Pet Insurance...thinking of changing..what are the implications?

GixerKate

I have two large dogs, one aged 9.5 years and the other 5 years old.  I've been with Many Pets for years and have just had the renewal through - they want to increase my premium by £444 which seems a little steep!  Neither dog has a pre-existing condition, neither of them have actually been to the vet in over a year for anything except their booster shots.

I've done a comparison check on here and can get it significantly cheaper with Tesco's insurance - we are talking lifetime up to £7,500 so am thinking of changing.  

Thing is I've not changed pet insurance for ages and my older dog is going to be 10 on his next birthday so I know that is going to impact the premiums.  I've always had great service from Many Pets - have claimed a few times in previous years but an extra £444 for the year seems a bit much!

Is it like any other insurance - at renewal time just change to the cheapest or is there anything specific I need to look out for?

FlorayG

Read reviews - there are a lot of pet insurances that have small print that pretty much excludes any common condition. I hear a lot about them not paying up and wriggling out of paying; so choose one with good reviews

DullGreyGuy

GixerKate said:

I have two large dogs, one aged 9.5 years and the other 5 years old.  I've been with Many Pets for years and have just had the renewal through - they want to increase my premium by £444 which seems a little steep!  Neither dog has a pre-existing condition, neither of them have actually been to the vet in over a year for anything except their booster shots.

I've done a comparison check on here and can get it significantly cheaper with Tesco's insurance - we are talking lifetime up to £7,500 so am thinking of changing.  

Thing is I've not changed pet insurance for ages and my older dog is going to be 10 on his next birthday so I know that is going to impact the premiums.  I've always had great service from Many Pets - have claimed a few times in previous years but an extra £444 for the year seems a bit much!

Is it like any other insurance - at renewal time just change to the cheapest or is there anything specific I need to look out for?

How have you made claims and yet they have no pre-existing conditions? Were those claims on previous animals that have now passed?


The one thing to consider is if one of the animals does develop a long term issue, eg diabetes, you are then either 1) stuck with that insurer for the rest of its life no matter what premiums they charge or 2) going to have to insurer it elsewhere without cover for Diabetes or related conditions which I suspect are fairly broad like diabetes in humans. 

GixerKate

DullGreyGuy said:

GixerKate said:

I have two large dogs, one aged 9.5 years and the other 5 years old.  I've been with Many Pets for years and have just had the renewal through - they want to increase my premium by £444 which seems a little steep!  Neither dog has a pre-existing condition, neither of them have actually been to the vet in over a year for anything except their booster shots.

I've done a comparison check on here and can get it significantly cheaper with Tesco's insurance - we are talking lifetime up to £7,500 so am thinking of changing.  

Thing is I've not changed pet insurance for ages and my older dog is going to be 10 on his next birthday so I know that is going to impact the premiums.  I've always had great service from Many Pets - have claimed a few times in previous years but an extra £444 for the year seems a bit much!

Is it like any other insurance - at renewal time just change to the cheapest or is there anything specific I need to look out for?

How have you made claims and yet they have no pre-existing conditions? Were those claims on previous animals that have now passed?


The one thing to consider is if one of the animals does develop a long term issue, eg diabetes, you are then either 1) stuck with that insurer for the rest of its life no matter what premiums they charge or 2) going to have to insurer it elsewhere without cover for Diabetes or related conditions which I suspect are fairly broad like diabetes in humans. 

Thanks for your post, it got me checking the small print.  Yes I've claimed for one of my dogs but it was over 2 years ago, for my current insurer the 'no cover for pre-existing conditions' is capped at 2 years so it didn't occur to me that this isn't standard across all of the insurance companies but I've just talked to someone at Tesco Pet Insurance and the 'no cover for pre-existing conditions' is not capped so nothing is included if suffered from in the past ever.  I can see why they are so cheap now - they don't cover much!  An example would be an ear infection 5 years ago all cleared up and healed means that any future ear infections will not be covered.

I might be staying with Many Pets afterall!

35har1old

GixerKate said:

DullGreyGuy said:

GixerKate said:

I have two large dogs, one aged 9.5 years and the other 5 years old.  I've been with Many Pets for years and have just had the renewal through - they want to increase my premium by £444 which seems a little steep!  Neither dog has a pre-existing condition, neither of them have actually been to the vet in over a year for anything except their booster shots.

I've done a comparison check on here and can get it significantly cheaper with Tesco's insurance - we are talking lifetime up to £7,500 so am thinking of changing.  

Thing is I've not changed pet insurance for ages and my older dog is going to be 10 on his next birthday so I know that is going to impact the premiums.  I've always had great service from Many Pets - have claimed a few times in previous years but an extra £444 for the year seems a bit much!

