Puffin Pet Insurance Review

• You and your pet must be permanent residents of the United Kingdom.
• You must take all reasonable steps to maintain your pets health and prevent accidents, injury or illness.
• When applying for a policy, your pet must be older than 8 weeks and younger than 14 years.
• Your pet must not be used for guarding, track racing our coursing, or been the subject of any complaint to the police.
• You must keep Your Pet’s vaccinations and boosters up to date and in line with the vets recommendations:
  Dogs – Distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis and parvovirus.
  Cats – Feline infectious enteritis, feline leukaemia and cat flu.
• Your dog must be micro-chipped.

PuffinInsurance have six pet insurance policies in total.

The first three are condition limited policies (also known as maximum benefit policies) Each policy has an overall maximum limit that the Insurer will payout and then an individual condition limit.

The Bronze policy covers vet fees up to £1,000 per condition with an overall maximum limit of £1,250
The Silver policy covers vet fees up to £1,500 per conditin with an overall maximum limit of £3,500
The Gold policy covers vet fees up to £2,000 per condition, with an overall maximum limit of £4,500

The second type of policy is called a Lifetime policy. Each policy has a maximum overall limit. The difference is that this limit is reinstated each year providing you continue to renew the policy.

The Bronze policy covers vet fees up to a maximum limit of £1,250.
The Silver policy covers vet fees up to a maximum limit of £3,500.
The Gold policy covers vet fees up to a maximum limit of £4,500.

Many problems are caused when customers haven't read a pet insurance policy carefully and were unaware of specific terms, conditions or exclusions. It is extremely important that you read any policy wording carefully, to make sure you understand what is and isn't covered and that you comply with any terms or conditions.

To help you we have listed important exclusions, that we think you should know about.

Puffin Pet Insurance do not cover;

1. Any treatment that is required to prevent injury or illness, including the cost of treating an Injury or Illness deliberately caused by you or anyone living with you.
2. The cost of any claim caused by your negligence (including the treatment of obese Pets and symptoms incidental to obesity).
3. Any cost associated with routine or investigative laboratory tests or procedures unless the Clinical Signs/symptoms exist and the tests and procedures are to diagnose a specific condition. This includes pre-operative blood tests unless Your Pet’s medical history indicates a life threatening risk during surgery.
4. The cost of treatment or complications arising from treatment, you choose to have carried out, not directly related to an Injury or Illness.
5. The cost of killing and controlling fleas, general health improvers, the removal of dew claws (unless damaged), umbilical hernias.
6. The cost of pheromone Vet Plan Product, including DAP diffusers and Feliway unless used as part of a structured behaviour modification programme, and then limited to a maximum period of 6 months.
7. The cost of vaccinations, urine tests, routine blood tests, castration, spaying.
8. The cost of house calls, out of hours calls, hospitalisation, unless your vet confirms it is essential and would further damage your pets health.
9. The cost of treatment for aggression which is inherent in your Pet or behavioural Illness if your Pet’s behaviour is caused by you failing to provide training.
10. The cost of any form of housing, including cages, whether hired or purchased.
11. The cost of bathing, grooming or de-matting unless you have taken all reasonable steps to maintain your pets health and your vet confirms that veterinary expertise is required.
12. The cost of any prosthesis, including any Veterinary Treatment needed to fit the prosthesis, other than the cost of hip, knee and/or elbow replacement(s).
13. More than one claim for ingestion of a foreign body any one Period of Insurance.
14. Any claim of death by illness for any pet aged 5 years and above at the date of death.
15. Any illness caused as a result of you failing to vaccinate your pet.
16. Any dog used for guarding, track racing or coursing.
17. Any dog that must be registered under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, Dangerous Dogs (amendment) Act 1997, or is crossed with, a Pit Bull Terrier, Dogo Argentino, Perro De Presa Canario (Dogo Canario), Japanese Tosa or a Fila Brasileiro.

Complementary treatments are covered up to £1,000 and include herbal or homeopathic medicine as recommended and prescribed by your vet.

The following is a list of qualified practitioners who provide complementary treatments.
A Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist or a member of one of the following organisations: Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy, Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, Bowen Technique Therapists, Canine and Feline Behaviour Association, Canine Hydrotherapy Association, McTimoney Animal Association, McTimoney Chiropractic Association, National Association of Veterinary Physiotherapists, or The International Association of Animal Therapists (UK).

The policy covers the cost of dental treatment provided your pet has had its teeth checked by a vet in the 12 months before the onset date of the claim. If any treatment was recommended as a result of the check this must have been carried out.

