The BEST Pet Insurance Providers in New Zealand 🇳🇿

Hi there, this is Chris from MoneyHub, and this video summarizes our comprehensive pet insurance comparison guide. So we've prepared a lot of research and made sure that everything is very much kept up to date. We've gone through seven insurers, we're constantly adding insurers as they launch, and what we want to make sure is that people understand pet insurance, they know what they're covered for, what they're not covered for, and if they do want to buy it, making sure they've got the right cover and they're not overpaying. So without further ado, I'm just going to quickly summarize the basics here, and more or less, all the pet insurers within New Zealand will cover your pet generally, but the issue is how much cover you can actually get. So if your pet is over 7 or 8 years of age, that tends to limit the amount of cover, but at the same time, you can always insure and know what cover you will get, it will just be a bit limited. If it's a young cat or a young dog, i.e. puppy or a kitten, then it's much easier, and if it's a 1 or 2-year-old dog or cat, then that is quite easy as well. Just as a background, there's two types of ways to pay for pet insurance. You can either co-payment, which means you'll be charged, say, 20% or 15%, 10% of the total cost. The alternative to that is full cover, where you pay in excess. So say the vet bill is $1,000, if you have a 20% co-payment, then you'll pay $200. If you have an excess plan and the excess is $150, then you'll pay $150. So we've comprehensively reviewed all this, and we want to make it clear, but it's really essential to have a read through it, because there are a lot of things to know about pet insurance, and it's not so obvious unless you have a read-through-our-guide. Pet insurance does have a strange reputation. A lot of people have it, and they just want to make sure that they're protected from big costs. At the same time, a lot of pet owners don't have it, because they don't like the idea of ongoing payments. So that's fair enough, we totally understand that. The purpose of this guide is to really just show you what the costs can be for both surgeries or accidents, as well as the ongoing costs of pet insurance, and then you can decide what suits you. This is certainly not like a push for pet insurance, we just want to inform people. Just as a background, we've done a little bit of a summary here for costs. They can be expensive, but at the same time, it is rare, perhaps, that a chipped tooth on a cat, surgery to remove something that the cat ate, or something kidney-related for a dog, these are all like $2,000, $3,000, $5,500 costs, and certainly something to consider when you insure for your pet, but at the same time, the frequency of these coming up isn't as if it's every six months that your cat will have something like this, or your pet will have something like this. It's just good to keep in mind that these are some of the higher costs. We've covered a range of frequently asked questions, and that explains how pet insurers work, and also what you're going to be covered for. You're going to be covered for the vet fees relating for injuries, illnesses, or accidents per your policy, and also for ongoing conditions, as long as they're not pre-existing, and then hereditary conditions, or anything like that, as long as you don't know about them when you take out the policy. And then losing your pet to theft, reward money, some policies cover that. And then also looking at policies for excess things like pet replacement, there is also that as well. So whatever you do, decide to choose, and make sure it is covered for what you actually need, because it's very easy to get the cheapest, which is usually accident-only, but then if your pet develops something that's not stemming from an accident, or it's nothing to do with an accident, then you'll get no coverage whatsoever. So it's just worth keeping that in mind. There are a lot of exclusions as well, and generally this is going to include the injections, checkups, worming, flea stuff, everything like that. And then you're not going to be covered if, you know, it's something to do with breeding cats or dogs, some organ transplants, some infectious diseases, if it wasn't vaccinated, and then sort of anything that you've done by accident or not to mistreat, or to fail to protect, then that's also problematic in terms of claiming. And then for pre-existing conditions, you can claim on them, but there are exclusions if they already exist, and you just need to work through what your policy will be, and raise it all with the insurer. The best thing you can do is talk to the insurer about anything pre-existing, don't try and hide it, because it will come up, and then you're going to get no cover at all, at the same time you'll be paying for pet insurance that you arguably have less claim on, or can't claim on it. So there's just some information there to kind of get you covered. Self-insurance, a lot of people will think, okay, well I don't really want to spend, you know, $50 a month, $70 a month on this, can I just save up some money? And yes, you can absolutely do that, that is quite popular, and of course people insure, you know, just to protect themselves from full risk, but at the same time you have to be realistic about, you know, your options. So if this is something that you want to do, rather than be chained to a pen insurer, then many people are, as I said, contributing money into some sort of pet fund. What suits you is going to just come down to your personal finances, and there's nothing else that we can sort of say on that. Now with regards to, you know, must-know tips, first of all, you have to disclose everything, that's totally essential, there's no point, you know, hiding things. As I said previously, that is going to come out, some pets just can't get insurance, that's totally fine, you know, it's not widespread, you