Extended travel insurance for pets

[haroldandhilda]

Hi All,

We're planning to set off for an extended tour around France/Spain in our Starblazer for up to 6 months and would like to take our dog with us.

I have been looking around for some sort of pet insurance to cover us abroad for this length of time but can only find policies covering shorter periods.

Does anybody know of a suitable policy/company?

We would be grateful for any info (and so would the dog!)

[sailor girl]

Hi. We're setting off for a year's trip at the end of August and are taking out insurance (for ourselves) with Carefree holidays, who are part of the Camping and Caravanning Club. Turns out our insurance covers the dog too. So worth giving them a call? I think their number is 0845 130 7701

or you can find them online here

 

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/travelabroad

 

You do know about having to get a pet passport as well don't you? This takes up to a couple of months to get organised. The dog has to have a rabies jab, then a month later have a blood test and then get the result about 2 weeks later. After this, the dog can leave the country any time, but can't re-enter the UK for 6 months. (I think it's 6 months from the date of the blood test but not 100% sure on this.) So you should get on with this as soon as possible!

 

Apologies if you knew all this already!

 

Liz

[ike]

Hi Our dogs are insured with Norwich Union who, unlike some, don't charge extra for overseas travel. Nor do i think there is a limit but best call them. the longest we have done is 6 weeks. Happy travelling

ike

[derek500]

On a positive note, vets' fees are so much cheaper here in Spain than in the UK.

[ike]

Sorry not Norwich Union but Halifax

ike

[Mel B]

sailor girl - 2008-07-14 11:08 AM

 

Hi. We're setting off for a year's trip at the end of August and are taking out insurance (for ourselves) with Carefree holidays, who are part of the Camping and Caravanning Club. Turns out our insurance covers the dog too. So worth giving them a call? I think their number is 0845 130 7701

or you can find them online here

 

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/travelabroad

 

Liz

 

This is very interesting, I've not seen this in any policies before, ours doesn't cover our dogs except if they have to go into kennels for some reason due to us being indisposed.

[Patricia]

Hi HaroldandHilda

Welcome to the forum. I'm pretty sure my dog is insured with Halifax too (unfortunately I can't check as all the paperwork is in the m/home) who I changed to from Saga this year. Their premiums are much lower than any other insurer I have come across. My dog is a pedigree, seven year's old in August, and the premium is under £12 a month. I go away for extended periods, not for a whole year though, and I don't remember there being a time limit. In fact, their cover is very comprehensive like Saga's (who wanted over £20 a mth!).

[ike]

Patricia

Your response has made my eyes pop!. My dog is a pedigree, 6 years old and I'm paying £30 a month with Halifax, although my second dog is £19. I'm phoning them right now to get them to check. It may be something to do with my postcode, in the same way as that affects house and car insurance. But my pooch isn't more likely to fall ill because of where we stay, is he?

ike

[ike]

Sorry just an add on and something that might be of interest to MelB. We had previous insurance with Pet Protect who, if you are insured with them, will provide holiday insurance for your pets at an extra cost eg £12 for a fortnight. Other companies may do the same. It proved very useful to us in the past when one of our dogs became very ill in France and had to have all sorts of scans etc. Turned out she had a massive tumour in her liver and she died two days after we came home. The cost of her treatment in France was met by the insurance so it's well worth getting cover if you can. It's difficult enough your pet being ill while on holiday never mind having to pay out several hundred pounds.

ike 

[Mel B]

I think we're getting a bit muddled here.

 

One insurance that is being talked about appears to be 'human' travel insurance which also has cover built into it for your pet. This I believe is quite unusual. I don't know if there are any restrictions on how long a pet is covered for but I would expect it only to cover the cost of treatment whilst you are on holiday and once you get back to your home at the end of your holiday the cost of the on-going treatment would then have to be met by you, therefore if your pet had a condition that would need more treatment unless you had a specific 'normal' pet insurance policy in place you could still have some quite hefty bills to pay.

