According to a recent survey¹, there are 1.8 million pet insurance claims made for veterinary treatment for cats and dogs each year. Unlike most personal insurance products such as home and motor insurance, which can be changed annually, the nature of pet insurance means that it is likely to be taken out for the life of the pet   This is because if pets are treated under one policy and then, at renewal, a new one is taken out, the new insurer generally will not cover any ‘pre-existing’ conditions, and therefore, policyholders  will have to pay for the treatment of these conditions themselves.

Understanding exactly the policy terms relating to the reimbursement of vets’ fees could mean having a policy that covers the cost of your pet’s treatment and one that covered it for a limited sum of money or for a restricted time, or both.

In Defaqto’s recent pet insurance report “The UK Pet Insurance Market - Its bark is worse than its bite,” ² published in December 2007, details are provided as to how the pet market settles claims made for veterinary fees. Essentially, there are three types of methods insurers use to pay veterinary claims:

• Policies that pay vets’ fees on a ‘per condition with a 12 month time limit’ basis will provide cover up to the fee limit or 12 months, whichever is reached first.
• Policies that pay vets’ fees on a ‘per condition limit’ basis will provide cover up to the fee limit. Once this limit has been reached no further cover is provided for the treatment.
• ‘Per year’ policies will pay vets’ fees up to the fee limit, however, provided that the policy is renewed each year, the insurer will continue to provide cover for the treatment.

Mike Powell, Consultant - General Insurance at Defaqto, said: “While superficially straightforward, choosing the right pet insurance policy for your situation will repay the time taken to research what is on offer in the market. 

-Ends-

Notes to editors

1Sainsbury’s Finance Pet Insurance Data, 2007.

²The report “Pet Insurance in the UK  2007- Bark worse than Bite ” is on sale priced £1,200 excluding VAT for a PDF version and £595 (No VAT payable) for a single printed copy. For further information please contact Chris Johnston on 01844 295457, or the Sales Department on Freephone 0808 1000 804 or visit http://www.defaqto.com/

A press copy of the report is available on request to accredited journalists from Defaqto.

For further information contact:

Defaqto Limited 

Mike Powell, Chris Johnston or Luci Mylward

01844 295 454

Findings by the British Insurers Brokers’ Association (BIBA), following its investigation into price comparison websites, confirm Defaqto’s own findings in its survey of aggregators for its Motor Insurance in the UK report[1] published in October 2007.

Defaqto carried out a detailed study of the services offered by 17 leading aggregator sites, including Moneysupermarket, Confused.com, GoCompare, Comparethemarket and TescoCompare. Key findings in the report were:

• 65% of the aggregator sites had ‘default’ positions for underwriting questions and, in effect, could complete these questions on behalf of the proposer.
• 53% of sites automatically defaulted to a voluntary excess of either £200, £250 and more worryingly £500
• From the quotations obtained, 59% did not actually state who the insurer was.
• Only 47% of the sites analysed provided a “comparison feature” which allowed the proposer to check policy cover information.
• Only 41% of sites actually transferred the correct risk information to the insurer’s/intermediary’s website.
• Only 41% of insurer/intermediary websites matched the initial premium given by the aggregator.
• Only 12% of consumers who applied directly to the insurer/intermediary’s own website were provided with the same premium as provided by the aggregator site.
• 88% of the insurer/intermediary websites needed the proposer either to ‘re-key’ or provide additional information.

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