Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

Bromley86

But, and it's a big but, the difference between pet insurance (or indeed amost health-based insurances) and other types is the pre-existing condition clause.

So if your pet has had any vet treatment, you may find that your new policy (and it is a new policy, even if it's with the same people) will not cover future treatments that most people would not consider related in any meaningful way.

That's not to say that you shouldn't shop around, but just be aware of possible problems.

Also, IIRC, MoreThan is condition-limited. Just something else to bear in mind .

keithMK

Isn't this complex! I thought I would understand it easily enough as I have had to go through the rigmarol of buying travel insurance for a person suffering from pre existing conditions of diabetes and dicky ticker. That was all child's play (and relatively inexpensive in the end) But I am struggling to start with this.

I am, at age 59, buying my first ever pet dog. It's a Finnish Spitz and was born just this week, so I have 8 weeks to sort out some insurance.Thought I understood what to look for, what companies to avoid and so on. But the more I look the less I understand. Please help!

I am willing to pay upto say £200 excess on vet bills, want around £700 replacement cost in case of death etc (that sounds so callous) and sensible 3rd party liability. I travel the world quite a bit (2 or 3 times a year) so it would be nice to have cover for needing to cancel trips,I will want to take him with me to Britanny once a year. Quality of cover is more important than cost. Is there anything else I need to ask, either myself or the potential insurer?

Your assistance would be most gratefully received.

Confused of Milton Keynes

ednotdave

keithMK wrote: »

Isn't this complex! I thought I would understand it easily enough as I have had to go through the rigmarol of buying travel insurance for a person suffering from pre existing conditions of diabetes and dicky ticker. That was all child's play (and relatively inexpensive in the end) But I am struggling to start with this.

I am, at age 59, buying my first ever pet dog. It's a Finnish Spitz and was born just this week, so I have 8 weeks to sort out some insurance.Thought I understood what to look for, what companies to avoid and so on. But the more I look the less I understand. Please help!

I am willing to pay upto say £200 excess on vet bills, want around £700 replacement cost in case of death etc (that sounds so callous) and sensible 3rd party liability. I travel the world quite a bit (2 or 3 times a year) so it would be nice to have cover for needing to cancel trips,I will want to take him with me to Britanny once a year. Quality of cover is more important than cost. Is there anything else I need to ask, either myself or the potential insurer?

Your assistance would be most gratefully received.

Confused of Milton Keynes

IMO you should try Halifax Extra:

Cover: Halifax Pet Insurance eXtra

Vets Fees: £6,000 per year

Excess: £50 per condition per year

Alternative/Complementary treatment:

Behavioural Problems: £200

Cremation/burial costs: £100

Third Party Liability (dogs only): £1m

Death of your Pet: £1,000

Advertising and Reward: £1,000

Theft and/or Straying: £1,000

Accidental Damage: £500

Kennel/Cattery Fees: £1,000

Holiday Cancellation: £2,000

Pay Vet Direct:

Cover Abroad*: 12 Months

Helplines:

Find-a-Vet:

Bereavement Counselling:

Pet Legal:

Pet Minders:

* Subject to full compliance with the PETS Travel Scheme.

HTH
ed

Bromley86

keithMK. All of the usual suspects should meet your needs. The excess will be far below you acceptable level at £50-£90. Most/all pay out what you paid for the pup, which I assume where the £700 figure comes from. They all have silly 3rd party liability of a million of so.

The travel clauses are the ones to check, although I suspect that again they're all suitable for you.

So get quotes from Halifax, AXA and HSBC (all the good sort of lifetime). For quality, but usually corresponding cost, Pet Plan is the leader, so get a quote from them. All those quote online, so you can do it quite quickly.

There are others, so if you want more quote you can. However, as you have quite specific needs (most people don't bother too much about travel etc.), you're going to have to dip into the policy summaries (or even the policy wording itself). You'll probably not want to do that too often .

thomas18

Hi,

Has anybody insured with petguard, they don't seemed to get mentioned much, but they come out top on cover/price for my 4 month old lab.

Using the defaqto comparison tool for policies that cover for life, petguard seem just as good as petplans policy, but half the price (£16 p/m compared with petplans £33 p/m )

or am i missing something ?

Bromley86

Nope, petguard are fine - either they're new or, more likely, I just didn't find them when I was looking a year ago.

Be prepared for the possibility that your premiums may increase at a faster rate than they would if you were with PetPlan (this goes for any insurance company). Still, it's highly unlikely that they'll ever exceed PetPlan's.

hethmar

Just to add, several of the "good" insurers indentified here give cashback through quidco.com and other cash back sites.

chocolatepennyfarthing

Been quoted £10.39 to insure my puppy cockapoo with Morethan, seems very good as payout £7,000 for each seperate condition for life.

Anyone have any experience of using Morethan? does this seem a good policy to go with?

cocoluvsmummy

chocolatepennyfarthing wrote: »

Been quoted £10.39 to insure my puppy cockapoo with Morethan, seems very good as payout £7,000 for each seperate condition for life.

Anyone have any experience of using Morethan? does this seem a good policy to go with?

please be careful with the £7000 per condition per life, we went with this policy type thinking we couldnt reach £7000 easily and were reassured that it wouldnt end after a year like some policies.
We are now at our limit after 7 months of treatment and the conditon will never be covered again and its still not sorted. An expensive mistake as i was hung up mentally on the per life per condition wording and didn't think about what happened if i got to that point, i was just busy making sure i didn't get a policy that wouldnt cover after a year

hethmar

chocolate, as poor coculuvsmummy has pointed out the £7k is per condition - once you reach that level the condition is no longer covered - this could be a dire situation for someone with a chronic illness.

Look at the thread above and you will see the insurers that give real life long cover -