Insurance Licensing Disclosure

Who is licensed, and for what

Pet-insurance quotes, comparisons, and referrals offered on pawsandvisits.com are provided by Paws & Visits Insurance Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Paws & Visits, Inc., acting as a licensed insurance producer and referral entity. National Producer Number (NPN): 21045873. Our principal place of business is 1420 Ridgeway Ave, Suite 210, Asheville, NC 28801. In states that use a separate business entity licence, we transact under the name Paws & Visits Insurance Services LLC; where a different trade name is required by the state, it is shown on the quote page for that state.

We are not an insurance company. We do not underwrite policies, we do not set premiums, we do not decide what a policy covers, and we do not adjudicate, approve, or pay claims. All of those decisions are made solely by the licensed insurer or its appointed administrator that issues your policy. Pet insurance is generally written as property and casualty insurance, and the issuing carrier is named on every quote before you apply.

How we are paid

Paws & Visits Insurance Services LLC is compensated in one of two ways, depending on the partner:

• Per qualified lead. A flat fee — typically between $8 and $45 — when a visitor completes a quote request that meets the partner's criteria (complete pet details, a serviceable ZIP code, and a valid contact method). The fee is paid whether or not you ultimately buy a policy.
• Commission. A percentage of first-year written premium, generally between 8% and 20%, when a referred applicant binds a policy. Some partners also pay a smaller renewal commission.

Compensation varies between partners. That means our revenue is not identical across the carriers we show you, which is a conflict of interest we are disclosing to you here. To manage it, the default ordering of quote results is by price for the coverage level you selected, not by what we are paid; any non-price ordering is labelled as such; and we display every carrier available for your ZIP code among our partners, with the carrier name, deductible, reimbursement percentage, and annual limit on each result. We are not appointed by every insurer in the market, so the comparison is not exhaustive — you may find other options by contacting carriers directly.

Our employees are salaried and are not paid per-policy commission. We do not receive contingent or profit-sharing compensation based on loss ratios.

Quotes are estimates, not offers of insurance

Every figure shown in our comparison tool is a non-binding estimate generated from the information you entered. It is not an offer, a binder, or a guarantee of coverage or price. Final premium and eligibility are determined by the insurer after underwriting, and may change based on your pet's species, breed, age, sex, spay/neuter status, precise location, medical history, and the carrier's current filed rates. A quote can expire, and rates can change with the carrier's approved filings. No coverage exists until the insurer accepts your application, you pay the required premium, and the policy is issued. Read the actual policy document, including all exclusions, endorsements, and the schedule of benefits, before you rely on it.

Pre-existing conditions and waiting periods

This is the single most misunderstood part of pet insurance, so please read it carefully.

• Pre-existing conditions are generally excluded. Any illness, injury, or symptom that existed or showed clinical signs before your coverage start date — or during a waiting period — is normally excluded, whether or not it had been formally diagnosed. Notes in your pet's record about limping, itching, vomiting, or a heart murmur can be treated as evidence of a condition even without a diagnosis.
• Some conditions are curable, some are not. Certain carriers will reconsider a curable condition after a symptom-free period (often 6 to 18 months); chronic and bilateral conditions — cruciate injury, hip dysplasia, allergies, diabetes — are usually excluded permanently.
• Waiting periods apply. Accident coverage commonly begins after 2 to 15 days, illness coverage after 14 to 30 days, and orthopaedic or cruciate coverage can carry a waiting period of 6 to 12 months, sometimes with an examination requirement to waive or shorten it.
• Enrol before problems appear. Because of the above, the cheapest and broadest coverage is nearly always obtained while an animal is young and healthy. Waiting until a symptom appears usually means that symptom will never be covered.
• Other common exclusions include elective and cosmetic procedures, breeding and pregnancy, dental disease beyond stated limits, behavioral treatment on base plans, and routine or preventive care unless you purchase a wellness add-on.

State availability

Insurance is regulated state by state. Product availability, filed rates, permitted coverage terms, and the carriers we are appointed with all vary by state, and some products are not available in every state. If our quote tool cannot serve your ZIP code, it is because we lack an appointment or a licence for that jurisdiction — not because you are ineligible for insurance generally. Nothing on this site is an offer to transact insurance business in a state where Paws & Visits Insurance Services LLC is not licensed.

Your information

Information you submit through the quote tool is shared with the carriers or brokers you request a quote from so that they can respond; they then handle it under their own privacy notices and under applicable insurance privacy law. We describe our own handling, retention, and your rights in the Privacy Policy. We do not sell your quote data to unrelated parties.

Complaints

If you have a complaint about our conduct as a producer — how we presented options, how we were compensated, or how we handled your information — contact us first at [email protected] or +1 (828) 555-0142 and we will acknowledge it within two business days.

You always have the right to escalate to your state insurance regulator, and you do not need our permission to do so. Complaints about a policy, a premium, or a denied claim should go to the issuing carrier and, if unresolved, to your state Department of Insurance. In North Carolina, that is the North Carolina Department of Insurance, Consumer Services Division, 1201 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1201, +1 (855) 408-1212. Residents of other states can find their regulator through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners at naic.org.

Contact

Paws & Visits Insurance Services LLC, a subsidiary of Paws & Visits, Inc.
1420 Ridgeway Ave, Suite 210
Asheville, NC 28801, USA

Licensing and complaints: [email protected]
Privacy requests: [email protected]
Phone: +1 (828) 555-0142