know, certainly town dogs and things like that will be covered in most cases, but, you know, some farm dogs won't be, and then any kind of racing, hunting, or any other dog like that won't be covered either. It's switching is going to be a problem if your pet is over seven, or has pre-existing conditions, that's just because it's a risk for, you know, insurers to take that on, and they don't like the fact that, you know, okay, you're going to pay a monthly fee, or a four nightly fee, but at the same time the risk can be quite high. So if you are looking to get a policy, the best thing to do really is just to get lots and lots of quotes, and then choose the provider with the best cover and the best, you know, price, which we explain or suggest down below, that, you know, we sort of shortlist some providers that we've seen their results from, but, you know, that's, of course, the best approach is to make sure that you're happy and you've got that, like, a range of quotes to compare. The best thing is it doesn't take long to arrange them, so you'll be able to get, like, a handful of quotes within 10, 15 minutes and then make a decision from that. Of course, the lower the excess, the higher the monthly cost, so this is just coming down to what you can afford right now for a vet bill. Should, you know, you want to be able to just walk away with $100 or something like that, then, of course, the monthly cost will be higher, $100, sorry, for the excess, whereas if you raise the excess, say, $300, $400, then, of course, you know, that is a big upfront cost, but the ongoing cost will usually be lower. So this is, you know, that's for excess. We are saying that copayment or percentage share can be costly, especially because you think, oh, well, it's okay, I'm going to, you know, get 25% covered, but, you know, 25% of $3,000 or $5,000 is, you know, $5,000 is $1,250, which is a lot, especially when you're already paying for pet insurance. So maybe sometimes, you know, copayment isn't the best and it's really just going to come down to what you feel is it that you can afford or what's best for your budget. Multi-pet policies also come up, so if you have a dog or a cat or two dogs or whatever, there are savings to be made there, but don't assume that's the best deal because it is worth getting quotes for, like, both animals from, like, from everybody and not just looking at a, you know, like some sort of special offer. So we've just comprehensively walked through and we've looked at copayment, we've also looked at accident only, and we've looked at basic policies and medium pet insurance as well as premium, and it's just good to have a review of that, just to understand what the different options are, and then we've also gone through some examples of some Jack Russell and also of a tabby cat, and, you know, from there we've been able to get some information and, like, what's covered and what's not covered. So that's definitely worth having a read through, and we just want to leave you with here some must-know facts. So as I said previously, if you own more than one pet, you probably will get a discount. Just check always online to see if there's specials or discounts as well. Sometimes there's promo codes, sometimes there's all sorts of, you know, short-term offers, and then if you're not that happy with the price but you want to, like, you prefer a specific pet insurer, then it is best just to, like, negotiate with them straight up and just, like, directly and say, well, look, I want to be a client of yours or a customer of yours, but, you know, this is the price I'm looking for, and is that something that you can meet? You are covered sometimes if you want to cancel a holiday because of your pet getting sick. I know this seems quite extreme, but if that is a concern, then you will be able to find, like, a pet insurance policy that covers that. Of course, you will have to pay more for it. And then, you know, previously I mentioned if your pet goes missing, there is cover as well for replacement costs and reward money, which is a sad situation, but it is, you know, part of the higher-end policies. And then, you know, if you get sick as well and your pet needs to go into boarding, then that can be covered, depending on the policy. To conclude on pet insurance, we're comfortable with the fact that co-payment plus the excess options are most appropriate for New Zealand pet owners. But at the same time, the best way to get what's right for you is just to collect a whole bunch of quotes. That's the only way you're going to know where you stand. We've linked to all the providers down below, so you can go ahead and just go and see, you And from there, you'll be able to lock down something if that suits you. Do know that, you know, you're not signed in or you're not locked into a long-term contract with pet insurance. You can quit any time. Usually, the prices are cheaper if you pay annually versus monthly. And at the same time, if you've got, like, multiple pets, then it's going to get cheaper as well, you know, overall from the pet discount. Be careful, though, with making sure that you don't over-insure, because it is easy just to feel as if, okay, well, I'll get the full premium package. But maybe, you know, you're comfortable with the medium only, depending on your pet. And that can save quite a lot as well. And to adjust the excess, you can also see big savings or big movements in the monthly or annual cost. So it's worth playing around there. Now, if you have any questions about pet insurance, please do let us know. We've got a very helpful comments section below as part of the video. We're very responsive to when people leave comments, so please feel free to. We will respond. And if you have any other questions beyond that, you can also email us at moneyhub, and you can find our details in the contact section on the website. Thank you very much for watching. We look forward to hearing from you.