'Time Limited' and 'Lifetime' policies
Pet insurance can be confusing at times; how do you choose between levels of cover? How can you guess how much cover you’ll need in any given year? Without hindsight, none of us know whether we want a cheap monthly premium that will cover us for the minimum needed amount, or if we’ll need a slightly more expensive level of cover that will provide for us claim after claim – we can never tell if our pet will be involved in just a few minor scrapes, or if they’ll suddenly contract a recurring problem such as diabetes that will require care for the rest of the pet’s life.
Time limited policies cover a number of conditions for 12 months and after this time those conditions will not be covered. For example, if your cover offers a total of £3000 in coverage, with £500 per condition, you effectively have 6 conditions that will be covered for one year but will then not be covered after that year.
Lifetime policies work differently (and often offer a higher rate of cover per condition). Lifetime policies will cover a condition year after year, obviously very useful for conditions that require repeated treatments and medicine. Let’s say your cover has a maximum of £20,000 per condition during the lifetime of a policy. If that policy pays up to £2000 per year for that condition, you have ten years for each condition (if claiming the maximum amount each time) before that condition will no longer be covered. If your pet develops arthritis, no problem, just claim up to that £2000 limit each year until you reach the £20,000 limit. What if the pet develops diabetes later on? No worries, once again just claim up to your £2000 limit until you reach that £20,000 marker.
As you can see, these lifetime policies are designed for a much higher level of cover than a simple ‘accident only’ insurance, so if you worry about recurring illnesses or your pet’s breed is well known for long-term illness or disease, then perhaps you should consider spending just that little bit more in order to have a level of cover that will keep you protected well into your pet’s lifetime.
To see the great levels of cover we can offer to you on fantastic pet insurance, get a quote now at www.animalfriends.co.uk – we donate 50p from every online quote to our million pound challenge, dedicated to raising one million pounds for animal welfare charities before the end of 2012. We also offer fantastic equine insurance, so visit us at www.animalfriendsequine.co.uk and get a quote today!
