Switching pet insurer looks like changing mobile provider: compare, pick the cheapest, sign. It is not. In pet health insurance, changing company can cost you cover for whatever your pet already has, and that is a decision you cannot undo.
This article explains exactly what happens when you move, what deadlines your current policy already contains, and when switching genuinely does pay. It applies equally whether you are thinking of coming to Petplan or leaving.
The rule that governs everything: pre-existing conditions
No insurer in Spain covers pre-existing conditions — injuries or illnesses that were already present before the policy started, even without a diagnosis at the time. It is not an unfair clause: it is the basis on which risk-sharing works.
The consequence when you switch is the one almost nobody calculates. Everything your pet has developed during the years with your current company — the allergy diagnosed two summers ago, the arthritis, the recurring urinary problem — becomes pre-existing for the new one. Length of cover does not transfer.
Put another way: the longer you have been insured and the more history the animal has, the more expensive switching is, even if the new premium is lower. For a young animal with a clean record the hidden cost is minimal; for a nine-year-old with three chronic conditions, it can strip away exactly the cover they use most.
The waiting periods start again
When you take out a new policy, waiting periods restart from zero. With Petplan they are 15 days for accidents and 30 days for illness, the latter applying only to the first policy year. During that time the new policy does not cover whatever appears.
Hence a practical rule: do not leave a single day’s gap between one policy and the next, and remember that even if you overlap them, the new policy’s effective cover does not begin on day one. If you are going to switch, do it in a quiet moment, not when something is already being watched.
Age: the door that closes
One detail makes switching irreversible. Petplan enrols dogs and cats between 2 months and 7 years old, and rabbits up to 5. It is a limit on joining, not on staying: once insured, the animal renews with no age limit.
Which means that if you leave your current policy with an eight- or ten-year-old animal, it is possible that no company — including your previous one — will take them on as a new enrolment. Before cancelling anything, get written confirmation that the destination company accepts your animal on age and on history.
The deadlines already in your current policy
These are worth knowing because they set the timetable. With Petplan the policy renews automatically and the company writes to you at least 60 days before expiry with the premium and terms for the coming year. If you do not want to renew, you simply give at least 30 days’ notice before it expires.
At annual renewal, subject to the applicable legal formalities, the company may change the premium, the excess and the conditions. Which is why the renewal letter is not marketing: it is the document worth reading in full each year, even if you decide to stay.
And if you have just bought at a distance and changed your mind, Spanish law 22/2007 gives you 14 calendar days from purchase, or from receiving the contract terms, to withdraw without giving a reason and without penalty — provided you have not declared a claim that has been accepted or is pending.
Before you leave, close what is open
Submit any outstanding claims before the policy ends. The deadline for claiming is one year from the treatment, so an invoice from a few months ago sitting in a drawer can still go in — but do not let it run.
Ask your practice for your pet’s complete clinical history and keep it. You will need it: on a first claim with the new company, or depending on the condition, they may request it. And it tells you exactly what is going to count as pre-existing.
Answer the new policy’s questionnaire with complete accuracy. Where there is omission or inaccuracy in the declaration, the insurer may terminate the contract within one month, and if a claim occurs before that termination the payment is reduced proportionately. Hiding a history does not make it disappear — it just moves the problem to the worst possible moment.
When switching does make sense
When the animal is young and healthy and there is no history to lose. When the current policy has a low reimbursement percentage or an annual limit that will not stretch to serious surgery. When the excess is charged per visit rather than per illness, which tells heavily in conditions needing follow-up.
And when the model does not fit your life. A closed network obliges you to attend particular clinics; a reimbursement model like Petplan’s lets you choose the vet, pay, and then claim back up to 100% of covered costs, with an annual limit of €3,100 and a €45 excess per illness rather than per visit.
What does not pay is switching for a few euros of premium when your pet already has open conditions. There the honest comparison is not between prices but between what each policy covers for what your animal actually has.
The five-minute check
Before signing anything, confirm four things in writing: that they accept your animal on age, what they will treat as pre-existing given its history, what the waiting periods are, and what happens to cover if a condition runs beyond twelve months.
With those four answers in front of you, the decision stops being a gamble. And if you end up staying put, it will still have been worthwhile: almost nobody reads their own policy until they consider leaving it.