 

Several of you are also talking about the insurance you take out for your pet and pay a monthly fee for, this is what I would call 'normal' pet health/vet cost insurance policy which is meant to ensure that you don't get clobbered with hefty bills if your pet is ill in your country of residence (for most of us that means at home in the UK). You usually pay a certain amount initially and after that the rest is covered on the insurance. However, there are restrictions to what is covered. Some insurances will only pay out for the treatment for a specific length of time, eg 1 year, and after that time you may find your pet is no longer covered for the cost of treatment for a long term illness and you then end up paying the lot, this is not uncommon so you need to be careful which policy you get. Other policies do cover the cost of the treatment for the life of the pet (assuming you stay with the insurance company and keep paying the premiums). If this type of insurance then can be extended, which I believe it can, to cover you whilst out of the country with your pet, it would seem to give the best option.

 

I think the discrepancies between the policy premiums is more likely to be due to the 'risks' associated with certain breeds of dog, rather than their locality. Certain breeds have a higher risk of developing certain illness than others, eg German Shepherds are well known for having rear-end/hip etc problems, and it is probably this which determines the premium. In the same way, a cross bred dog tends to have a cheaper premium as they are not pure-bred and less likely to suffer from some of the diseases etc that pedigree dogs do, some of which is caused, unfortunately, by interbreeding and restricted breeding lines.

 

We don't have any insurance for our dogs, we never have over the last 27 years and we've had 8 dogs in that time (5 at a time ... twice!). If we get a big bill, then so be it, but over the number of years and the number of dogs we have had (all cross-bred) we are well ahead financially, we just make sure we have access to funds that we can tap into in case we need it (I hope I don't regret saying that for the dogs' sakes!). 8-)

 

I wish I could get rat insurance though! They are expensive little critters when they start getting ill ... the current ones (2 sisters) had an operation each to remove tumours in May, the total cost for these and the consultation was .... £180!!!!!! Unfortunately one of them has got tumours again and we know that the other one will get them again soon as they couldn't remove it all .... we've already decided that we won't have the operated on again unless they have a good chance of going on for a bit longer, not from a cost point of view, but simply it's not nice for them to keep getting cut open and having to recover from what is for them quite major surgery. They may be cheap little critters to buy but by heck do you pay for it later. We've had 7 rats in total and of them all only 1 died of natural causes in his sleep at the age of 3 (he's buried on Lindesfarne), all the others have had to be put down from tumours. Sorry to digress, but it just goes to show that it's not the cost of 'buying' the pets that is the expense, it's the running costs!

 

 

[Patricia]

ike - 2008-07-16 6:50 PM

Patricia

Your response has made my eyes pop!. My dog is a pedigree, 6 years old and I'm paying £30 a month with Halifax, although my second dog is £19. I'm phoning them right now to get them to check. It may be something to do with my postcode, in the same way as that affects house and car insurance. But my pooch isn't more likely to fall ill because of where we stay, is he?

ike

I'm fairly sure I'm with the Halifax but unfortunately I can't check at the moment. I'm off on holiday in the morning so I will check the paperwork and if I can get onto the internet I will let you know. I think Mel might be right about the price depending on the breed, mine's a sheltie. The other factor is that I bought the cover online so I expect there was a good discount, although I discussed it with them on the phone first. I thought there must be a catch in it somewhere as it was so cheap! I investigated French pet health cover at the same time as I was intending to live over there, and that was about the same price - a pleasant surprise.Have you phoned them yet?

