Insure a non-existent pet for cashback

bigger_genius

Is it legal to take out insurance for a pet that does not exist?

Greasy palm give £60 cashback on new pet insurance policies with More Than. The cheapest policy I can find is for a cat, non pedigree, about three years old who has been neutered is £51.62. I do not own a cat so will never make a claim, but if I insure the non existent cat and get the cashback, I'm £8.34 in profit. Is this allowed?

There is also a VIP code at the moment promising an extra £40 cashback - £48.34 is even more tempting. You can even pay the policy in interest free monthly installments.

Is there a catch?

InsideInsurance

Yes, you cannot insure something that doesnt exist and so if they caught you they would void the policy and for the rest of your life you would need to declare you've had insurance cancelled and potentially double all other premiums as a result.

Obviously the questions is, how likely are they to catch you

Bufger

hahaha! Is there an extreme moneysaving section? I cant believe the things people think up.

I would expect they will state that the pet has to actually exist in order to insure it. In any case you would be fraudulently making a profit

corrag

Wow this is quite interesting. When I took out pet insurance for my dog nowhere did it specify it had to be a real dog. Perhaps you could insure a stuffed toy

bigger_genius

Stuffed cat... Insurance for a dog is about £61. As long as the stuffed cat costs less than £48, I think this is a goer.

Voyager2002

bigger_genius wrote: »

Is it legal to take out insurance for a pet that does not exist?

Greasy palm give £60 cashback on new pet insurance policies with More Than. The cheapest policy I can find is for a cat, non pedigree, about three years old who has been neutered is £51.62. I do not own a cat so will never make a claim, but if I insure the non existent cat and get the cashback, I'm £8.34 in profit. Is this allowed?

There is also a VIP code at the moment promising an extra £40 cashback - £48.34 is even more tempting. You can even pay the policy in interest free monthly installments.

Is there a catch?

The catch, of course, is that cash-back is never guaranteed. There is a serious chance that you might spend more than fifty pounds for a totally useless insurance policy, and not get anything back.

societys_child

Ah yes, the * I didn't think this through * moment.

bigger_genius

I guess paying monthly limits the risk, but it is, of course, a gamble. I wonder if my neighbour's cat needs insurance???

Norfolk_Jim

Its fraud whatever way you look at it. OK you don't intend to claim but in the veterinary magazines I recently read that the insurance companies were suffering an increase in bogus pet claims. Some of that was from crooked vets and sickeningly some were deliberate harming of pets to make claims on - and then there were people who insured non existent pets and simply waited for the next road kills to come along to make a claim on.
Can you prove that was not the plan? I dont mean to us, I mean to the Insurance company charging you with fraudulently trying to obtain a percuniary advantage.
Thats why I'd not not go near this with a bargepole if it was me.

Quentin

The insurer is only interested in selling the policy, and only "validates" it should you claim.

The cashback is a marketing tool to help sell policies, and with this loophole, everyone should be happy!

(The customer gets their cashback, and the insurer sells a policy they will never ever get a claim against!)

molerat

As long as you don't claim when it gets run over by a car next week