Pet insurance wording can be full of jargon that never gets explained. Here's what every term FurWise uses actually means, as plainly as we can make it.
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The most an insurer will pay out for your pet in a single policy year, across every claim you make that year. Once you've claimed up to that limit, the policy stops paying until your next renewal, you will need to cover the rest yourself.
Some insurers offer one fixed limit; others let you pick from a few tiers (e.g. $5,000 / $10,000 / $15,000) and charge more for a higher one. A higher limit matters most for a serious accident or long-running illness, where treatment costs can run into the thousands.
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What kinds of vet visits the policy actually pays out for. "Accident only" plans cover accidental injuries only, for example, being hit by a car, swallowing something they shouldn't, a torn ligament from a bad landing. "Accident & illness" plans cover both accidental injuries and illnesses, so conditions like cancer, diabetes or an infection are covered too.
Within that, plans vary on what's included as standard versus offered as a separate paid add-on. Things like consultation fees, dental care, emergency boarding or overseas travel cover. FurWise shows how broad that standard cover is.
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A smaller cap inside your overall sum insured that applies to one specific type of claim. For pet insured the most common are cruciate ligament injuries, which are expensive and common enough that many insurers cap them.
A sub-limit means that even if your overall annual limit is high, one condition might still only be covered up to a lower amount. The fewer and smaller the sub-limits, the less likely a single serious condition is to blow through its own cap before your main limit is reached.
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The list of things a policy simply won't pay for, no matter what. Every pet insurance policy has exclusions. Common ones include routine / preventative care (vaccinations, desexing, flea and worm treatment), cosmetic procedures, and behavioural treatment. The question isn't whether a policy has exclusions, it's how many of them affect things you're actually likely to need, and whether there's a paid add-on that covers the gap.
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A condition your pet is genetically predisposed to because of its breed. For example, hip dysplasia in large-breed dogs, or brachycephalic airway syndrome in flat-faced breeds like pugs and bulldogs, are common examples. These aren't necessarily present at birth; they can develop later, but the breed makes them far more likely.
Insurers handle hereditary conditions differently. Some cover them under normal accident illness cover, others exclude or cap them specifically. This matters a lot more for some breeds than others, which is why it's worth checking directly against your pet's breed.
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A condition your pet was born with, for example, a heart defect, a hernia, an eye abnormality, regardless of whether it's genetic (hereditary) or not. Congenital and hereditary are related but not the same thing: a condition can be congenital without being hereditary, and vice versa.
Most policies explicitly exclude congenital conditions, on the reasoning that they existed before the policy started, similar to a pre-existing condition. A few insurers don't publish exactly what they count as congenital, which makes this harder to verify.
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Anything your pet showed signs of, was diagnosed with, or was treated for before the policy started (or before a specific condition's waiting period ended). Pre-existing conditions are almost always excluded. The difference between insurers is whether that exclusion is permanent, or whether it can clear after your pet goes a set period (e.g. 12–18 months) without any signs or treatment.
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The length of time after your policy starts before a particular type of claim is actually covered. Every policy has them. It is typically a short wait (days) for accidents, and a longer one (2–4 weeks) for illness, with some specific conditions like cruciate ligament injuries carrying their own longer wait (often around 90 days or longer).
Waiting periods exist so people can't take out a policy the day after an injury happens and claim immediately. Shorter waiting periods mean full policy cover kicks in sooner.
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The fixed dollar amount you pay towards a claim before the insurer contributes anything. Think of it like an excess on car or house insurance. Most NZ pet insurers let you choose your excess level (e.g. $100 / $250 / $500): a lower excess usually means a higher premium, and vice versa. Beyond the dollar amount, it's how often that excess applies that varies the most between insurers.
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Usually, after your excess is deducted, the co-payment is the percentage of the remaining eligible amount that you still pay. The insurer pays the rest. A 20% co-payment means the insurer pays 80% of the bill above your excess, and you pay the other 20%. A nil co-payment means the insurer pays 100% of the eligible amount above your excess.
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How much a real claim would actually cost you out of pocket, given the excess and co-payment a plan charges. The FurWise comparison tool lets you set a vet bill size, how many separate claims you might make in a year, and how much you'd be comfortable paying from your own wallet in total across the year. It then works out what each plan would leave you owing, so you can see which plans stay within your budget.
This matters because excess and co-payment interact with each other, and with how often a plan charges its excess (per claim, per condition, or once a year — see Excess above). A plan with a high excess can look competitive on paper but become unaffordable the moment you need to claim more than once in a year, especially if that excess applies to every claim.
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How established and financially sound the insurer (or the underwriter behind the brand) is, and how transparently that's disclosed. This is driven mainly by the underwriter's Financial Strength Rating (FSR) with time in the NZ market and plain-language policy wording factored in around it.
A Financial Strength Rating is a letter grade issued by an independent ratings agency, most commonly A.M. Best or S&P Global Ratings that assesses an insurer's ability to actually pay out claims, based on things like its capital reserves, reinsurance arrangements and claims-paying history. It's not a measure of customer service or how good the policy wording is, it's specifically about the underwriter's financial ability to be there when you need to claim, including in a bad year with an unusually high volume of claims across all its policyholders.
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The full legal contract between you and the insurer that sets out exactly what a policy covers and excludes. It's the source of truth behind every fact on FurWise. Every fact on this site links back to the specific page and section of the relevant provider's policy wording, so you can check it yourself. Always read the current policy wording in full before buying a policy; terms can change between when FurWise last reviewed a document and when you apply.