Insurance - can someone explain like I'm 5?

[TheJimi]

Right, it's renewal time. Looking at going with Tesco but I'm slightly (ok, quite a bit!) confused by the wording.

Policy A -

We'll cover vet fees for each new illness or injury of up to £4,000 or £7,500, until your vet fee limit is reached.
Provides vet fee cover from the first day of treatment until your limit is reached (as long as your policy remains active). Once your limit is reached you cannot claim again for the same illness or injury.

Policy B -

Total vet fees limit of £7,500 or £10,000 per year, reinstated annually, to give you ongoing cover.
Gives you cover up to your vet fees limit each year, for one-off or on-going conditions with no treatment time limit. Vet fee limits are reinstated each year if your policy is renewed.


Can someone explain the difference?

[ctdctd]

Policy A.
Covers treatment up to a lifetime total amount per condition.

Policy B.
Covers treatment up to a total amount per condition and the total is reset every year.

So policy B would better cover long term expensive conditions.

[bexVN]

Basically yes. With policy B you would pay an excess once a year for a long term condition.

If you go for A just make sure the amount is good. I took this type of policy out for our cat and we have never run out yet. One year she cost 4.5k for one condition (rta) her other costly one is a long term one and we still get paid out for treatment and we have had a few thousand on it (her cover is 7.5k per medical condition.)

For a dog I think policy A would have to be at least 10k per medical condition these days

Edited by bexVN on Friday 30th June 07:44

[TheJimi]

Tbh, I still don't fully understand the difference!

Especially the lifetime bit, as surely that is based on the assumption that you'll renew with the same insurer?

Anyway, policy is for a 9yr old silver Bengal with no existing conditions. I'd be going for the £7.5k limit.

edit: she's also a house cat.

Edited by TheJimi on Friday 30th June 10:02

[megamaniac]

You would have an existing condition that a new insurer wouldn't cover.

[Mexican cuties]

just a heads up annual policy for our Chihuahua £3000 a year max, non lifetime starts £8 month, with Tesco, age of 5 now £33 a month, renewal comes in for age 6, £66 a month, increased as he turned 6 apparently. try looking at life time covers such as agria, and other "life time polices" not for an amount or for a period of time.

hope this helps, also check if out of hours vet fees are covered, so if you have an expensive bill as the vet got out of bed at 3am, will charge more, and some policies exclude that, and also make sure there are no breed exclusions such as hips, back, skin etc depending on the breed. and will the insurance company pay your vet direct if its a big bill.

good luck, also worth a look on trust pilot under pet insurance, reviews from the satisfied customers mouth so to speak

[TheJimi]

Update: I get it

Thanks all.

Doesn't make a great deal of sense to go for A, because if she ends up with a long term condition that requires frequent treatment, we'd be screwed in short order, I think.

Edit: Bex, exactly how far does £7.5k go towards vet fees for a cat? A bit "how long is string" question, I know...

Edited by TheJimi on Friday 30th June 20:18

[Mikeyjae]

I was the same when looking for insurance for our dog, in the end I went for lifetime. If I understand it then any condition is covered for life. So if he has arthritis then he would be covered for life. If I went with option A and he got diagnosed with arthritis then when I came to renew that would not be covered.

My insurance is due for renewal in October and I am interested to see how much the price changes. He has not been diagnosed with anything long term but we have had to use insurance when he cut his paw on glass. I would hope though as there is no long term concerns then I could just change insurance.

Also with Tesco