Does Pet Insurance Start Immediately?

How soon you can take your dog or cat to the vet after buying pet insurance? Pet insurance plans are effective anywhere from immediately up to as long as 15 days after the start of the policy, with terms varying from company to company—also, accidental injury is usually covered sooner than illness.

Table of Contents

• When Does Pet Insurance Take Effect?
• Pet Insurance with an Immediate Cover Start

We've gathered waiting period data for dozens of popular UK pet insurance providers so you can compare plans and pick one that starts as quickly as possible, if that's important to you.

When Does Pet Insurance Take Effect?

Your pet isn't covered on a new pet insurance policy until an initial waiting period has passed. Illnesses and injuries that occur or show signs before or during the waiting period will not be covered by insurance at any point.

The waiting period for illnesses is typically between 10 days and 15 days, with most plans imposing a 14 day waiting period for illnesses. The wait period for injuries due to accidents is nearly always shorter. Around half of the plans we studied had an immediate start for accidents, with no waiting period at all. The waiting period for accidents on the other plans ranged from 24 hours up to 15 days.

To help you compare pet insurance companies in terms of when they become effective, we've gathered data from over two dozen popular UK pet insurance companies. As you can see in the table below, Agria and Healthy Pets (available from our comparison tool) arguably have the best cover in terms of a quick start. Both companies cover illnesses after just 10 days and injuries immediately.

^Waiting period is 14 days for cruciate ligament problems.

Why is there a waiting period? Pet insurance companies use a waiting period to help prevent pet owners from waiting to buy pet insurance until their pet becomes ill. Without a waiting period, pet owners might be tempted to keep their pet uninsured until an injury or illness occurred. If pet owners did that, however, insurance companies would surely suffer financially and premiums would likely rise significantly for all pet owners. By imposing a waiting period, pet insurance premiums are kept lower for everyone.

Pet Insurance with an Immediate Cover Start

If you've just bought a new pet insurance policy, your dog or cat generally won't be protected until a waiting period has passed. There are two circumstances under which your pet insurance can have an immediate cover start date, however.

First, if you choose a policy with an immediate start for accidents, then your pet will be protected immediately against any injuries. For example, if today you buy a pet insurance policy with an immediate start for accidents, then if your dog cuts himself tomorrow you can make a valid claim for the vet fees to treat the injury (subject to other conditions, of course).

Second, we have found one pet insurance company that offers immediate cover for illnesses—under one condition. Scratch & Patch (available through our pet insurance comparison tool) will waive the waiting periods altogether to give you immediate cover for both accidents and illnesses if your pet was insured for veterinary fees under another policy of insurance up to the start date (inception) of the first period of insurance with them, and you provide proof to Scratch & Patch. If you're thinking of switching pet insurance companies, this may be something to keep in mind so that your pet has consistent cover.

If your pet is not currently covered by a pet insurance policy, then the plans with the most immediate start dates we found are Agria and Healthy Pets (available from our pet insurance comparison tool), as discussed above. These may not be the only companies with such short effective dates, but will give you somewhere to start. If you come across any others with short start dates that we have not covered, please let us know in the comments section below.

FAQs

Disclaimer: Please confirm the waiting period on a policy before buying it, in case our data has become out of date.