The policy also covers the cost of any food but only if it is used to dissolve existing bladder stones and crystals in urine, which is limited to a maximum of 40% of the cost of food for up to 6 months.

MRI/CT scans and Cruciate Ligament claims are fully covered up to the maximum vet fee limit on all policies.

Puffin Pet Insurance does not cover the cost of having to put your pet to sleep or help with cremation or burial.

You are able to cover more than one pet (dog or cat) under the same policy.

Puffin Pet Insurance do not cover your pets pre-existing medical conditions. These are described as;

A condition of which you were aware of or which you could reasonably have been expected to have been aware before or on the Policy start date. A condition will cease to be a pre-existing condition if:
a) There have been no symptoms of the condition; and
b) You have not consulted any Vet with respect to the Condition; and
c) *Your Pet has not received any treatment for or in connection with the condition for a continuous period of 24 calendar months.

*This means any condition older than 2 years which has not been treated in that time would again be covered and is a better wording than many other Pet Insurers.

Puffin Insurance exclude any treatment in connection with breeding, pregnancy or giving birth including caesareans.

All policies extend emergency vet fees cover for anywhere in the world up to three (3) months during the Period of Insurance provided that your Pet has a valid Pet Passport and is accompanying you on holiday. You must ensure that all the conditions of the Pet Travel Scheme have been met and a full invoice and any relevant clinical notes have been provided.

They do not cover holiday cancellation, emergency repatriation, quarantine expenses, or loss of your pets passport.

For anyone taking out a new Puffin Insurance Pet policy, there is no cover for any accident or injury that occurs within the first 5 days and no cover for any illness or condition that manifests in the first 14 days.

All Puffin Pet Insurance policies have a standard excess of £99, payable for each individual claim.

When you pet reaches a certain age and additional percentage amount will be deducted from the settlement of any claim, over and above the standard excess.

Any pet aged 7 Years or older: 20% will be deducted from the claims settlement after the Excess;
Any pet aged 12 Years or older: 25% will be deducted from the claims settlement after the Excess.

The website only deals with two types of insurance travel or pet. The Pet Insurance section provides plenty of helpful information, together with a side by side comparison of the covers available and access to the policy documents.

There is no frequently asked questions section about pet insurance and there is no live chat, so if you have a query, you will need to either phone or email the company.

The quotation system is very simple and quick to use, with only a minimum amount of information required to get a quote. Quotes are presented as a side by side comparison, with a breakdown of the important sections of cover and the chance to read the policy wording before signing up.

The policy wording is 12 pages long. There is no summary of cover or index and the layout could be made more inviting and easier to peruse. In our tests the wording scored 58.8 out of 100 and was classed as fairly difficult to read. A reading age of between 12 - 14 years is the minimum requirement to be able to understand the content.

Puffin Pet Insurance is listed on all four of the main comparison insurance websites.

There is no vet health check helpline available with this policy.

Puffin Insurance have received 9653 reviews on trustpilot and have an excellent average score of 4.5 out of 5. The vast majority of customers have received an excellent service from Puffin Insurance and even the negative reviews only relate to minor administration errors, or delays, or where a customer has not read the policy document and found that a claim was not covered.

Perhaps more relevant are the 560 reviews from a website called "Claims Rated" with an average score of 9.2 out of 10. These reviews relate purely to the service received in the settlement of claims.

There are no administration charges.

There are currently no special discounts or promotions.

The premiums charged by Puffin Insurance are competitive for both the maximum benefit and lifetime policies, however some of the cover sections are lower or missing, for instance there is no cover for putting your pet to sleep, no advertising or reward for a missing pet, or emergency boarding costs.

The payouts against death by accident illness theft or straying are lower than the market average, and there is a waiting period of 5 days where your pet will not be covered if it is injured, which may catch some people out.

On the plus side Puffin Insurance will cover your pet anywhere in the world for up to three (3) months during the Period of Insurance provided that your Pet has a valid Pet Passport, although there are no added benefits such as emergency repatriation, additional quarantine costs, holiday cancellation cover, loss of your pets passport.

Medical conditions will not be classed as existing conditions if they have not caused a problem or been treated within the last 24 months.

Clearly judging from the reviews, the majority of customer are happy with the service and the settlement of claims. Claims forms can only be requested by telephone or email and must be submitted within 31 days of your pet receiving treatment. Claims decisions are not made over the phone, you and your vet have to fill in a claim form, which if it is an emergency could be a problem, however, this doesn't seem to be reflected in the overall comments from customers.