As we enter a new year, will your pet insurance last the full 12 months?

Although pet insurance sounds like a simple premise – you pay for cover and the insurer pays for vet treatment – some companies have made it more complicated than it needs to be and owners can be caught out by inadequate policies.

Many pet owners may not be aware that some kinds of cover can run out after a set period of time or if they claim a certain amount. This can leave your cat or dog without cover for a condition it has already needed treatment for.

These are known as time-limited and per-condition policies. You might find pet insurance with an attractive premium that offers this kind of cover so it’s worth understanding how claiming works on them and how they could run out over time.

Lifetime policies offer the most comprehensive pet insurance as they can cover a condition throughout your pet’s life. ManyPets pet insurance only offers lifetime policies because we want our cover to work for owners as they expect it to.

It’s easy to get a quote and see all our lifetime policies. You just have to answer a few questions about your pet so we can calculate your prices.

1. Click on get a quote

2. Tell us about your pet

3. See our easy-to-understand policies and your prices

Time-limited cover will no longer cover a condition once you’ve reached a set amount of time after a claim. For example, if you claim for an ear issue, you may be allowed to continue to claim for it for 12 months but after that point you will no longer have cover for it or any related conditions. You will be able to claim for new conditions but they’ll also have a time limit for claims.

Per-condition policies work in a similar way but are capped at a certain amount you can claim. So, you might have a limit of £2,000 you can claim for the ear condition over your pet’s life but once you’ve hit it you won’t be able to claim for that condition again.

Some policies might include both a time and condition limit.

There are obvious problems with cover that runs out but it also means owners may not be able to switch to another provider if they reach their limit because a new pet insurance company will exclude pre-existing conditions that have already been claimed for.

At ManyPets, we understand this can be frustrating and we want people to have the option of better insurance. All our policies cover conditions that ended at least two years ago and we have a policy that can cover more recent conditions.

All our policies are lifetime because we believe it gives owners comprehensive cover that they can rely on year after year.

Lifetime policies have an annual limit that will reset every year the policyholder renews. With our Complete policy, a pet owner would have £15,000 of cover each year for all conditions. If their pet developed an ear condition that needed £2,000 of treatment they could claim for it and still have £13,000 of cover left for all other conditions that year. When the policyholder renews their limit will reset to £15,000 for the new policy year. And if the condition needed ongoing medication they could claim for it every year if they continue to renew.

Find out more about all ManyPets pet insurance policies and get a quote.