Insurance
Why should I take out pet insurance?
We recommend taking out a lifetime insurance policy, to help you if something unexpected happens to your pet. This can come in the form of minor injures that end up with further complications, major accidents, or the development of life-long illnesses. Each of these examples could end up costing thousands of pounds, and there is no NHS for pets!
We know that every pet is an integral family member, and you want to be able to make sure that each one receives the best care and treatments available. Taking out a good insurance policy is one way to make sure you can provide the procedures and medications they require, if an unexpected situation occurs. Both in a first opinion practice like Skylark Vets and in referral centres, when a pet requires surgery and several days to weeks of hospitalisation, costs may mount to £2,500 – £10,000.
There are many options available to you on the market. We are legally unable to advise on which company you should choose. However, we strongly recommend you read the policy wording closely. Lifetime policies are some of the better options: these policies renew each year so that the maximum policy value per claim or per condition will renew, and all conditions (not excluded when the policy was taken out initially) remain within the scope of the policy.
Some insurance companies provide accident and emergency cover. These policies can be fantastic for accidents and emergencies, but may not cover more than this, so please ensure you know what you are purchasing.
How to make a claim with us
There are some details that we will require in order to assist you with any claim. We will need you to provide your pet’s insurance details, including the name the policy is registered under, the policy number, policy excess and start/end dates.
Some companies have on-line portals that we are able to login into, to assist you with making a claim. Other companies will require you to print out a claim form or to e-mail it to them.
Please ensure all of your details and the policy number are filled in, if you are printing out a claim form. You will also be required to sign the form. When asked, please just detail symptom(s) you noticed, i.e. what you feel is wrong with your pet, unless we have given you an official diagnosis.
We charge an insurance processing fee for each claim that is submitted. We will always include this in the claimed amount – some insurance companies will cover this cost and reimburse you whilst others will not.
Can I make a direct claim?
At this time, we are unable to process direct claims: we are too small a company to fulfil this role currently. This means we require you to pay the balance of your pet’s treatments in full at the time of receiving the service. We will assist you in claiming the amount to be paid back into your account.
Insurance through Skylark Vets
In the future, we are hoping to partner with an insurance company that would work closely with us, creating policies that would allow us to provide a direct claims process. We will let you know when we have more information available. This is likely to only be available for young dogs and cats initially, but we would hope to extend this to other species over the coming years.