Healthy Pets Insurance review

By James Alston 29th November 2016

Key policy features

• Healthy Pets offers four levels of pet insurance, ranging from Accident Only to Gold cover with £7,500 of vet fee cover
• They insure dogs and cats up to 8 years of age
• Healthy Pets allow you to insure up to 10 pets online

Summary

Healthy Pets Insurance was founded in 1996 and they say they're one of the biggest independent pet insurers in the UK. Their pet insurance focuses on cats and dogs.

Find out if Healthy Pets Insurance features in our Top Ten Pet Insurance list.

Healthy Pets also links to ExoticDirect for people who need exotic pet cover for reptiles, rabbits, parrots and tortoises. ExoticDirect is a sister company of Bought By Many and by coordinating with them we’re offering 10% off parrot insurance for members of our group.

We also have groups for bearded dragon and rabbit owners with ExoticDirect. Read our guide to the best pet insurance for exotic pets for more information.

Healthy Pets is underwritten by Cranbrook Underwriting Limited.

Overview of Healthy Pets insurance

Healthy Pets insures cats and dogs up to 8 years of age. While many other insurers have a similar policy, it means owners with older pets can struggle to find cover.

We've written a guide to help people find cheap pet insurance for older dogs here.

Bought By Many uses the collective buying power of our members to negotiate better deals on insurance. Have a look at our pet insurance group for older dogs to see our latest offer.

Healthy Pet also excludes claims for death from accident or illness for dogs aged 9 years or older and cats aged 11 years or older.

There are four levels of cover to choose from at Healthy Pets:

Accident Only No cover for illness, up to £1,000 in vet’s fees for accidents, nothing for death from accidents, nothing for theft or straying, 12-month cover for ongoing conditions and no overseas travel.

Bronze Cover for accidents and illness, up to £1,000 in vet’s fees, nothing for death from accidents, nothing for theft or straying, lifetime cover for ongoing conditions and 30 days’ cover for overseas travel.

Silver Up to £4,250 in vet’s fees, £500 compensation for death by accident or illness, £500 for theft or straying, lifetime cover for ongoing conditions and 30 days’ cover for overseas travel.

Gold Up to £7,500 in vet’s fees, £1,000 compensation for death by accident or illness, £1,000 for theft or straying, lifetime cover for ongoing conditions and 12-month cover for overseas travel.

Healthy Pets can either pay you or your vet if you claim, which usually happens within 10 days of them receiving a completed claim form. Remember that your vet will have to agree to be paid directly if that’s the option you choose.

Their wording relating to insuring pets with pre-existing conditions is a bit confusing on their website, so we emailed them to get a clear answer. Healthy Pets said that they do not cover any pre-existing conditions which pets have received treatment or advice about prior to the start date of the policy.

In the first 10 days of the policy starting, they cover only accidents.

In terms of excess, all pets under the age of 5 pay a fixed excess of £99. Between 5 and 6, the excess is £99 plus a co-payment of 15% of the cost of the claim. For any pets aged 6 or over, you’ll pay £100 and 20% of the claim.

It’s important to note that if your pet receives treatment for the same injury or illness in separate policy years, you’ll pay the excess for each claim – in other words, for ongoing issues, you’ll pay excess every year if you claim.

And if you claim for separate injuries or illnesses in the same year, you'll have to pay the excess for each claim.

There are a few breeds of dog that Healthy Pets will not insure. These include the American Pit Bull Terrier, the Cao Fila and the Pit Bull Mastiff. However, they will insure most common breeds such as Labradors, German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers. A list of dogs they will not insure can be found on the Healthy Pets website.

Healthy Pets has been nominated for and won several awards over the years. They were finalists for the Insurance Times Tech Awards three years running in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

If you want to examine Healthy Pets' cover in more detail, have a look at the policy documents on their website.

How much does Healthy Pets insurance cost?

As with most pet insurance companies, the cost of cover will vary depending on factors like your pet’s age, its breed, and where you live.

The average pet insurance policy for UK dog owners is £366 a year, according to our research.

Healthy Pets provides some example quotes for different breeds using the postcode GU32 3QF. Prices were correct on September 6 2016.

On the website they provide this table which compares four different pets and their annual policy price:

Remember, the cheapest insurance isn’t necessarily the best. Check out our list of Top 10 Pet Insurance for more information.

What customers say about Healthy Pets

Healthy Pets has a score of 8.3 out of 10 on Trustpilot based on 741 reviews.

What the experts say

Independent financial researcher Defaqto has rated Healthy Pets’ Gold insurance policy as 5 Star. Silver was rated as 3 Star, Bronze as 2 Star and Accident Only as 1 Star. Bear in mind that Accident Only insurance policies are often rated as 1 Star on Defaqto because they are less comprehensive than other policies.

A Star Rating indicates where a product or proposition sits in the market based on the quality and comprehensiveness of the features it offers.

A 5 Star rated policy is an “excellent product” and has “a comprehensive range of features and benefits”. A 3 Star rated policy is “a standard product” that provides “an average level of features and benefits”, and a 1 Star rated policy is “a basic product” that offers “a low level of features and benefits”.

This article was independently written by Bought By Many. We were not paid to write it, but we may receive commission for sales that result from you clicking on a link to one of our partners.