[Patricia]

ike - 2008-07-16 6:50 PM

Patricia

Your response has made my eyes pop!. My dog is a pedigree, 6 years old and I'm paying £30 a month with Halifax, although my second dog is £19. I'm phoning them right now to get them to check. It may be something to do with my postcode, in the same way as that affects house and car insurance. But my pooch isn't more likely to fall ill because of where we stay, is he?

ike

Hi everyone especially Ike above.I have checked the paperwork and I am definitely insured with Halifax Pet Insurance Extra for £11.76 per month. I could have chosen their flat-rate option for £7 a month. Both options cover all EU countries for 12 months (while located temporarily i.e. not resident) but the higher cost option obviously pays out better benefits. My dog had no pre-existing problems and I think I remember my vet having to sign for this.Hope this helps. You could check on www.halifaxpetinsurance.co.uk/pet/schemes. Or phone on 0800 328 7906 M-F 8-8, Sat 9-5.

[ike]

Thanks for that Patricia. I phoned Halifax and they confirmed I'm paying the correct premium. Being a bit of a cynic I then went onto their website and obtained a quote, as if I was just applying. It would cost me over £500 pa if I was just taking it out now, instead of the £360 I'm currently paing. Breed, postcode comes into the equation, as does level of cover. We've gone for the "premiere" cover, because of previous experience with high vet bills, and so our premium is higher. "You pays your money" I suppose.

ike

[Mel B]

Yikes!!! What a bill ... and that's when you still have to pay £50 excess for the treatment, and it doesn't cover any dental treatment!!!! I'm glad we haven't bothered all these years ... I'm sticking to mongrels! 8-)

[sailor girl]

Right, i've just checked and here's what we're getting!

 

With Carefree Travel, we're paying £170 each, for personal insurance for a year's travel in Europe. This includes pet insurance, and we are allowed to be in Europe for 365 days out of that year! The insurance covers up to £2,500 for the pet and there's no excess.

 

To further clarify, here's the section on pets from the insurance policy. (I forgot to check, but I'm pretty sure 'zone 2' means europe!) Hope this is helpful. :-)

 

liz

 

SECTION 14 PETCARE COVER

What is covered:

For Trips to Zone 2 only, We will pay up to a maximum of £2,500 (including VAT) under this Policy, for the following:

If Your domestic pet dog or cat which You have taken on a Trip with You is injured or falls ill in the course of Your

Trip, We will pay for necessary veterinary treatment or is lost in the course of Your Trip, then We will arrange for

advertisements to be placed in the locality abroad where Your pet was last seen by You. We will pay up to a

maximum of £25 (including VAT) for these advertisements.

If You have returned Home without Your pet and it is subsequently found abroad, We will pay a contribution of up to

£100 for one person to travel and retrieve the pet.

If on Your return journey to Home You are unable to bring Your domestic dog or cat which is accompanying You into

the

UK with You as planned, because the microchip embedded under the pet’s skin has become lost or the microchip is

present but fails to function correctly, then We will pay for necessary quarantine boarding in a kennel in the UK for the

statutory period required.

What is not covered:

a) any domestic pet dog or cat not in good health at the commencement of the Trip.

b) any claim when You have not arranged for all necessary inoculations, the insertion of the required microchip, and all

appropriate documentation;

c) repatriation of Your pet.

[Patricia]

ike - 2008-07-20 1:37 PM

Thanks for that Patricia. I phoned Halifax and they confirmed I'm paying the correct premium. Being a bit of a cynic I then went onto their website and obtained a quote, as if I was just applying. It would cost me over £500 pa if I was just taking it out now, instead of the £360 I'm currently paing. Breed, postcode comes into the equation, as does level of cover. We've gone for the "premiere" cover, because of previous experience with high vet bills, and so our premium is higher. "You pays your money" I suppose.

ike

You really have me worried now for next year and I can't understand the difference in the quotes. My insurance booklet offers two options: Halifax Pet Insurance and Halifax Pet Insurance Extra. I opted for the latter which I assume is the premiere but maybe there is a higher one than mine.The Comfort one sounds good for those going abroad for 12 months but my insurance comes with my Gold Card and I just pay an upgrade fee for 93 days which is as long as I normally stay. I also pay a small amount to avoid excess charges.