Pet insurance

Pet insurance is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the same way as most other insurance products, so it falls outside its full regulatory regime. Insurers and intermediaries still have to treat customers fairly and follow the rules on advertising and complaints, and the Advertising Standards Authority and the Competition and Markets Authority both oversee how firms market their products.

Compare what each policy covers, particularly whether it offers lifetime, time-limited or maximum benefit cover, and check the exclusions for pre-existing conditions and any cover limits on specific treatments. Look at the excess, any co-payment or percentage contribution you would pay, the vet fee limits, and whether the policy includes routine care such as vaccinations or dental work.

Yes, you must give accurate and complete information when you take out a policy, because the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 requires you to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation. If you fail to disclose something that affects the insurer's decision, it can decline a claim, reduce what it pays or cancel the policy depending on whether the non-disclosure was deliberate or careless.

Lifetime cover continues to pay for a condition for as long as the policy stays in force, provided you keep the policy running without a break. Time-limited cover pays for a condition for a set period, such as a fixed number of months or years, after which the insurer stops paying for that condition even though the policy remains in place.

You can cancel by contacting the insurer directly, by phone, email or through your online account, and you should ask for written confirmation of the cancellation date. Under the Financial Conduct Authority's rules for general insurance, the insurer should explain any refund you are due, and many policies allow a full refund within a cooling-off period of at least 14 days from the start of cover.

If you cancel within the cooling-off period and have not made a claim, you are entitled to a refund of premiums paid for the unused cover. If you cancel later, the insurer may keep a pro-rata portion of the premium for the time you were covered, and it should set out the refund method in your policy documents.