Insurance help

odd_sock

Hi All,

I'm a long time lurker and don't often post but I could really do with some help from you more experienced pet owners. The OH and I have recently got an 8 month old staff x dog and I'm looking to get pet insurance but after trawling through comparison sites I'm none the wiser and and confused.

I'm looking to get a policy that will cover as much as possible so would lifetime polices be the type of policy I need to look at for that type of cover?

I'm sorry this is probably such a basic question but it's the first time I've bought pet insurance and I'm lost

Many thanks in advance
K x

chris_n_tj

Pet Plan all the way for me x

krlyr

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cut-pet-insurance-costs?_ga=1.167234366.1840098897.1364930119 may be worth a read

There are generally two kinds of pet insurance - 12 month policies and 'lifetime' policies.

The first gives you 12 months of cover. Any new illness or injury within that 12 month period will be covered, to your policy limit (amounts will vary - generally the higher the better, but smaller breeds may not rack quite as high bills as larger dogs. I'd say go for at least £4-5000 though).

After the 12 month period, it is as if you are a new customer. Any new conditions in that year will be covered, to your policy limit, but conditions you have already claimed for, or even conditions that were not claimed for but that started prior to the current policy year, will be excluded as pre-existing conditions.

So say you took out a 12 month policy today..if your dog was poorly next month, you're covered (providing there's no history of related illness). He then develops a limp in December, and is diagnosed with hip dyplasia, for example - you're still covered, providing there was no history of issues with that leg prior to you getting him.
However, come next June, your first policy year ends. Even if you renew with the same company, your policy has effectively ended, and you've started a new one. He will no longer be covered for hip dyplasia in his bad leg - and there's the risk he won't be covered for any other conditions with that leg, or possibly even his other legs, if the insurance company deem it related. Even if you switch to a new company, they will exclude that condition, and possibly other leg issues. If he has another bout of poorliness similar to his first, you may run into some issues with that too, if they deem it similar enough.

With a lifetime policy, in year 2 you would renew your policy. You'd be covered for the hip dysplasia for as long as you hold the policy with that company (though see below for further on this), and repeat poorliness would also be covered even if they decide it's related to the first bout.

The downside of the lifetime policies is that the insurance companies need to recover their money somehow. Chances are, premiums will increase each year. They may reach a stage where it ultimately becomes cheaper to pay for pre-exisiting conditions yourself, and move to a new company despite any exclusions.

Another thing to consider with lifetime insurance is how the limit renews. Some policies will be 'per condition', some 'per year' - or the odd few are 'per condition, per year', but these seem unusual.

So per condition, you get £x for each condition the dog has. You can use this limit over however many years, which has its pros and cons. You could use it up in 1 year for a particular expensive condition, e.g. hip dysplasia requiring a total hip replacement. This leaves you uncovered for any future costs relating to that condition for the rest of the dog's life, despite having a lifetime policy. However, the benefit of 'per condition' policies is if the dog develops multiple issues in a year - say the dog had several bouts of poorliness alongside the hip issues, you know that even if you use up all of your limit for the hip dysplasia, you still have a whole seperate 'allowance' for the tummy troubles.

The other is 'per year', which does as it says on the tin. You get £y to use in your policy year, regardless of condition. The downside to this is, say you used it all for the hip replacement, you're then over your limit for any other condition the dog has in that policy year. However, the plus is that come year 2 (or year 3, 4, 5, etc.) your policy tops back up to your full limit - and this can be used on the same condition.

So, with our hip example, say your dog rejected its hip replacement. With the 'per condition' policy, you run the risk of running out of funds to cover treatment, and having to stump up the rest yourself - but with the 'per year' policy, you could wait until policy year 2 and know you have your full limit to spend on a second hip replacement. However, you'd have to hope that the dog developed no other issues, because you'd then be out of funds again for the entire policy year, for any condition.

You also get 'accident only' time policies - these are much cheaper, but obviously much more limited. This kind of thing would cover you for your dog being in an RTA, for example, but not for developing hip problems. This can be a risky way to insure, and I'd only really recommend it if you already had a fair amount of savings set aside, which you could add to instead of paying higher insurance premiums. You may need to source third party liability cover elsewhere (I would always recommend having this in place - this covers you if your dog damages someone's property, for example) - The Dogs Trust offer it as a benefit of being a member, which only costs £25 per year.

I found this website to be handy to compare various policies - http://www.pet-insurance-surveys.co.uk/
Unfortunately there's no really diverse price comparison - there are some for pet insurance, but they don't cover every company. Doing multiple quotes is the only way, as the premiums vary so much from dog to dog, and area to area, it's hard to even get a rough idea by asking others what they pay.

odd_sock

Thanks krlyr for such a comprehensive reply, that's made things a lot clearer for me I had read the article bit I was still a bit confuzzled but your explanation is great, thank you again.

K x

krlyr

Just another point - no companies, AFAIK, will take on any pre-exisiting conditions. I 'policy hopped' through a few different companies when my dogs were younger, to make the most of lower prices for new customers. However, choosing a company for a low "first year" price alone is a risky strategy - many of these places will put the premiums up a bit in year two (especially if you're then losing out on a first year discount, e.g. 10% off or 3 months free), which is fine if you haven't claimed and you're able to switch, but can cause issues if your dog has since developed a health issue. You're then stuck with that company - or the choice to move elsewhere but have the condition excluded for life.

So certainly worth bearing in mind. For example, I know Petplan work out quite expensive to use - but I know many people say their policies increase very little, e.g. just a pound or so (per month) each year. Whereas I've had policies increase £5-8 a month, which adds up over the year.

Also worth considering the risk of a company withdrawing from the insurance market. Sadly "for life" may not always mean for life - I myself fell victim to this when AXA decided to withdraw last year. Although they are still continuing policies for existing customers, many have found policies have skyrocketed since the decision. Mine increased by 50% for each dog (one having had several claims, one having had none at all), so I made the decision to switch Casper whilst I could. Kiki has pre-exisiting conditions, one of which will be with her for life, so for now it is worthwhile me staying put - but at some point I imagine the increases will make it cheaper for me to cover those costs myself.