Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject: Help Please don't know which policy or company to go with
Have a rescue dog Chester. No history, picked up and put in pound.
Have registered with our vet, had a quick check up whilst there and said he seemed a healthy dog.
I just can't decide which company to go with, have been reading posts on this forum to help me decide but I feel more undecided reading them, obviously because of peoples personal choices.
Think the problem is I don't quite understand the levels of cover offered.
1, cover per illness , once that insurance year is finished, are you still covered when you renew the following year if the pet is still suffering from that illness.
2, A pot of money, i.e £6000, if a pet again is still suffering from an illness will you be covered on the renewal.
3, The third thing is I notice that once a pet gets to 10 the excess is quite expensive. Does anyone know of an Insurance company that is generous to older dogs especially if you have been with the company for a while.
4, To avoid any problems as I've seen from a previous post should I make sure they have written into contract that there is no known medical history with Chester but he has been seen by a vet and given a basic health check.
Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 10:13 pm Post subject: Insurance
Hi, yes it is a minefield, try Tescos as they are very helpful and happy to talk things through on freephone number and offer different levels of covers at different prices. Good luck, regards,
I've always gone with a policy that has £x amount per year for vet bills, with that amount renewable each year, rather than £x amount per condition. Although it's not something that's ever cropped up, thankfully, I worry that if it was per condition and I went over the limit, the condition would no longer be covered, whereas I figure we're not likely to exceed the annual vet bill limit in a year, but I think you do tend to pay more.
I've got policies with Petplan (which I think is about the most blimmin expensive but many vets will claim direct - but check first) which offers various policies and M&S (though I'm not sure I'd use M&S again).
How old is Chester? If he's fairly young they will probably just accept him and if you state there are no known medical conditions then there shouldn't be any exclusions.
We did insure our oldie when we adopted her and because she was older when we adopted her, they did check with our vet on her and as I'd advised she had a heart murmur, so they just excluded heart conditions, which was fair enough. That was with M&S but neither company has contacted the vet regarding any of the younger dogs we've adopted.
They think Chester is about 4, and because we asked the vet to give him a check up, the Insurance company will be able to get a medical history check from them.
I am just unsure that if a pet has an illness will he be covered the following year with that illness when the insurance comes up for renewal, as in the case of set amount per year for vet bills...what is the difference between set amount per year for vets bills and per condition.
Yes I have heard Petplan is the most expensive, and M & S seems to be liked but they do seem to swap a bit between insurance companies, and I have suffered with this as we took out our house insurance with HSBC and they use underwriters, and it seems when they swap underwriters we always come off worse so of course I change but then it is a hassle to look round for a different policy.
Just keep my fingers crossed that Chester will be healthy like my dog Brinn was, never had an illness or accident in his whole life until the age of 10 when he ate a whole Terrys Chocolate orange....... he was in a sorry state and landed up hand feeding him chicken and rice once he was better, seems like he was a dog with a strong constitution, some dogs can eat a square of chocolate and be dangerously ill whilst others like Brinn get away with it.
I am just unsure that if a pet has an illness will he be covered the following year with that illness when the insurance comes up for renewal, as in the case of set amount per year for vet bills...what is the difference between set amount per year for vets bills and per condition.
If he were to develop a new illness after the policy had been taken out (although not within the first 14 days as policies usually only cover for accidents in that time, not illness), then:
If you took out a £x per condition policy, he'd still be covered in the following year for that condition provided he'd not exceeded the £x amount - and less anything claimed for that condition in the previous year(s). Eg say the policy offered £4k per condition, then as long as a condition didn't exceed that amount in the first year, it would still be covered for up to the maximum amount in the following year and so on, until the total amount had been used up, if that makes sense? The benefit is you have an amount per condition, the downside is once that amount is spent on a particular condition, it's gone for good and you'd then have to cover any treatment for that condition yourself - although this is worse case scenario but that's the insurance companies trade on, isn't it.
If you took out a £x total per year cover for vet bills then again he would be covered for a particular condition for the following year - the difference is then though that the £x is renewed each year as the new policy kicks in, whereas the £x per condition will renew but less anything claimed for that condition in the previous year. I would think it unlikely with a limit of £7k for example, that you'd use it all up (hopefully not anyway) but if you did, then you'd have to pay anything over that for the year, but you'd start afresh with cover the following year.
Sorry, sounds really confusing, I hope that makes sense. If not, hopefully someone else will explain it better
One thing that put me off M&S is that my friend has had a policy with them for years and they were covering hydrotherapy for her dog's arthritis and then just decided at renewal that they wouldn't cover it anymore! She can't afford to take him each week herself but apparently they can basically change the policy whenever they like, which worries me as you sign up for a policy for the dog's life and then can't change once they have an existing condition or you lose cover for that condition
Thank you yes I do understand. So really the per condition is not really a life time cover If your dog had a condition which would affect him for the rest of his life, and it was expensive to treat you could quickly use your pot up, the other £X total per year and in the same circumstances you would just have to hope that the insurers would not cut your cover on renewal. Hopefully I will get a few more replies to this post to clarify that I am correct in thinking this, but thank you it has explained it a bit more.
So really the per condition is not really a life time cover If your dog had a condition which would affect him for the rest of his life, and it was expensive to treat you could quickly use your pot up
Yes, say your dog (heaven forbid) developed epilepsy for arguments sake, and you had insurance that covers £6000 per condition with an unlimited time frame, then once you have used up that amount on medication be it in 12 months, 2 years or 6 years etc then you would have to pay for any treatment exceeding that amount.
Just watch out for policies that cover a condition or illness for, say, £6000 but with a 12 month limit. this means that the insurance company will stop paying out after the first 12 months from the date of the initial diagnosis, you may have only claimed £500 in this time but that will be it!
Just watch out for policies that cover a condition or illness for, say, £6000 but with a 12 month limit. this means that the insurance company will stop paying out after the first 12 months from the date of the initial diagnosis, you may have only claimed £500 in this time but that will be it!
Thanks for mentioning that, I missed that out (haven't encountered those policies)
Thank you all very much, this was the advice I needed. So when I ring up for quotes I now know what to ask for, especially the one on £X per year.
I think that is the policy I will look at £X per year, anyone with more advice on that sort of policy would be appreciated also companies that are good on that type of policy and don't do the 12 month exclusion.
Oh well off to bed, who volunteers to work on a Sunday!!!!! Never mind will buy a bit more champange when I'm in France on hols.
Thank you all who have given advice and I'll look in tomorrow.
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