The UK Insurance Blog

Amid claims that British holidaymakers are taking loutish behaviour to the winter sports resorts comes news that Swiss piste police have introduced speed cameras in some popular resorts. Their aim is to slow down speeding or drunken skiers in an attempt to reduce a worrying increase in the numbers of deaths and serious injuries on the slopes.

Après ski is recognised as an essential ingredient of the winter snow scene, but insurers are keen to point out that skiing after too many drinks invalidates your ski insurance cover. Insurance policy terms and conditions state that cover ceases in any incident “caused by the direct or indirect effect of you using alcohol or solvents or you being under the influence of drugs.”

A story in the Telegraph points out that even with the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) there could still be significant expenses for mountain rescue, ambulance rides and flights home. The story is even worse in the US, in fact you’d be totally mad to ski there uninsured simply because medical fees are simply sky high.

When arranging you winter sports insurance remember that an annual policy with ski cover will be about the same price as two separate policies if planning to go abroad once during the summer. If there’s the chance of additional weekends in Europe then go for the annual policy, you’ll save money and it’s one less thing to worry about when planning a trip.

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Liverpool Victoria have introduced a pet insurance policy that has no upper age limit. Pet insurance policies vary widely from insurer to insurer but generally you’ll find that a pet insurance company will not take on a new dog after age 8 or 9 and maybe a couple of years longer for a cat. They will often renew an existing policy beyond that age but with restrictions on certain parts of the policy.The new Liverpool Victoria policy allows you to take out insurance on a pet of any age over 8 weeks, but of course there are restrictions.

Cheaper (or should that be less expensive) pet insurance policies tend to fall into two camps, either they restrict payment on any single ailment to 12 months or they restrict the maximum amount that they will pay out for each condition - or even a combination of the two.

The new Liverpool Vic product offers both choices. Cheaper of the two restricts payment to twelve months on any single ailment with a top limit of £5,000 whilst a more expensive option offers a total of £5,000 for a single ailment with no time limit. In both cases the excess payable on any claim is £60. An average annual premium for a 10-year-old cat on the Essential plan is £106 and £146 on Premier whilst a Labrador dog (prone to leg ailments in old age) is £198 and £306.

Now, as with most insurance, you have a decision to make. Does it make sense to insure or would you be better off sitting it out and stumping up for the vet bill?. It really is a toss of the coin thing, who knows what’s going to happen in the future?. For sure, there are certain people who much prefer to know that whatever happens to their pet, it will be paid for by the insurance company and obviously for those people pet insurance is essential.

In my own case I bought my dog, A Hungarian Vizsla, from the breeder when he was 4 months old. The breeder had insured him for a year and when that expired I let the policy lapse. Up until about age 9 he didn’t have any unexpected visits to the vet, just the normal booster injections etc which aren’t paid for by pet insurance in any case. Then at about 10 years of age he developed a limp in his shoulder. A few visits to specialists who all scratched their heads and said that they couldn’t see what the problem was ate up a thousand or more. Medication has cost a bit more. To be honest I don’t know if I’d have been better off with insurance. What you do have to remember that the insurance company will not cover existing medical conditions, so you can’t wait until the dog starts hobbling before insuring him. My fella’s now over 14 and he’s been worth every penny, he’s my best friend.