Lifetime Pet Insurance Cover

What does Lifetime Pet Insurance cover actually mean?

It doesn’t mean that once you have pet insurance your pet will be covered for life. Some providers who offer “lifetime cover” may not continue to insure an older pet (even one of only 5 or 6 years old if it is a very large breed). So don’t just assume your pet will stay covered when it gets older even if your provider offers “lifetime cover” – ask!

So what does lifetime pet insurance cover mean? It simply means that where your pet gets a condition that may take some years to treat - such as diabetes or arthritis - a "lifetime" policy will cover that condition for more than the first 12 months. Non-lifetime policies will cover a condition for only up to 12 months; after that you have to pay.

Lifetime Pet Insurance cover deals with this in various ways but they will all renew cover for following years even where a claim has been made as long as the insured continues to pay the premiums.

Some providers offer cover that is limited “per condition per year”. For example if £2000 per condition per year is offered then the pet owner will have £2000 for each condition the pet gets in a year. That cover will renew each year.

Other providers offer a catch-all limit “per year”. For example if £6000 “per year” is offered the owner will have £6000 for all conditions his pet may suffer from in a year; so if the pet gets three conditions then each will have just £2000 cover for that year. The catch-all limit then renews the following year for all conditions and so on.

Finally, other providers offer lifetime cover limited “per condition”. For example Animal Friends’ Prestige Policy offers £40,000 “per condition”. You would then have up to £40,000 for each and every condition your pet gets no matter how many years it takes to use this amount. 3 conditions would mean £120,000 of cover!