What is pet insurance excess?

What is pet insurance excess and what factors affect it?

Pet insurance excess is a fixed amount of money that you pay when making a claim, agreed at the beginning of your policy. Excess can lower the price of your premium as it is an agreement that you cover a portion of the costs of a claim.

Your premium is calculated by considering multiple ‘risk’ factors including the breed, age and health of your pet (this is separate to excess). Excess is a fixed figure that remains the same for the agreed year of your policy, but it may increase once your pet reaches a certain age.

Some policies offer you the option to choose your own excess amount to help customise your insurance to your own needs. This gives you the option of paying a higher excess fee in order to lower your premium, but you should only consider this if it is likely to be within your budget to pay a larger excess at the point of claim.

When do I have to pay excess?

With John Lewis, you pay pet insurance excess for each condition you make a claim against, even if you receive several vet bills for the same illness or accident in the same year. If treatment for your pet continues into the next policy year, you will need to pay the excess again.

What are the types of excess?

When thinking about pet insurance there are two types of additional payment that are worth familiarising yourself with to better understand what you could pay for:

Fixed excess

This type of payment is agreed at the beginning of your policy and is expected to be paid at the beginning of each claim per policy year. It is common for most policies to include excess and it is an agreement that you will pay a fixed figure.

Co-payment

This is a secondary payment that you will pay, that is calculated after your fixed excess. This is not included as standard with every policy but is very common with insurance for older pets. It is a contribution you will pay towards vet bills and is typically 10-20% depending on your policy.

What is co-payment for older animals?

Pet insurance for older cats and dogs can often come with co-payments. A co-payment is a percentage of your vet bill that you would pay in addition to the fixed excess. It tends to be 10-20% of your total bill (after excess has been deducted) depending on your policy and the age of your pet.

Just like excess, it is agreed at the beginning of your policy so you won’t be caught out by it, and it may lower the price of your premium. However, you will need to make a co-payment for every vet bill you receive so you shouldn’t agree to a co-payment price that is above your likely budget.

With John Lewis Pet Insurance for pets aged under nine, you can choose to pay a voluntary co-payment of 10% or 20% towards the rest of the vet treatment costs, in addition to your chosen fixed excess. For pets aged nine years or over, you must pay a co-payment of 20% on the rest of the vet’s treatment costs, in addition to your chosen fixed excess.

Example of excess and co-payment

Vet bill: £1,000

Pet owner excess contribution: £150

Pet owner co-payment contribution (20% of remaining £850): £170

Pet owner pays: £320

Insurance payout: £680

What don't I pay excess on?

• Any calls with our Vetfone team

• Use of our counselling helpline

• Saying goodbye