LV= Pet Insurance Review

Your pet must be older than 8 weeks, in good health and you must be it's owner and live with it at an address in the United Kingdom.

You agree to provide proper care and attention and to pay for any treatment recommended to prevent injury or illness.

Your pet must have visited a vet within the last 12 months and be vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis or parvovirus in the case of dogs and feline infectious enteritis, feline influenza and leukaemia in the case of cats.

LV= offer two policies time limited and lifetime.

Choose from vet fees cover of either £1,500 or £2,500 per condition limited to a maximum of 12 months.

or vets cover of £3,000, £5,000 or £10,000 per year which can be reinstated provided you renew the policy.

This is a list of important exclusions LV= will not cover;

1. Your pet if it is used for guard, security, racing.
2. Out of hours/house calls unless your vet confirms why it couldn't wait until normal surgery.
3. Vaccinations, flea treatments, wormers, nail clipping, spaying, castration or retained testicles.
4. Any form of housing, cage, basket or bedding.
5. Preventative, or routine treatments, examinations, tests, general health supplements, bathing or de-matting.
6. Blood tests, prior to surgery or a procedure if your pet is less than six years old.
7. Cosmetic treatment or surgery.
8. The cost of any transplant surgery
9. Death cover for dogs aged 9 years or older and cats aged 11 years or older.
10. Any pet that falls under the restrictions of the dangerous dogs act 1991.
11. Any dog suffering from distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis or parvovirus unless their vaccinations are up to date.
12. Any cat suffering from feline infectious enteritis, feline influenza or leukaemia unless their vaccinations are up to date.
13. Any treatment not recommended by a vet.
14. Any notifiable disease named in the Animal Health Act 1981 such as rabies.
15. Any pet disturbing or injuring livestock.

Time Limited policies will cover 5 sessions up to a maximum of £500

Lifetime Policies will cover 10 sessions up to a maximum of between £750 and £1,000 (depending on the chosen policy).

The treatments covered under the policy are Acupuncture, hydrotherapy, osteopathy, physiotherapy, shock wave therapy or chiropractic therapy where both the therapy and the suitably qualified therapist has been recommended by your vet.

Further sessions may be approved subject to confirmation by the vet that there are further improvements to be made and this is replacing other treatment.

In addition lifetime policies will cover treatment or therapy of a mental or emotional disorder recommended by a vet (this includes the use of pheromone products for a maximum of 3 months)

Time Limited policies will cover dental treatment caused by injury only.

Lifetime policies will cover all dental treatment, including gum or tooth disease, provided your pet has had a check up in the last 12 months and any routine or preventative treatment has been carried out within 3 months of the vets recommendation.

Food is not covered unless it is being used instead of an alternative form of medication.

All policies cover the cost of MRI/CT scans and cruciate ligament claims up to the vet fees limit, depending on the chosen policy.

LV= do not cover the cost of euthanasia.

Get a 5% multi pet discount when you insure your pets together.

LV= do not cover your pet's pre-existing conditions. These are described as "Any Illness, injury, behavioural problem, or vicious tendency, or any signs of illness, injury, behavioural problem or vicious tendency, that occurred or existed in any form before the start date of the policy".

LV= will not cover any treatment of your pet that is connected with pregnancy, giving birth or any complications as a result.

If you decided to take your pet abroad under the Pet Travel Scheme, LV= Pet policies provide the same level of cover as in the UK.

There is no limit on the number of trips or trip length. In addition LV= covers holiday cancellation, emergency repatriation, quarantine costs, the cost of replacing a pet passport and repeat worming treatments.

There is no cover in the first 48 hours following the start of a policy for any injury and no cover for the first 14 days for any illness or behavioural problems.

All LV= policies have a fixed excess of £75, although you have the option to increase they and reduce the premium.

Under LV= Pet Insurance, once your dog turns 8 years of age and cats turn 10 years of age, you will be required to pay an additional 20% of any claim on top of any fixed excess.

For example if your claim is for £1,000 you will have to pay £75 plus 20% of the balance totalling £260.

Well laid out site that deals with several different insurance types as well as pet insurance.

The site has a good section on explaining the cover and the difference between the policies, as well as access to the policy wording prior to starting a quote.

The quotation system is easy to use and illustrates both types of insurance and the costs involved allowing you to make an informed choice.

LV= do not operate live chat, but you can phone their call centre if you want a phone quote or have a query.

At 36 pages long, the policy wording is nicely laid out with a summary of cover, index, dedicated page to help lines and claim and admin contact numbers. Colour coded headings and examples of what would and wouldn't be covered under the policy all help with the understanding.

During tests the policy wording scored between 48.1 and 56.8 out of 100. Some parts were difficult to read and some fairly difficult to read. The wording required a reading age of between 18 - 19 to fully understand what was being written.

LV= only appears on Compare the Market. The levels of cover and premiums are the same as if you went direct.

LV= have teamed up with FirstVet to offer free 24/7 video consultations with qualified vets.

Although the reviews on trust pilot (over 24,000) are for all types of insurance. The rating of 4.7 out of 5 gives you some idea of the overall service. The vast majority of customers were happy with LV=.

LV= have received 1256 customer reviews about pet insurance on reevoo with an overall rating of 9 our of 10.

There are no administration charges.

Save 10% when you buy online direct with LV=.

We rated the lifetime £10,000 as 4 stars, providing above average cover, but missing a few benefits such as euthanasia cover,  prescription food and new quotes being restricted to pets under the age of 7.

Overall LV= policies offer value for money and are reasonably competitive for the levels of covered offered under their policies.

LV= paid out 96.41% of pet claims between 1 Jan and 31 Dec ‘19 and the majority of customers appear to be happy with the service. The only complaint being the usual increase in renewal premium and customer being able to find cheaper new quotes than they were being offered at renewal.

An excellent policy if you plan to take your pet abroad a lot during the year.