Your pet’s birthday could cost you a premium – here’s why

Almost three quarters of all UK pet insurance policies now add a costly and compulsory excess for an ageing pet

If your dog is coming up to eight, or your cat is nearing ten years old – a trip to the vets is likely to become more costly.

Data from financial ratings expert, Defaqto, has revealed that almost three quarters of cat (72%) and dog insurance (74%) policies now apply a compulsory co-insurance excess when pets reach a certain age.

32 percent of dog insurance policies introduce co-insurance payments when your dog is eight years old. Whilst 27 percent of cat insurance policies introduce co-insurance payments when your cat is 10 years old.

In just over one in ten policies (12%), a co-insurance excess is applied for pets of any age.

The majority of policies will charge the pet owner 20 percent of the overall claim amount, and this is on top of your usual policy excess.

Anna-Marie Duthie, Pet Insurance Expert at Defaqto, said: ‘’Co-insurance excesses are not often used in other insurance areas and so consumers often do not have experience of what they are and how they work. With vet bills for serious conditions or accidents possibly stretching into the thousands, pet owners could be facing costs of hundreds of pounds on top of their excess. For example, if a person makes a £3,000 vet bill claim, has a 20 percent co-payment and an excess of £250, then they could be paying out £850.

“The only way to avoid co-insurance is to have a policy that doesn’t apply one. However the vast majority of the market do so, which means policies of this kind aren’t widely available. Plus if you have a pet with a pre-existing condition, you will likely be unable to move providers.

“Therefore, it’s important to check if you’ll be charged a co-payment, what percentage it will be and when it will kick in so you are prepared should you be unfortunate enough to have to make a claim. If you choose to look at policies that don’t have a co-payment excess, remember that this may be reflected in your premium price so consider the various options to find what’s right for you.”  

Vet bills are a costly concern already for pet owners, with average bills rising. The veterinary sector is even under scrutiny from watchdog, the Consumer and Markets Authority (CMA), over concerns pet owners are not getting value for money.

Defaqto maintains the UK’s most comprehensive financial product database, providing independent expertise, insights, tools and technology to help everyone make smarter financial decisions, and has put together the above based on data available in June 2024.