insurance would pay for the rest?.

Just trying to figure out if its a good thing to have a low excess charge or is that outweighed by other things, obviously i would only pick the right policy cover that i need and that would come first. sorry if that sounds confusing, think i have confused myself now

thanks in advance for any help.

hayley11

They should cover the consultation, any medication, everything to do with that condition I think. You just pay the initial excess.

DCFC79

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spincandy

The most important thing I would advise with insurance is to look for a policy that provides lifetime cover, not just an annual policy. You need a policy that will cover your pet if, heaven forbid, it gets a lifelong illness for which it will require regular meds and check up.

As for excess paying, that vast majoirty of policies will have you pay the excess for the condition and that's it. So say your dog gets bitten, you pay the first £90 (or whatever) of the consult, sedation, suturing, meds, whatever, and they pay the rest, including any follow up visits. Bear in mind that not all practices will claim directly from the insurance company (we only do it for one insurance company) and they are not obligated to do so. You will have to pay the full amount up front and then claim back from the company yourself.

Oh, and some companies can require you to pay a certain percentage of the total treatment cost- watch out for this, it can build up!

Rach x

cleofish

hi, thanks all for taking the time to reply, had my eye looking for lifetime cover as well, seems to be more comprehensive then in case something long term happens. thanks!

rising_from_the_ashes

Yup, you def want to go for a lifetime policy.

There_Goes_Trouble

The excess is all you would pay relating to that condition, unless something were specifically excluded. For example, some policies exclude prescription diets, and have limitations on complimentary therapies such as hydrotherapy.

You also need (as already mentioned) to check that the policy covers your pet for the whole of it's life (some only cover the first 12 months of a condition), and also that the amount you can claim is per condition, and renews to it's full amount when you renew your policy. Sometimes you get policies with a 'when it's gone it's gone' type of cover and while you might think that £6000 (or whatever) is a lot of money, it won't last long with a serious health condition.