Retrospective Pet Insurance claim

nelmangle

Having just gone through a significant 'condition' with one of our dogs (for which the insurance paid out) we took it upon ourselves to review an older insurance policy for one of our other dogs.

The dog in question broke its leg within the first 14days of the policy a period within which we didnt think we could claim..so we didnt. Now on reviewing said policy if appears that as this wasnt a per-existing condition and was an unforeseeable injury we may infact have been able to claim. This was about 3yrs ago and i'd like advice/thoughts on making a retrospective claim.

thanks Lee

GBNI

To be honest, I wouldn't bother. It happened 3 years ago, I assume all vets fees are paid and you risk excluding that leg from the policy and upping your premium.

Lieja

GBNI wrote: »

To be honest, I wouldn't bother. It happened 3 years ago, I assume all vets fees are paid and you risk excluding that leg from the policy and upping your premium.

Or any other leg come to that - insurance companies can be a bit fanciful when defining 'pre-existing conditions'. I wouldn't bother either, but obviously it's up to you. If you're likely to get back more than it will cost you in raised premiums then maybe give it a go?

Sukey

A lot of policies have a limit on the amount of time you can leave it before claiming. My current policy has a 90-day limit. So you may find it's out of time anyway.

GoldenShadow

I'm pretty sure I have to claim within 6 months of an incident happening else its too long gone and they wont pay out. For future reference, I also know my insurance company wont cover an illness within 7 days of the policy starting, but accidents are covered from 48 hours in. I am just assuming a broken leg is more likely an accident than an illness hence covered sooner into a new policy.

GoldenShadow

GBNI wrote: »

To be honest, I wouldn't bother. It happened 3 years ago, I assume all vets fees are paid and you risk excluding that leg from the policy and upping your premium.

Just to say I don't think its very common for claims to actually increase policy cost. One of mine I've claimed thousands for and his premium never goes up more than my other dog whom I have never claimed for.

I am with Argos and they told me that premium price is based on the amount of dogs in your local area who get ill/are prone to being unwell. It doesn't matter about my individual dog.

I've got two retrievers who are 3 and 4 years old and they cost me £55 a month for a policy which gives up to 7K each per year. I've claimed at least 5K for one of them and nothing for the other; its pretty good going as I live in an area which is quite expensive pet insurance wise (compared to where I lived before, anyway).

Just mentioning because I used to think oooh I wont claim its only £80, but in hindsight claims really haven't affected my premium that much and I take the money back in my pocket instead, however little it is. Its not like car insurance, can't help a dog getting ill but can from crashing your car

_Andy_

nelmangle wrote: »

Having just gone through a significant 'condition' with one of our dogs (for which the insurance paid out) we took it upon ourselves to review an older insurance policy for one of our other dogs.

The dog in question broke its leg within the first 14days of the policy a period within which we didnt think we could claim..so we didnt. Now on reviewing said policy if appears that as this wasnt a per-existing condition and was an unforeseeable injury we may infact have been able to claim. This was about 3yrs ago and i'd like advice/thoughts on making a retrospective claim.

thanks Lee

You won't be able to claim as 3 years will be well outside of any claim period