Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

Tillydot

Couldnt agree more about M&S pet insurance. I had a renewal today for one of my dogs. I have always had the no excess insurance and they have scrapped that. Now £70 and 20% of remaining fees for dogs over 9. Also no accidental damage cover. With 6 puppies that will be missed. Also the premiums have gone up. Like the last person who posted I will be looking elsewhere. Does anyone have any recommendations?

aytch

Tillydot wrote: »

Couldnt agree more about M&S pet insurance. I had a renewal today for one of my dogs. I have always had the no excess insurance and they have scrapped that. Now £70 and 20% of remaining fees for dogs over 9. Also no accidental damage cover. With 6 puppies that will be missed. Also the premiums have gone up. Like the last person who posted I will be looking elsewhere. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Just to say Tesco do for life cover, but there is a limit of £4000 per illness, Sainsbury do the same with £6000 maximum, they are both a great deal cheaper than M&S, and rang my vet who said they are bpth quick to pay out in his experience - hope that helps.
Aytch

Bromley86

M&S-style lifetime cover policies include:

PetPlan
Halifax
NFU
HSBC
Pinnacle

uksnupy

Just a note about M and S- as of this year, you now have to notify them before you take your pet to an after hours vet for emergency treatment. The same goes for More Than. I'm not happy about this, so I'm switching.

debbiefletcher

I have just taken in a rescue dog, she is 7 years old. Our old dog was insured with Sainsburys who were very good at paying out but the premiums went through the roof once the dog reached 10 years and as she lived until she was 17 it was very expensive.

I have narrowed it down to Pet plan or tescos, any thoughts?

w00fdawg

I am now completely boggled, having spent most of the afternoon looking at various options for pet insurance. I have an 8 month old Jack Russell !!!!! and thought I'd better pull my finger out before she falls down a hole (I sincerely hope not).

I have other insurance with Direct Line, so contacted them first, they quoted me £13.17 for what they said was a "lifetime policy" (£8.80 pm for basic cover) but I am a bit worried as according to this thread they don't do that? Also, hearing all the complaints about M&S, I didn't check them initially, but have just done so and if I am correct, they are offering a lifetime policy for £6.64, which seems much more reasonable - though it does have a big excess of £90 (Direct Line is also bad at £80). To be honest, I can't work out what to do for the best - any advice anyone?

Halifax were MUCH more for their extra plan (190+) and while Tesco seemed okay £11 I don't know if it's Lifetime or not!

Any help gratefully received

w00fdawg

Oh yes, to add to the above, PetPlan offer cover at £14.78 pm for Noni (or the !!!!! as above).

pboae

The problem with M&S is that they keep moving the goalposts. Aside from the outrageous condition that you have to get permission before using an emergency vet (and it isn't clear if that is actually enforceable even if they tried, in a genuine emergency), it's actually still a very good policy. But who knows what new changes (is any) they will bring in next year?

Did they definitely quote you £90 for the excess? At the moment it is £70 (and they only brought that in this year, I didn't used to have to pay an excess at all). So if they are saying £90 to new customers, I suppose it'll be going up again next year for existing customers :-(

With M&S standard cover, there is a limit of £4,000 per condition but that is reset each year. Their premier cover is £7,000 per condition per year.

Tesco are OK, but they have a maximum limit of £4,000 per condition of your pet's lifetime. IMHO that wouldn't be adequate if your dog has a serious accident or developed an illness that required lifelong medication.

Have you had quotes yet off AXA direct, Petplan and NFU (you have to phone NFU)?

Direct Line's Essential policy is 12 months cover only, their Advanced policy is lifetime, but with a £6,000 per condition limit. £6,000 is just about adequate in most cases, but could still quite easily run out over the dog's lifetime. Which is why I prefer policies which renew the per condition limit each year.

w00fdawg

"Did they definitely quote you £90 for the excess? At the moment it is £70 (and they only brought that in this year, I didn't used to have to pay an excess at all). So if they are saying £90 to new customers, I suppose it'll be going up again next year for existing customers :-("


Yes, they did ....... here is the link to their PDF doc, it's £70 for Premier, £90 for Standard for dogs, cheaper for cats. (Thanks for your answer btw).

http://www6.marksandspencer.com/pdf/PetPolicySummary.pdf

It's also cheaper (for me) for girlie dogs than boy-y dogs.

I was so exhausted after trying all the ins and outs that I signed up for M&S, in the end I hope I don't have to claim, but it's there for emergencies, I can review things next year (or when I get the policy documents from M&S!).

Direct Line were not at ALL clear about the life-time angle, so I think anyone considering using them would need to double and triple check.

Roll on some more help with picking pet insurance, it's quite a minefield.

red_bertie

Having dumped M & S, spent 3 days on the 'phone and because my 5 are all oldies and any treatment they can get will probably be palliative