Is lifetime pet insurance worth it? How to decide

Lifetime cover is the priciest kind of pet insurance, and for a healthy pet you might never claim back what you pay in. That's the risk with any insurance.

Where it earns its keep is the condition that never clears up. As long as you keep renewing, it's designed to go on paying for that condition year after year.

Whether that's worth the extra depends on your pet, and on your budget five years from now.

It tends to make most sense for a young pet with nothing on its vet record, especially a breed prone to joint, skin, heart or breathing problems, and for owners who would need to borrow to pay a bill of a few thousand pounds.

It's a closer call for an older pet with conditions a new policy would exclude. And if you have savings set aside for vet bills, paying for treatment yourself is a reasonable choice.

Most UK policies fall into four types, and they only really part ways when a condition lasts.

Accident-only is the simplest: injuries, not illness. Time-limited cover pays for each illness for a set period, often 12 months from when treatment starts. With maximum-benefit cover, each condition gets a fixed sum, and once that's spent the condition is no longer covered, even though the policy carries on.

Lifetime cover is the odd one out. Its limit resets each year, so as long as the policy renews without a break, arthritis diagnosed at eight can still be claimed for at twelve.

Max is an eight-year-old Labrador. He's slower on walks, and getting up off the kitchen floor now takes him two goes. His vet diagnoses osteoarthritis.

It's common. Royal Veterinary College researchers looked at UK vet records and estimated that around 200,000 dogs a year were affected, with Labradors among the breeds with the highest rates (the VetCompass study used 2013 data and was published in 2018).

Osteoarthritis doesn't go away, and in the study, affected dogs lived with it for more than a tenth of their lives on average. Vets manage it with pain relief, weight control and regular check-ups, sometimes adding physiotherapy or hydrotherapy.

On a time-limited policy, Max's insurer would pay for up to 12 months of treatment, within the condition limit. After that, his owner pays. On a lifetime policy that keeps renewing, each year's treatment comes from a fresh limit.

Here's how the maths works, using round numbers rather than typical costs.

Say managing Max's arthritis costs £600 a year and he lives with it for four years. That's £2,400. Once a time-limited policy's 12 months are up, £1,800 of it falls to his owner.

Now say lifetime cover costs £10 a month more today. Over four years that's at least £480, and more in practice, because premiums can rise substantially as pets get older.

Then swap in your own figures: a quote for each type of cover, and your vet's price for managing a long-term condition. The wider the gap between likely treatment costs and the extra premium, the stronger the case for lifetime cover. Just remember the treatment is only a possibility, while the premium is certain.

The study linked arthritis with breeds such as Labradors and Golden Retrievers, a higher bodyweight and being older than eight.

If that sounds like your dog, buy before any stiffness appears in the vet's notes. Once it's there, a new policy will usually treat it as pre-existing.

Suppose Max's owner already has a lifetime policy when the diagnosis comes, and next year's renewal price jumps. Switching to a cheaper insurer would very likely mean his arthritis is excluded. For Max, part of that higher price is the cost of keeping his condition covered.

A better first step is to ask the insurer to explain the increase, and whether a higher excess would lower it without affecting his cover.

Lifetime cover with a low limit only solves part of the problem. On many policies, a long-term condition and a separate emergency in the same year share one annual limit. With a larger breed, check the limit before the premium.

Lifetime cover isn't a promise to pay for everything. Most policies exclude conditions your pet had before the policy started, along with illnesses that first appear in the first 14 days. Routine care like vaccinations and flea treatment usually isn't included, and an excess still applies, often once per condition each policy year. The price won't stand still either, because insurers can raise premiums and change terms at renewal.

Before you answer the questions below, remember how lifetime pet insurance works at renewal: the limit resets, but the price and terms can change. Then ask yourself:

If most of your answers are yes, lifetime cover is likely worth the extra. If several are no, a cheaper policy or savings kept aside for vet bills may suit you better.