Pet insurance advice

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samphe
samphe Posts: 140 Forumite
First Anniversary Combo Breaker
in Insurance & life assurance
Finally getting around to getting my dog insured again. I havent bothered for years, but he's 6 now and i thought things may start to go wrong! Went on Go Compare and on of the best quotes was from 'Protectmybubble.com'. They werent the cheapest but the cover seemed more value for money (£7.84 per month).

I've never heard of this company before, just wondered if anyone has any experience of them. I'm trying to keep the monthly cost down as much as possible as hubby would rather not bother!

Any advice welcome :)

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  • *doodle*_2
    *doodle*_2 Posts: 159 Forumite
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    I don't know anything about them but, going of experience, the quality of the cover is more important. Does the website tell you who they are underwritten by?

    Your hubby needs telling! haha I have insurance but my vet doesn't deal directly with them so we have had to spend just under two grand on our little darling over the space of seven weeks. He is ok now but, jeez, if we weren't covered we would be on gruel and beans on toast for the forseeable!

    I'm with More Than and they have been superb in paying up.
    :jOverdraft = Gone!! (24/6/11)

    Grocery shopping ~ £17
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,637 Forumite
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    I would recommend you avoid them
  • samphe
    samphe Posts: 140 Forumite
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    dacouch wrote: »
    I would recommend you avoid them

    Any particular reason for that advice?
  • samphe
    samphe Posts: 140 Forumite
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    *doodle* wrote: »
    I don't know anything about them but, going of experience, the quality of the cover is more important. Does the website tell you who they are underwritten by?

    Your hubby needs telling! haha I have insurance but my vet doesn't deal directly with them so we have had to spend just under two grand on our little darling over the space of seven weeks. He is ok now but, jeez, if we weren't covered we would be on gruel and beans on toast for the forseeable!

    I'm with More Than and they have been superb in paying up.

    Protect your bubble is underwritten by Assurant General Insurance Limited (registered in England no. 2341082) authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,637 Forumite
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    samphe wrote: »
    Protect your bubble is underwritten by Assurant General Insurance Limited (registered in England no. 2341082) authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

    It's not.

    It's administered by BDML and underwritten by Agria International Forsakring AB
  • *doodle*_2
    *doodle*_2 Posts: 159 Forumite
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    I just googled them and I would be cautious tbh. I read a few reviews on them and it would seem that they aren't that great when you need to make a claim.

    For my two pennies, it would be a good idea to insure your dog with the insurers that your vet will deal directly with. I don't want to tempt fate or anything but, as I mentioned earlier, vet bills can be huge.
    :jOverdraft = Gone!! (24/6/11)

    Grocery shopping ~ £17
  • samphe
    samphe Posts: 140 Forumite
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    Thanks for the advice. As you said it may be best to go with an insurer that the vet will deal with directly.

    The last insurer i was with was recommended on MSE but it took an age to get a payment when i made a simple claim.
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,637 Forumite
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    samphe wrote: »
    Thanks for the advice. As you said it may be best to go with an insurer that the vet will deal with directly.

    The last insurer i was with was recommended on MSE but it took an age to get a payment when i made a simple claim.

    Unfortunately MSE tends to recommend on price alone so they often recommend very poor insurers.

    There are customers of some Pet Insurers (In reality they were other companies eg like Protect Your Bubble who rebranded other policies) such as policyholders of Halifax, Petguard and LLoyd's.

    The Insurers (Who do not really specialise in Pet Insurance) dabbled in it and then when they started getting the claims in decided to pull out. This means their policyholders have been transferred to a new Insurer but the new Insurer excludes any existing medical conditions.

    Note BDML arranged the Halifax and Lloyd's policies.

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=47513317

    http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?300467-petguard-insurance-problem

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/pet/8784009/Owners-bitten-by-pet-insurance.html

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/pet/8805322/Lloyds-and-Halifax-to-pull-pet-insurance-cover.html

    Note the best Insurer for pets is Pet Plan, they only offer Pet Insurance, offer very wide cover, are sold or recommended by most vets and have direct billing with most vets. They've been in the business for decades, the draw back is they charge realistic premiums which in reality means they are more expensive than most other companies
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