Pet Insurance

I have been looking over my pet insurance policies and there is a few things I am not happy with.

Bailey who is almost three is insured by M&S which costs me £20 a month. They pay out £7000 per year for each condition for life which is great.

Dylan on the other hand is almost two and is insured by tesco. He costs £15 a month but they only pay out £2500 for each contition and will only pay out for a year.

I want to change this but I am worried that if I change insurance comapanies they may not pay out in future if they decide any illness he may have was pre-existing.

However, I have never claimed on his insurance before so do you think it would be okay to change to a better insurer?

I am with M&S with one of my dogs and in regards of claiming I have no problems they even done a direct claim when Ebony had her scan. But please be aware that there policy will rise very much in the future. My friends cavalier policy is gone up to £60 a month now and her dog is 8 years old. My other two dogs are with AXA and compared to M&S there policy is a lot cheaper and you get covered for £7000 and for life. If you change I would change to AXA. If you had no claims before and there are no pre-existing conditions you would be ok to change your insurance.

M&S used to be underwritten by AXA and were very good but the policies shot up when they changed to another underwriter. My premiums doubled. We changed to AXA, Dylan works out only £14 a month (I pay once a year) and his scan was paid for.

When/if you change, anything your dog had prior to this change or in the first 14 days of cover with a new insurer, will NOT be covered.

Pauline did you have any trouble claiming for Dylans SM treatment when you changed insurers? Did they try to say it was a pre-existing condition?

kimy27 said:

Pauline did you have any trouble claiming for Dylans SM treatment when you changed insurers? Did they try to say it was a pre-existing condition?

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I changed way before I suspected SM. A good 8 months before I think.

I used to have Chaos and Impie insured with Tesco, I did not realise they were only covered for the same condition for 1 year. Chaos saw the vet about 2 1/2 years ago because she was rolling on the ground screaming. I thought she had been stung by a bee, the first vet said it was her shoulder and gave her painkillers. As she was still in pain I asked for 2nd opinion and that vet said it was her neck and gave her more painkillers. When I mentioned her scratching she did mention the word SM but said it was very rare and if she got better with painkillers then it was not that. She did get better so thought no more of this until 6 months later read more about SM on internet and referred myself to RVC for the drug trial. I did not need to claim for this as it was all free but when it came to getting her medications they would only pay for 2 months as they backdated the claim to my first visit re neck pain even though she was not diagnosed then. After that the year was up and they also put up the cost of the cover to £44. Impie had been insured for nearly 13 years without a claim but cancelled his too because it would still have been about £33 a month just for him.
So would definately change your insurance asap.

If you get a letter from the vet stating your dog has no pre existing illness or condition this would support you in any claim the insurance company could have in the future. I would get this and keep a copy and send it in with the proposal form etc when you change insurer.

Most of the time they pay out, the rules are usually there to protect the insurance company from fraudulent claims.

Thanks everyone. The dogs have an appointment at the vets on Monday so I will ask then if they would be willing to write a letter.

SamT said:

If you get a letter from the vet stating your dog has no pre existing illness or condition this would support you in any claim the insurance company could have in the future.

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When I bought insurance for Sophie, because one never knows with this breed, the company wanted the name and address of my vet and indicated they would be contacting him. There was also a two or three week lag time before coverage would begin, I guess to give them time to learn from the vet what Sophie has been treated for already. So I'm out of luck with skin allergies......

kimy27 said:

I want to change this but I am worried that if I change insurance comapanies they may not pay out in future if they decide any illness he may have was pre-existing.

However, I have never claimed on his insurance before so do you think it would be okay to change to a better insurer?

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You don't have to have claimed for it to be a pre-existing condition. I've never claimed for Maddie's allergies, because with an excess of £100 it's never been worth it, but if I change insurers then she wouldn't be covered for this even though I've never claimed.