Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

jolenejolene

Hi,
I hadn't realised the implications of the different types of pet insurance and took out a policy with direct line for our dog. This costs me £8 odd per month. I have just had a quote from HSBC which seems to cover a condition for life for only £10 odd per month. Has anyone any experience with HSBC pet insurance. I am keen on changing and cancelling Direct Line and the HSBC policy seems reasonable. Axa came out at £16 per month and Pet Plan was £21. Halifax is £12. HSBC and Halifax really seem really good value?? What do you think?

UKTigerlily

jolenejolene wrote: »

Hi,
I hadn't realised the implications of the different types of pet insurance and took out a policy with direct line for our dog. This costs me £8 odd per month. I have just had a quote from HSBC which seems to cover a condition for life for only £10 odd per month. Has anyone any experience with HSBC pet insurance. I am keen on changing and cancelling Direct Line and the HSBC policy seems reasonable. Axa came out at £16 per month and Pet Plan was £21. Halifax is £12. HSBC and Halifax really seem really good value?? What do you think?

It all depends, you need a fixed excess (So not a fixed amount + an excess), how much do they cover for public liability & also Vets? Are both for life, or per condition or per year? Which policy for each did you quote on (Like Pet Plan have three different ones)

UKTigerlily

HSBC looks quite good but the excess is paid each year, so if they get arthritis, you pay £75 each year not just the once. Other than that it looks ok to me

Savvy_Sue

I'll merge this into our existing pet insurance discussion.

hethmar

Im surprised AXA didnt come out lower as AXA underwrites Halifax and HSBC. As Lily said, check the various policies, I cant remember those now, but some of the companies have "economy" ones as well as the for life ones. Also check if the excess goes up - usually a set amount plus a percentage - as the dog gets older.

hethmar

M and S was a brilliant policy about 4 years back when they launched it - I got my dog onto it and told lots of others too. Then they started upping and upping the premiums and whereas there was no excess at the beginning they banged that on too at £70. A lot of us felt scammed. On top of that if you had had to claim or even take your dog to vet when you were insured with them you were stuck with them as no other insurer woudl cover pre existing conditions.

AXA used to underwrite them then they changed - I cant remember who underwrites them now.

Have a look at this:
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews57566.html

UKTigerlily

kdenty wrote: »

Thanks for the link.

The breed of cat I have is a bengal and generally not recommended to get the leukaemia virus as in some cross breeds it can cause the illness. The breeder hasn't vaccinated for this. I have had him 4 days with free Petplan insurance for 6 weeks. He is an indoor cat with no risk of catching it (her cats are tested and free of this and they only get it via cat saliva eg bites). Where do I stand with the insurance that asks questions like this....

"Has your pet been vaccinated in line with your vets recommendations against feline infectious enteritis, feline leukaemia and cat flu ?"

I'm sure from my previous bengal my vet would back me up on leuk not being recommended and I know the breeders vet who he has seen agrees.

Normally the policy will say that if the Cat hasn't been vaccinated for leukaemia & gets it, they won't pay out on that. So you'll be fine, but do check the small print, all the ones i've had just say if she's not been vaccinated for the illness & gets it they won't pay out x

fullstop

Will be picking up a 6 month old kitten tomorrow , she is insured till the end of the month, had a look at some insurance quotes and The Post Office came out OK. Has anyone had any experience with then, good or bad for pet insurance?
Thanks

UKTigerlily

fullstop wrote: »

Will be picking up a 6 month old kitten tomorrow , she is insured till the end of the month, had a look at some insurance quotes and The Post Office came out OK. Has anyone had any experience with then, good or bad for pet insurance?
Thanks

Just had a quick look & it says it's per condition not for life? So say kitty gets diabetes, they'd pay £5,000 towards it & then that's it. Wheras for life they'd pay the amount each year. It's probably ok as many Cats don't need £5,000 on one condition but of course some do. Sorry I can't be of much help!

fullstop

Think might have to have a look at M&S then through Quidco. suppose it's like most things now days you get a decent rate the first year and then the following years the premium increases more than inflation , even if no treatment is needed.