Is it like any other insurance - at renewal time just change to the cheapest or is there anything specific I need to look out for?

How have you made claims and yet they have no pre-existing conditions? Were those claims on previous animals that have now passed?


The one thing to consider is if one of the animals does develop a long term issue, eg diabetes, you are then either 1) stuck with that insurer for the rest of its life no matter what premiums they charge or 2) going to have to insurer it elsewhere without cover for Diabetes or related conditions which I suspect are fairly broad like diabetes in humans. 

Thanks for your post, it got me checking the small print.  Yes I've claimed for one of my dogs but it was over 2 years ago, for my current insurer the 'no cover for pre-existing conditions' is capped at 2 years so it didn't occur to me that this isn't standard across all of the insurance companies but I've just talked to someone at Tesco Pet Insurance and the 'no cover for pre-existing conditions' is not capped so nothing is included if suffered from in the past ever.  I can see why they are so cheap now - they don't cover much!  An example would be an ear infection 5 years ago all cleared up and healed means that any future ear infections will not be covered.

I might be staying with Many Pets afterall!

The PetPlan policy on application would ask about the history of your pet and make a decision to cover or not to any previous conditions.
Agria Pet Insurance which are the underwriters for the Kennel Club say
Pre-existing conditions are not covered and the policy would have a exclusion period before becoming active

DullGreyGuy

GixerKate said:

DullGreyGuy said:

GixerKate said:

I have two large dogs, one aged 9.5 years and the other 5 years old.  I've been with Many Pets for years and have just had the renewal through - they want to increase my premium by £444 which seems a little steep!  Neither dog has a pre-existing condition, neither of them have actually been to the vet in over a year for anything except their booster shots.

I've done a comparison check on here and can get it significantly cheaper with Tesco's insurance - we are talking lifetime up to £7,500 so am thinking of changing.  

Thing is I've not changed pet insurance for ages and my older dog is going to be 10 on his next birthday so I know that is going to impact the premiums.  I've always had great service from Many Pets - have claimed a few times in previous years but an extra £444 for the year seems a bit much!

Is it like any other insurance - at renewal time just change to the cheapest or is there anything specific I need to look out for?

How have you made claims and yet they have no pre-existing conditions? Were those claims on previous animals that have now passed?


The one thing to consider is if one of the animals does develop a long term issue, eg diabetes, you are then either 1) stuck with that insurer for the rest of its life no matter what premiums they charge or 2) going to have to insurer it elsewhere without cover for Diabetes or related conditions which I suspect are fairly broad like diabetes in humans. 

Thanks for your post, it got me checking the small print.  Yes I've claimed for one of my dogs but it was over 2 years ago, for my current insurer the 'no cover for pre-existing conditions' is capped at 2 years so it didn't occur to me that this isn't standard across all of the insurance companies but I've just talked to someone at Tesco Pet Insurance and the 'no cover for pre-existing conditions' is not capped so nothing is included if suffered from in the past ever.  I can see why they are so cheap now - they don't cover much!  An example would be an ear infection 5 years ago all cleared up and healed means that any future ear infections will not be covered.

I might be staying with Many Pets afterall!

It's like any human or pet health based insurance, the definitions vary notably and the one way to make your premiums cheaper is to exclude everything. Always worth double checking before answering the question (if directly on their site) or after clicking through and before buying if going via an aggregator. 

sheramber

It is not unusual for  a company not to cover pre existing conditions.  Giving cover after an exclusion period is not the norm.

If you do change, remeber that a new plicy will have an exclusion period at the beginning so you need t o overlap policies or take the risk of no cover for two or three weeks( depending on the policy)

XRS200

Does the exclusion period not just apply if you haven't had cover before?

DullGreyGuy

XRS200 said:

Does the exclusion period not just apply if you haven't had cover before?

Often is blanket exclusion for illness in the first X days unless you are renewing with the same insurer. They'd need to spend too much time querying with the previous insurer if the policy was in good standing, if it had any exclusions that would have not covered the claim etc etc

sheramber

The initial exclusion period applies when taking out a new policy.

This is to prevent someone insuring their pet once they know about a possible claim.

Eg  Your develops a limp so you insure it so you can claim for any treatment 

Some companies will cover accidental injury during the first exclusion period as that would be unknown when taking out the policy.

You need to read the policy document to know what you are covered for.

If you are renewing, then there is no need for an exclusion policy as your already covered by that company.

But you asked about changing to a different company.

XRS200

I completely understand why it could apply but it's a bit of a barrier to those wanting to change insurer often. (albeit it imposed by the new insurer rather than current).

You'd basically have to take out a new policy every 49 or 50 weeks. 

Overlapping policies can be messy if something happens that is covered by both