Paying premiums on a dead dog
Paying insurance premiums on her dead dog was not something Courtney Duff expected when she took out pet insurance. But the terms of her insurance meant that when her beloved dog died after expensive treatment, insurer Pet-n-Sur was within its rights to charge her the premiums she would have paid for the remainder of the 12-month insurance contract had her dog survived.
It did this by reducing the claim it paid, leading to Duff taking to social media to vent her frustration.
‘‘$1133.09 Claim (plus the added emotional cost of having to put your dog down) = $208.48 for the policy holder and $924.61 the insurer Pet-n-Sur won’t pay out on,’’ she wrote.
‘‘Read your pet insurance policies! Sucks when you miss some fine print on page 2 that only becomes relevant when your dog dies.
‘‘I will put it down to a learning experience but don’t assume that because you have cover that you will actually get your money back.’’
The clause Duff was referring to in the Pet-n-Sur policy reads: ‘‘Please note that any annual premium will be deducted from any approved claim payment (including any Annual Premium outstanding on policies that are being paid via agreed instalments). This also applies to claims paid in the event of your pet’s death.’’
Pet-n-Sur’s policies are annual premium policies. The person taking them out for their pet is obligated to pay all the premiums for the whole year, even if their pet dies.
Grant McCurrach from Pet-n-Sur said the clause was discretionary, and was not always enforced by the company.
‘‘When we have a deceased pet, we obviously look at how long has the consumer been with us – the claims pad out over the history of the policy,’’ McCurrach said.
‘‘In this particular instance there had been claims against the policy, which is why we enforced the terms and conditions of the policy.’’
He said every effort was made to encourage people to read the policies they signed up for.
MoneyHub, the money research website, says Pet-n-Sur was one of only three pet insurance brands in the country, with Southern Cross, PetPlan and Countdown (which was underwritten by Southern Cross) being the others.
It found very policies and prices varied widely, and pet owners needed to compare policies to be very sure of what each one covered.
The largest pet insurer, Southern Cross, did not charge premiums on dead dogs.
Southern Cross Pet Insurance general manager Anthony McPhail said: ‘‘For example, if a dog is hit by a car, their treatment incurs a sizeable vet bill, [and] then they pass away, we would pay any claim to which the policyholder was entitled.
‘‘Obviously, in this instance the policy would be cancelled from the date they passed away, and Southern Cross Pet Insurance would not charge any premium for the remainder of the policy year.’’
Pet insurance is a growing business. Roughly one in 10 cat owners and one in five dog owners insure their pets, MoneyHub said.
And it’s profitable. The company behind Petn-Sur, Beneficial Insurance, earned $9.948 million in premiums, and paid $3.924m in claims in the year to the end of March, financial statements posted with the Companies Office show.
Chris Walsh from MoneyHub said: ‘‘It’s impossible to control what random things your cat or dog does and/or eats. They love to try new things and don’t take financial consequences into account. With a CT scan starting at $1500 and surgery for internal injuries costing $2000 plus, vet bills can be expensive, to say the least.’’
His advice? ‘‘Look at the above costs and be realistic about whether you could afford the bill if it was handed to you tomorrow. Would you be able to cover it? If not, pet insurance may be a good way to avoid an uncomfortable visit to the vet.’’
Beware, though – policyholders usually had to pay an excess on each claim, and some policies (particularly for older pets) required the owner to pay a percentage of the treatment bill.
Walsh said: ‘‘Self-insurance is an alternative, in that you make a habit of putting money into a pet fund so that if your cat or dog needs to go to the vet, there’s money to pay the bill.’’
But there were risks to self-insurance. ‘‘Your pet might need treatment before you’ve built up much of a pet fund,’’ he said.
‘‘[Pets] love to try new things and don’t take financial consequences into account.’’
Chris Walsh, MoneyHub