Advice: What to look for in a pet insurance provider

What to look for in a pet insurance provider?

Choosing pet insurance can be a tricky business, much like your car insurance it’s important to shop around and find the best policy for you, or in this case your pet. You want to make sure in the event of any accident or injury to your pet, your cover is enough to provide the right treatment or surgery needed. The is no NHS for pets, so even routine treatment can cost hundreds of pounds, while more serious conditions such as hip dysplasia can cost more than £4,000. It is not unusual for pets with long-term complex conditions, such as cancer, to run up vets' bills of £10,000 or more. According to the Association of British Insurers, pet insurers pay out £1.2m in claims every day.

You need to consider a few key points before you start your search:

-          What is covered as standard

-          Optional extras you might want to consider

-          Cover levels to excess levels ratio

-          Pre-existing conditions of your pet

-          Company reviews and reputation

-          Price point and value for money

-          Claims rates and turnaround time

Finding the right pet insurance cover:

Most policies for pets will come ‘as standard’ and may have a few optional extras you can add on. British pet insurance’s exotic pet policies cover - Veterinary Fees, Alternative or Complementary Treatment, Euthanasia/Burial or cremation costs, Advertising and Reward and Third Party Liability.

You can find out what all of these mean in depth from clicking the ‘i’ button, the Policies Table on the BPIS website.

Optional extras in the pet insurance World are great because it means you won’t have to pay for cover you don’t want. Equally if you do want them included, you can opt into a wider variety of cover most insurance companies don’t offer. Optional extras with British Pet Insurance include;

-          Death from Injury or Illness 

-          Loss from Theft, Fire or Weather Perils 

-          Loss from Not Returning Whilst Flying (Birds of Prey only)

 

Pet insurance cancellation periods and injury only periods:

You must be aware that all insurance companies will have a ‘cooling-off period’ at the beginning of cover. This is great for if you change your mind on the insurance, you can get your money back and it’s as if cover was never in place. However, you have to be careful and read the small print on how long this ‘cooling-off period’ is, because this period of time is also an ‘injury only period’ – to combat fraudulent behaviour. Most pet insurance providers offer this as 30 days, but British Pet Insurance offer 14 days.

Pet insurance policy wording and jargon:

It’s a well-known fact that insurance policies can be wordy and will take you a few times of reading it to understand what it really means! That’s why some pet insurers have a key in their policy booklets, this way you can look up the jargon as you go along. British pet insurance is one of the pet insurance providers that also offers ‘jargon-free’ material. Meaning that even with a key, the wording is specially designed by underwriters that understand the importance of knowing what your policy means, and values documentation that explains insurance in a way that your customers understand.

Pet insurance – is cheapest, the best?

In insurance, you basically get what you pay for. If you’re monthly pet insurance payments are cheap as chips, chances are the company isn’t a reputable one. On the flip side, there is also a value for money threshold, after a certain point you are basically just paying for the brand name. This is why you should look at what is covered, and what you are actually getting for your money’s worth. Is the customer experience and service, along with the actual cover, worth it?

This brings us onto the next point, which is very much related. The cover to excess ratio.

Scenario 1: You’re paying £9.70 for £5,000 cover and an excess of £30

Scenario 2: You’re paying £9.20 for £1,000 cover with an excess of £130

Although the second scenario may cost less, this will only be around 20-50p, you’re actually worse off if something happens. A top tip to remember is, the higher the cover and the lower the excess the better value for money you will be getting.

Joint policy and multi-pet insurance:

One of the most common misconceptions is that covering 2 or more pets under the same policy, on a ‘multi-pet policy’ is better than covering separately. However, this can become problematic later down the line. This is because the cover level is per policy, not per pet. So, if both of your pets fall ill and you need to make two claims, the cover level, £5,000 for example, is split between the two. Whereas if you had separate policies, each pet would have £5,000 of claimable payout.

In the short run, yes, it’s cheaper – but an insurer that values the health and well being of you’re pet, won’t jeopardise the cover, for the sake of a ‘buy one, get one free’ style policy – they won’t even offer it as an option. So in the grand scheme of things, you are much better off taking out separate pet insurance policies.